My first pinball machine... help... (LUCKY ACE 1974)

[Red 5]

So I dive blindly into the pinball abyss. The price was better than I have seen anywhere else, so I said to hell with it all and did it.

 

Please tell me how I did, as I know very little about pinball machines and I know there are a bunch of you who are "pinball heroes" around here.

 

For $300 I got myself a "Lucky Ace" from a guy who has had it since the 70's.

I have all the original paperwork and he says that it has worked since he got it and he has barely used it.

He is in his 60's and frankly, I believe the guy. He said it was priced to sell and I was the first of many callers and got first dibs.

 

I know... but once again... I believe him.

 

It is in great shape and he says he has never replaced anything. From fist looks, I could tell that it is probably well past the time to replace the bumpers. (The elastic band thingies are called bumpers, right?) He claimed he never replaced a light bulb but they all work. I could see that some were out, but I wasn't complaining. Not to mention, with the packet of things he gave me was a box of bulbs that looked straight out of 1974.

 

The manilla envelope all the paperwork came in is labelled Williams Electronics Inc.

In the envelope is the following:

Original Instructions Manual dated November 1974

Box of GE Miniature Lamps (bulbs)

HUUUUGGEEE schematics layout that unfolds like an old school car map of Walla Walla Washington

Catalog Supplement

Printed Material Checkoff List

Score Cards

Replay Window Mask in sealed envelope (What is this???)

Warranty Card

Extra Intructions cards and points cards

Dampener for Pendulum Tilt in sealed envelope (What is this???)

 

As for the machine itself, it works. The score works and resets, the bumpers work, but I have no idea if the lights are working correctly, if the drop downs (or whatever you call them) drop down, and it appears that there are buttons on the playfield that you should be able to roll the pinball over to drop them and score points.

 

Is there anything... anything at all... you can tell me to help out a serious newb. Do these old machines have test modes? I don't see anything in the manual like an attract mode, or a mode to test all the lights.

 

Any help at all would be most appreciated. It is paid for. I have the paperwork. I pick it up later this week, so obviously I would like to hear how well I did, but I can handle criticism.

 

H E L P ! !

[Crimefighter]

Ummmm...have you tried playing it? Maybe remove the glass cover and roll the pinball at things? They sell replacement bulbs that are LEDs to really brighten things up.

[BigO]

Plug it in, turn it on and try to play it. That's where I'd start given my vast experience with my one pinball machine.

 

There are places on the internet that you can order kits to replace all the rubber bits on the playfield. Marco something is where I got mine. In all your documentation, you may have something that tells the sizes of all of the rubber bumpers and o-rings and bands and whatchamagizmo's on the playfield. If you can't find a kit already assembled, you should be able to order the individual pieces.

 

'74...that would have been an electromechanical machine. Relays, sequencers, miles of wires, but likely very few if any semiconductors to troubleshoot or so I would expect.

 

I'd be surprised if it worked without issue if it's never had any maintenance. Mine's an early microprocessor machine, but even so the reed switches need tweaked and the contacts filed and just some basic tinkering has to be done fairly often.

 

Good luck. Post back when you get 'er tested out.

[DanBoris]

I really love those old electro-mechanical pinballs, I have refurbished a few of them.

 

Since it is electro-mechanical there is no microprocessor, so no test mode. As someone else suggested you can take off the glass and hit the targets and switched manually to test things out. If you are unsure about the lamps they can easily be tested by taking each one out and putting an ohm meter across the contacts. The meter should read close to zero ohms if the lamp is good.

 

The rubber parts tend to wear out first, usually from dry rot. You can find an entire replacement rubber ring kit for that machine here for only $14.95:

 

http://www.marcospecialties.com/storeitems...;williams=LUCKY ACE&PageNo=2

 

They also have re-build kits for the flippers if they are worn.

 

If you are going to do any work on the machine I highly recommend checking out this site:

 

http://www.pinrepair.com/em/index.htm

 

Excellent information on how to maintain and repair EM pinball machines.

[Red 5]

I really love those old electro-mechanical pinballs, I have refurbished a few of them.

