pinball
Adding Magnet Feature to a Bally Centaur
Bally’s Centaur pinball machine came from the factory with an electromagnet, installed in the top-right corner of the playfield. It would hold the ball in place after it hit the “release” target, which initiates the multi-ball mode.
Unfortunately, as time passed and these electromagnets burnt out, it became more difficult and expensive to find a replacement magnet. Most games no longer have the magnet installed, as it was likely removed to be sold.
On our machine, we had no idea if the magnet was still there, and one day decided to look under the playfield to see if there was one. It turns out there was, but it didn’t work.
After verifying the electrical side was fine, we took out the magnet to find that a screw had gone through the playfield, and through the coil!
The price of a replacement electromagnet is upwards of $100! Thus, we decided we would remove the old coil wire and wrap our own. After all, how hard could it be?
Ottawa Pinball and Gameroom Show ’12
This year marked the second annual Ottawa Pinball and Gameroom Show (I tend to call it the Pinball Expo). On Friday, September 7th, 2012, over 50 pinball machines were installed at the Hilton Garden Inn by the Ottawa Airport, and by Saturday, there were around 60+ tables. The show spanned from September 8th to the 9th.
As per last year, I made a video of the show, but I was much more ambitious this year. I ended up creating something more documentary styled, incorporating multiple interviews, to find out the more personal side of pinball. The video is indeed a bit un-conventional, but I am pleased with it.
Restoring a Bally Medusa
I’ve talked about electronic maintenance on our pinball machines before, including some fairly serious refurbishing. One type of restoration my father and I were hesitant to try was cosmetic, since we aren’t exactly artistic.
Well, we did it anyway! Read on for a full, detailed account of our journey restoring a Bally Medusa.
Ottawa Pinball Expo – 2011 (Video)
Here is my video of the first ever Ottawa Pinball Expo! We brought three machines to the show, and I am pleased to say I played every free-play machine there! It was great fun, and I can’t wait for next year!
Filmed, edited and soundtrack composed by myself.
Pinball Party Timelapse
As it was my birthday Friday, I invited the Electronics Kids over for a night of pinball. I thought it would be cool to do a timelapse of the entire night, to see if there were any patterns in what machines people played and what areas people hung out in.
In the end, I discovered that it really depends on the people you have over. Last time the MAME cabinet was the main attraction, but this time it got almost no use. Hurricane remains the most popular machine (odd, it isn’t even in my top 3 favorites).
Video Blog – Gorgar
Alright, there are a lot of videos recently. I apologize. In this one, I am showing off how Gorgar is now 100% functional!
Video Blog – The Arcade
Since getting the new camera, I’ve been getting around to filming a lot of things I’ve wanted to do in HD. I apologize for the jiggle: I learnt the hard way that image stabilization should always be enabled.
Gorgar: We Finally Fixed Him!
If you remember, some of my earliest posts are about Gorgar. My dad picked up this pinball machine for next to nothing, rescuing it from the scrap yard. During this winter break, we moved the machine over to my dad’s house, in order to have more room to work on it. Today, we made a breakthrough: we fixed the biggest issue, and now it is 99% functional (all we need is a solenoid coil to fix the center drop targets.)
Read on for a timeline detailing the work done on this machine since we received it.
The Arcade
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything about pinball, so I figured I’d share some photos of his arcade, the “Silver Ball Arcade”!
Pinball: Meet the Machines
A very basic photo post: all sorts of photos of my dad’s pinball collection. Awesome 😀
Left of garage
Right of garage