Pinballs

And here we go again. Silence doesn't mean nothing happened, it just means I've been too lazy to update the website ;-)

The Creature underwent a complete and thorough cleanup, and it was about time! As these pictures show, you couldn't see through the ramps anymore (and that was just the top of the iceberg!), but look at the result after:

I completely dismantled the playfield, stripped naked down to the bare-bone wood, and carefully and patiently cleaned it up (thank you Mr Red Devil and GoldCat ;-).

Pictures of the whole procedure are here:

I also replaced all the playfield plastics, shooter rod and lane guides (ordered from MAD Amusements), and put on a brand new set of rubbers (from OldSchoolPinball on eBay). I also did clean the translite, which came back to life after that:

I did a "preemptive strike", replacing each and every bulb (I didn't keep track, but I'd say there are about 150 of them!), and did the usual battery hack (soldering a couple wires and moving the backup batteries out of the CPU board where they already did enough damage ;P) and finally installed 3 brand new balls.

I had the nasty surprise of discovering that the previous owner probably thought fuses rates didn't mean anything (no, you don't use a 2A fuse when you need a 3A, and even worse, no you don't use a 10A fuse when you really want a 5A one!)

I have only one remaining "issue" with the machine: when the ball is served, it sometimes bounces back into the feeder, causing annoying delays and sometimes cancelling extra balls.

Other than this minor issue, the game is a blast to play and so much fun. Also, it came a long way, and I'm pretty happy with the positive outcome! ;-)

Enjoy the ball view, and final result: