After finally finishing the new Shed/Workshop/Brewhouse and taking my 13 year old to NERG, he said we could rebuild a pinball in here, Wife heard and said that would be a good project for you both (WIN WIN). So good news, after project machine, preferably SS and Bally/Williams as thats what i'm used to but realistically anything, conditon not really important as want to teach him all aspects of repair, now bad news, spent most of budget building shed so can only go £200 to £250 (maybe bit more if i don't tell her) also closer to North East the better (located Middlesbrough).Bit of an ask, specially with the price limit but can always hope.Thanks for reading.
Pinball info
Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
Wanted Project Machine
- Thread starter rizla99
- Start date
Tbh I think you're going to be looking at an EM for this kind of money unless you're really lucky and can find a knackered early SS game that isn't very popular. Even a spare parts Bally/Williams game is probably going to be out of your budget.
agree with @ronsplooter that you will struggle with that budget unless you are really lucky
as you have already had a "win win" then might be worth saying to the wife, in a few weeks, that I can't find anything for £200 just piles of scrap but for £400 to £500 can get a reasonable project
you might get lucky and find a local ad but be quick as if you have seen it i'm sure somebody else will have as there are a few repairers/restorers in the north east
as you have already had a "win win" then might be worth saying to the wife, in a few weeks, that I can't find anything for £200 just piles of scrap but for £400 to £500 can get a reasonable project
you might get lucky and find a local ad but be quick as if you have seen it i'm sure somebody else will have as there are a few repairers/restorers in the north east
remember a project cheapy can be a money pit. often ends up cheaper to pay £100s more for a working game once you start forking out for unique parts displays etc
Don't remind me lol
Thanks for everyone's comments and views, something will turn up, if not still get to use it as Brewhouse. (Shed brew starts on Saturday)
The brew sounds interesting.
Probably best you make and drink then recover before starting on a pinball project.
Probably best you make and drink then recover before starting on a pinball project.
check out @Pudsey pinball - just listed a project for sale
Like to thank people on the group for be so nice and helpful. Pudsey and others offered me machines via P.M. but just out of budget. Kids and life take money priorities. But life (and pinball) finds a way.
Thanks all.
Thanks all.
I think you may need to look at e/m projects as the sum of parts on electronic games means very little under £300
Just to play Devil's Advocate, I say keep searching... just don't expect any bargains on eBay!
Two of my three pins were sub-£200 "project" pins, both early Bally solid-state games, PARAGON (£150) and GOLD BALL (£125). I've had to do lots of repairs, including electronics fault finding on the motherboard, rebuilding the power supplies, etc., but most certainly haven't spent £100s of pounds. Mostly it's a case of taking everything apart, giving it a good clean, polishing metal bits, the odd small repair, replace worn out bits, like coil sleeves and put it back together. I've made my own spare parts where none were available (cover plate on GOLD BALL) or were too expensive to justify (Nylon "buttons" for Bally linear flippers). Have a flick through my shop logs (linked in my signature below this message) to see the sort of effort I've put in. PARAGON is still a project, but the total playfield restoration on GOLD BALL is finished and it's a corker, if I do say so myself!
My third pin is another Bally solid-state, VECTOR. This was bought as a working game for £350. Eventually it too will receive an overhaul, but for now it's still great fun to play and tinker with.
Personally, I'd be a little cautious of starting out with an E/M (electro-mechanical) unless you're an absolute whizz with Mecanno or model engineering! Parts are definitely not as easy to find as those from the "classic era" of early solid-state games like my Bally's. There's not as much info on the web or documentation, manuals or service guides. There are way more people who know about solid-state or modern-era pins than know about E/Ms. I'm not saying never or trying to put you off, just be careful diving in at the obscure deep end. That said, PARAGON was my first pin and I knew nothing about pinball machines and I've loved every minute learning. I'd love an E/M and will eventually pick up a project to fiddle with... one day
Two of my three pins were sub-£200 "project" pins, both early Bally solid-state games, PARAGON (£150) and GOLD BALL (£125). I've had to do lots of repairs, including electronics fault finding on the motherboard, rebuilding the power supplies, etc., but most certainly haven't spent £100s of pounds. Mostly it's a case of taking everything apart, giving it a good clean, polishing metal bits, the odd small repair, replace worn out bits, like coil sleeves and put it back together. I've made my own spare parts where none were available (cover plate on GOLD BALL) or were too expensive to justify (Nylon "buttons" for Bally linear flippers). Have a flick through my shop logs (linked in my signature below this message) to see the sort of effort I've put in. PARAGON is still a project, but the total playfield restoration on GOLD BALL is finished and it's a corker, if I do say so myself!
