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I'm a pin-head! 1972 "King Kool"


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Alrighty guys, the good news is I've brought home a 1972 Gottlieb "King Kool" EM Pinball, officially the first pinball I've ever owned. I'm now automatically qualified to talk out of my arse about my future make-my-own pinball project :D

 

The bad news is that I'm afraid none of you will ever be invited for a meet at my house whilst I'm still married... its obvious that I'd never have 9 arcade machines littering the house let alone gotten into pinball if it wasn't for this forum, and my wife knows it - so you're all banned. :lol

 

On a serious note, I owe a big thankyou to "Fish Tales" (or his wife) for passing on this deal since he wasn't allowed to purchase it, and a secondary thanks to Steptoe, who passed on the offer to me.

 

Ok now onto what you want to see:

http://www.got2getalife.com/kingkool/IMG_3810_small.jpg http://www.got2getalife.com/kingkool/IMG_3811_small.jpg

The cabinet paintwork is in excellent condition, because it appears to have been (well) restored. The wood is clearly original with some slight weathering in the ply near the joins but the paintwork is fantastic.

 

http://www.got2getalife.com/kingkool/IMG_3812_small.jpg http://www.got2getalife.com/kingkool/IMG_3814_small.jpg

A quick look at the playfield, then into the wagon - yes, they do fit thankfully!

 

http://www.got2getalife.com/kingkool/IMG_3816_small.jpg http://www.got2getalife.com/kingkool/IMG_3817_small.jpg

Keeping the back box nice and secure

 

http://www.got2getalife.com/kingkool/IMG_3818_small.jpg

 

 

Next chapter: First play in its new home!

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http://www.got2getalife.com/kingkool/IMG_3819_small.jpg http://www.got2getalife.com/kingkool/IMG_3821_small.jpg

First question: Where do I get bulbs, and are they all the same? I think I need about 63,117,442 of them.

 

http://www.got2getalife.com/kingkool/IMG_3823_small.jpg http://www.got2getalife.com/kingkool/IMG_3833_small.jpg

 

Back Glass: - Excellent condition except for the cracking around the white surround near the score. I assume I should just paint that white from behind?

 

http://www.got2getalife.com/kingkool/IMG_3827_small.jpg http://www.got2getalife.com/kingkool/IMG_3831_small.jpg

 

A good shot of the whole playfield. You can clearly see where there is mylar, the rest of the playfield doesn't have any and is showing typical age-related cracking and ball wear, but not much discolouration.

 

http://www.got2getalife.com/kingkool/IMG_3828_small.jpg http://www.got2getalife.com/kingkool/IMG_3829_small.jpg http://www.got2getalife.com/kingkool/IMG_3830_small.jpg

 

These are the worst areas of the entire playfield. The right lane, and the surrounds of the bumpers. Is attempting a paint match and touching this up by hand before putting new mylar frowned upon on an original?

 

http://www.got2getalife.com/kingkool/IMG_3832_small.jpg

The King has lost his Kool - I need a new plastic.

 

Other notes:

  • The chimes aren't working... I've yet to open it up and ensure they're still in-tact, hopefully they are and it will be an easy fix.
  • The flippers are great, the rubbers seem to be in good condition.
  • The machine needs a million bulbs
  • The backglass is fantastic except for cracking in the paint around the score
  • The scoring is strange, there's only 5 digits and the 'unit' (far right) number never increments, presumably because the lowest score you can get is '10' but then why have that reel? With only 5 digits you can 'clock' it in minutes... I suspect there's some kind of setting to treat 'units' as 10s (ie effectively devide the score by 10) - please tell me I'm right.
  • It seems to have an issue with ending the game. If I press the 'reset' button on the coin door the score resets and the 'ball in play' goes back to 1... but I can just play ball after ball and it keeps going in circles (up to ball 5, then back to 1, etc), it never swallows the ball permanently.
  • I'm not entirely sure all of the targets are registering - when I open it up/lift the glass off I'll be able to tell more.
  • There is a decent amount of wear around the pop bumpers - I'll contemplate touching those up.
  • I need new bumper caps because they're worn, and the center plastic (of the king) which is cracked.

 

Overall, I think the machine is in great condition for a 36-year old (I'm 30 and I look worse). Excellent!

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the one of the far right is actually not a reel. i found that out recently its just a plastic 0

bulbs; markc sells them in boxes of 100 :) just order a sea container full (i need to replace mine too)

right lane wear: mine has the same must be a common prob mine goes right up to the top. Still ok for a pin over 30 years old

chimes: usually taken out. mine didnt have anyone but i got 2 sets with it. unfortunatly i needed to rebuild both sets and have sold the other set already

 

 

nice score now i want mine to work properly :( (next weeks mission)

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Thats a damn shame about the reel, you're right I took a look and the far right is a solid '0'.

 

Thats a little silly, were players that shite in the day that they only lasted 3 mins? I suck at pinball and I reckon in less than a day I can clock the maximum score.

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Great deal for $500 i reckon. Congrats!

 

The backglass looks good, although the reds appear to be faded to nothing :(

 

See Here

 

Damn you for bursting my bubble lol... I just looked it up on IPMD, you're right... I'd never have guessed that her top/shoes/upper clouds were red as its in perfect condition just faded. The rest of the colours are fine. WIERD.

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for what you paid u gotta be over the moon with the condition, yes the backglass has faded but that isnt an issue for a machine of this vintage, someone has done you huge favor with the cab re-paint, it looks very good

:)

now think of all the fun you will have making her work properly!

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Damn you for bursting my bubble lol...

 

Shit. After i hit submit i thought the same thing. Didn't wanna burst your buble, as coming home with a pin whether it's your first or 50th is a huge buzz :)

I just looked it up on IPMD, you're right... I'd never have guessed that her top/shoes/upper clouds were red as its in perfect condition just faded. The rest of the colours are fine. WIERD.

 

It's actually quite common for the reds to fade to nothing on Gottliebs. The skin tones are usually the first colour to flake as well. Classic Stern glasses are cronic for faded reds as well.

 

Haven't looked at the Shay Arcade Group who make repro glasses. If they make one for KIng Kool you could have a REALLY sweet machine after the playfield resto.

 

Cheers

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Hmm, wrote a post and somehow lost it.

 

The good-ish news is that the three-chime unit IS in the machine, but two of the three solanoids have their 'shafts' collapsed, and the third isn't firing for some reason.

 

I think the coin mechs seem to be missing something too... there is a microswitch (which works) but it seems to be missing a shaft or something for the coins to pass through, its also missing the coin bucket but thats no big deal I guess.

 

I must admit I'm a bit overwhelmed looking inside... I mean I can tell whats not working and I can check its switches, but if the switch underneath looks ok I'm kind of stuffed.

 

I just had to turn it off because I got a familiar buzzing sound from the backbox which I think might be from the 'hundreds' score reel getting stuck or a solanoid vibrating (buzzZZZZZZ) and it wont stop until I reset it.

 

Well, so far I need:

A plastic

Bumper Caps

100 bulbs

Potentially 3 solanoids (chimes)

Some of those protective mylar bits

New 'Insert 20c' pictures

Instruction Card

Bumper caps (faded)

Spinners (faded)

 

I'm currently contemplating building a garage... I don't think I can seriously contemplate stripping this down to do a proper restore of the playfield (let alone scratch building one) until I get that done... so priority is to get this working 100% and focus on the cosmetics later.

 

What is an safe product for simple cleaning the playfield? (not polishing etc - thats later).

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i have a coinbox minus the lid

 

plus original score cards that i can scan next w.e at my parents place :)

 

so priority is to get this working 100% and focus on the cosmetics later.

 

agreed there no point have a great looking game that is dead

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Alright I've diagnosed my first (real) fault... the game has stopped being playable as the solanoid on the 'bonus unit' (literally called that) is firing but not releasing, making a god awful buzzing noise. This happens whenever I hit any 1000/advanced bonus target (and there are over 10 of them).

 

I've diagnosed but cannot figure out how to fix so far... when I hit any of the '1000 points/advanced bonus' targets anywhere on the playfield it energizes the solanoid on the 'bonus unit', when then gets stuck and buzzes like crazy (it doesn't release). When its off, I can activate the solanoid manually and it turns the cog properly and the spring bulls it back into place... so do I need to replace the solanoid (maybe not strong enough??)

 

I've tried tightening or loosening the spring on the lever that pulls back into place after the solanoid (is meant to) release, but to no avail. Somehow the solanoid isn't being told "ok you can stop now"

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