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Part 3: 1978 Interflip Alaska 4 Player EM. Underside of the playfield!

Pinball Shenanigans·video·32m 1s·held·Feb 17, 2026
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.023

TL;DR

Restoration of 1978 Alaska: drop targets, LEDs, stepper unit servicing

Summary

Mike Dus continues restoration of a rare 1978 Alaska 4-player EM pinball machine, focusing on underside playfield work. He compares design variations across different Alaska versions (solid-state, 4-player EM, 1-player), then methodically disassembles, cleans, and reassembles drop target banks, addresses lamp socket issues with LED conversions and creative repair techniques ("lepping"), and services the stepper unit. The video showcases the overengineered construction of Recreativos Franco machines and documents detailed restoration methodology.

Key Claims

  • The 4-player EM and solid-state versions of Alaska have dramatically different color palettes (orange vs. green iceberg, pink vs. orange mountains)

    high confidence · Mike Dus demonstrates with side-by-side playfield photos, comparing versions owned by himself and Steven Pruza

  • Recreativos Franco overengineered Alaska machines with heavy-duty materials and construction due to high machine cost and cheap labor economics

    medium confidence · Mike references a message from someone who researched Recreativos Franco manufacturing practices

  • Alaska drop targets were likely produced all yellow despite flyer artwork showing red/yellow mix, with inconsistencies due to replacements

    medium confidence · Mike's own machine has 9 of 10 yellow targets; he speculates about the original flyer discrepancy

  • The solid-state Alaska cabinet head is narrower than the 4-player EM, affecting artwork placement (polar bear present on EM, absent on solid-state)

    medium confidence · Mike compares cabinet art and flyer photos with Steven Pruza's solid-state version

  • Alaska drop target assemblies use dual switches per target and are significantly overbuilt compared to typical pinball designs

    high confidence · Mike observes tabs, dual switches, and robust construction during disassembly and testing

Notable Quotes

  • “These machines were manufactured pretty solidly...labor was cheap and they wanted the games to last and this is definitely the case with most everything on this machine.”

    Mike Dus@ 9:50 — Reflects on Recreativos Franco's overengineering philosophy and its positive impact on durability

  • “The less disassembly, the better. Oh, and look what else I discovered. This machine just knows. LEP.”

    Mike Dus@ 7:44 — Introduces the concept of 'LEP' (or 'IEP') servicing and cheerful attitude toward repair shortcuts

  • “This has been a royal nightmare. I've been fighting for I feel like 20 minutes. After stabbing myself and trying various different tools, we got this screwdriver...you got to do it very specifically or else you just struggle.”

    Mike Dus@ 14:46 — Documents the difficulty of spring reassembly on drop targets, a frustration point in EM restoration

  • “Mr. Robert Burke himself. He is the guy that owns Pastimes Arcade in Gerard, Ohio, and owns probably like a thousand pinball machines, has Guinness Book of World Record collection, and doesn't have an Alaska, so maybe we'll be chatting in the near future.”

    Mike Dus@ 11:53 — References a major collector figure and hints at potential future collaboration or acquisition

  • “I am heading to Edmonton soon for the Canadian Pinball Championships. And as it turns out, it's going to be minus30° C there...just as it's starting to warm up here in my hometown, I'm going to go back to the Arctic tundra.”

    Mike Dus@ 20:55 — Personal note indicating participation in competitive tournament play and content hiatus

Entities

Mike DuspersonSteven PruzapersonRobert BurkepersonAlaskagameRecreativos FrancocompanyPastimes ArcadevenueCanadian Pinball ChampionshipseventPinball Shenaniganscontent

Signals

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Detailed comparative analysis of Alaska design variations (solid-state vs. 4-player EM vs. 1-player) revealing significant color palette differences, artwork placement, and component variations across production runs

    high · Side-by-side playfield photo comparison showing iceberg (orange vs. green), mountain colors (pink vs. orange), drop target colors (white vs. red/yellow), cabinet art differences

