Worst maintained pinball machines ever

[Wayne J]

Took a trip to Weston pier today to play the machines, what a waste of time. I have never played a set of machines in worse condition ever.

Shrek was turned off, so god knows what state that was in.

The upshot is the machines are completely unplayable and not worth a visit at all.

 

[Wayne J]

1 BBH

First up BBH, this was actually the cleanest of the 3 turned on, which isn't saying much.
The Elk was completely missing, both the figure and the plastic it should sit on.
The left loop didn't register at all, meaning if you did actually manage to spell ELK, you couldn't collect the hurry up anyway. Each left loop actually registered a right loop.
The Buck's position didn't physically correlate to where the lights where.
It also had trough issues, meaning the only way to end your ball was to tilt it once you'd lost the ball.
It also had a sneeze tilt, which for those of you who have played a BBH know, ball times were exceptionally short.

 

[Wayne J]

2 SM
This started with the upper flipper stuck pointing out at a jaunty angle and wouldn't return to it's normal resting position.
Obviously it was filthy.
The one way gate which directs the ball to the upper flipper was stuck up so that feeds from the pops were erratic to say the least.
The right loop didn't register, meaning locks had to be made on the left loop, even worse you couldn't start a mode if the right loop was lit.
The black suit mb was at least set to extra hard, meaning that it was not a given you were going to get it.
The magnet in front of Doc Ock was so raised that the ball jumped on all but the slowest hits meaning that you couldn't lock the ball in there either.
The right flipper was so weak that you couldn't make the left ramp - it hurtled back towards the centre every time, which due to the careful positioning of an overhead light meant you couldn't see it coming either.
It had virtually no tilt so you could manhandle the machine on a slippy floor with ease. The machine finished nearly 2ft behind the other machines once I'd finished with it.

The absolute best was it only had 2 balls installed. Confirmed by me trapping up both balls in play and looking in the trough. I did find 1 ball stuck behind the goblin targets, but couldn't find the fourth.

 

[Wayne J]

3 BDK
If ever a machine should be burnt for bringing pinball into disrepute, this is it.
The playfield was filthy, probably the worst I've seen in person.
The drop target to the joker was missing/broken.
The right flipper rubber was hanging on by a thread.
The Batman figure was missing with only his foot remaining.
There was also a slingshot spotlight missing altogether
However the worst was yet to come. Actually playing it.

It was so shallow to make it almost backwards.
There was no rubber on the shooter tip, nor a spring on the outside of the plunger rod. This meant you could not plunge to the rollovers at all, and if you got 2 balls in the shooter lane, you were stuffed. Due to the spring being missing on the outside of the plunger you couldn't slam the plunger with your hand either.
It had so many bulbs out to make lane changes, both top and bottom, guesswork. Which is strange considering it had some LEDs fitted? Completing BATMAN to light a mode was also guesswork.

Both flippers were extremely weak meaning the centre ramp was also hit and miss.

The crane would only register hits if you glanced off it, rather than hitting it straight on, and only then if it felt like it. I hit it that hard that it was bouncing around like Sparky being electrocuted.

The missing drop target at the Joker, meant that the ball regularly got trapped on it, requiring a balls search.
The ball also got stuck at the top of the Batmobile ramp on a number of occasions, which a ball search wouldn't shift, you had to hit it with another ball, or tilt. (More about that shortly).

The feed from the crane onto the ramp, and the feed from the gadget playfield also got trapped on the switch on the ramp. Occasionally this would free itself with vibration from the flippers, but just as likely got stuck there for good, even a tilt wouldn't remove it.

What this meant was that once you got a ball stuck you had to tilt, let the machine ball search and offer up another ball. Obviously this screws everything as when the ball does come free you have 2 balls in play, and drain the second you go to single ball.
Likewise you drop out of MB as soon as you get down to 2 balls.
The only solution was to try and start crane and joker mb at the same time so the machine knew all 4 balls where in play!

I made the mistake of putting £2 in to get 3 credits and can honestly say I only lost 2 balls genuinely in single ball play out of the 8/9 games I played in total, due to replays. That's despite another tight tilt.

 

[Hullshark]

Have you been to Blackpool Pier ?

Takes some beating

 

[sigh909]

Yeah they are in disgusting condition there on the pier in Weston. Completely filthy and f*cked. I wish someone could rescue them!! Second place for worst condition and lack of maintenance I'm saying the Arkade in Minehead.

 

[Slimetime]

Didn't someone on here recently take a photo on an AC/DC which didn't even have rubbers on the flippers? That was pretty awful.

