Category: news & gossip

What advice would you give to a pinball enthusiast who is interested in buying their first machine?

Jeff Groper: Encourage them to hold out for a title they actually want. I’ve seen too many people buy something dull because they had a boner to buy their first machine. Keep it local and take someone who owns pins so when it’s time to kick the tires, even if they aren’t a repair whiz they should be able to spot red flags. Use pinpedia.com to sanity check pricing, and if you’re leery at all, ask the WPC list.

Aaron McAbee: Look over the table on youtube.com to view what it looks like in good working repair and full sound. Also, have a well-lit area to get a good view of every part of the table inside and out.

Kathy Gagno: Definitely bring someone who knows the mechanics of pins to help decide whether it is a good deal or not.

Charlie Martin: My 2 cents would be to buy from a collector, not a [pinball machine] flipper, and play at least 5 games on it after looking it over very closely. A good seller will always point out the pin’s flaws. They will also offer help when it breaks or some sort of limited warranty.

Rodney Olsen: The most important is to make sure you know what you’re getting. Take someone with you that knows pinball. Check all coils, switches, and lamp flashers.

Bobby Conover: Have him/her take a crash course! Buy one cheap, dirty, and broken, and fix it up. Great way to learn how a machine actually works, and if he wants to own pins long-term he can apply the knowledge to all future machines.
Rod, you really sit there checking every lamp when you buy a game? 🙂

Rodney Olsen: I check all of the lamps not because I care about changing a bulb but because you may have one section of GI out which could point to board issues.

SS: What does “GI” mean?  Is it an abbreviation for some pinball expert lingo?

Rodney Olsen: GI means General Illumination. Modern machines will have the GI separated into sections. This allows the designer to turn on and off certain GI for effects. Because of this you could have areas where there isn’t GI because of board issues. I could show you how this works.

Dan Halligan: I bought a dead ’80s Craigslist deal for my first pin and it was a great way to learn about cleaning, repair and upkeep on a less complicated game. But it really depends on what you’re looking for, one killer game for your home (in which case, hold out for a game you really really want), or to start a collection and get into the hobby. There’s something to be said for starting with an older game, it’s much easier to learn on.

Keith Nelson: Here’s a list of questions I have emailed to people in the past…….  of course there are many other questions that could be asked.

How much are you asking for it? Is there any playfield wear? What would you rate the playfield on a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being best)? Are there any broken or missing plastics? What would you rate the plastics condition? Are there any broken targets? Do all the mechanicals work? Have there been any modifications to the mechanicals? Do all the spinners work? Are the spinners in good physical appearance? What would you rate the mechanical condition? Are there any missing mechanical pieces? Do all the sounds work? Is there any humming on the sound? Do both speakers work? Are there any missing dots, digits or is there anything wrong with the display(s) in general? How bright are the displays? Is the battery case corroded? Are there any missing chips from the electrical boards? Has the machine ever been rewired? Is the plunger spring or tip in need of repair? What would you rate the cabinet art’s condition? Has the machine ever been laid on its side? Do all the lamps work? Are there any missing electrical boards or wiring from the backboards? Have there been any modifications to the electronics on the machine? Have there been any modifications to any part of the machine that you haven’t already mentioned? Are there any holes or scratches in the backglass? Overall, what would you rate the machine on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being best?

Cayle George: I think there are a lot of guides on the web. Google it up 🙂

Dale Garbutt: That’s a very good question. Unfortunately there are so many questions that should be asked that it’s impossible to list them all.  My best advice is for them to educate themselves. The more you read, the better a buyer you will be.  Fortunately, the internet is a vast resource of info.  There is no substitute for experience when it comes to purchasing a complicated machine like a pinball, much like buying a car, but you can make yourself better prepared. If they or you know of any local pinhead, it would be well worth contacting them to see if they can take a look before you buy, much like getting a car inspected.

Ryan Gratzer: I don’t buy games, so I’m not very experienced with this stuff.
I would definitely recommend looking in the backbox to see if any of the boards have corrosion.

