Woody's Place

The Perfect Way To Finish Up Halloween

High End Pins

Collectible pinball games are old, complex machines with a large number of moving parts.  The playfields eventually get worn from use, the cabinets get scratched, the wood bodies get cracked or warp with age, the circuit boards can fry, and I've even seen a machine catch on fire once.  I often tell people I know that owning a classic pinball machine is just like owning a classic car.  It's going to break down from time to time, so be prepared to pay for some occasional repair work and try to enjoy yourself whenever it's running well.

That being said, just like a classic car, a pinball machine can be torn down and rebuilt piece by piece into something more reliable and more beautiful than the day it was made.  The best in the business of pinball restorations is High End Pins.

Chris Hutchins and his team at High End Pins will take a pinball machine from this:

To this:

In the process they will strip off every single part, and clean, replace, or rebuild it as needed and give you back a classic machine that is in better than new condition.

This is an art form, and I've got tremendous repsect for these guys for helping to preserve classic pinball machines that otherwise would eventually end up in a landfill from neglect. 

Check out their photo gallery for some amazing before and after shots and detailed views of the process of rebuilding a pinball machine.

Someday I hope to have my games redone by these guys.  Should I start with Dungeons & Dragons or Sorcerer?  Hmmm...

UPDATE:  Check out this news video on High End Pins.

Sorcerer Pinball

After picking up Dungeons & Dragons, Haunted House, and Black Hole for my game room, I thought my pinball buying days were over.  Then one evening while browsing on Ebay, I stumbled across a listing for a sweet little machine called Sorcerer.  I thought the name sounded cool, and truth be told was kind of jealous, because it was a better looking game than my first love Dungeons & Dragons. 

My wife took a peek at it and she was really enchanted by the artwork, which was somewhat reminiscent of one of her favorite art nouveau painters, Alfons Mucha, mixed with swords & sorcery of course.  Well, here I was, already the owner of three pinball machines which most folks would regard as three too many, and my wife (of all people) was urging me to buy another one!  Can you believe that?

It was meant to be... so how could I not buy it, right? 

Sorcerer was made in 1985 by Williams, and according to the markings on the machine mine is serial number 53257284 and was completed on May 30th.

Here is an overall view of the game:

Here is a view of the playfield detail:

My high score to date is featured in the column on the right. 

UPDATE: Here's a YouTube video of Sorcerer in action.  Love the 80's sound effects and music!

Black Hole Pinball

After Bally's Dungeons & Dragons launched my pinball addiction, and Haunted House reinforced it, I eventually began looking for yet another pinball machine for my game room.  Since I enjoyed the unique features of Gottleib's Haunted House, that game's older brother Black Hole seemed an obvious contender.  I did a little research on the game, and everything I read sounded great, so off to the pinball store I go.

These classic machines aren't a dime a dozen, and machines in decent condition are even more rare.  I absolutely was not expecting to get as lucky as I did looking for Haunted House, but what do you know?  My local pinball store had not one, but two Black Holes, and both were in good shape!

It was meant to be... so how could I not buy it, right? 

Black Hole was made in 1981 by Gottleib, and was the first pinball machine ever to feature a lower level playfield under glass.  According to the markings on the playfield mine is serial number 04610, and was completed on September 9th.

Black Hole pinball has it's own page at Wikipedia.

Here is a overall view of the game:

Here is a view of the playfield detail, including the reverse lower level under glass:

My high score to date is featured in the column on the right. 

UPDATE: Here's a YouTube video of Black Hole in action.  Great sound effects!

Haunted House Pinball

After Bally's Dungeons & Dragons launched my pinball addiction I knew I'd have to have more than one machine for my game room, so I began looking into all the different games out there looking for that perfect choice.  Being a child of the 80's I decided I'd focus on that era. 

Eventually I stumbled across a listing for a game called Haunted House and fell in love with it.  I'd never even played it, but I knew it was the one from it's cool Scooby-Doo style imagery, spooky theme, unique multi-level playfields, and cult status among pinball afficianados.  Haunted House is regarded by many as one of the most collectible pinball machines ever made.

So I decided my first step would be to stop by the local pinball store that had started my obsesson and see if they had one (fat chance) or could help me locate one.  When I walked in, the guy working was in the back room and as he walked out I saw a flash of green through the open doorway.  It couldn't be that easy, could it? 

"Is that a Haunted House back there?" I asked. 

"Yeah, we just got it in today and I was checking it out before putting it on the floor" he says. 

It was meant to be... so how could I not buy it, right? 

Haunted House was made in 1982 by Gottleib, and according to the markings on the playfield mine is serial number 08232, and was completed on February 15th.

Haunted House pinball has it's own page at Wikipedia.

Here is a picture of the game:

Here is a view of the playfield detail, including the reverse lower level under glass:

So far my highest score is around 800,000 points, but I can't find where I wrote down the exact figure. 