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Comprehensive teardown and rebuild of dual drop target banks including spring replacement, contact cleaning, and switch adjustment using specialized techniques

    high · Mike removes screws, cleans coil sleeves with isopropyl alcohol, carefully reassembles springs using jeweler tools, tests dual-switch operation, tightens all fasteners

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Installation of LED replacements in lamp sockets with creative 'LEP' (LED Emulator Procedure) workarounds for challenging multi-wire connections using socket bridges and cutting techniques

    high · Mike documents replacing standard incandescent sockets with LEDs, using socket halves as bridges for tight multi-wire connections, applying creative soldering solutions

  • ?

    design_innovation: Recreativos Franco's deliberate overengineering approach evident in Alaska's dual-switch per target design, heavy-gauge wiring, thick metal components, and robust construction philosophy

    high · Mike observes dual tabs and dual switches per drop target, thick switch metal, heavy-gauge wiring; message reference explains cheap labor + high cost drove durability design

  • ?

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

0:01
Oh, don't you like the Christmas colors? How cute. The less disassembly, the better. Oh, and look what else I discovered. This machine just knows. Lep. I'm [music] Mike Dus and this is Pinball Shenanigans. [music]
0:22
Welcome back to Alaska. If you watched the last episode, then you seen that the cabinet has made it out of the Grazley garage into the basement here. So, things are starting to come together. But, we must work on the playfield. Speaking of playfields, I was speaking with Steven Pruza the other day who owns the solid state version of Alaska and uh we were comparing notes and realized that there were some differences between his and mine on the playfield. So I um made this little photo here. We've got the solid state version on the left, my four player EM in the middle, and the oneplayer playfield on the right. And right off the bat, you can clearly see that the color palette between the solid state and the four player are dramatically different. The iceberg is orange versus green and the reflection as well. The mountains or clouds in the background are pink versus orange as well. And then just the whole playfield coloring in general is very much different. One other thing I just noticed last night is that the back arch, which I had powder coated white, um is does not have seals on it and is not beige. So the solid state has these little green seals in the corners. It is beige whereas the four player version just has a white arch. And uh was there anything else? Oh yeah. Uh the solid state drop targets are all white. And on the this is the flyer photo here for the four player. And you can see it's red on the left and yellow on the right. So, I don't know if that's actually how the machine was produced or not because like mine are 9 out of 10 yellow. So, I'm more likely thinking that one yellow drop target broke and that's why I have one red versus, you know, four red drop targets broke and uh they were all replaced with yellow. But, who knows? These things were manufactured pretty solidly. So, I'm thinking that uh they were produced all yellow even though the Playfield flyer the flyer of the playfield shows that they're red. Anyway, so some neat differences. Uh the one player version, there's really not much that I could notice between the these two here except the drop targets are white on the left, yellow on the right. Um, the coloring is a little bit different actually. Like this is more orange. This is more dark orange. We got the sort of baby blue here. So, I don't know if that's fade. Probably not because it's got the 6 mm cryolite or whatever the heck it's called. Plexi playfield. I guess it doesn't mean that it couldn't fade uh if it was, you know, in the line of the sun. But anyway, those are some interesting differences that I thought were noteworthy. Another difference that we noticed regarding the cabinet is that uh this is all that was basically left of Steven's Alaska head. He put his whole Alaska playfield into a ballet cabinet as well as wired it up with ballet boards. But he noticed in my photo that well I have hold on this art with the polar bear and he just had this. So it is hard to tell but from this flyer photo you can tell that there is not a polar bear there. So, solid state just got that and the EM got this. And maybe possibly the solid state head is um narrower, so they didn't have as much room for the art and that's possibly why. But another neat thing is that uh the face of the EM has different art here. I can't really tell if that is a wolf up here possibly and then some mountains. Um, but the uh four player just has these red lines. So, there's some differences in the variation of um machines for Alaska. Just going to jump right in and start working on these drop target assemblies. Basically, that's really all that's left. the drop target assemblies, this stepper unit, and then really the light bulbs. That's pretty much it. That's not too bad. Um, I'm thinking what I'm going to do is remove these four screws on each side of this bracket, which will allow me to remove the two solenoids. Then I can pull this whole part out and clean it and check on the sleeves. And like the springs aren't too springy, so I don't know if it's gummy in there or the springs are just, you know, old. But I don't know. I think I'll start with that. Okay. I started removing Oh, I'm noticing a few things here. Uh, I started removing the four screws on the other drop target bank and then I realized it's not just the four screws. You have to remove these. But look, we're missing a screw and two nuts here. We're missing a nut here and also missing a screw here. So, these are the three that I started to remove. And I thought, you know what? these little uh stoppers here, plastic stoppers. It's just four screws, and you can remove them. So, now that I have those removed, should be able to remove this bar. Yeah. And I can clean the crap out of this. Trying not to lose any springs here. But yeah, definitely pretty filthy. And the coil sleeves probably could use a changing. So maybe I will have to um dig in a little deeper, but uh it's starting to tear into this thing. Okay, I'm going to try and cheat. I got uh pipe cleaners saturated with some isopropyl alcohol. Instead of taking this whole thing apart, see if I can just cheat the system here. This feels like that might be sufficient, you know. Oh, don't you like the Christmas colors? How cute. Spin that around. The less disassembly, the better. Oh, and look what else I discovered. This machine just knows. LEP. It might actually be IEP, but you know, close enough. This machine is going to get the typical LE servicing. What does this say here? 888. That's a good lucky number right there.