Avout: I always look for a good playfield and plastics, as well as a decent-to-good backglass. Coils, circuit boards and so on are relatively easy to fix, [but] artwork not so much, you will always be able to tell. If there are some wear and tear issues with the artwork, the game’s selling price should reflect that. Use the classifieds section at MrPinball.com for reference. You can always shell out top dollars if you really, really, really need to have THAT game, but it doesn’t hurt to at least educate yourselves a little before you go spend that money. And oh, stay with the big 3 (Bally, Williams and Gottlieb) if you can. Or maybe even Chicago Coin. After that, it might get hard to find parts.

Larry Reid: Obviously ask: how much? 

A late model Williams in decent shape can fetch $2,500 or more. Less for Bally and Gottlieb. Make sure it comes with the “book”. New Sterns are 4 grand, and aren’t much fun to play after a while, if ever.  Old electromechanical machines are wonderful, but high maintenance. Expect a lot of downtime.

Lift playfield and remove backglass to inspect for mildew (a sign the machine has been stored in damp quarters – bad.) Also look for any sign of scorching or lingering scent of electrical burning. (Common, and also bad.) If it doesn’t at least power up, don’t buy it. It could be toast. Ideally the machine will play well. Cosmetic damage is to be expected, but playfield plastics should be intact. (Aftermarket replacements are really expensive.) My advice is to spend the cash up-front for a nice Williams. Medieval Madness, Monster Bash, Cactus Canyon, and Attack from Mars are likely too pricey. But you can usually find a Fun House, Fish Tales, Addams Family, Twilight Zone, Creature From the Black Lagoon  – that era – for somewhere around $2,000.

Dominique: Are they planning on working on it? They should be.

Originally published in Skill Shot 17, February 2011

The 13^th Annual Shorty’s Pinball Tournament was once again big fun this year. Lots of players from Vancouver, Portland and (even) Spokane (Anthony) made the trip to Seattle to try their skills against the hometown crew. Host Larry Reid presided over the event in his typical manner (ie: a loud microphone and  seemingly disorganized paper score sheets) and as usual the CFF gang from Portland had a pretty solid showing, as did Robert Gagno from BC, who placed third. The final match was Levi Lowe vs. Cayle George, with the final win going to Levi. This seemed to surprise a lot of people, who considered him an underdog despite winning 3 previous tournaments. In another upset, Skill Shot’s Gordon won Most Enthusiastic Contestant over an exuberant Cheeseboat and previous champ Timmy Smith. Go Team Skill Shot!

The Seattle Pinball League (SPL) finished 2010 with tournaments held at Andrew Nunes’ in October, James and Janice Eades’ (LYWAH) in November, and Jeff Groper’s new house in December. The December tournament was the SPL’s 2010 Finals with the top 12 players battling it out Round Robin style. SPL probably won’t do the Round Robin tournament again anytime soon, since this one began at 1 PM and lasted until after 11! Robert Gagno did better this time, taking 1^st place, with Raymond Davidson in 2^nd and Jamie Beth in 3rd.

Robert was recently featured in an article in the Seattle Weekly written by Caleb Hannan. Although it was a nice article about Robert, it was less so for some of the others mentioned. Of course we think the article could have been improved with mentions of the Seattle Pinball Museum (SPM) and Skill Shot. Along with the bruised feelings, apparently the Weekly’s photographers made a nuisance of themselves at the November SPL Tourney, and Caleb was asked not to attend the December Final. Ouch!

In other tournament news: The first annual Canada/USA Pinball Border Brawl happened on January  15^th. The contest included the top 12 players from the SPL and the Vancouver Regional Pinball Association (VPRA), which was interesting as both groups have some of the same members. The USA was victorious! The Seattle Pinball Museum has begun having monthly tournaments on the second Thursday of each month. While we haven’t made it to one yet it, it sounds like they are bringing in some different contestants than other tournaments. Way to go! The SPM will be hosting the next SPL tournament on February 5^th, and SPM’s next Thursday tournament is Feb 10^th.

The Sunday Tournament at Shorty’s has changed to a monthly format that includes a potluck brunch and an earlier starting time (3PM). The Sunday Tournaments had been suffering from a lack of participation for a number of months and this format has breathed new life into it. Hosted by Paul and Jawn the next Sunday tournament is Feb 6^th. Shorty’s bartender Jawn has also been organizing the Ballard Pinball Tournaments for a while now. These are roaming tournaments that take place at a number of locations (including Headley and Claire’s apartment!) and the format usually depends on the number of participants. Unique and fun! The next Ballard tournament is Feb. 21.

