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What to do with this EM game that was given to me?

Pintastic Pinball & Game Room Expo·video·1h 10m·analyzed·Dec 12, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

EM pinball acquisition and restoration guide emphasizing assessment, motivation, and practical sourcing strategies.

Summary

Paul Patty delivers a comprehensive presentation at Pintastic Pinball & Game Room Expo on acquiring and restoring electromechanical (EM) pinball machines. The session covers assessment criteria (condition, completeness, parts availability), restoration philosophy (from simple repairs to museum-quality work), sourcing parts and donor machines, and practical advice on evaluating whether a machine is worth restoring based on personal motivation and available resources.

Key Claims

  • EM pinball machines can be acquired through various channels: found on roadsides, purchased at shows, inherited, or bought from private sellers.

    high confidence · Paul Patty's opening agenda overview describing how people acquire machines

  • The four major historical EM pinball manufacturers are Gottlieb, Williams, Valley, and Chicago Coin.

    high confidence · Paul Patty's slide presentation on pinball manufacturers

  • Restoration cost can exceed a game's monetary value, but intrinsic motivation (personal attachment, rule set preference, nostalgia) can justify restoration anyway.

    high confidence · Paul Patty discussing cost-benefit analysis of restoration

  • Playfield inserts (lighted plastic indicators) commonly fall out or deteriorate in aged machines and require replacement or refilling during restoration.

    high confidence · Paul Patty demonstrating Skylab playfield missing inserts and discussing remediation methods

  • Replacement plastics for EM machines can cost approximately $100+ per set depending on the game and availability.

    high confidence · Paul Patty discussing parts sourcing and costs

  • Cabinets, backboxes, and playfields can be swapped between machines or repainted to restore value, offering creative restoration solutions.

    high confidence · Paul Patty explaining donor machine strategies and cosmetic restoration options

  • Common EM machine deterioration issues include water damage, pest infestation, wiring damage from animals or amateur modifications, paint fading/yellowing, and coin box break-ins.

    high confidence · Paul Patty's detailed condition assessment slides covering damage types

  • Steve Young's Pinball Resource (out of Poughkeepsie, New York) has been a reliable source for EM pinball parts for approximately 40 years.

    high confidence · Paul Patty recommending Steve Young Pinball Resource as a long-standing parts supplier

Notable Quotes

  • “These machines are like rabbits. And many of y'all have happened to get made the made the mistake or the good fortune of getting two. Before you know it, you'll have three and before you know it, you'll have more than 11.”

    Paul Patty@ 3:40 — Humorous observation on how EM machine collecting escalates rapidly, a common experience in the collector community

  • “I found a couple [of machines] two or three that kind of machines I'll never part with deal and it's a fun journey I think and one that doesn't end.”

    Paul Patty@ 4:52 — Expresses the personal emotional investment and long-term engagement with collecting machines with special rule sets or personal history

  • “You might really want this game and really want it to look nice. So, your intrinsic motivation might override it [the cost consideration].”

    Paul Patty@ 18:40 — Key insight on how personal attachment drives restoration decisions beyond pure economic rationality

  • “Deficiencies represent restoration cost and time. Your time like you're investing here they're not making any more of it time. So how do you want to spend your time?”

    Paul Patty@ 26:14 — Emphasizes the importance of evaluating time investment in restoration as a personal decision factor

  • “The fun thing I like to do with my own car, polish it and make it look nice turned very quickly with three iterations turned into not fun.”

    Paul Patty@ 27:06 — Personal anecdote warning that hobby restoration can become burdensome if approached as repetitive labor

  • “I played this 1970 and I want it to be just like I played it. You know, but somebody else, hey, it's still going to work. It's going to look fine. Nobody else would even notice.”

Entities

Paul PattypersonSteve YoungpersonPintastic Pinball & Game Room ExpoeventPacific Pinball MuseumorganizationPinball ResourceorganizationIPDBorganizationMr. PinballorganizationMayfair Amusementsorganization

Signals

  • ?

    educational_signal: Paul Patty delivering comprehensive educational presentation on EM acquisition and restoration at major community event; indicates strong community commitment to knowledge transfer and newcomer education

    high · Full presentation structure with slides, live demonstrations, Q&A, and resource recommendations

  • ?

    community_signal: Active recruitment and education of new EM collectors through structured expo presentations; signals community investment in growing engaged collector base

    high · Paul Patty's audience engagement questions to assess experience levels and motivation among attendees

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Discussion of standardized assessment frameworks (condition scales 1-10, grading playfield/cabinet/backglass, parts inventory checklists) indicating professionalization of restoration practices

    high · Detailed condition assessment rubric and systematic approach to evaluating machine completeness

  • $

    market_signal: Evidence of active secondary market with donor machine strategies, part-swapping optimization, and strategic acquisition to reduce restoration costs; indicates mature buyer sophistication

    high · Paul Patty's example of purchasing High Deal to swap back glass with High Rollers Bowling, then reselling at net positive value

  • ?

    operational_signal: Multiple parts sourcing channels identified: established suppliers (Steve Young, Mayfair Amusements), online resources, shows, and private collectors; indicates robust supply chain for EM restoration

    high · Paul Patty discussing multiple vendor options and recommending Steve Young Pinball Resource as 40-year-reliable supplier

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

0:05
Welcome everybody. Uh so what we're going to do here today is look at a presentation on what do I do with this EM pinball machine. Let's get this going. And if you could please cue the slides. Thank you. Well, yeah. First things first, and that is safety. uh anytime you're doing anything with these machines, of course, the physical safety of the moving and such, but also the wires can carry high voltage, including line voltage, which means basically sticking your finger in a plug outlet. Don't do that in the wall. Uh use protective gear, follow safety practices, and by all means, use your best judgment, right? And uh as we see, all right, the presentation is what do I do with a ZM pinball machine? My name is Paul Patty. I'm from Nasha, New Hampshire. a little bit more of an intro later on. Feel free to contact me anytime and let's get this working. We talked about safety first. What's our agenda? Well, the introduction. Yes, we're going to talk about what do you have? Uh whether you find a pinball machine by the side of the road. I've had that people tell me that. Not happen myself, but maybe someday. Uh whether you buy it from somebody, whether you want to buy it from somebody, whether you find one at a show you like to play and want to find one. uh whether you inherit one from your uncle, I don't know, all kinds of things. Uh we're going to talk about assessing what you have and what to do with it, what you want to do with it, what you could do with it, and then the kind of the smartest way to go about that. Some suggestions, what can what is it complete? Is it a complete pinball machine? What is a complete pinball machine? Uh EM wise, electromechanical, what is electromechanical? We talk about all these things. We'll talk about the condition. A lot of what you find is it a is it worth restoring? Is it even worth picking up if it's on the side of the road? Almost always yes. But what can you do with it? What what would you want to do with it is really the question. Uh how do you transport it? How do you move it from one place to another? Do you want to repair it or do you want to do a full restoration all the way through? And then we'll have a bonus section too with a little some extra things for us and some time reserve some time there for Q&A as well. And last but not always a few resources to leave you with for I'll say action items but things you might want to explore after the presentation. So first off an introduction. Oh, there I am. I'm here. Okay, cool. I don't have to look up here. Over here. Actually, I'm going to come over here if it's okay. Can you still hear me? Yeah. Yeah. Okay, great. Cool. Okay, great. Cool. Ah, thank you, Jillian. All right. I Ah, thank you, Jillian. All right. I don't want to mess up with the camera or anything. So, yeah, I split my time kind of these days between Nashville, New Hampshire, and a place in Calabash, North Carolina. It's near Myrtle Beach. Anybody been Myrtle Beach? No. Yeah. Okay. It's cool. I mean, I not as many pinballs down there. Kind of interesting. Uh, but they're they're around. I've been a repair tech for a long time. Uh started pretty much in 79 at CV Playland down in Cape Cod. You might have been to CV Playland on Cape Cod back in the day. The barn of fun was fun, too. Uh but before that, I used to go to antique shops and beg [clears throat] my parents to like buy me a pinball machine for Christmas or birthday, and they did one year. Uh and that was 1975. But anyway, I got only 11 machines. I say only, these things are like rabbits. And many of y'all have happened to get made the made the mistake or the good fortune of getting two. Before you know it, you'll have three and before you know it, you'll have more than 11. So, it just happens. Uh I'm out of room. I keep saying I'm out of room and they keep coming. So, which isn't a bad thing, right, Alex? Uh [laughter] so, what do I do in real life? IRL. I'm a computer trainer, really. I started teaching intro to computers back in the late 80s. Of course, nowadays that's kind of not a thing anymore. Everybody knows about computers. So, moved on to computer security. Uh, what happens? Can I do this? Yeah. What do What is your I want to go beep with the badge, right? Kind of thing. Who are you and what does this get you into? You know, not only doors, but not only doors and things, but what files, what what things at work can you get into is controlled by these systems. And that's what I teach. Favorite thing though of all rule sets that keep you coming back for more. If you find a machine that has a rule, neverending rule set. I found a couple of machines like this per and it's personal to you, right? You know which one is it? That's your that's your it's you to decide but it's fun finding out. I found a couple two or three that kind of machines I'll never part with deal and it's a fun journey I think and one that doesn't end. It's kind of cool. All right, let's do this. Yeah, great polls. Want want wants this to be a kind of a participatory session. And how many of y'all have electrical electrical, electronic or mechanical experience, woo? Oo, great candidates. How many of you want to have electrical electronics mechanic experience? Then you're in the right place, right? And this is a great place to start. It was a great place for a 14-year-old kid back in 1975 to cut his teeth, not literally, but on on low voltage electronics and cause and effect. What causes things to happen? Uh, you know, 50 years later, I'm still figuring that out, but it's okay. It's cool. Um, one more. Two more. Come on. Whoa. That was a surprise. Let's try that again. Let's try that again. Yeah. Did I uh Let's try it again.