My third pin is another Bally solid-state, VECTOR. This was bought as a working game for £350. Eventually it too will receive an overhaul, but for now it's still great fun to play and tinker with.
Personally, I'd be a little cautious of starting out with an E/M (electro-mechanical) unless you're an absolute whizz with Mecanno or model engineering! Parts are definitely not as easy to find as those from the "classic era" of early solid-state games like my Bally's. There's not as much info on the web or documentation, manuals or service guides. There are way more people who know about solid-state or modern-era pins than know about E/Ms. I'm not saying never or trying to put you off, just be careful diving in at the obscure deep end. That said, PARAGON was my first pin and I knew nothing about pinball machines and I've loved every minute learning. I'd love an E/M and will eventually pick up a project to fiddle with... one day
Thanks for the encouraging words.Read your shop logs a while ago, very inspiring, not sure you should class it as a bit of polishing,more like OCD polishing.Have been teaching (and learning myself) micro electronics and arduino programming to the son for past couple of years, plus our love of sanding and french polishing ,should give us the skill set to take apart a machine (not sure about putting it back together) buts thats half the fun.So we're after proper project, no rush something will turn up.
@rizla99 have you seen the project Phoenix game that @Pudsey pinball is selling at the moment? Might be worth giving him a shout 
There is already plenty of good advice in this thread. I would just say that if the game you buy is too rough it could:
A, be a money pit - and at the end of it you may not even recover your parts spend should you ever move it on
B, prove demoralising trying to get your first pin going if it is riddled with problems
C, consume a massive amount of time. Guys on the forum will offer advice, there will be some used spares kicking around etc. but all this takes time. And you are continually faced with the time v money question. Ie pay up and get that part now new (possibly from the usa), or wait for one on ebay, or ask round the community to see if there is a used one
In your shoes, i would honestly hang on and save up a bit more money to get up to a £400 or so budget so the game you buy is fundamentally sound and works. Some late 70s or early 80s solid state games are in this price bracket like gorgar, phoenix, blackout, harlem globetrotters, silverball mania.
I have never owned an EM machine, but they come cheaper so that is an option for you too.
Buy your game from an enthusiast/ amateur pinball fan on the forum. See it working before you buy it, try the flippers, switches, displays etc etc. Barn finds/ gumtree/ ebay/ sellers who know nothing could be a contaminated minefield clusterfook of disasters if you are new to all this.
Missing boards, dead displays, botched up wiring by some idiot in the past, rotting cabinets ..... People can do staggeringly stupid things to pinball machines in an attempt to get them going
A, be a money pit - and at the end of it you may not even recover your parts spend should you ever move it on
B, prove demoralising trying to get your first pin going if it is riddled with problems
C, consume a massive amount of time. Guys on the forum will offer advice, there will be some used spares kicking around etc. but all this takes time. And you are continually faced with the time v money question. Ie pay up and get that part now new (possibly from the usa), or wait for one on ebay, or ask round the community to see if there is a used one
In your shoes, i would honestly hang on and save up a bit more money to get up to a £400 or so budget so the game you buy is fundamentally sound and works. Some late 70s or early 80s solid state games are in this price bracket like gorgar, phoenix, blackout, harlem globetrotters, silverball mania.
I have never owned an EM machine, but they come cheaper so that is an option for you too.
Buy your game from an enthusiast/ amateur pinball fan on the forum. See it working before you buy it, try the flippers, switches, displays etc etc. Barn finds/ gumtree/ ebay/ sellers who know nothing could be a contaminated minefield clusterfook of disasters if you are new to all this.
Missing boards, dead displays, botched up wiring by some idiot in the past, rotting cabinets ..... People can do staggeringly stupid things to pinball machines in an attempt to get them going
Sound words, @DRD
Just FYI @rizla99 but there's a Facebook group called "pinball machines for sale/trade in the uk" and on there a guy called Ross Hamilton has just listed this lot:
I've highlighted the FUTURE SPA for £350. It's one of the five SUPER-WIDE-BODY game Bally made along with PARAGON, SPACE INVADERS, HOT DOGGIN' and EMBRYON. These really are monster wide-body games! The cabinet is as wide as the backbox. Nothing else like them. Likely to be so faded you can't see the pink at all on the cabinet but I'd love to line up one of these alongside PARAGON.
