Vintage BB Pin Ball machines....let's reminisce ?

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

I won this machine in an auction back in 1987. Didn't pay much for it as it was in need of repair.
I put my EE mind to work and got it fully operational. For 20 years it has provided my family and
friends many hours of enjoyment. It was the very same Pin Ball machines us "dinosaurs" spent all
our nickels on at the Boardwalk Arcades at the Jersey shore playing for hour at a time.

This one only allows you Three Outs....but, you can score a lot of runs in that inning due to all
the "premium targets" you can aim for. The highest one (and I mean this literally....see picture)
is a 50-run target, which has only been accomplished 6 times in 20 years. But, the neatest part
of playing this game is watching the plastic players run the bases.

Over the years, several of the Net54 posters (or readers) have played my machine and here are
some of their scores....

Kim Vida....523 runs

Mark Macrae....502 runs

Pat R....355 runs

Ron Peterson....303 runs

I hold the record with 560 runs (home field advantage).

Let's hear about your Pin Ball playing days ?


For detailed pictures click onto this link.....

http://www.marvin3m.com/baseball/supslug.htm


TED Z

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Posted By: barrysloate

Ted- I know I played your pinball machine, but my days of playing as a kid are a little too distant a memory.

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Posted By: Brian Weisner

Hi Barry,
I think your memory is gone.... You my friend are the Frogger champ!!! Didn't you held the high score for 20 years at the local Pizza parlor? I thought so... Too bad it closed. Be well Brian

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Posted By: Lee Behrens

I am lucky that a good friend in town collect old sports games, he has the same machine plus 3 other baseball games, 2 bowling and 3 basketball. He gets them all in working order, never a dull moment when you go to his house.

The games are great fun!!!!!

Lee

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Has your friend kept any records on the high scores on his Super Slugger machine ?

I'm wondering if the scores on my machine are typical, or on the high side ?

TED Z

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Posted By: barrysloate

Brian- I was the frogger champ, but when I tried to move the machine across the street and through traffic, I ran into a little trouble!

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Ted, I remember playing that machine as a kid. My memory includes the silver ball occasionally smacking the glass cover over the playing field if you hit it right.

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Posted By: Joe D.

I've witnessed Barry crossing a busy street - and I find it perplexing that he was a frogger champ.

but... to be fair to barry.... there were no floating logs to jump onto.

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Posted By: Fred C

It looks like the Lawerence Welk bubble machine is running out of soap....

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Posted By: barrysloate

Joe- you are aware Brian and I were trading off on a scene from Seinfeld?

And for trivia buffs, the actor who helped George move the Frogger machine was Peter Stormare, the same one who shoved Steve Buscemi into a wood chipper in the movie Fargo.

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Posted By: Joe D.

although I did think about the episode while reading your post -
I thought maybe you actually were a frogger champ.

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Posted By: barrysloate

No, never played Frogger. Alas, it was George Louis Costanza who was the champ.

(and George's middle name was Jerry's tribute to Lou Costello).

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Posted By: Brian Weisner

Hi Barry,
How much time is left on the battery??? Otherwise we need to look for some holes.... Be well Brian


PS I'm not the best,,

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Posted By: Rob Dewolf

One of the best things about going to Cedar Point as a kid was heading to one of the many arcades around the amusement park, each of which had a few baseball games from which to choose. Although the machine below isn't one of the ones I played as a kid, I stumbled upon the chance to buy it a few years ago, and since there was no shipping involved and the price was right, I couldn't pass it up.

I always preferred the games that were based on "outs," rather than ones like this, which give you a certain amount of pitches (although on this game, you can earn extra pitches.) The coolest part of this is that now my 6-year-old daughter loves playing the game. And on our trip to Cedar Point this summer, I found one of the machines I played as a kid, so there's one torch that has been passed.

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

I do recall you playing my pin ball machine, but I have no record of your score. I think Judy played it, too.

I know it's been a while, but do you recall the score that you racked up....it would have been your highest ?

TED Z

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Posted By: Joe D.

that Barry's score was 561.

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Posted By: Mark Macrae

Ted...I hope to make it back to Pennsylvania one of these days & play that machine again..Don't buy a Frogger...not as much fun

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Posted By: barrysloate

Sorry Ted, not even a clue.

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

You were the 3rd one to score over 500 runs....that was on May 18, 1993.

The 2nd highest score was achieved by young gal named Kim Vida (523 runs). Kim wrote aa excellent
story in VCBC of our close friend, Gerry Dvorak (the 1953 Topps artist). She is a Net54 reader.

Our good friend Pat R. was the 1st one with the highest score in 1988 with 355 runs.

I scored 560 runs on New Years eve 1989....that was the highest that's ever been tallied on my machine.
That nite I hit the ball thru the 50 RUN's target and this has only been done 5 other times in what has to
be 1000's of games played.

Mark....you are always welcome to try again to top out my 560.

Best regards,

TED Z

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Posted By: Max Weder

(Let's hope Mark has enough left in him to deal with the dinner tip next Saturday....)