  • A 'donor game' strategy can reduce restoration costs—buying a less valuable machine with good parts to swap with a desirable machine, then selling both at net positive value.

    high confidence · Paul Patty's example of buying Hi-Deal to swap back glass with High Rollers Bowling

  • Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda, California is a notable museum-quality restoration reference point for EM machines.

    high confidence · Paul Patty mentioning Pacific Pinball Museum as restoration standard example

    • [name withheld pending review]@ 23:00 — Illustrates the divide between restoration philosophies—purist authenticity vs. functional pragmatism

  • “That's the only grand—the only memory I have of my granddad and pinball together... And he was kind of like poo pooing it. But hey, that was grandpa. Different era.”

    Paul Patty@ 7:44 — Personal story explaining emotional and historical attachment to acquiring Skylab machine

  • “I'm remiss if I didn't [mention]... Steve Young pinball resource in out of Pipsy, New York... for 40 years now almost.”

    Paul Patty@ 23:25 — Acknowledges long-standing parts supplier reliability and community trust in specific vendors

    • Gottlieb
    company
    Williamscompany
    Valleycompany
    Chicago Coincompany
    Skylabgame
    Mini Poolgame
    Royal Flashgame
    Ace Highgame
    Target Poolgame
    High Rollers Bowlinggame
    Hi-Dealgame
    Super-Flitegame
    CV Playlandvenue
    Dave Marstonperson
    Gabeperson
  • ?

    design_philosophy: Discussion of competing restoration philosophies—purist authenticity (matching original specs) vs. pragmatic functionality (modern substitutes acceptable); reflects community diversity in approach

    high · Audience discussion about replacing original components with modern alternatives, and debate over 'museum quality' vs. 'playable condition'

  • ?

    collector_signal: Personal nostalgia, rule set preference, and family history identified as primary motivators for acquisition and restoration; signals that monetary value secondary to emotional/experiential value in EM collecting

    high · Paul Patty's extended anecdote about Skylab and grandfather memories; statement that intrinsic motivation can override cost considerations

  • ?

    product_concern: Systematic documentation of EM machine failure modes by age: playfield insert degradation, water damage, pest infestation, wiring deterioration, paint fading, cosmetic wear; indicates expected condition issues across category

    high · Detailed condition assessment slides covering water damage, pests, wiring damage, paint deterioration, and cabinet break-ins

  • ?

    technology_signal: Discussion of hard-top playfield overlays as modern restoration alternative; indicates emerging aftermarket solutions for playfield preservation

    medium · Audience member mentioning hard-top plastic overlays with printed playfield layouts as alternative to traditional playfield restoration

  • ?

    venue_signal: Pintastic Expo functioning as active venue for collector education, parts sourcing (Mayfair Amusements present), and community connection; indicates healthy ecosystem for in-person EM engagement

    high · Paul Patty's presentation at expo; vendor presence; audience participation; museum reference visits

  • ?

    historical_signal: Reference to major historical manufacturers (Gottlieb, Williams, Valley, Chicago Coin) and arcade venues (CV Playland) as foundational context; indicates strong community connection to pinball history

    high · Paul Patty's discussion of 'big four' manufacturers and personal origin story at CV Playland starting 1979

  • ?

    content_signal: Paul Patty documenting restoration projects on video (referenced Toledo series, Yukon/Klondike reel problem documentation); indicates active content creation in EM restoration niche

    medium · References to documented video of machine problems and restoration projects; suggestion of future content series

    • 5:53
    There's another question. It's all right. It's all right. Do you already have a machine? Yo. Uh, [laughter]
    6:03
    how many youall already have a machine you found and are figuring out kind of what do I do with it? All right, cool. Good stuff. So, if so, yeah, if so, do you know what to do with it? And one more. Oh, this session is designed to help you inform your decision. I don't know everything, right? I will never know everything. Uh, you and I together know a lot. And that's what this is all about. It's about helping us come together, help each other, and go forward and have fun, right? Safely, of course. All right. First off, what what do I have? You know, a friend of mine called me up a while back and said, "Hey, a couple years ago and said, I've got this I've got this Sky Pinball machine sitting in the storage unit. Uh, the money's doing the storage unit. I don't want to pay the money anymore, basically. And do you want the do you want this machine?" I don't know. It is It's a three-hour drive. Uh, I don't know, 6 hours, right? Cuz you got to, you know, back and forth a day cuz six hours of a thing, right? Now you get the whole day pretty much shot. Do I do this or not? Well, Skyab uh has a is a sentimental kind of title for me. A lot of them are. I played this in Methuan Mass back when I was uh 13 and my grandfather and my dad were there. I remember my remember my grandfather said, you know, where is your son Johnny? You know, my my Italian grandfather. My dad's like, "Oh, he's over in the arcade." Uh, dad, "Oh, what's he doing that for?" You know, he doesn't he doesn't need to be doing that. So, that's this machine. [laughter] So, I have that's the only grand the only memory I have of my granddad and and and pinball together. Even though it's, you know, it was who he was, and that's cool, but it turned out to be one of the greatest things ever, right, that I could do. And he was kind of like poo pooing it. But hey, that was grandpa. Different era. So, what do you have? Well, what I found was Oh, this is a different machine actually. Since then, remember I talked about rabbits, right? So, another one popped up for sale few miles away. Do I do it? Do I not? Do I, you know, take over the take over the the downstairs living room and turn it into a storage room? And what's my wife going to say? It's the big thing. Uh, another one. Yep. So, I did I did it. I bit the This is This is the pinball machine in its native state. And oh, how do we say um kind of like Marlo Marlon Perkins with his loyal assistant Jim, right? Well, I filmed from above, you know, wrestling the wild alligator. This is how it looks when you find it basically in a basement. And I went over the guy's like, you know, I listed it for X dollars. You what do you want to give me for it? I just want this thing out of here. So maybe that's what you'll find. You might find that a lot. Anyway, that's actually on deck next because this one was the one before it that I redid. So there were several more than I thought and thank you Dave and oh and I forgot I'm remiss I forgot to say thank you for to Dave Marston and and Gabe also for having me here this inviting me and and for you all for investing your all y'all for investing your valuable time here. There's a lot of other things you could be doing. I think this is a really fun way to to do to um invest some time. Here are the four I say most most common right pinball manufacturers of the last 70 or so years or 80 years now I guess more than that but Gotley Williams and Valley and Chicago coin uh these are the big four as it were and there but there are many others you might find United Genko uh exhibit and so forth keen I always wanted a kini hadn't found one yet so saw you Oh, [laughter] saw you Oh, [laughter] actually this uh truth be known, this Royal Flash, the Chicago Coin, Royal Flash here was a acquisition from I never had a Chicago coin. Oh, look, there's one tied with another game I need parts for. Yes, I'll take that, too. Remember I talked about rabbits? You see how this is going, right? So, hope you have an extra room somewhere. Uh, if you look into things like I am. Anyway, IPDB and Mr. Pinball price guide are actually at the end of the one of these actually and you can just Google the other but these are sources that you can find more information.
    10:26
    Right. Thanks for the thanks for the recording. Thanks for the thanks for the recording. Yeah. There we go. Yeah, that's how I kind of There we go. Yeah, that's how I kind of wanted it to show, too. Cool. Yeah, we got Skyab as you can see. As you can see, IRL right here. Uh, Minipool, uh, which Dave, that was a great high score. Uh, a couple years ago at Saratoga Springs, I brought that. Uh, Royal Flash, that's my rabbit, right? The latest rabbit. And of course, this is the parts machine I got for the deal that I got these two. I needed a back glass. Bought the whole machine because I had another high deal. Swap the back glass and then sell the one with the the crack back glass kind of deal. These are the kind of things you can you know you can you can do next. So what makes a great game? That's up to you. Uh there are some common things among the collector hive as it were that you know everybody agrees on. These are and it's usually for that we usually use a scale of 1 to 10 as terms of you know is it playable? Is it as good as the old days on location? And then at the top of the 10 is like, you know, is it museum quality as good as it came off factory? Probably even better. That'd be a 10. Most games are not a 10 in all areas. Usually playfield, cabinet, and back glass or or head is kind of the three things you grade typically on a machine. But what can make a great game? I talked about earlier one I talked about uh you know, what do we say? Cat out of the bag. I talked about rule set. I love a rule set. keeps you coming back for more. What do you think? What makes a good game?
    12:07
    Layout. There you go. And your name is Eric. Thanks, Eric. Yeah, Eric mentions Eric. Thanks, Eric. Yeah, Eric mentions layout. Anybody else? Drop targets. There we go. And you are Drop targets. There we go. And you are sorry. David, you got it. Drop targets. Yeah. U David, you got it. Drop targets. Yeah. U Nate. Spinners. Nate. Spinners. Nate. Spinners. I love spinners. And Nate. Spinners. I love spinners. And spinners are uh for those of you who haven't looked at them closely yet, on the front they have a picture and on the back they have a picture that doesn't get exposed until you spin it. So sometimes it'll be a a guy kicking a a football, right? And the guy will be like this in the front, then there'll be like a football in the back and when you spin it, you know, you get the the guy kicking the football repeatedly. It's pretty cool. Anyway, they had to do a lot back in 1950s60s7s something because we didn't have a lot. You know, these were our this is these are our web pages right here. You're looking at our web pages from 1970s, right? Everybody color color on something. Good luck. Color on TV. Not until like 72 or three, right? For a lot of most people. 76 for us. But anyway, yeah. Awesome artwork, back glass, playfield, cabinet. But you like the picture, you like the colors, they go with your room. I don't know, you know, but lots of reasons. um rule set. Sorry, my favorite of course. Uh rarity, right? Uh rare. What is a rare game? One they haven't made many of. One there aren't too many left of one that usually commands a higher price, but we'll talk about that in a couple slides. Uh personal story and history. Oh my gosh, I got a lot of them. You probably have a lot of them, too, right? Where where were you when if you played these back in the day? Welcome back kind of thing. You know, it can it can help loop the time together from then from now back until then. And here you are, which is kind of cool. A little bit like time traveling sounds, the funk, the pop of the real. There's nothing like the pop of a of a fill in the name of your favorite manufacturer, you know, the pop of a gotly peck, you know, kind of like or the pop of a Williams cluck or or a ballet cluckle. You know, there's uh different sounds that make make this so so uh come alive and a nice addition to your lineup. I saw a guy for sale about what 5 years ago. You might have seen it too where he had all of the flipper games, the golly flippers, flipper clown, flipper fair, flipper flipper, flipper. There fair, flipper flipper, flipper. There was like five of them and he was selling the whole lot. And remember rabbits, right? So, no, I didn't buy them. Um, I I I I applaud the person who who probably did, but I don't know who that was. But anyway, yeah, lots of reasons. So, that so to our title, right? What do I do with this game? You know, Dave Dave Dave and I kind of sat down a few months ago, quite a few months ago, and talked about what would be a good topic. And we could go a lot of ways. You know, from what we've presented so far, we could go down the cell route. How do you buy a pinball machine? How do you negotiate a pinball machine? How do you We could go way down many rabbit holes. So, we're going to keep to this, right? We're going to keep to what do I do with the game? You found it. Here's another one I had picked up. This is a target pool that I restored. One of the earlier restorations. I said restorations, fixing uppers. It depends, right? In terms of level, how much work? What's the cost or benefit? Do you want to go full-blown museum work like Pacific Pinball Museum in Alama, California? Anybody ever been there? Yes. All right. A couple people. And there are some more. I'm remiss for not in the others, but we only have so much time. Uh, and that's one that I've been to. Uh, what's your motivation? Do you want to just sell this thing? Is it a quick sale? I just want