Big Hit is still progressing forward, and looking back on it, it’s been a ton of fun! After testing the playfield, I removed the head of the machine and put it on the bench. I carefully removed the backglass and the guts and now the head is sitting empty, waiting for some touch-up work. Meanwhile, I have stripped out all of the old light bulbs and tested all of the coils – so far so good! I’ve been cleaning up the Decagon scoring units, making sure that they all work like they’re supposed to. I have two more to go before that is finished. I will also be installing a micro-switch in the head to switch the game between free play, and needing coins to operate it. Since I plan on selling Big Hit, I don’t know if the buyer of the game will want it to accept coins. I purchased and installed the new coin mechanisms in the game when I did the work on the coin door.

The body of the machine is in the shop awaiting final cleaning and polishing of the metal. The metal-work on the game looks really nice, so I’m not going to play with it. I have new legs, feet, and bolts in stock to apply to the game as soon as the other stuff is complete. To do the final cleaning, I plan on removing the old legs and putting the game on saw horses, so I can clean the areas around the legs and do any touch-up on the body that might be needed.

When everything is all done with the head, I’m going to reinstall it on the machine, reconnect everything, and give Big Hit a final test. After that, she’ll get a brand-new playfield glass, and after taking some photos of her, I’ll put her in my game room for more “testing” and to await her sale.

I also added some new games to the collection, many of them with the intention of rebuilding and reselling. In the group were two pre-flipper games, a Chicago Coin Home Run 1940, and a Williams’ Cyclone (1947). I find these games fascinating, because even though they don’t sound like a lot of fun to play, I’m really curious to try them. Flippers were introduced in pinball around 1947, and after that, flippers became standard. Many of the pre-flipper games were converted to have flippers, but the two games I have now were not converted. When I get to those games, I’ll talk more about them.

Other games I got in the group were Gottlieb’s Jungle King, Jungle Queen, Fire Queen, and Super Soccer (which is the four-player version of Soccer – another game we got last week from another person), Williams Granada, and another Bally Eight Ball. I now have two Bally Eight Ball’s to be reconditioned, along with the one in my personal collection. My own game will be very helpful in testing out the boards and the other electronic equipment on the games for sale…

We also picked up a Bally Freedom from another person in Massachusetts. This is the standard EM version of Freedom. It’s in great condition, and it will be coming down the line soon!

Enough typing, now back to work!