Monthly Archives: January 2002

Visiting a Game Auction at Winston-Salem

Me and my friend James took the short trip up to Winston-Salem to see a game auction.

We had a great time playing all the pinball machines there. Unfortunately, there was only 1 Electro-Mechanical pinball machine, an Amigo (see pictures). As we were trying to get it to work, somebody came by and gave us a hand. The machine was having trouble getting through its startup sequence. He was able to get it going after discovering a bad switch on one of the the player 4 score reels. Turns out this guy has been repairing pinball machines for 30 years…

Our favorite pinball was, by far, the Fireball Classic. (You can see it on the right side of the first picture) We were racking up tons of free games on it until our mojo ran out.

Luckily, I remembered to bring an extension cord. That way we could power up any game there. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring quarters!!! Not that we really needed them, but without them, we had to find and manually close the coin switch for each game. No problem really, but we got a good laugh out of it.

Bally Amigo Pinball MachineTons of Pinball MachinesJames Playing Cyclone

Pinball Auction, a set on Flickr.

Target Alpha Flyer From 1976

This is the original Target Alpha flyer from around 1976.
Target Alpha Flyer by Particle Man
Target Alpha Flyer, a photo by Particle Man on Flickr.

 

My First Pinball Machine: Target Alpha

Target Alpha Pinball MachineThis is my first pinball machine. I wanted an electro-mechanical machine from the mid 70’s and this one fit the bill perfectly. There is just something special about EM machines… simplicity, great look, mechanical sounds, real chimes, etc.

Manufacture by: D. Gottlieb & Co.
Date: November 1976, 4 players
Model number: 392
Production run: 7285
Theme: Outer Space
Design: Ed Krynsky
Art: Gordon Morison
Notes: A 4-Player version of Solar City, Convertible to Add-A-Ball

I’ll be posting more information later including pictures and small repairs I’ve done.