to flip this. I want to do like on Pawn Stars and flipping odds and evens. Anybody see that? See the Pawn Stars about 8 years ago, 10 years ago, they have one on there. They founded Valley Odds and Evens, which isn't a very I wouldn't say it's a rare machine, but they they they flipped it because they're pond people, right? And that's what that was their goal and they did. Uh what else? No cost play practice. While you have this thing, if you fix it yourself or have it fixed, you get to play it long as you want until you decide to sell it. So do you want to hone your pinball playing flipper skills? Do you want to have it for the family, right? To play for a while and maybe get tired of it, get a different one. Like I say, a lot of rabbit holes here. And this is the restoration uh complete complete as I got right with this one. The the inserts that you see here where the ball rolls, there's a lot of them and they were all they were all cuped to some degree with the plastic. And nowadays, you can come up and see this after the presentation. I actually fill them in now and have a little bit of a method. It takes too long. I I don't like doing it, but I do it. And there you go. Right. In the end, I like doing it because otherwise I probably wouldn't do another, but I do. So, uh, this one I left them cupped for the sense of time. So, it's not really a I wouldn't call it a restoration, but it's a it's a bringing back to average quality. And that may be enough. Here's a This is a Gotle Ace high from 1957 uh that I picked up, oh goodness, about 20 years ago. And I still haven't really restored it. I decided to leave this one the way it is. You know, the the gentleman that I bought this from said, "Hey, you know, you can just get some antique white and put it in here." And I could, right? But every time I tried to do it, it just wasn't the right white. How many shades of white there are? Oh my goodness. Right. So, and 20 years on, it probably would have faded differently by now. So, it's like, you know what? I just left it and hopefully I'll find another. Um, I kind of have an idea where there's one. And, um, I like the machine so much. It's my favorite. It's my favorite rule set. and um I'll probably acquire that one and and and sell this one. But restoration cost uh yeah what interest time fix restore yourself or pay somebody else. Well, this session coming up here we get some more slides. It's kind of designed to inform you so that you can have an idea, you know, if you call somebody, are they really, you know, is this really what the deal is? And are they not just telling you stories that aren't true about your game? Uh yeah, the restoration cost might exceed the game's I'm going to close a little bit here. Might exceed the game's value, sure, but uh the your intrinsic motivation might override it. You know, you might really want this game and really want it to look nice. So, could I swap my white elephant game? Uh why? I went to Pentastic and played a game I like better. Found a deal I couldn't pass up. Remember rabbits? Some people just want an EM machine and the title doesn't matter. So, well, nobody would ever want this. Well, it's a pinball machine, you know, they it's a car. It'll get you to work and back, you know, kind of thing. And where lots of places nowadays, you got the internet, the collector community, sure. Uh, friends, and you might even find be able to swap here like at a show. So, what is a pinball machine? What does an EM specifically pinball machine look like? What are the parts? Uh, is it all there? This was Skyab before. And as you can see, all of the all the inserts that are the lighted plastic uh indicators of something, whether it's points or something to shoot for, had fallen out basically. And it was my job, should I decide to accept it, to put in all these things. And I'm still working on the best way to do this. I used wood filler. I think going forward I'm going to start using a more a more uh permanent type solution to put them in because I wanted to be able to put them out if I could if I needed to. And um that it worked out okay as you you come up and see that later. But um yeah, that's something that that is uh then clear coated with polyurethane actually. But back to the pieces, right? The cabinet. And this is where I start pointing at the at the um machine. Whoops. Yeah, this one. So, the cabinet, right? We got this thing right here. The uh playfield. This right here, of course, being the playfield. Inserts, as you can see, there are missing. And as you can see here, they are in place and polyurethane over nice and smooth. The ball rolls. The ball doesn't have a problem. uh uh plastics. We see the plastics here, which are one of the things you want to look for when you find a machine. Are the plastics there and are they complete? And are they not burned out? Like did lamps not burn out the plastic and make it all brown so that now you got to get a new set of plastics. They can be kind of expensive if you can find them. Uh they can run about a hundred bucks a set or more depending on the game and so forth. Um, question. Oh, legs. Oh, legs. Like, thank you, Dave. Just about to Like, thank you, Dave. Just about to Yeah, the legs. Whoa. Oh, it's This is actually a This is actually a magnetic thing, too, to pick up things, right? So So that's why it's kind of sticking to the leg, but yeah, multi-use tool. All right, so those are the parts of a machine. Oh, forgot one coin door on the front. A shooter shooter plunger, actually. And that is pretty much the anatomy of a pinball machine. Yeah. So, is it all there? Are those parts all there? And then the second question, of course, is are those parts in decent shape? Are they and are they in enough good enough shape that you'll want to take this on? Or if you've got this thing, what do I do with it? Is it worth fixing or restoring? This was a Yukon that I bought. Sorry, this was a clondike, I believe, that I bought a few years ago. Had a very interesting problem here with the with the reels that I documented. No longer have the machine, but I do have the video and and maybe maybe there'll maybe we can do something on that sometime, like problems and how to fix them. That'd be kind of an interesting interesting thing. But, um, is it worth fixing? Is it worth fixing or restoring? Are the parts available mechanics that make it work? Almost always, yes. or you can fashion something typically, but the more cosmetic you get, the more chances there aren't going to be parts. Uh especially for something physical that's cosmetic, like a certain type of post on the plate kit. Uh would you be happy replacing that with something else that's modern that doesn't look like the old one? Some people yes, some people no, you know. No. I mean, I played this 1970 and I want it to be just like I played it. Sorry. You know, but somebody else, hey, it's still going to work. It's going to look fine. Nobody else would even notice. Again, it's all up to you. Uh, where can I source them? Suppliers, shows, right? Like here, I believe we have uh supplier Mayfair. Mayfair. Mayfair Amusements is here. Uh, I go Mayfair Amusements is here. Uh, I go online to online. I go on phone actually to uh pimp yeah pimp I'd be remiss if I didn't uh for 40 years now almost. Uh Steve Young uh pinball resource in out of Pipsy, New York. other owners. Sure, they may be tired of their machine. And if that's your grail game, which is like the the, you know, the one that you holy grail that you have always been looking for, you might be in luck. They might want to part with it. Who knows? Another thing is you might want to get a donor game. And this gets into a whole another avenue of like the high deal that I bought to get the back glass. Uh, you know, back glass was going to be $300. I saw the high deal. It's like, yeah, it's like 650. Okay. Hey, uh, I'll buy it for 650. I'll swap the glass and then there's my 300, right? But and I can take the quack of crack glass and put it on the high deal. Maybe I only get 500 or 550 for it, but I don't have to spend the 300, right? So, it's a little bit better outcome. And the person who gets it is like, well, I want a high deal, but I don't want to pay a lot. And if it has a cracked grass, I'm okay with it. So, these things kind of can work out. Uh, oh yeah, playfield. Uh, other things. the playfield head and motorboard are often parts of the game that get swapped that like uh or backlash I probably should have put there but this playfield isn't as good as the one on this other machine. So I'm going to buy them both and I'm going to swap playfields and I'm going to sell sell sell that one kind of is the way it could go.
    24:52
    Oh, a motorboard. What's a motorboard? We're going to talk about that in a few minutes. condition.
    25:03
