Your Pinball Machine


Book Description

Every person who owns a pinball machine, or who is thinking of buying one, will find a wealth of valuable information and step-by-step help in this thorough, updated manual. For electromechanical and electronic machines: choosing and buying a pinball machine; different types and vintages of machines; components and features; setup and game adjustments; how to maintain, clean, and service your machine; setting machines for free play; troubleshooting; repairs you can do yourself; keeping the flippers "hot"; sources for parts, tools, schematics, game manuals, and professional repairs; starting your own pinball business; and much more. Illustrated with more than 200 detailed photos and diagrams, including rare and beautiful machines from the Pacific Pinball Museum, one of the world's largest collections of pinball machines, from the 1930s to today.




Pinball Machine Care and Maintenance


Book Description

"A wealth of valuable information and step-by-step help, this manual is packed with tips and clear instructions." --Play Meter Magazine. "An excellent book, highly recommended." --Pin Game Journal. "A hugely useful guidebook for novice and professional alike." --GameRoom Magazine.




The Complete Pinball Book


Book Description

This fantastic book tells the detailed history of pinball games from the 1930s to the 1990s, including the evolution of all sorts of game features--from flippers and bumpers to sound, scoring, and tilt mechanisms--all immersed in the complex and magnificent artwork characteristic of pinball machines. Pinball manufacturing giants like Gottlieb, Williams, and Bally are well represented, in addition to several lesser-known and foreign manufacturers. With a listing of over 3,000 games built to date, statistics, updated pricing information, and over 900 color photographs (including close-ups, flyers, images of rare prototypes, and games never before seen in print), this is essential for the libraries of all pinball lovers. The pinball machine is here to stay--due in part to the exponential increase in the number of serious collectors and enthusiasts. What other modern amusement machine can boast a longevity of over 60 years, withstanding the test of time and ever-changing technology, while maintaining its instantly recognizable form? The rolling, bouncing silver ball, as unpredictable as the flip of a coin or even life itself, has kept up with cutting-edge advancements in electronics, mechanics, and even computers, to amuse and test the skill of players worldwide!




Pinball Memories


Book Description

Pinball games have long been regarded as the twentieth century's ultimate coin operated amusement, touching the lives of generations of players in numerous cultures. This visual chronicle, with examples from the game's beginnings to the present day, focuses in particular on the years from 1958 to 1998. It showcases fifty fascinating pinball games, each with its own chapter outlining the special features. Covered in detail are cultural influences, design and artistic trends, historical connections, collectibility, values, and unique game rules. Over 800 full color photographs display whole machine shots, close-ups of backglasses and playfields, and ball's-eye-view images. They put the pinball enthusiast right into the action! This beautiful book is an essential reference for the libraries of pinball collectors and aficionados everywhere.




Pinball Machines


Book Description

Take a step by step journey through the circuitry of a pinball machine and learn the most effective troubleshooting techniques the professionals use. If you are new to pinball machines you can quickly learn how the pinball machine works and what to do about problems. For the experienced technicians this book provides invaluable references, test points and pinouts for effective troubleshooting. This book refers to the Williams/Bally WPC System and the System 11 however, many troubleshooting techniques and principles of operation will apply for pinball machines of different systems and manufacturers.




Pinball Wizards


Book Description

Pinball's history is America's history, from gambling and war-themed machines to the arcade revolution and, ultimately, the decline of the need to leave your house. The strangest thing about pinball is that it persists, and not just as nostalgia. Pinball didn't just stick around—it grew and continues to evolve with the times. Somehow, in today's iPhone world, a three-hundred-pound monstrosity of wood and cables has survived to enjoy yet another renaissance. Pinball is more to humor writer Adam Ruben than a fascinating book topic—it's a lifelong obsession. Ruben played competitive pinball for years, rising as high as the 80th-ranked player in the world. Then he had children. Now, mired in 9,938th place—darn kids—Ruben tries to stage a comeback, visiting pinball museums, gaming conventions, pinball machine designers, and even pinball factories in his attempt to discover what makes the world's best players, the real wizards, so good. Along the way, Ruben examines the bigger story of pinball's invention, ascent, near defeat, resurgence, near defeat again, and struggle to find its niche in modern society.




Pinball


Book Description

In 1976, champion player Roger Sharpe stepped up to a pinball machine in a Manhattan courtroom. He was there to challenge the citywide ban on pinball by proving this was a game of skill, not chance. Sharpe pulled back the plunger and released, and the fate of this industry and artform hung in the balance.0Thus opens Jon Chad's comprehensive graphic guide to the history of the captivating, capricious-and at times infuriating!-game of pinball. Tracing pinball's roots back to the Court of King Louis XIV and right up to the present day, Chad captures not just the history of the game but also the artistry, cultural significance, and even the physics.




Tilt!


Book Description




Pinball!


Book Description




The Pinball Compendium


Book Description

Eagerly anticipated, this update of the highly regarded third book from pinball author Michael Shalhoub includes over 900 color photos and covers the most recent period in pinball history, from 1982 through 2011. Each chapter is devoted to a specific year and features descriptions, release dates, and historical background on the games released that year from manufacturers Gottlieb, Williams, Bally, Data East, Stern, Sega, and others. Current values are listed for each machine shown in the book. Interspersed with the games are stories and interviews with many of the legendary designers and artists who created them. Readers will gain fascinating insight into the planning that went into the games, how the designers and artists got their start in the industry, behind-the-scenes tales of life in the pinball world, and more. "Michael Shalhoub's Pinball Compendium is a great documentary of our business," says designer Steve Ritchie of the second book in the trilogy. Along with its two companion volumes (the first covering the 1930s-1960s and the second covering 1970-1981), this book is a must-have for all who love the sights and sounds of the world's great pinball machines.