restoration_signal: Methodical cleaning and testing of electromechanical stepper unit including plunger cleaning, rivet contact preparation, pivot point lubrication, and functional validation

high · Mike removes and cleans stepper components, sands rivets for contact surfaces, adds grease to pivot points, tests solenoid-driven stepping through full range

  • ?

    historical_signal: Documentation of production variations across Alaska releases suggests manufacturing runs were not standardized or materials/artwork changed between solid-state and EM versions

    medium · Significant color palette differences, artwork variations (polar bear presence/absence), component color variations (drop target colors) suggest different production batches or design iterations

  • ?

    content_signal: Multi-part YouTube documentary-style restoration video series generating detailed technical content for collector and restoration audience

    high · This is Part 3 of ongoing series; Mike announces content hiatus due to tournament travel; detailed playfield service documentation suggests high production value and technical depth

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Content creator/restorer actively participates in competitive tournament play (Canadian Pinball Championships), combining content creation with competitive engagement

    high · Mike mentions heading to Edmonton for Canadian Pinball Championships; discusses trying to 'represent' and compete

  • ?

    community_signal: Evidence of active collaboration and knowledge-sharing between collectors (Mike Dus and Steven Pruza comparing variants; reference to Robert Burke's major collection)

    high · Steven Pruza reached out to compare notes on Alaska variants; message from community member provided research on Recreativos Franco practices; Robert Burke mentioned as prominent collector figure

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Restoration approach prioritizes preservation of original artwork and paint, avoiding aggressive cleaning that could damage playfield graphics

    high · Mike stops cleaning inserts when rubbing alcohol feels gummy, concerned about removing playfield paint; cautious about cleaning drop target artwork after initial over-cleaning incident

  • ?

    product_concern: Alaska machines exhibit widespread lamp socket issues requiring replacement or creative repair solutions during restoration

    medium · Multiple lamp sockets require replacement or 'LEP' repairs; Mike encounters broken wires, corroded connections, multi-wire attachment challenges requiring custom solutions

  • ?

    operational_signal: EM restoration work is extremely labor-intensive with significant manual assembly challenges (spring attachment taking 20+ minutes per target) and high coordination requirements

    high · Mike struggles for 20 minutes on spring reassembly, requires specialized tool techniques, stabs himself, documents extremely tedious process for 8+ drop targets