    Uh, one more shot of this without the inserts of the Skyab playfield. This is what really we we talk we don't say too much here in the presentation about the value of a game. Again, that's a whole another whole another avenue, right? But in general, the condition that's in the cabinet, the plate of the light box and the legs, these are things that you can look at and say, "Hey, is that is that in decent shape or not?" Uh, and it really plays a large part in the monetary value. You can you can find a machine that's very rare, but has been infested with termites. Now, what do we do? My first question would be, did the termites get to the playfield? Because a cabinet can be swapped. A cabinet can even be repainted to be of the same era for that machine from a machine that was more common. Same thing with the backbox, especially Same thing with the backbox, especially on Gotle's. So, it's possible to restore a machine into a condition that's more valuable possibly. Uh but anyway, no matter how you slice it, deficiencies represent restoration cost and time. Your time like you're investing here the they're not making any more of it time. So how do you want to spend your time? Do you want to spend your time doing it? Hey, that's great. You know, you'll be learning. You'll be moving forward. You'll be doing things you want to do. Maybe just getting away from everything, you know, is a is a great thing for time. Or is it going to become laborious? Is it going to become a is it going to become something that you have to do? You know, is it going to turn into a job, which may not be a bad thing, but is your is your fun hobby going to turn into now I have to I had a job reconditioning cars for a week back when I was in uh right out of community college and didn't go well, right? About the third car had stopped being fun and that was just like the first week. So, I didn't I didn't last very long. But the fun thing I like to do with my own car, polish it and make it look nice turned very quickly with three iterations turned into not fun. So yeah, what else? How do we how do we assess? Well, first off, the cabinet, right? And I'll pop this open if we can get the camera in here.
    27:38
    And what are we doing? Cabinet. So the thing with the cabinet is that kind of thing, right? But if you look down here in the front and this is common, somebody in this machine has uh at some point in time since 1974 has um broke in to get the money out at some point. So now what do you do? Well, what I did was number one, it's not cosmetic. You wouldn't have known that unless I told you, right? or unless you look underneath is I just took a sorry I just took a piece of wood not this one but I just took a piece of wood cut it to fit and put it underneath the put underneath right right there yeah I'm sorry put it underneath where you just saw there we go yeah I just put it underneath right here so the cabinet what else we talked about we talked about the playfield Is it here? Is it in good shape? Well, playfield in good shape is really all about it's about the bottom. Yes. But it's also about the top. This is where you'll be where you'd be spending a lot of time in refinishing or making it nice. Yes. They make and I've not done a lot of this. Like I said, I don't know everything. No way. Uh, but I've heard of people who buy a plastic, they take everything off and clear out the playfield and they put like a piece of plastic down that has the printed playfield layout on it. Anybody heard of that? Yeah. What do they call that? Hard top. Hard top. Hard top could do that, right? And that Hard top could do that, right? And that I don't know which games that's available for. Certainly not all of them. Probably not a lot of them, but that's an option. May, sorry, that may be an option. So, you know what? What is the playfield condition? Uh what is the head condition? We'll talk about that too. Here I got a couple slides coming up. Um but I just wanted to show you those things live. The back glass here doesn't look too bad from the front, but we'll take an a peek here at the slides. And uh if we go back to those, please. Thank you. So what kinds of other things? Water damage, pests. I had a machine once. I was a superflight Williams 1974 too. Uh had little holes in it in the side. Little tiny itty bitty holes. And I'm like, "Oh, all right. Well, holes. I'll just patch them over." Little after I bought this thing and and uh I would notice like little dots on the ground and I'm like, "What's all that about?" So, patched it over again. Few weeks later, I look underneath the thing and there's some little dots on the ground again. And I'm like, "How's that happening?" Thing had bugs and I couldn't get them out. So, I had to It was one of the few times I've ever had to to uh quote unquote junk a machine cabinet. Anyway, um yeah, I probably could have tried harder. I probably could have put it in plastic bags and all that kind of chemicals and what I didn't do it. It's just like I'm not going to mess with it at some point. But pests are can be a problem. Uh paint of course, correct stenciling, fading or yellowing is a bad thing because it usually usually means a repaint. It could be cigarette smoke and you might be able to get off with some light intensity cleaner, but you know, uh, if you see fading yellowing, plan on possibly having a repaint. Wiring. Critters. Critters like to, uh, little nasty biting teeth, right? Like to chew things and so do humans. Maybe not chewing, but humans have ways of getting in and experimenting or in in in good, how do you say, well-meaning, right? trying to quote unquote fix things, which that's how I learned, you know, that's how a lot of us learn and not putting that down at all. Yet sometimes, uh, when you find a machine, not yet, but if you find a machine that's been experimented with and not successfully, then you got to undo the the do and get it back working again, which can be fun, right? That can be all right. Just a something to just something to expect if you see wires that are uh that don't look like the factory wires. The plunger uh can have a mashed tip on the end where where it strikes the I don't have it up here where it strikes the ball right at the very end. It can what we call mushroom. That's usually some what I my experience with that is that's like about a 3minut fix. pull off the rubber end, hit the grinder, go around about two two times or so. That smooths it out, put the rubber tip back on, and it's good to go. So, so don't let a mash tip keep you from buying a pinball machine is what I'm trying to say there, right? It's it's a thing, but it's not, you know, it's not going to stop. It's not going to be a showstopper. Uh, playful. Oh, yeah. So, this is the King Rex that I was uh fortunate enough fortunate enough to acquire a few years ago. I had played a King Tut back in 1976 and remembered it and this is its sibling. This is its Adabal sibling. Uh there are replay games and you know replay games versus out of balls. Am I speaking your language? Right. If not the replay games are credit games where you actually get you put a quarter in and you get two plays. And add a ball you put a quarter in uh you may get two plays but you can't add replays. You add balls to the existing game. It was kind of a way in some states to get around gambling laws, things like that. Anyway, this is a King Rex, which is the Adabal version of the King Tutt that I played back in 76. And I was fortunate enough to get two playfields. Uh the first playfield, this is the donor playfield that came from the machine. Uh it had warm paint, faded planking. Planking is what we see right here where the the the natural as a tree grows the capillaries that carry the water from the bottom to the top in the in the skin is how the tree lives, right? And the and those actually of the wood uh start to concave after years and years and up goes the paint. So that's what's happened here to this King Rex area and way here. This is laminating, delaminating of the what was the I say probably not poly urethane back then. It was probably um the other clear stuff coat. Think of it in a minute. Shellac. Yes, thank you. Shellac. Yep. Anyway, uh angel wing flipper marks. This doesn't have it, but these guys right here. When these become out of adjustment and they start to droop, the end of this will start to wear a an angel wing essentially in the playfield. And those are kind of those are pretty hard to get out. Not impossible, but they're hard to get out because it requires sanding and and filling and sanding and poly urethane and yeah, it could take a while. Is it worth it? Uh groove ball arch and shooter lane. Yeah, almost every machine has this grooved arch from the ball rolling here. And what will happen is the ball instead of going up, bouncing back and going down, the ball will go up and hang and it stays right there. So, a simple quick simple fix solution that is not very detectable, it's all detectable, right? but is to sand the top of that arch if especially if it's bare wood and then shellac it. That can be a really quick fix way to to stop the ball from hanging at the top of the arch. Uh the fix I like to do, of course, is to sand this all equally at the top and then pol Whoops, sorry. And then polyurethane it. Yeah. And then polyurethane it. So, it's a, as you can see, as you can see, uh, you don't have to show this, but uh Oh, it's been played a little bit. Oh, no. It's just some No worries. Just a little bit of dust in there. But yeah, that one, the ball arch is gone because I did that. So, you can check that out later if you'd like. Uh, the bumper skirt surrounds, those will also those will also wear where the where the bumper comes down and pushes the ball away. that constant will wear the wood even if there are plastic myar circles around which there are in most bumpers they're in around let's say most a lot of machines have the plastic myar on the playfield to pre prevent that doesn't always work you know so and then the pop out hole landing areas there's none on this machine but machines that have pop out holes where the ball lands constant will wear that away here is here it is done. Here's before and here is after. And it came out came out pretty nice. Um, this is a little bit of a trick though. This is the second playfield. So, this was the donor playfield that was not that great. I took a few parts off of this. I think maybe even the PL maybe the plastics to make this, but essentially this was like that pretty much just a little bit better. So, and that took about three or four months to truly get it like that. The light box, the head, the back of this is what the back of this pinball machine looks like right here. This is the Sky Lab, I believe. Yeah. Is structure and the paint quality of the back of the back glass. Uh, actually paint quality of the box itself as you can see here with the bubbles is is