Other upcoming tournaments: Dorky’s Valentine Day Couples Tournament on Feb 14^th; The 3^rd Annual Georgetown Open on March 13^th; the first Greenwood Pinball Open on April 20^th; and Shorty’s bi-annual Powder Puff Tournament on May 22. Anatomically female only!

We can only assume that when Stern’s new Rolling Stones machine is released there will be a launch/tournament like they’ve had for previous pins. The Avatar launch/tournament was held at the Waterfront Arcade back on Oct 15^th, which was a curious place to hold it since we’re sure not many locals go there often. Ultimately the Arcade proved to be too cramped for the large crowd that showed up. We can only hope that the next one is held at Gameworks again where there is plenty of room (and beer). Yes, if you hadn’t already heard, the next Stern machine is going to be Rolling Stones and not TRON like almost everyone was hoping. It’s quite ugly from what we’ve seen online, and we love the Stones!

Skill Shot 16 actually debuted at the Avatar event and we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped us fold (especially KSH, CAD and LLD who folded 500 copies!) and distribute each and every issue. If you ever visited our Myspace page to look at the online version of our Pinball List, you can stop now as we have finally given up on Myspace. Look for our newly redesigned website to launch in February (www.skill-shot.com) where we will have not only the Pinball List, but also past and future articles from the zine, comics, featured online content and other fun stuff.

If you have been following our The One To Beat (TOTB) challenge lately you have noticed that there has been some confusion since DOC’s GC score on the T2 at Al’s. We contemplated making the Highline’s Attack From Mars or Canterbury’s White Water the next TOTB but decided against it because of the unreliability of those pins. Instead, the new TOTB is the Batman at Shorty’s that has been reset back to its factory settings. We hope that this pin will stay TOTB for a while. Look for updates on our website!

Pinball Tidbits: Madison Pub may have finally fixed their broken Iron Man! They sent it to the shop so lets hope it now works; The Grizzled Wizard’s Black Knight 2000 is the saddest pin in Seattle because the DMD has been broken since last October and you can’t see any scores; Pink Gorilla no longer has any games because they had a fight with Bobby; Marv’s Broiler briefly had a second pin (Aztec) and then suddenly no pins (we smell a mystery); Olympia has a pinball zine called Slam Tilt, find them on Facebook; Did you see the CFF/Robocop pin in a film at the last HUMP Festival? We missed it too; There’s a new pinball manufacturer, Jersey Jack Pinball! Their first game will be based on The Wizard of Oz.

Support Local Pinball!

Originally published in Skill Shot 16, October 2010

The Folding Party we had for Skill Shot 15 was a big success and we would like to take the opportunity right now to thank everyone who came out to The Lookout and helped fold zines. It was awesome that a bunch of people that we’d never met came by to help out and the owner of the bar even stopped by and folded a few. Naturally, PBR was drank, pinball was played and new friends were made. Sweet! And speaking of The Lookout, their Harley Davidson keeps malfunctioning (as if it ever worked right to begin with) and Kiki the manager is promising to replace it with something more reliable. Go! Kiki! Go!

Not all Seattle Pinball events actually happen in the Seattle city limits. August 14th took us to Keith and Dave’s annual Summer Tilt BBQ-Pinball Birthday Party out in the wilds of Redmond. It was a neat party with around 20 pins available to play, and some of them outside on the deck. Our favorite was the Data East Star Trek that was a tough game, but since we had never seen one before, we loved it. We also love Hasbro for driving us to the party.

Birthday boy Keith was one of the organizers of the First Annual Pinball Swap Meet that happened on August 22 in the parking lot of Specialty Coin in Kent. The swap meet was created to give people a chance to trade or sell any extra pinball machine parts and accessories they might have. There were around 40 people selling stuff out of their cars and vans, with a couple of whole pinball machines available also. Specialty Coin even opened up their showroom so that people could come in and play the games in there. Everyone seemed to go away happy so look for it to happen again next year.

Other happenings that you needed a car for were the last two Seattle Pinball League tournaments. The one in August was in Renton at Byron’s house and the September tournament was at Todd Mac’s out on Bainbridge Island. So many people attended the meeting at Todd’s last January that he requested the number of people be limited to around 40 this time. This caused a bit of a scandal with some of the members of the SPL because not everyone got invited to the tournament. We think that it’s interesting that pinball is so popular in Seattle that people are being turned away from “sold out” events. Nice!