    • 8:17
    So, you know, this might be sufficient. And I'll get the tops.
    8:23
    And uh yeah, that might just work. Okay, I'm happy with how this turned out without having to disassemble everything.
    8:35
    It's sufficiently clean. And then I uh cleaned up these parts here
    8:43
    with my heavy duty degreaser. Super clean. And then I totally just accidentally discovered how to remove the drop targets. I was just kind of like pulling on it. And I don't even know how, but somehow the spring came loose. It might have been like that. I don't know. But check this out. You just lift it up like so. And then there's slots there for it to slide out.
    9:22
    So, this reminds me someone messaged me on my last video and said they were able to find out some information about um Recreatifos Franco, the manufacturer of these games, and said that because games are so expensive that um they really overengineered and overbuilt everything. uh labor was cheap and they wanted the games to last and this is definitely the case with most everything on this machine. Like look at this drop target and the drop target bank and obviously the gauge of wire that they used like and then like I said in the other video like look at the thickness of the metal on the switches. So definitely overengineered, but in a good way. Like built very well. So now if I um release all the springs, I can clean up all the drop targets. So I'm going to do that as well. Okay, drop targets are removed. That was pretty easy. The tricky part is going to be hooking them back up with the spring. That might be a little bit of a pain, but I'll clean these up next. Okay, I got the drop targets all cleaned up. And see how nice the art is on this guy. And how it's kind of fading a little bit on these guys. I really hope I didn't cause that because I did use the um super clean and I think I will not do that on the other set of drop targets just in case cuz you know use the wrong chemicals you can lose paint like that. So hopefully I didn't cause that. But uh I going to take a break. I will be back tomorrow. Okay, I'm back in the basement and I'd like to reassemble this drop target bank and um maybe even finish both before my time expires. I got maybe a couple hours max. What I noticed last night and I forgot to mention, look who's watching over. Mr. Robert Burke himself.
    11:50
    He is the guy that owns Pastimes Arcade in Gerard, Ohio, and owns probably like a thousand pinball machines, has Guinness Book of World Record collection, and doesn't have an Alaska, so maybe we'll be chatting in the near future. Anyway, what I'm going to do is uh now I'm going to clean up whatever gunk there may be in here, which doesn't seem to be too much. reassemble everything, clean up all the switches, and uh see how that looks.
    12:28
    I thought I hit stop, but apparently not. Okay, I'll let you watch me struggle with one drop target, and then
    12:40
    I'll just cut to the finished product here. This is the part that's going to be fun. need to attach this spring. And uh clearly I need another hand. Okay, wish me luck. Get some extra light here.
    13:05
    There's got to be an easy way to do this. I'll probably figure out the system once I'm down to the last one.
    13:32
    What is the smart way to do this? That's not working. Let's try this.
    13:47
    It's awkward. And I feel like my head is blocking the whole view. So that's no good.
    14:08
    I'm only letting you see one of these. drop targets and then doing the rest. That is not working. Okay, this has been a royal nightmare. I've been fighting for I feel like 20 minutes. managed to get a couple in. And then what I learned is that um if you do a test and actually drop the target and it pops up without the bar there to stop it, you lose the spring that you just spent 20 minutes putting on. So after stabbing myself uh and trying various different tools, we got these this uh screwdriver um some other small jeweler screwdriver. Finally found a system using this and you got to do it very specifically or else you just struggle. So you got to hook it in. You got to go from this side. Get up the drop target just about yay this height. Then you go in through between the drop target. Hook the spring and then try and latch it onto the drop target. And even though I've got a system, still a pain in the butt. Almost had it there. Come on. Get up there. So close.
    15:55
    There it is. Got it. I don't know if you saw that or not, but uh I got to tell you, it's been so much fun. Only six more to go. Okay, this drop target bank is reassembled. And um now check this out. See how nice that moves now compared to this one.
    16:19
    And uh we can test these drop targets now and hopefully won't lose my springs. But talk about being overbuilt. Look, there's like a tab on this side and a tab on this side and two switches per drop target. Like, why why do we need that? All right, here we go. Let's test these guys out. Nice.
    16:46