pretty pretty good on this one. The back glass, we'll see in a minute. wiring. Is it intact? And who knows what these are called? Yeah. Does anybody know why? Yeah. Does anybody know why? I don't have the answer. Sorry. I don't have the answer. I I need to look that up. Right. But sorry, I didn't mean to let you down there. Howard Jones. Howard Jones. Don't leave her life in one day. Don't leave her life in one day. Okay. Okay. [laughter] Okay. Okay. [laughter] No, I got that. No, I got that. Yeah. Oh, man. Anyway, um, now I can't get that song out of my head. Um, yeah. So, the wiring, uh, these can break. In fact, they are broken on Skyab at the bottom because the belite becomes brittle. Uh, but they work. They're that's not going to keep them from working. If they snap in half, the pins are still in the holders and that's what matters. So, don't break them, right? Oh, good. Now I can break them. [laughter] No, don't break them. But they can be broken and still work. And yes, cleaning one of these things is one of the hardest things. We'll see in a minute. Why? Power through because we got time on our oops time on our counting. Okay. Oh, thanks. Want to leave time for Q&A. So, yeah, here's your back glass or here is this back glass actually. We can see here fading, flaking, what kind, what could possibly go wrong, right? Your back glass uh cracks visible like on my high deal. uh repair challenging if at all possible. This is an exercise in futility. If you've ever anybody ever tried to restore back glass, it is it is not fun because you're painting on glass and there aren't very many paints that you can paint on glass. But it's not just painting on glass. You have to have the light from behind it shine through the thing you're the paint you're doing. Maybe if it's one of the if it's one of the lighted areas. Gotautle early 1960s score reel area is one of the keys because it crackles usually around the score reels and getting that like an old gaucho or something. Good luck, right? It's it's you really need to find a replacement glass where new old stock a machine glass that never got installed in a pinball machine got produced put in a warehouse for the last 50 years and uh you're lucky enough to find one used probably right. It may not be perfect, but it's better than the one you have. That's how it usually goes for me. I usually find at a show uh that somebody has a glass or knows about somebody that has a glass and um I can I find them that way. Also, repro there are various companies. I haven't done it yet. I probably need to on this one uh to find I want to say is it BG Resto? I think it's BG Resto is one of the there are other companies that do that too. reproduce glasses, right? I' I've not dealt with any of them, so I'm not endorsing or or or saying no to any of them, but I need to do that. I need to figure it out because I need a glass for this. And here it is. So, this on the back is this. And here's the problem, right? The problem is these translucent, I think the word is when light shines through uh areas. You can touch this up with white paint, but you're still going to see the crack because your white paint isn't as exactly as translucent as what's next to it. So, it's an exercise in futility unless Now, the good thing about the one good thing, one redeeming quality is a good side to everything, right? The good side to that is you're going to block the exact pinpoint of the light from the bulb. So, it it helps, but is it going to be is it worth the time? probably, you know, for a stop gap or or permanently. Again, it's all I keep saying this, but it's true. It's all up to you. But that's that's uh in terms of the sky here, what you see not very visible in the front until you light it up, right? And that's these are the cracks that you see right here on the space guy in the the lunar module back there.
    41:28
    Legs. There they are. So legs are interesting. Legs are legs are not a bad thing. Legs are a good thing because there's something you can easily relatively easily source from a supplier. Uh and the supplier could be a great wealth of knowledge when it comes to legs. You know, uh are they the proper length and color? Does color matter? I thought they were all silver. No, the earlier legs like on the Ace high that I mentioned are are actinely red. Sometimes they'll be wooden like someone will put wooden legs on instead maybe. You know, it's hard to say 60 70 years later, right? Uh are they but the thing to note about the legs are they rust free and do they have the lever levelers and feet? Often times these levelers and feet will be so rusted that they don't adjust. You adjust these levelers feet by turning them in or out. Uh there's also a nut usually on the top that you undo or sometimes it gets put on the bottom still holds it. Uh but anyway, you undo the nut wherever it is and then twist and turn this to make it higher or lower to properly pitch the game up or down and left and right uh to adjust for floors that aren't really the idea. The game is always always correct. It's the floors that aren't right. So, uh, yeah, the good news, the great news here is if you talk to your friendly supplier, most legs are available new. So, you you can get new legs, uh, reproduction essentially, legs that will be quote unquote, I say pristine, but new. Uh,
    43:06
    I don't know. I've not tried to do that. I would think so, but Dave, have you uh
    43:14
    Yeah. Oh, here you go. here you go. The question is, what about reproduction The question is, what about reproduction woods? And there have been a couple efforts. Uh doesn't seem to be enough of a steady market. Um they're usually maple so hardwood and uh you know go on pinside and you know ask cuz when you ask that starts some momentum and maybe somebody else will step up but there are also still wood rail games that are being uh turned into parts games so that might be a competing source for those wooden legs. Thank you, Dave. Great info.
    44:02
    All right, let's get moving. And I do mean moving. Transporting your pinball machine. Very important because if you dump it on the highway, it's all over but the crying, as my my old friend and boss Daryl used to say down Louisiana. So, oh, here we go. I said we'd be seeing it again. And here it is. The Jones plugs. Uh, that's important to unplug them. Don't try to take the head off before you remove the plugs. Otherwise, you'll stretch the wires and possibly uh rip something apart. Uh also remove the ball as you transport it because the ball getting loose. Ask me how I know. Uh when you tip the machine up and not right then, but as you go over, 1100 miles of uh highway from uh Franklin, New Hampshire to Atlanta, Georgia can smash the glass. And when you open up your U-Haul trailer at the end, you'll see like your smash glass and say, "What happened?" So, yeah, that happened. Keys and bolts. Uh, put them somewhere you'll remember. I don't have my Yes, I do. I have my handy dandy bag, right? Is a good thing to put things in.
    45:12
    One more. Come on. Yeah, there we go. So, transport plastic wrap. Anybody ever deal with this stuff? This is what you wrap a pinball machine with or anything that you want to keep dry uh out in the weather. And you wrap it around, overlap it several times, top and bottom. Helps if you have a friend handy nearby for the head and the body and the legs if you want to. What else? One more bag of tricks thing here.
    45:51
    it's like barrel of monkeys. Anybody have barrel of monkeys when you're a kid? Right. The red, the yellow, and the green. They all kind of hung on together. Yeah, I know. I had a strange childhood, but yeah. Your your can't do it. Yes, I can. Your um thing here, right, to tie down your tie down your pinball machine. Two ways, three ways if you can, four ways if you can. The more you can tie it down, the better you're off you are in terms of security. Come on. Thing monkey. Where's my presenter? Here it is. Next slide. Next slide. And then we'll move on. We'll scoot ahead a little bit here because we're kind of running out of time when we get back to the slides. Yeah, I'm trying. Yeah, I'm trying. Okay. Oh, no worries, Jillian. Hey, Okay. Oh, no worries, Jillian. Hey, royal flush. Yeah, and jive time. No, it isn't. It's expo. Sorry. Sorry. No worries. Out of sight.
    46:49
    That's okay. We'll talk about these in the meantime. So, yeah. Uh, Williams, oh, got and whatever that was on the right. Right. So, uh, oh, none, right? None, non electronic or solid states here. em Captain Fantastic uh solid states here.
    47:19
    So, what we're going to talk about here coming up in the last bit of this is just a bonus section on the different things that comprise an EM. What are the different parts once we get back to the presentation? Uh, in the meantime,
    47:36