Here's a few representative photos, not the item for sale:
![Future-Spa_0001_Cabinet[1].jpg](https://www.pinballinfo.com/community/attachments/future-spa_0001_cabinet-1-jpg.19070/ "Future-Spa_0001_Cabinet[1].jpg")
![image-4[1].jpg](https://www.pinballinfo.com/community/attachments/image-4-1-jpg.19071/ "image-4[1].jpg")
Just FYI @rizla99 but there's a Facebook group called "pinball machines for sale/trade in the uk" and on there a guy called Ross Hamilton has just listed this lot:
I could do with extracting some cash from my collection, I'm hoping to seel two or three games to trade up... Any interest in any of the following?
Williams High Speed - has some MPU board issues, only plays foreground sounds, no background music, right-most digit not showing on all displays. £650 as-is. Worse case scenario, a NOS £250-300 MPU board turns it into a £900 machine.
Future Spa - £350. Good working order, cosmetically not great. It's worth about that stripped for boards, legs, etc.
Gottlieb Surf N Safari - £500. What I paid for it a year or so ago, fun game. Sound board a bit noisy, probably needs caps replacing to reduce the hum. It isn't a problem if the volume is reasonably low.
Bally Embryon - £1000 - rare 1981 Bally. Great widebody game. I don't really want to sell this, hence the fairly steep price.
If you're seriously interested please get in touch.
Williams High Speed - has some MPU board issues, only plays foreground sounds, no background music, right-most digit not showing on all displays. £650 as-is. Worse case scenario, a NOS £250-300 MPU board turns it into a £900 machine.
Future Spa - £350. Good working order, cosmetically not great. It's worth about that stripped for boards, legs, etc.
Gottlieb Surf N Safari - £500. What I paid for it a year or so ago, fun game. Sound board a bit noisy, probably needs caps replacing to reduce the hum. It isn't a problem if the volume is reasonably low.
Bally Embryon - £1000 - rare 1981 Bally. Great widebody game. I don't really want to sell this, hence the fairly steep price.
If you're seriously interested please get in touch.
I've highlighted the FUTURE SPA for £350. It's one of the five SUPER-WIDE-BODY game Bally made along with PARAGON, SPACE INVADERS, HOT DOGGIN' and EMBRYON. These really are monster wide-body games! The cabinet is as wide as the backbox. Nothing else like them. Likely to be so faded you can't see the pink at all on the cabinet but I'd love to line up one of these alongside PARAGON.
Here's a few representative photos, not the item for sale:
And I've just noticed FUTURE SPA has 5 pop bumpers! One more than PARAGON! I love pop bumpers. I'm definitely going to need a FUTURE SPA one day...
And it's got 4 in-line drop-targets, 6 rollover lanes, 2 spinners and a kicker lane! I bet it's a total beast to play! Now I really want one!
EDIT: Just found this excellent and well made video review on YouTube. Now I really, really want one!
EDIT: Just found this excellent and well made video review on YouTube. Now I really, really want one!
Last edited:
Future spa is a piece of pure, unadulterated, politically incorrect 70s kitsch
When folk in the developed world worked shorter hours, were happier, kids were better educated, casualty waiting hours were shorter, roads were gritted, villages like mine still had shops, less divorce, no "working from home", no weekend conference calls, holidays actually were holidays ....
Someone buy this. A taste of times when earthlings like us were a lot happier than we are today
My stable is full, unfortunately
When folk in the developed world worked shorter hours, were happier, kids were better educated, casualty waiting hours were shorter, roads were gritted, villages like mine still had shops, less divorce, no "working from home", no weekend conference calls, holidays actually were holidays ....
Someone buy this. A taste of times when earthlings like us were a lot happier than we are today
My stable is full, unfortunately
All you need to know about Future Spa
That back-glass is awesome
Was meant to be Logan's run. Even the number of letters fit
OMG! No way! My favourite film ever!
(Start's thinking about buying a really knackered FS and doing a conversion...)
I picked up a backglass which I now have framed and was discussing with Mr Flower as to sell or not as future spa not a favourite of mine but when he mentioned the connection it became a keeper. the cityscape behind the "70s" joggers certainly looks familiar. I sold a second unframed glass through elephant house auctions and auctioneer was a bit cheeky and put the logans runs link in brackets in the catalogue. like any nice condition pinball glass it sold well anyway
It isn't, but so what. Thats what makes this forum fun.
Is it me or does the backglass not match the playfield style wise, futury top, beach pool bottom.
Is it me or does the backglass not match the playfield style wise, futury top, beach pool bottom.
Two different artists.