    All right, that's satisfying. So, all I have to do is clean all these 10 switches and then um I can move on to the next one. Oh, and also I was going to put in a screw here, but the old screw broken off in there. So, we're just going to leave that as is. Okay, so I got all the switches cleaned up. This time I just used rubbing alcohol soaked very, very fine sandpaper and uh dragged it through every switch. And then I made sure they were all adjusted. So, basically, let's see if I can show you here. Down. When you go all the way up, closes the first one. And on its way down, it closes the second one. See that? But when it goes all the way down, that switch opens back up. So, that was confusing me at first. Why is the switch never closing? But it just closes on the way down. So definitely overengineered.
    18:01
    Probably rock solid though. Hopefully. Anyway, I think I can officially say I am done this drop target bank. Oh, I forgot to mention I did go ahead and tighten every single one of these screws cuz like I said, this belite stuff shrinks over time. And I imagine, look at that. Every single screw it's going to need two or three turns
    18:36
    just to um tighten them back up. So, am I going to have to do this to every switch stack in the head? Uh, I hope not. Okay, drop target bank number two disassembled. Here's what it looks like. I'm going to try this time to not lose any art on any of the faces. Be extra cautious with that. Both these springs are either replacements or have been cut or mangled. So, I'm going to see if I have some better springs. I [clears throat] should be able to muster something up, but they're just not so springy. Oh, I think I forgot to show you how clean my drop targets came out. Oops. But the installation went way quicker this time, and I only lost the tiniest little bit of art. It's just so hard to do. And uh now I just got to reassemble. Need to find me a couple springs here. And uh look what I found. These guys should do the trick just perfectly, don't you think? Okay, this target bank is done. I didn't have to use the other springs after all. I was able to just kind of snip these and stretch them a little bit. And look how much better that is than what it was. So, I still just have to clean switches on the back. Let's uh give these guys a test here.
    20:16
    Beautiful. Okay, that one didn't drop as far. That could be a problem. Might have to look into why that is.
    20:27
    Maybe I just need to lower this black arm a little bit. Uh, that's probably not true. Well, I guess it all depends on what it looks like from the top side. So, we'll have to wait on that. Anyway, I got to go for dinner and then I'll come back and then we'll wrap up this video. Okay, I'm back. And on that note, that reminds me this will be the last episode for a little bit because I am heading to Edmonton soon for the Canadian Pinball Championships. And as it turns out, it's going to be minus30° C there. And there's going to be 1,000 cm of snow apparently. So just as it's starting to warm up here in my hometown, I'm going to go back to the Arctic tundra. Oh, how apt for this project named Alaska. So, I'm going to be basically going to a place that much feels like Alaska. So, I will um once this video is wrapped up, then you won't see me back for a solid week or so. But anyway, I got to try and represent in Edmonton and uh see if I can um hold or pull my weight. Hold my own. Hold my weight. Pull my own. No, I don't want to do that. Okay. Anyway, I have finished this drop target bank. I successfully was able to trim this one spring. And now look at it. Boom. It's the best drop target of the bunch. Now goes all the way to the top comfortably. And I cleaned and adjusted every single switch meticulously. They are all opening and closing when they're supposed to. So, I think that I am going to either move on to dealing with lamp sockets, light bulbs, and inserts. Got to clean those up. Or the stepper. Not really sure yet. Maybe both. Maybe neither. Who knows? We'll see. Okay, I think I will tackle these inserts. cuz it's a relatively easy thing to do. Uh, accessing these guys be a little more tricky. I did remove the sockets though to get at the light bulbs. And couple more here, these guys there [snorts] and here. So, we'll see how clean I can get these guys. Okay, I got these inserts a little bit better, but I started questioning whether this white backing here is actually part of the Playfield paint. And um I had a bunch of, you know, rubbing alcohol in here. Started to almost feel gummy, so I got a little scared. So I cleaned them up as best as I could without potentially removing any Playfield artwork. So, I really don't want to mess with that. And since the they're, you know, all the inserts are opaque, I don't think you're going to notice the little bit of leftover dirt that is behind. So, I'm leaving well enough alone. All right. But I think I'm going to move the wires from the lugs over to the butts just to potentially improve the connection of the lamp sockets here. So using my wire wheel and cleaning these butts up.
    24:22
