Category: In The Arcade

I found a 1977 Interflip Dragon in fairly good shape. I got it setup and after about 30 games the sound card died. Looks to be a simple fix though.

This machine still had the unopened goodie bag in it – and I left it in the machine where it sits today.

This machine is harder than it looks.

It isn’t often you find a pinball machine with a billiard ball on the playfield. You have to knock it out of the way to make some shots.

This is a fun machine to just relax and knock a ball around on. Fun callouts, some easy shots, some not so easy shots. Great game.

We bought this 1976 Gottlieb Volley pinball machine from a fellow in Sechelt BC. When he bought his new house, this machine came with it.

He kept it in his workshop but really just wanted more space. Between that and it probably sitting for years, it became quite dusty. Other than that, it’s near perfect.

This is a great machine for all levels of play. For beginners, it’s pretty easy to knock the ball around. For advanced players, trying to knock down a target from each bank in a single go – then repeat it on the next hit is a fun challenge.

Oh boy. This is a big machine. A classic Gottlied System 1 machine. The backglass on this one is perfect. It looks brand new – which is rare for this machine. The playfield is in pretty good condition, but a clean up and a few touch ups and it will look like new.

I bought this machine from a pinball enthusiast in Vancouver Washington. This machine was fully converted to LEDs and included a bunch of nice modifications. He was having problems with the flippers right before he sold it, but got them working again. Not long after I bought it the flipper board started to really crap out – so I replaced it with an aftermarket Rottendog FLP023 board.

Overall, this machine is in really good shape. The modifications and choice of LED colours really make it stand out.

Our machine is now running the Unofficial v.4.00 code. It fixed some glitches in the official code and tightened up scoring and play rules.

This machine really has everything. Widebody. Drop targets. Captive ball. Pop bumpers. Two ramps. Wire habitrails. Scoop. 6 ball multi-ball. Horseshoe lane. Mini playfield with little mini flippers. Shaker motor. DMD display. Tag Team Play – where players 1 and 3 play against players 2 and 4 with combined scores. Lots of things to do.

This is the second machine made by Data East.

Funny story about this machine. I found a Black Knight near Seattle. My friend Peter found this broken Secret Service in Seattle. We decided to road trip together and pick up both machines. Peter’s plan was to buy it, get it working, and eventually sell it – but only if he didn’t have to sink any money into it. I told him if he decided to pass, I’d buy it. We came back from Seattle with three machines in all. Black Knight, Secret Service and Disco Fever. It was a tight fit, but we did it.

Peter took this machine home and, after giving it a good look, decided to pass on it. It needed a new display and a handful of other parts. It wouldn’t be worth fixing and selling. By the end of the day he would probably just break even. So, it’s a Pinballorama machine now.

Peter and I spend a few hours tinkering on this machine and we brought it back to life.

The sound is super cheesy and awesome. This is a fantastic beginner to intermediate machine. The rules aren’t complex so you can make things happen by randomly bashing the ball around.

At the end of the game, stick around for the Karaoke sing along of “Nobody does it better”.

It’s hard to believe they made 10,350 of these. This is the second largest run of a title made by Data East. The most was Star Wars at 10,400 units.

I really like this game. It’s simple but really fun to knock the ball around in.

Capcom Breakshot is a really unique machine. It is styled after older Electro Mechanical pinball machines but has a DMD display, voice call outs, fancy lights, and multi-ball. The scoring animation on the DMD display is styled after the old EM score reels. There are no ramps or multi level playfields.

Capcom didn’t make many pinball machines, they made video games. They are the company that brought you such games as Street Fighter and Resident Evil. They only made 1000 Breakshot machines – so they aren’t that common.

When one in fantastic shape came up locally, I had to buy it.

Apparently this machine used to live in the Seattle Pinball Museum.

A 1980 mustache, mirror sunglasses, party van, and skateboards! Skateball has it all.

The paint on the playfield was pretty blown out when I got it. I hand painted and touched up the playfield and then the entire thing got a thick clear coat.