 

Since it is electro-mechanical there is no microprocessor, so no test mode. As someone else suggested you can take off the glass and hit the targets and switched manually to test things out. If you are unsure about the lamps they can easily be tested by taking each one out and putting an ohm meter across the contacts. The meter should read close to zero ohms if the lamp is good.

 

The rubber parts tend to wear out first, usually from dry rot. You can find an entire replacement rubber ring kit for that machine here for only $14.95:

 

http://www.marcospecialties.com/storeitems...;williams=LUCKY ACE&PageNo=2

 

They also have re-build kits for the flippers if they are worn.

 

If you are going to do any work on the machine I highly recommend checking out this site:

 

http://www.pinrepair.com/em/index.htm

 

Excellent information on how to maintain and repair EM pinball machines.

 

 

Thanks for all this info! I am picking it up tonight. Can't wait.

[yuppicide]

I would say it's a decent price depending on condition. I've looked around a few places and see one for $225 and $250, but don't know condition or if it comes with any paperwork.

 

I'm not a fan of electromechanical pinballs.. the game play is too slow and boring, but eitherway congras. I'd be happy to own anything honestly because I don't own any right now.

 

I would probably want to scrape the paint off and make my own design.. but even that I sometimes have a problem with because I don't want to destroy history. If someone can recommend me a faster pasted electromechanical pin I might want to check it out.

Edited August 5, 2009 by yuppicide

[mavrik8511]

Use this guide http://www.pinrepair.com/em/index.htm

It will tell you all you need to know!!!

[yuppicide]

There's a guy near me that repairs and sells electromechanicals. Some of them look cool, but I was never found one that interested me a lot to get it.

[Atariman]

Any pics of the machine? Just curious how everything went with this as it wasn't that long ago that I was a total pinball noob, myself.

[Crazy Climber]

Not a big fan of EM games myself but they are a great "first" machine. The great thing about EM is they basically run forever, there is no circut boards in these things, yes that is what I said, no circut boards, they are all solenoids, fuses, etc.. The negative side is it shows that they have no circut boards. Your sounds is basically a few chimes and your score board is a primitive reel that you will eventually be able to roll easily depending on your skill level. Older EM machines are also usually pretty worn so they play slower, you can fix them up but something like a Lucky Ace will be tough to get your money back from if you decide to sell. It is a $200-$500 machine depending on the condition, not worth sinking the $200+ in to it for a total rebuild. Like I said, it is a great first machine. If you bought something like a Jurassic Park first you probably wouldn't give Lucky Ace the time of day, much like people today that started out with an N64, they don't care about the ol' Atari if you get what I mean. You could think of an EM pinball game as the Atari 2600 of pinball, if you grew up playing them there is nothing that will ever compare to the magic it brings...but if you grew up playing the newer SS or DMD stuff the EM games just don't even compare. Even though I pretty much own all DMD games now I still play the hell out of my Black Knight machine, it always brings me back to the arcade days

[Crazy Climber]

Oh BTW, if you didn't find this place already (although you probably did) here is some info/reviews on your game...

http://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?any=lucky+ac...type=quick#1483

[BigO]

The negative side is it shows that they have no circut boards. Your sounds is basically a few chimes and your score board is a primitive reel that you will eventually be able to roll easily depending on your skill level

One of the interesting/quirky things about my early microprocessor pinball machine is that it uses the old electromechanical chimes for sound.

Edited August 19, 2009 by BigO

[Crazy Climber]

The negative side is it shows that they have no circut boards. Your sounds is basically a few chimes and your score board is a primitive reel that you will eventually be able to roll easily depending on your skill level

One of the interesting/quirky things about my early microprocessor pinball machine is that it uses the old electromechanical chimes for sound.

Yeah, some were almost like hybrids. Some games were released as SS and EM. Mata Hari is a good example, what game do you own?

[BigO]

The negative side is it shows that they have no circut boards. Your sounds is basically a few chimes and your score board is a primitive reel that you will eventually be able to roll easily depending on your skill level

One of the interesting/quirky things about my early microprocessor pinball machine is that it uses the old electromechanical chimes for sound.

Yeah, some were almost like hybrids. Some games were released as SS and EM. Mata Hari is a good example, what game do you own?

Allied Leisure's "Entertainer" (Roy Clark). Other than the graphics, it's identical to two other machines.

http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=785