    Okay, I just had no luck doing that strategy. Solder was not taking even with flux. So, given up on it and I'm just going to stick in some LEDs. So, um to see what color the LEDs are, I just pulled up a photo here. And this is actually my four player Alaska here. And this is my one player. And as you can see, there is a difference in the apron colors. So, there's something else that is different. But yeah, so just looking here, I'm going to go with natural white for there. And then I'll go with a warm white for this guy. And then anyway, that's my plan now. I'll just deal with whatever bad lamp sockets I run into as I run into them. All right, I'm going to give you your LEP lesson for the day. And um what I'm doing here is well, I replaced the one socket cuz it was just so bad. And best to do it now when the playfield is on the table. So, not a big deal. There's just one wire. And instead of um attaching the wire to the leg, I put it on the butt. No problem there. and then soldered the one wire to the base. So, I was going to replace this other socket here and I noticed that there's actually two wires going to the base and a very short wire at that and that's going to be a bit of a challenge. So, this is how you leap up a socket. So, what I did here was dremelled the underneath of this to make some good contact, some nice fresh surface. Then, using these tools, I cut the socket in half. And now what I'm going to do is put a used socket underneath this socket here and uh screw it down. That's going to be my solder connection there or my bridge. Uh I won't need to solder the two wires onto this. Actually, I'm going to remove this bit here so that I can uh get this uh in there a little better. And then I can solder this wire to the butt here. And then uh I save having to fight with that. All right. And this is how you leap up a lamp socket. So you can see I repurposed part of the old socket and just sandwiched it with this new screw to the new quote unquote used socket. And uh that will work just fine and dandy. This wire is soldered to the butt. Um it's a lot of trouble actually and uh probably not even worth it. So, you know, in the grand scheme of things, probably just buy a $2 lamp socket and replace the whole thing. Okay, with that lamp socket replaced, I think I am done. I've got everything LED.
    27:33
    So that means pretty much down to um dealing with the stepper unit here. And then um bottom side of the playfield will technically be done barring any tweaks, adjustments, or lamp socket replacements. I was just trying to figure out where this purple wire goes. Going to have to figure that out at some point. And look what I noticed. Uh, one lamp socket trying to hide on me. And after all that lepping, look, I broke one of the wires off. So, I need to solder that to the base after all. Okay, I'm kind of starting to tear into this stepper unit here. And uh, sorry, my headlamp is on and I don't want to touch anything cuz I'm very greasy. But, uh, slow going and I'm just going to be meticulous about this and probably I don't know if I'll document too much of it cuz I don't want this episode to be 4 hours long. Okay, I'm tearing into this thing. The more parts I take off of it, the more scared I become. Was able to clean this plunger. It doesn't want to come out the way it sits right now. And clean this plunger and sleeve. and just started tearing off parts on the back side now. So, I'm going to clean all those rivets. And I'm not sure how I would mind really cleaning the spring in these guts here. So, maybe I just need to remove that screw. But, like I said, the more parts I take off, the scarier it becomes. I did take a lot of photos, so hopefully I can reassemble all this stuff properly. But it's all cleaned up, all the pivot points. I sanded these um rivets here, which make the contact on all those points over here. So once I clean that up and I'll see uh what else is required. I just want to make sure that this wheel turns freely. And it looks like might be okay. I got to clean this point too actually. All the pivot points. And uh then we'll be doing some good stepping hopefully. Okay. Okay, I got all these rivets cleaned up. And I'll add a little bit of grease to those. And I uh got this side cleaned up, the spring and this cog wheel here and the switch. And I'm pretty happy with how this is moving. So, I think that's as far as I need to go. So, I can uh see if I can remember how to reassemble all this now. All right, I am done cleaning this up. And now for the big test. Check this out. Okay, which way do I got to go? This way? No, it's already maxed out there. Okay, we're going to use the top solenoid.
    31:05
    And you can see this pole post here kind of just stepping around one click at a time until it opens this switch. Boom. At the end of the limit there. Now this solenoid
    31:23
    to reset that post back into the bottom position there. That's max. And then
    31:39
    I'm pretty impressed that that worked out as well as it did. I thought I was going to be fighting this a lot harder. So on that note, I am wrapping up this episode. And um going to eat, take a break. Back's a little sore, even though I am still enjoying the luxury of my office chair.