Pinball books

[JT.]

I'm interested in getting an EM project next, but don't know much about them so not sure which to go for.

Can anyone give me some hints on good pinball books/encyclopaedias from the EM era? I'm really looking for something with nice big glossy pictures, and maybe some opinions on gameplay.

 

[ronsplooter]

Don't know about books but I would say make sure you get a game with a spinner on....spinners on EM's are cool and very satisfying to hit Personally I'd recommend Zaccaria EM's as I think they are awesome!

The biggest piece of advice I'd give you about getting an EM is something a friend of mine told me when I was looking for one. If its your first EM then get a single player game so you can learn how they work and how to fix them. A 4 player game has 4 times to amount of stuff under the pf and in the backbox and aren't a good idea if you've not got used to how they work.

 

[jww]

Hello JT,

I got this and it's big, has tons of glossy pictures and covers pretty much all pinballs from EM to Solidstate. It's even got my Bally 1975 Knockout in there! There's lots of history and info too but like certain adult magazines, I was mainly dribbling at the pictures tee hee

'The complete pinball book, collecting the game and it's history' by Marco Rossignoli, published by Schiffer 3rd edition.



I don't want to post more pictures of it in case I get in trouble, but it's one of my most favourite books as the quality and quantity of pictures and info is just damn amazing. The book is about an inch thick!

It doesn't cover repairs etc, but I found Clays EM guides (I don't think I'm allowed to link to them) are superb and gave me an 'in' for EM repair. As has youtube. A good introduction I found is :

Not to mention the several Jedi's that can be found stalking this forum

Hope that helps!

Cheers,


Johnny

 

[JT.]

Hello JT,

I got this and it's big, has tons of glossy pictures and covers pretty much all pinballs from EM to Solidstate. It's even got my Bally 1975 Knockout in there! There's lots of history and info too but like certain adult magazines, I was mainly dribbling at the pictures tee hee

'The complete pinball book, collecting the game and it's history' by Marco Rossignoli, published by Schiffer 3rd edition.

View attachment 9022

I don't want to post more pictures of it in case I get in trouble, but it's one of my most favourite books as the quality and quantity of pictures and info is just damn amazing. The book is about an inch thick!

It doesn't cover repairs etc, but I found Clays EM guides (I don't think I'm allowed to link to them) are superb and gave me an 'in' for EM repair. As has youtube. A good introduction I found is :

Not to mention the several Jedi's that can be found stalking this forum

Hope that helps!

Cheers,


Johnny

Excellent! That looks like just what I'm after, thanks Johnny.

 

[Steve C]

Also you might want to consider Pinball Compendium by Michael Shalhoub - 3 separate books, Electro Mechanical Era, 1970 to 81 and 1982 to present so you can choose which era you want. Not cheap but full of lots of glossy pictures plus other info.

Got mine from a book warehouse so will post link when I can remember where but they are big heavy books so expect them to arrive with a few bumps if ordered online, mine did and I complained and got 25% refund

 

[Steve C]

Book Depository

http://www.bookdepository.com/Pinball-Compendium-Michael-Shalhoub/9780764330285

or Amazon UK

Both are offering it for £41.08 which is probably the going rate but expensive HOWEVER click on the link below and you can get it for £29.49 plus £2.80 delivery. Only 2 in stock, well 1 now as I have just ordered.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pinball-Com.../ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AHRB2OK2Q2YCL

Funny thing is that this is Book Depository on Amazon, took a bit of finding as doesn't show up on initial searches.

 

[Jay Walker]

Don't know about books but I would say make sure you get a game with a spinner on....spinners on EM's are cool and very satisfying to hit Personally I'd recommend Zaccaria EM's as I think they are awesome!

The biggest piece of advice I'd give you about getting an EM is something a friend of mine told me when I was looking for one. If its your first EM then get a single player game so you can learn how they work and how to fix them. A 4 player game has 4 times to amount of stuff under the pf and in the backbox and aren't a good idea if you've not got used to how they work.

Another thing in favour of single-player E/M's is that they can retain objectives achieved from ball to ball - multi-player EM games usually reset all objectives, leaving each player to start all over again.

 

[replicas]

You need to choose a machine that's going to keep your interest as a lot of EM machine soon get tiresome.
There are some great titles out there so pick a good one and have fun.

 

[Steve C]

A good EM is on my wanted list as well