Another nice thing that has happened recently is the opening of Dorky’s Bar Arcade in Tacoma. We haven’t made it down there yet, but we keep hearing good things about it. They currently have 8 pins (including Bride of Pinbot and Dirty Harry!) and a bunch of arcade games. Food and beer is coming soon, so until that happens, Dorky’s is all-ages. Les the owner keeps telling us that the bus ride there from Seattle isn’t so bad. Dorky’s is located at 9th and Pacific.

We did make it down for the grand opening of the Seattle Pinball Museum on Saturday Sept 4th. They had a nice turnout with many folks we don’t see together often like Mark O’Farrell, Dominique and Destiny, James and Janice Eades, Nycole Hyatt, Julie Gray, Mitch, Les from Dorky’s, Headley and Claire. Headley recently moved to Ballard, so his Capitol Hill after-hours pinball party apartment is sadly no more. His new space isn’t as spacious and his pins are loaned out, with two of them (Future Spa and Laser War) currently at the SPM.

Speaking of Ballard, The Ballard Pinball Tournament (BPT) on Sept 5th was success of sorts. The way the tournament was set up, the maximum number of players was 16, but since 17 people showed up it made for an awkward moment and maybe some hurt feelings. Then even more people showed up! We are not sure if this has been a problem in the past, but host/organizer/Shorty’s bartender Jawn Wakefield has promised to have a different format that will accommodate more players if it happens again. The next Ballard Tournament begins on Monday Oct 25, 7PM at Snoose Junction.

The big news at Shorty’s is the departure of Matt, who along with Avout and Josh, did most of the repairs on the pins. Stepping up to the plate will be bartenders Dino and Deuce who are now learning the trade. Deuce’s pinball repair career was almost nipped in the bud when his motorcycle bit off his finger. Apparently the bone was sticking out of his hand and blood was squirting out like a Japanese horror movie. Gross!

In more cheerful Shorty’s news: It’s almost time for the Annual Shorty’s Pinball Tournament, and like last year it will be two days. Avout says there’s an Avatar on order, so maybe it will be there by then. There’s no word on what game will be leaving when the new pin arrives but most likely it will be one of the recent Stern machines. (Bye-bye NBA?) There’s also no word yet on whether or not there will be a Powder Puff Tournament next spring. We think all you ladies should start practicing, just in case.

The weekly Sunday Pinball Tournament at Shorty’s is still going strong. Despite what you might have heard, the tournament isn’t really starting any earlier than it usually does. Even when organizer Paul says 5:30, everyone still shows up at 6:30. We wonder what will happen when daylight savings time begins? The first Sunday of the month has a little extra cash as part of the prize bank, but you’ve got to play to win it. We did!

Have you been following our The One To Beat challenge? Last issue the game had changed to the Terminator 2 at Al’s Tavern, where Geoffro had the high score. Since then, it’s been a three way battle with DOC, MAK and ELF each topping the other only to be beat later. Ultimately DOC came out on top, but that’s because the pin is now broke. So for next issue TOTB is going to be the Attack From Mars at the Highline. We’ve asked Mark from Space Age Amusement not to reset the high scores.

That Space Age frequently resets the high scores on their machines is something that perplexed us and others. Apparently he didn’t realize that people care about them and he actually reset ELF’s high score right before his eyes at the Highline. We don’t see Elijah mad very often, but that will do it. In other Space Age news, the Doctor Who at the Redwood, which was causing so much trouble and discussion on our Facebook page, was ultimately fixed by getting replaced it with an almost equally broken Monster Bash!?? Gnarly!

Pinball Tidbits: Add Motor Works in Fremont is once again open for pinball, but only during normal business hours (so far); Gameworks moved their pins to the bottom floor, which is cool because you can see the table action from the balcony; Jamie Beth had a birthday and changed her name to OJ; the next Stern will most likely be TRON; the creators of www.pinballmap.com now have Apps available for both iPhone and Android that include the Seattle area; and Shorty’s now accepts credit cards!

Don’t forget to let us know if you see a new location or game change! We’re still slowly working on a website that will have past articles and covers. If anyone knows Word Press and wants to help us, please get in touch.

Support Local Pinball!