I was contacted by a couple that had two “old pinball machines” in storage. They thought one worked and one did not. Apparently about 25 years ago 10 pinball machines were found in a warehouse on Powell Street in Vancouver. This couple decided to take two of them home. They played them for about 10 years until they were retired to storage space in their house. That’s where they sat until I showed up – shoved in the back corner, covered in dust, surrounded by boxes and other unused items.

The two machines were Dealer’s Choice and Jumping Jack.

Dealer’s Choice was the machine they thought worked. Before I showed up the woman plugged it in and tried to start a game. It lights up, the repeater motor cycles, but that’s about it. The woman said “Lights come on but no one is home.”

I don’t think it will take much to get this one going.

The cabinet and backglass are in great shape. All plastics are intact. The pop bumper skirts are well chipped up and I’ll need to replace those. One pop bumper cover has a bite taken out of it. The playfield is dirty but there is minimal wear on the paint. After I clean the playfield I think I’m just going to touch up the black around the inserts with enamel. I don’t think I’ll bother with the other colours. They used a special UV reactive paint on the playfield which might be hard to match.