UPDATE: Here's a YouTube video of Haunted House in action.  Great music!

Dungeons & Dragons Pinball

A few years ago I was strolling through a local pinball store thinking about buying one of their used video arcade games for my soon to be finished basement game room and I spotted a Dungeons & Dragons pinball game.  Now, I was never really into pinball, and in fact I never knew this game existed, but I WAS a big Dungeons & Dragons collector, so I decided I had to have it.  After the game was delivered I played it... and played it... and played it and pretty soon I was hooked on pinball! 

Dungeons & Dragons was made in 1987 by Bally.  There were 2000 units made in total, and according to the markings underneath the playfield, mine is serial number 663 and was completed on October 27th.

Here is a picture of the game:

Here is a view of the playfield detail:

My high score to date is featured in the column on the right.

My "Man Cave"

My home was built in 2000 and had a large unfinished basement with decent ceiling height.  In late 2007, after years of putting it off, my wife and I finally decided to turn it into finished living space.  We did most of the work ourselves with the assistance of my father-in-law Bob and his huge colection of power tools.

Now, after a year and a half of weekends and evenings, it's about 90% finished.  The bathroom is incomplete and there's much more decorating to be done, but it's close enough to be enjoyed and finally looks good enough for me to share some pics with my blog buddies, so here goes.

THE GAME ROOM - This is the main room you enter when coming down the steps.  There's a foosball table, an arcade game, some pinball machines, a slot machine, a dartboard and a variety of fun and funky decorations. 

 

We chose a commercial grade vinyl plank for the floor. It's very rustic looking, durable and waterproof. Together with the greenish color on the walls it gives the room a cozy Irish pub vibe that my wife really likes.

THE PINBALL COLLECTION - From left to right we have Black Hole, Haunted House, Sorcerer and Dungeons & Dragons. 

THE ARCADE GAME - This is my MAME cabinet custom built for me by Dream Authentics.  It's a full size arcade machine packed with over 70,000 roms (games).  Yes, that's right 70,000!  I have nearly every arcade game, every Nintendo game, every Super Nintendo game, every Nintendo 64 game, every Gamecube game, every Sega Genesis game, every Atari game etc. etc.

Never in my life will I play them all, but if you were over and remembered one from the old days we'd be able to play it within minutes.  That's all kinds of awesome when you're having a party.  My favorites right now are Joust, Gyruss, Tempest, and Galaga.

 

DEPECHE MODE "SHRINE" - I'm a huge Depeche Mode fan, so I decided to display some of my memorabilia and favorite albums in this 5'x5' corner spot.  My uncle Jimbo even helped me replicate the BONG 13 loudspeaker from the band's Strangelove record cover.  Thanks again Jimbo!

 

POSTERS, POSTERS, POSTERS - It's a cheap way to add some life to the room and show off some things that I enjoy.  From a Dragon's Lair video game poster autographed by Don Bluth, to Led Zeppelin's iconic Stairway To Heaven door poster from the 70's, to Frank Sinatra and Ronald Reagan, I cover a lot of ground (and walls) with posters.

 

THE THEATER - The theater is set up and pre-wired for a 92" projection screen and wall mounted Bose surround sound speaker system, BUT... I ran out of cash.  So for now we're making due with a little 27" flatscreen and an old Sony speaker set up I had laying around.  The TV and DVD's are run from a Dell Media Center PC, which also makes this an excellent spot to enjoy my MP3 collection.

Movie posters adorn the walls and cover several decades and genres.  We selected: The Matrix, Titanic, The Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy, The Godfather, Pirates Of The Carribean, Star Wars, Tombstone, The Lord Of The Rings, Ferris Buehler's Day Off and Herbie Fully Loaded.  FYI: I found that Movie Posters USA had reasonable prices, great selection, and remarkable after sale service.  I can't recommend them enough.

We used futons because they were inexpensive (out of cash), and also because they are versatile.  You can make two rows of seating, or fold down the first row and make a huge chaise, or fold down both rows and make a huge bed for my daughter's sleepovers.  It works out great for us.

The back of the room is dominated by  a custom built media shelf to hold our CD and DVD collection along with various books, LP's and boardgames. 

THE OFFICE - My office subterranean lair features a nice desk setup, a Dell PC running Windows Vista, a bookshelf for my Dungeons & Dragons collection, a futon sleeper sofa, and my musical equipment.

 

We really enjoy the new basement!  Everytime my daughter has a new friend over you can hear them freak out when they get to the bottom of the steps, and when she had a sleepover last fall, I overheard her friends telling one another that it was the best sleepover they'd ever been to.

That was a big part of the reason for doing this, so our daughter has a safe place to hang out with her friends as she enters her teen years.  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. (-:

I'll change out these pictures and/or add more to this post as things progress towards perfection.

UPDATE: Here's a picture I found of me and Bob amidst the forest of lumber we'd built.