    transport. Uh, yes. Don't forget the schematic. When you leave your place of uh Oops. When you leave the place of where you pick up your pinball machine, ask them if they have the schematic because sometimes they forget and they'll keep it and throw it out because they don't have a pinball machine anymore and you'll be looking for a schematic and paying 20 bucks at the next show, right? So hopefully if you can even kind of thing. Uh sorry. sorry. Okay. Uh some schematics are available Okay. Uh some schematics are available online like on uh IPDB but others are copyrighted and not so okay. Repair or restore the rewards. We talked about these already. Motivate your kids, nieces, nephews, and so forth. Meet people in the hobby. Make friends like with all y'all all of us. Uh and the game you can bring to the next fantastic. Yeah. Bring your game that you find in the store here and let have people play it. It's fun, right? This was the King Rex that you saw the playfield for earlier that was here last year. Uh what else? Skills you have would like to improve. We talked about all these already, but we'll say again troubleshooting, painting, metal work. Yeah, all of these things in miniature. So, you're not going to be doing, you know, you're not building like a a a starship or anything. You're you're doing this in a very small contained environment. So, you know, it's it's a great place to get started with things and parting out a game. This is a motor board that we'd be talking about later when the repair is not practical, of course. Do you want to sell it as a parts game? Um, how do you get trustworthy judgments that a game has gone too far? Yeah, that game doesn't look good. I'll take it off your hands, you know, kind of thing. Want to buy a watch kind of, you know, uh Oh, yeah. And those are the ways. Uh pinball friends, you me online forums. Yes, kind of. Uh you don't know, you know, of course, as we all know, right? You never know who you're talking to online really almost unless you really know the person. So that's kind of a real iffy. But show and show conversations. So yeah,
    49:50
    next bonus section. Okay. 10 minutes if that. Okay, good. Great. Because I like a lot of bonus. I want the bonus to be at 15 for you on a ballet. Or is it 19? 19, I think. And 15 on a Gotautle. Yeah. And a Williams. How high does it go? 19 usually. Depends. But I want the bonus be at the top for you. Let's take a look. What are some EM components? And this is not Skyab. This is a Skyab is a Williams machine. I probably should have said that before, but Skyab is made by Williams Electronics. Uh this is a machine made by DGota and company, another manufacturer, major manufacturer as well. Uh we're going to look at each one of the bonuses. We're going to count down from, you know, uh 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 to 6 to 5 to 4 to 3 to 2 to 1 like we would in a electromechanical pinball. The transformer, this now this is a Williams transformer. In fact, it's the one right in here. Uh I took all these pictures much as I could with the skylight, I think. um distributes electricity. Not not something to be scared of, but something to be cautious of, right? Cuz it does take electricity from the wall and distribute it among the different circuits, usually three or four depending in a pinball machine. One's going to run the lights lower, usually 6 volts. One's going to run the coils and flipper and bumpers and things that move. And then another one's going to run another part of those, right? kind of like a different um circuit for powering other things. The machine on off is something to really be careful of. Like rest your hand in the machine. Don't put your like elbow on the onoff switch when you're inside it because that onoff switch commonly carries wall voltage. And again, it's just like sticking your finger in the outlet in the wall. Don't do it.
    51:47
    Fuses common fault. common places things fail in a machine. Uh the idea behind these is if there's a short if something touches something else where it shouldn't. Oh, by the way, there's two major problems. Not to dive off into problems, but there's two major problems in electromechanical pinball machine. Things touching when they are things that are touching when they shouldn't be and things that are not touching when they should be. That's it, right? Those are your problems. electromechanical pinball machines. Almost all problems that and physical movement, right? Almost all things can be traced down to the touching or not touching. Yep. Uh the these guys are really here to provide fire protection. If too much current, amperage, right? Amperage is like water. Too much water goes through. Now voltage is the fast, right? Voltage is how fast the stream is flowing. Amperage is how much water is going through. So if there's too much water, electricity, not water. But if there's too much electricity going through this fuse will blow quote separate and stop the flow. Beautiful, right? No fire. That's what we want. Unfortunately, a lot of times previous owners will overfuse. They just put something in there and it works. It should be a 10, but it's a 30. So, it lets 25 volts through, 25 amps, not volts, 25 amps through, which is enough to heat up the wire and cause the wire to start to burn and a fire inside the pinball machine. So, always make sure you fuse your put the make sure the right fuse amperage and it's right on the metal of each of the fuses, right? But more commonly, well, that not that's pretty common actually. Just as commonly this one, the fuse holder no longer holds the fuse tightly and it makes it like it's blown and it's not very common in valleys of the early 1970s for this, right? And the the solution, anybody run into that already? Solution is you got to buy new fuse holders or um if you can buy a block, great, but I I've only been able to buy them as single and replace the block with that. Anyway, switches on off physical states that implement logical configurations touching or not touching. We said before blades have points or contacts, that's these things right here that touch or don't touch. And then when the relay coil pulls in Oh, sorry. When the relay coil pulls in, they either go off or they go on and normally closed, normally open. That's what it means. And that that runs the whole machine. That's the logic. That's if it were a solid state machine that's inside the IC chip that you can't see.
    54:33
    And they're still you uh they're used on sorry contacts. Yeah, they're grouped together in a switch stack as you can see here. We call that a switch stack when they're together like this. And that's the Williams lock inside the sky.
    54:59
    Uh, everything should be doing something. Yes, exactly. Yep. If you have something together and that relay pulls in and it doesn't do anything, that's 99.9999% a problem. Yeah, it's 100%. Probably a problem. Yeah, I hate to say 100% because you know, but uh so a relay, sorry, that's that's the switch stack and the switch this is the switch part of the lock relay which is this whole thing. So the relay is that whole thing. And here's a here is another type of relay which is a what do we call it? Lockin relay. Because when this coil pulls in these switches all these two switches uh this one make this one closes. Uh I think this one opens and that one opens too. I can't tell. Actually it's the other way around. But point being is these all go to the other state when this when this lock relay pulls in and it stays there because this armature have a whole anatomy class here. This armature is locked into this other armature until this coil pulls in and then it goes the other way. They call that a lock in relay. Uh this one back here is a momentary relay. When this coil disengages, everything goes back to the other state. This one, when this coil disengages, it stays locked in. Hence the name lock in relay. And this one is actually a tilt relay. Is the game tilted or not? And that's on a this is on a guppy. What's different from a Williams? Your solenoid coils, uh, they make things move. How do they do that? Well, the coil of wire that's wound around hundreds, thousands, probably hundreds of times. I have a friend who winds these things. Uh, I haven't asked him, but literally sending electrical current through that around something metal makes that something metal pop up or pull down depending on the on the winding, I think. I don't know about that. Orientation. Orientation. Yeah, orient. Thanks, Dave. Orientation. Yeah, orient. Thanks, Dave. Orientation. Yep. So, a flipper unit. How to flippers flip. This the title of this should have been giving away a secret. So, how pinball machines work. We should have titled it like that. But how to flip or flip? That's how they do it. This is how they do it. Isn't that fun? But the Williams chime, you know, ding But the Williams chime, you know, ding ding dong. There you go. Right. There are plungers inside this thing that will that will pop up. Think. Right. When when a Here we go. When a thousand points is made on the thousand point relay, one of those fingers closing sends electricity to this coil, goes around a few hundred times and makes this metal plunger go sink. That's how a pinball machine makes a chime sound. EM electromechanical pinball machine makes a chime sound. A common issue here is you put these on in the wrong way, so the machine doesn't sound right. It sounds clink for a th00and and chunk for 100, which it should be the other way around. So, I did that on this last week. It's like, why doesn't it sound right? What relay is not working right? Like no, just put the chime back on the wrong coil. Score motor. Oh boy. Um, yeah, these are So, we've talked about on and offs so far, and there's a lot of on and offs, but what do you do? How do you keep What if you want to do timing? What if I need to count 1 2 3 4 5? What if I need to step down one, make a bonus, step down one, make a bonus, step down one, make a bonus? Something has to provide timing and it can't be a it can't be an onoff otherwise it would all happen at once. So various manufacturers come up with different ways. They all pretty much agree on a score motor some rotational
    59:17