Here are some shots of my Williams game







Max

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Posted By: Mark Macrae

Max..... Dinner; what dinner? ....That pinball machine might motivate me to travel up to Vancouver one of these days, unless of course you feel like squeezing it into the convertible next week. I'm sure the remaining cast of characters would enjoy....

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Nice machine....am I observing correctly that your baserunnerss are of the cardboard type ?

Williams originated the players running the bases and United (my machine) either copied their
electro-mechanical unit or retro-fitted the Williams' unit into their machines and incorporated
plastic players.

Can I ask how long have you had your Pin Ball ?

TED Z

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Posted By: Max Weder

Ted

They are cardboard players. If I recall correctly, my machine is 1959. It has replaced backglass (very nicely done) but is otherwise in original shape. I have the original backglass, which is of course smashed into many pieces.

There is a good pinball site that I will have to dig up, as it has information on pretty well every make and model of game. I got this last year from a local dealer. I believe he has one more, although that was a few months ago. If anyone is interested, please let me know.

Max

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Posted By: Steve Green

I've been lurking for awhile, but I just had to contribute to this thread.. these photos are from a boardwalk arcade in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.. the guy has 38 of these baseball machines, all the same, all working, and all in fantastic condition..

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

STEVE G

Great pictures....thanks for posting....keep posting, guy.


MAX W

Beware, if Mark Macrae "checks-in" to play your Pin Ball....for he will never "check-out"....as the lyrics in Hotel California allude....HA !
Mark loves playing these machines and he is persistent at it, until he achieves the highest score.

I had to disable the TILT feature in mine, while he was playing it.

TED Z

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Posted By: Max Weder

Ted

Here's the link to the pinball database http://www.ipdb.org/

Max

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Thanks for the link....very interesting.

Is your game a 3-OUT, one Inning play ? And, what kind of scores can you rack up on it.

TED Z

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Posted By: Max Weder

Ted

Yes, it is the 3 outs, 1 inning. I think my high score is about 26. The high score on the machine is around 55 or so, although he titled during his streak. The high registered score is 29. It is a tough game.

Max

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Posted By: David Bowden

I remember playing what seemed for hours on a baseball pinball machine on a trip to San Diego as a child in the late 70's. Looking at the above posts it MIGHT have been the Midway Slugger game. Not sure, I have a hard time remembering yesterday much less 25+ years ago. The best part of the trip was that on the last day, having breakfast, my mom said to look over at the next table. I did and it was Muhammad Ali. He was sitting with 3 other people. My sister and I took the napkins from the table and went over to ask for his autograph. He was such a pleasant person. He signed for us and then ask me if I wanted to box and put up his fist. That was the most scared I had been up to that point in my life. I have since lost the napkin but will never forgetting meeting the greatest before his decline. Also will always link playing the old baseball pinball games with meeting the Champ.

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Yours certainly sounds like a tough game with that level of scoring.

Recently, my younger Grandson, Kurtis, was playing my machine. He comes running upstairs fearfully crying.....
"Gramps the game is on fire, hurry, hurry downstairs !" Sure enough there is smoke emanating from it and a
burning phenolic odor in the air. I unplug it and lift open the main unit and notice that the bat mechanism is
smoldering. Kurtis must of leaned too heavily on the button that controls the bat.

I remove the solenoid device that actuates the bat and within a week I got a replacement part and soldered
it in the unit. Lo and behold....the bat swing is now so powerful that the steel balls are being driven with such
intensity that the upper deck HR's are occurring more frequently than before.

I thanked Kurtis for his "inadvertent" enhancement to my machine....he smiled and it made him feel a lot better.


MARK MACRAE.....are you reading this.....with this "slugger" bat swing, you might just beat my score now.

TED Z

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Posted By: Jerry Rucker

Ted, I remember playing a baseball game at the local bowling alley when I was a kid 1950/60's where one guy pitched and one guy batted and you could throw a fastball or a curve but you had to cover the buttons with your hand so the batter didn't know which pitch you were serving up.

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Posted By: Mark Macrae

Ted...As I recall there was more than one time that we (or I) got that machine smoking. With the 'juiced up' batting mechanism, maybe I can get 765........ although it would have to be with an asterisk...

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Hey guy......if you beat my score of 560 runs....you did it fair and square....there will be NO asterisk.

I never liked what they did to Roger Maris with that dumb asterisk.

TED Z

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

In the early '60s I recall playing a Williams Pin Ball that fits the description you mentioned.
Is that the one you are thinking about ?

TED Z

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Posted By: Max Weder

Ted and Jerry

My game has that feature, where a fast pitch or cure is selected, and the batter only gets one swing at the pitch to get a result. If the ball is missed, it's a strike. If there is contact on the swing and a hit or out isn't recorded, it's a foul ball.

Max

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

You certainly have a neat machine. Williams was always the leader in innovation in the Pin Ball industry.

Their engineers located a strong electro-magnet underneath the field area approaching homeplate that
would be energized when pushing the CURVE ball button....thereby, diverting the pitched steel ball.
How effective is the curve ball on your machine ?

TED Z