SDTM Cary Hardy: Saving Swords Of Fury Pinball Machine Part 1

Straight Down the Middle·video·18m 57s·analyzed·Apr 3, 2019

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.021

TL;DR

Carrie Hardy begins restoration of rescued Swords of Fury; initial inspection shows playfield viability.

Summary

Carrie Hardy documents the initial assessment and disassembly of a second Swords of Fury (Williams, 1988) pinball machine she purchased from an abandoned location. The machine arrived in poor cosmetic condition with significant cabinet and backbox damage, but after initial inspection of the playfield and internal components, Hardy finds no obvious burnt coils, damaged wiring, or major mechanical failures, suggesting the machine may be salvageable despite unknown board condition.

Key Claims

Swords of Fury is a sleeper pin that is typically found in worn-out condition; mint condition examples are extremely rare
medium confidence · Hardy states 'I've only played one of these games that is I would consider Mint Condition' and describes typical wear patterns
Swords of Fury has one of the best soundtracks of any pinball machine from its era, composed by Brian W. Schmidt
high confidence · Hardy explicitly credits Brian W. Schmidt as the composer and calls it 'one of the best soundtracks that a pinball machine has had'
A hardtop for Swords of Fury has already been announced and is in development
medium confidence · Hardy mentions 'I know that eventually they are going to be making a hard top for this game it's already been announced'
The purchased machine was acquired at a significantly discounted price, described as 'almost laughable'
high confidence · Hardy's wife approved the purchase after hearing the price, validating it as exceptional value
Initial playfield inspection revealed no burnt coils, damaged wiring, or significant mechanical failures
high confidence · Hardy conducts systematic visual inspection and confirms 'I'm not seeing anything burnt all the coils look to be intact'

Notable Quotes

“I merely rescued this game from an abandoned shop at a person's house that had stuff all over the place there of all sorts but here it was this machine just tucked in the back corner all by itself and alone”
Carrie Hardy@ 0:57 — Establishes the rescue narrative and emotional framing of the restoration project
“I did something that I normally don't do and that is I purchased this machine without actually checking to see what was all inside so I don't even know if there are boards and if there are boards I do not know the condition of them”
Carrie Hardy@ 1:17 — Sets up the central uncertainty and risk of the purchase; defines the main investigation goal for the restoration
“this game just got a lot of plays it's actually a very fun game if you've never played this game before you're missing out because there's more to it than just meets the eye”
Carrie Hardy@ 11:13 — Frames Swords of Fury as underrated and underexplored within the community
“Brian W. Schmidt did the soundtrack for this as well as many other games that you know of including Black Knight: Sword of Rage which is a very well-made soundtrack that people revere”
Carrie Hardy@ 11:34 — Establishes composer credibility and connects Swords of Fury to modern, respected work (Black Knight: Sword of Rage)
“overall I like what I'm seeing guys I mean I've got one dirt dobber nest right here whoopy do that's to be expected I've got no tilt bobber though”
Carrie Hardy@ 15:03 — Summarizes the positive assessment of internal condition; identifies minor maintenance issues

Entities

Carrie HardypersonSwords of Furygame WilliamscompanyBrian W. SchmidtpersonBlack Knight: Sword of RagegameStraight Down the Middlemedia

Signals

~
sentiment_shift: Swords of Fury positioned as an underrated 'sleeper pin' that deserves more recognition and play; Hardy advocates for its gameplay quality despite its worn typical condition
high · Hardy: 'I consider a sleeper pin...this game just got a lot of plays it's actually a very fun game if you've never played this game before you're missing out'
$
market_signal: Swords of Fury machines are available on secondary market at attractive pricing; this specific example was acquired at significantly below-market rates, suggesting potential for collector interest in restored examples
high · Hardy describes price as 'almost laughable' and wife's enthusiastic approval validates the value; machine was located at abandoned property indicating low-demand secondary market availability
?
announcement: Hardtop conversion kit for Swords of Fury has been officially announced and is in development
medium · Hardy: 'I know that eventually they are going to be making a hard top for this game it's already been announced'

Topics

Pinball machine restoration and preservationprimarySwords of Fury (Williams 1988) assessment and recoveryprimaryPlayfield condition evaluation and mechanical inspectionprimaryPinball soundtrack and audio designsecondaryCabinet cosmetics and backbox restorationsecondaryUnderrated/sleeper pinball machinesmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.78)— Hardy expresses cautious optimism about the machine's salvageability despite visible cosmetic damage. Enthusiasm for the project is tempered by uncertainty about board condition and the significant restoration work required, but early internal inspection findings are encouraging and the narrative arc is one of hope and expertise being applied to rescue an undervalued machine.

