Phil Bogema attended the Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown earlier this month, and he reports on some of the games he played and enjoyed, and the overall EM availability.
He also responded to my show on slot machines a few days after that, and I've taken the liberty of posting both anecdotes here.
Vic Camp also posted a correction about my episode on Exhibit's Treasure Chest.
If you are curious on how my backglasses were created to replace the broken/messed up backglasses for my 1947 Exhibit Mystery and my 1937 Genco Junior, keep reading!
The files are made using the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP), a free and open source raster image editor.
These are the source images, and may not have been the final that were sent to the printer.
The main thing about my process is that I reprint the viewable image again in reverse for the masking side. I also worked with the printer to find a way to print on a single piece of vinyl, which should resist fading and wear.
Each of these backglasses was color corrected from photos on IPDB and my own remaining glasses by taking an average sample of each color from various areas on the glass and reviewing the images on IPDB.
They are not perfect, by any means, but they turned out quite well compared to the bare sheets of broken glass that were in each game previously.
Mystery Files: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3y5aqhk3j5k4idf/AAA2RaEm2h96Yd4K2jG04yPJa?dl=0
Junior Files: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/20lzdhyn08noyhl/AAAU6CkAaqBamiWqIm56qSw6a?dl=0
I don't know if this will help anyone, but here you go!
Here's an interesting game: Chicago Coin, a manufacturer with a terrible reputation (that I have not been able to fathom), created this game that automatically sensed a special 'golden ball' for double scoring.
This is fascinating for a couple of reasons:
1) There are no special mechanisms that I can see to sense the gold ball from the IPDB photos
2) It used a credit projection unit, which, though common for the time in Gottlieb games, was unusual to find in other games.
The game has gorgeous Roy Parker artwork as well.
1947 was an interesting year for innovation in pinball. America was out of World War II, manufacturing was brought back to bear on amusement devices.
Exhibit came out with an interesting game called Treasure Chest, which contianed a player-controlled magnet! This used a flipper button on the side of the cab to turn the magnet off an on to (potentially) achieve higher scores.
Years and years before such magnets would make a resurgence in solid state games in the 80s, Exhibit put one at the bottom middle of the playfield.
Interesting artwork, good use of the theme (dive down and back with the treasure to score up to 30 replays!), and of course, the magnet make this a really neat game.
I worked on a Satin Doll the other day, which is a 2 player EM, built in 1975.
I've never played one previously, and had never thought much of the layout. Once I saw the way the ball interacted with the various elements, I was sold. What a fun game!
A lesson that appearances can be deceiving!
I interviewed Robert Medl, a bingo collector and enthusiast who has just purchased many machines.
Robert discusses his first experience and purchase, his current lineup, and some of the games in his restoration queue.
The bingo repair videos discussed are available at the following sources:
Bally Bingo ball troughs are some of the best designed pinball mechanics ever produced. Working on a bingo, then switching to a modern solid state with trough issues always irks me.
Bingo ball troughs are bulletproof and another marvel of engineering.
Ryan Claytor, pinball illustrator extraordinaire comes on to talk about his EM resurrection project - a two player Williams called Swinger. Those who may be afraid of working on an EM should listen to this episode, as Ryan had never worked on an EM before this project.
Also: thanks to Ryan, we now have T-Shirts! See our post above to order.
I'm incredibly excited and honored to have worked with Ryan.
Ryan's Website: http://www.elephantea
Ryan's Swinger Restore: https://pinside.com/pinball/fo
The roto feature enabled the player to spin the innermost circle of numbers on a bingo card. This was only used by United, and used on three games between 1955 and 1956, never to be seen again.