    rotational uh how do we say gear system that's going to engage and disengage switch ts as it rotates. And this is a got which is a which is a axial type. Uh forgive me if I got that wrong. The other one we'll see is Williams which is a radial type which is a straight up and down and a valley. But yeah, reset sequence score reels relay banks coils scoring count 500 uh bonus count specials multi multiplayer. If I want to advance to player two and stay there and then advance to player three and stay there, I could have a really involved series of relays. Or I could do a score motor controlling a stepper unit to say player one, player two, player three, player four. That's how it's done. Oh, and number match, too, by the way. Matching the last numbers on the on the back glass. Oh, doesn't shine. How about that? Matching the last numbers on the back glass gives a replay on electromechanical machines usually if it's turned on. Score motor controls that too. Solenoid coils. Okay. Score motors. Here is that radial or rather vertical. Sorry. Yeah. Last one was was horizontal and this one got and this one is radial which is B and Williams. Uh cams rotate switches open and close pulses count where you see these little gear things here. This is going up 1 2 3 4 as this thing rotates we're given 1 point 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 and then in this Williams over here will give us 6,000 right over here. It's a combination of five on this and one on this in one rotation gives you 6,000 points as it's counting down a bonus as you can see in a few minutes. Uh the if you get a machine and it's running too fast or too slow, it could be because it's a game designed for Europe or Asia because their electricity out of the wall runs slower. Stepper units, these are the things that count, things that matter. No, things that actually count in terms of how many replays do I have, how many what how how much how much bonus do I have and such and the as we already talked about these coils pull engaged with electricity pulling in activate gear activate a ratchet on these gears that advance this from 0 1 2 3 4 5 and so forth. Score. That's how an electro mechanical pinball machine keeps score is this engaging of a ratchet to move those gears around for the points.
    62:11
    What else? Oh, there good questions cuz I'm out of I'm out of stuff cuz I don't think there's anything else.
    62:20
    Make sure we're living on time. There a language learner working on There a language learner working on non-American electro mechanicals. Oo, good question. Um, and your name, Oo, good question. Um, and your name, I'm sorry again. Nate. Nate. Nate. Thanks, Nate. Uh, only on the Nate. Thanks, Nate. Uh, only on the playfield. No, actually, no. Uh, it's a common language. Uh, only on the playfield and the schematic, but even the schematic, you can look at the wiring diagram, and there's not going to be a language difference there. There might be in the terminology of normally open or normally closed. That might be a different a different language. But most of the manufacturers being made in the US, so machines made in the US. So yeah, and on the play field, you know what what something's supposed to do might be in a different language or the coin door like like five spiel like five games. So yeah. Hi. Any any recommendations on how to go Hi. Any any recommendations on how to go about learning like the best way to go about learning how to read a schematic? Oh, thanks. And sorry, your name is Oh, thanks. And sorry, your name is uh Jonathan. uh Jonathan. Oh, thanks. Jonathan. Oh, thanks. Jonathan. Oh, Jonathan. Okay, sure. Jonathan. Oh, Jonathan. Okay, sure. Jonathan. Yeah. Um the uh a a friend of mine has a book from the 1970s and I hope he wouldn't mind if I call them out. Uh Dave, u what's the name of that book that you have?
    63:40
    Well, there were there were two for electromechanicals. There was the Hank de Jagger book and the Russ Jensen book. It's got a yellow cover. It's got a yellow cover. Uh, that's one that's one source that I'm and I'm I'm sorry. I'm I didn't remember. So, yeah. Sorry, Dave. A minute. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Hank Pagger.
    64:02
    Oh, yeah. That you you're going to give some websites in a minute. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Fun with ppinball.com. Fun with ppinball.com. Fun with pinball. Yeah. Fun with pinball. Yeah. Marches. Marches. Um, actually, I can I can get that for Um, actually, I can I can get that for you at the end of I have a right in my right in my email. So, I just got to I don't want to I don't want to be on my phone in front of everybody giving a presentation. [laughter] So, Jonathan, thank thank you. Anybody else questions? Dave, please.
    64:55
    Yeah. And [clears throat] for specific questions, uh, another thing you can do is go on inside there. Mark Gibson and a few other dedicated EM fans are ready to just pounce on [clears throat] any question. And usually within two hours, they'll be asking you the followup of here's the next thing you need to look at to diagnose the problem. and and most of those guys own a lot of schematics or they they grab them online just to answer your question and they will make the excerpt of only the part of the schematic you need to see that involves your problem. Mhm. Uh so between that and the YouTube Uh so between that and the YouTube videos whether Mike Hail or your other favorites uh some people like Clay Harold and so you'll you'll have some and then I guess you're going to give some website addresses next. Yes. And I I'd like to put a plug in Yes. And I I'd like to put a plug in well um not say plug but uh there is a free YouTube site uh from some gentlemen on Australia who have something called the goat shed. If anybody's run into this yet, Kim Oswald and and Graham McInness, I've been online with them for a few years now. Maybe y'all some of y'all have too, but if you Google Goat Shed Pinball, they have a lot of very instructional educational videos on disassembly and reassembly, rebuilding a stepper unit, rebuilding a score motor, I think might even be in there. They have a lot. And uh and often times if you're if they have a Facebook page, goat shed pinball, I believe it is. and they're up at night because we're sleeping supposed to be. So if you're working on a machine late at night, it's cool that you can post and they'll and a lot of people on that site will will um possibly answer. So and plus the EM pinball Facebook page too is another and of course you know IPD I'm coming up on that right here too actually. Let's do that.
    67:01
    Of course the resources fantastic. Absolutely. Uh, IPDP. I go here a lot. The internet pinball. How many of y'all found IPDB? You find that helpful? Yeah. What do I have here? What kind of machine is this? That's probably the first place I go. You know, how many did they make? How old is it? That kind of thing. Does it make the top 100? Does it make the top 100? Does it make the top 100? And I'm always Does it make the top 100? And I'm always kind of interested as to what people are looking for with that. Like, yeah. Is that uh Yeah. kind of like what makes a game great? It's I always like to hear from people what that what that what they think. Uh Pinside ratings in chat. Pinsside. Yeah, huge site. Uh hugely helpful site. A lot of great people on there. Uh really I mean if this is you want to get into the machines and how how good are they? How how are they what do they like to play? This is the closest thing you can get. Like people will put on there and actually write about their experiences and what they like the most about the machine, what they may not like about the machine. It's it's on there, you know, and and lots of opinions on uh could be very helpful on pinsside and the goat shed em repair as well, tutorials and videos. Other questions? Yes. Curious your collection. Curious your collection. Yeah. Any solid state or Yeah. Any solid state or all Yeah. Um why is that? Well, uh, the all Yeah. Um why is that? Well, uh, the rabbits hatched before I had a chance to really add any any of the other kind other kinds of rabbits. Uh, so yeah. Um, gravitate go. Oh, you know why? I know why. Price. I forgot to talk about I didn't say anything about this that and I probably shouldn't, but EM, right? EM pinballs historically, I can say that historically have been lower priced than their solid state brethren or sisterin or or people. Um, and there there's something you can there's something you can get for a couple of few hundred dollars and and tinker tinker away with it uh in a good way, right, toward fixing it or learning. Sure. Uh, you know, that's the lower. I guess that all boils down to like lower point of entry. If I were to drop a watt of cash on a solid state, what am I looking at? Probably more than a few hundred, right? Nowadays, probably add another zero to that. So, that's what I think. They're not as they're not as fast. They don't have as as complex rule sets. Um, there's not as much flash in them kind of. They don't have multiple levels of of playfields usually, but they have some really neat and unique features that can keep you coming back for more. And even the ones that don't, they have the beautiful artwork. Some of them, uh, there's something you played back in the day that you never thought you'd ever have one kind of thing. I, oh my gosh, I can't believe I actually own a pinball machine. It's kind of, you know, a really cool thing. this pinball machine that I played in the pizza parlor back in, you know, whenever if that matters to you. Um, there's a lot of good reasons, I think, to get in, you know, into EM. And, you know, get into solid states, too. I'm not saying don't I'm not saying don't do solid states, right? Cuz they're they're a lot of fun, too. They're a lot faster. You know, everything happens faster in a solid state. Well, except for the mechanical things like flippers and the ball rolling. The ball's not going to roll any faster in a solid. Well, that's not true because it will because the things that propel it will go faster, right? But the laws of physics still apply to laws of physics. You can't uh oh, it's a solid state, so now the laws of physics go this way, you know, like no, no, but the things do propel things faster. So therefore, the ball can go f can go faster. But if you just drop it and let it roll, it's it's all physics, right? Same physics. So yeah.