Transcript

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what's up guys and welcome back to straight down the middle my name is Carrie Hardy and I talk and do everything pinball so if that sounds interesting to you then hit that subscribe button down below I bought another swords of Fury [Music] now there are many of you out there that would love to just have one of these games here I am with two that is not to be bragging I'm not to try to rub it in to you guys that I've got two and you've got none I merely rescued this game from an abandoned shop at a person's house that had stuff all in there of all sorts but here it was this machine just nooked in the back corner all by itself and alone but I did something that I normally don't do and that is I purchased this machine without actually checking to see what was all inside so I don't even know if there are boards and if there are boards I do not know the condition of them and I don't even know if this thing is going to be functional at all because the coin door was locked and he did not want me drilling it out right then and there so that made me a little ippy but I knew the potential of this game I knew that it could be salvageable just by looking at what I saw I know that eventually they are going to be making a hard top for this game it's already been announced so the Playfield is not too worrisome for me the cabinet on the other hand is something that can obviously be rebuilt it's just going to be a little more effort so I'm not too concerned with that either but what concerned me was the fact that I don't know what the condition of the boards are but what gave me the ability to take a leap on this was the fact that I got it at a very low price almost laughable once I told my wife that I was going to be purchasing a sword to Fury for this certain amount she was like go get it so even she knows that that is a great price for this game so enough talking about it let's take a look at this game swords of Fury A Williams game from 1988 this game is something I consider a sleeper pin many of you know of this game but how many of you can say that you have played this game and it has been in mint condition typically this game is worn out and the first thing that we need to do is get this thing on all fours let's take a look at the legs Mother of God oh oh no well according to previous videos looks like I'm going to take a blowtorch to these things as well goodness gracious oh you can tell the condition that it was in I'm not too concerned with getting it perfectly level but as I'm looking at all the legs that there's no way this thing would have been considered to be somewhat level at all because this right front leg was so high that I had to fix it there I mean I could deal with a little bit of wobble but this would have caused it to be just tremendous so I had to get it fixed and I definitely wanted to use a respirator because there's a lot of rust on this and that is something you do not want to be breathing in people a little bit of heat got that thing all free roaming around and into the proper position of where it would be [Music] all right we have now got this baby officially all on its legs it's standing up all on its own all right now that we've got this sucker up on all fours let's do a little tour shall we before we raise this head up uh most of the damage is on the backbox this is going to need an all new backing on it this good old stuff right here that's all soft and cushiony that's going to need an all new pretty much an all new backbox I mean this is it's it's salvageable to an extent but if you're wanting a full restoration then you're going to need a all new boid for this so let's see here I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to do a full Resto or just get it up to where you know someone would like to have this in their collection so let's go a little further here probably can't see too much the neck seems solid enough not too concerned about it surprisingly enough this right here is actually fairly fairly clean um no damage to it got a lot of warped plywood right here man for a really good restore I mean it would almost pretty much need a new cabinet uh this side's not too bad this side's pretty doable I mean you could you could fix this up but I'm just saying you would well it is all in the black so that wouldn't be too hard to touch a let me see see right here pretty much take out the bad in the warpage area some Bondo get it all sanded down and painted and clear I think it would be doable it's not a it's not a it's not way past the point of savable of course I don't know what the inside looks worse so don't usually do this but I bought this without completely checking through the whole thing so I don't know what the conditions of the boards are I don't even know if there's boards in there and I don't have a key to this and I definitely don't have a key to up here so what I'm hoping is that the key is on the coin door which that's where it's supposed to be so the next step in order for me to go any further to really examine this game is to get into this coin door so I can get this glass off and see what needs to be done next but let's see what I can scope out just by looking above the glass all the rubbers are all right we've got the coin door open let's see as of right now I've got no Keys attached to this damn coin door for my backbox that sucks well let's get this sucker opened up and see what we got in store for us ladies and gentlemen wo 50 cents I'm all right already got a ball in the shooter Lane let's go ahead and put that sucker right there all right let's do a pan over of the Playfield now like I said it's very typical for this game to be completely trashed when you're playing it I mean it's very I've only played one of these games that is I would consider Mint Condition any other time you're going to see a lot of wear on this machine and it's because I want to say that this game just got a lot of plays it's actually a very fun game if you've never played this game before you're missing out because there's more to it than just meets the eye and one typical thing that anyone who has played this game will say that it has one of the best soundtracks that a pinball machine has had ESP especially in the time that it was out Brian Schmidt did the soundtrack for this as well as many other games that you know of including Black Knight 2000 which is a very well-made soundtrack that people rever Playfield is absolutely dirty but I'm not too much worried about the dirt let's do this all right let's lift this Playfield up see what we got ball there another ball in all right let's do a quick visual inspection all right so so some of the things that I'm looking for are anything burnt anything coils wires connectors bulbs um that is like the number one thing to look for is things that are burnt and as of right now I'm not seeing anything burnt all the coils look to be intact they are free moving that's why I'm going to every one of them and doing like that typically if a coil decides to burn out it's going to to swell up and then basically dilate or I'm sorry constrict the diameter of the sleeve which restricts the uh plunger from moving freely so that is something to do also is to make sure that all your solenoids are free moving and we'll check the flipper switch area this is one of those double switches on the coin double switches on the uh flipper buttons oh man oh oh man could it be could this be it Moment of Truth yes oh one less thing I've got to drill out all right let's see what else we got down here more rubbers [Music] fuse file someone's been filing the switches bolt for the backbox inside to make sure it's not able to be detached oh man overall I like what I'm seeing guys I mean I've got one dirt Dober Nest right here whoopy do that's to be expected I've got no tilt bobber though no tilt bobber no big deal dime dozen all my coin door buttons for test mode and everything look to be intact let me get my flashlight out and see what I can see back there probably some extra incandescent bulbs more dirt ders Nest plastic a very dirty pinball the other bolt to the backbox the Tilt bobber all right got more fuses a lot more fuses definitely going to need to get my shop back in here and vacuum all this crud out of here see if I can find the Tilt bobber screw that tightens that I mean it's no big deal if I can't find it can easily get another wing nut on there no biggie all right no freay wire wires I think we're done with the play field for now all right now here is the big moment of trth ladies and gentlemen on what my boards look like so the key works so this should be able to come up days oh please let the batteries be intact here we go [Music] there's no way I can do this it can't be done why you can do it put your back into it and what happens if I don't you that's going to wrap it up with this first episode of Swords of Fury project please give me that thumbs up if you like what you saw and I also want to know what your past experiences are with swords of Fury is it a game that youve played before have you never played this game and if you have let me know what you think about it down below if you haven't already do not forget to hit that subscribe button down below and ding our dong that way you can be notified of whenever we upload something for your viewing pleasure until next time guys peace out [Music]