 

[ianw]

@Wayne J

Drop into see Neil F whilst near him

 

[Epotech]

Can hear the operator: "takes money, dunnit?"

This is why ops killed pinball on site.

 

[robotgreg]

There was a reasonable Kiss Pro in one of the arcades on the main street nearby last year.

 

[Defrag]

Maybe we could run a tv campaign like they do for abused donkeys and then rescue the machines and get them sent to a sanctuary for a happy retirement.

 

[Pick Holder]

I saw ONE PINBALL (on one of the Blackpool piers) last week. It was a Stern ghostbusters and it was in relatively nice condition. However I did not stick any money into it as there is one in Tilt.

It is rare to see a perfectly working pinball on site. As a business plan goes for a site or arcade - Pinballs are not the best thing.

These people are not after your repeat business. They dont give a stuff if you put £1 in and get a game with faulty switches or duff solenoids. Most people wont notice.

Would not take much to clean those machines - 10 minutes with a tin of foam cleaner would do them the power of good.

The moral to this story is do not go to a seaside town to play pinball.

 

[Chief]

It is rare to see a perfectly working pinball on site. As a business plan goes for a site or arcade - Pinballs are not the best thing.

They are out there, if you look hard enough and are willing to travel. Pinball certainly works for us. I guess there is a lack of caring operators, but they are also out there, again if you look hard enough

 

[Chief]

Can hear the operator: "takes money, dunnit?"

This is why ops killed pinball on site.

Quality location pinball is still alive. It’s far from dead in our neck of the woods (West London)

 

[Pick Holder]

@Chief - I am aware of your place, my remarks were more directed to seaside towns where people pay only go once.

I look after some of Mr Palmer's pinballs on site so I know that great operators exist.

 

[Wayne J]

There was a reasonable Kiss Pro in one of the arcades on the main street nearby last year.

I was just about to say can you narrow it down, it's not as if there's only 1 or 2 arcades, when I caught glimpse of the front legs of a machine (arcade next to Sovereign car park), so I went in to give it a try.

Still dirty, though not as bad as the others, it played quite well, with the flippers being fully functioning.
Plunger tip stood proud too far meaning that the auto plunge didn't work with 1 ball in the shooter lane, but worked fine with 2. Made MBs a but easier.
The other thing that made life easier was the fact I couldn't find a tilt, and believe me I tried
The scoop also often didn't register the switch to give the award, but kicked out straight away.

Biggest difference was that there were no replays! No free credits to be had at all. Not something that bothered me, and meant I put more into that single machine than all 3 on the pier.
If operators realised that a fully functioning machine will take significantly more money, maybe they'd be more liable to fix them.

I'd forgotten how much fun Kiss can be.

 

[Epotech]

I'm talking how operators in the past killed the market not the current enthusiastic places.

 

[Pick Holder]

@Wayne J - from talking to the repair guys in these arcades it seems how overworked they are. They can repair most games a lot easier than a pinball, maybe in minutes/hours. Have seen that a large percentage of them have no clue.

It is a real shame.

Remember my family holidays in the 70s/80s - ROWS of pinballs. I was thin then.... and had hair....

 

[MajesticPinball]

Didn't someone on here recently take a photo on an AC/DC which didn't even have rubbers on the flippers? That was pretty awful.

Yeah that was me in a bar in Chelmsford... It does actually have flipper rubbers now but still isn't worth playing

 

[GezTheHealer]

Soooooo, well done on your High Score on BTDK...... I see you've omitted scores for SM and Kiss though.. I am curious as I was also playing these filthy machines at WSM the other weekend. Kiss was the nicest to play, when I went, BBH was on but unplayable, there was a buck but balls had a trough issue and kept ball searching/not finding. Shrek was out for the count. SM was similar, flat, with the sticky flipper though I don't remember a stuck ball. KISS was dirty, but working.

I was happy to walk away with Grand Champ on Kiss... (I put £2 into it...) I also got placed on the Spiderman, after like you say, it just keeps giving you replays as it's set to about 20m for replay..

I was the Champ of WSM Pinball Wayne! There was no competition and I was happy with that! Don't keep me in suspense! Break it to me gently...Are my Scores still up there?

 

[Wayne J]

Soooooo, well done on your High Score on BTDK...... I see you've omitted scores for SM and Kiss though.. I am curious as I was also playing these filthy machines at WSM the other weekend. Kiss was the nicest to play, when I went, BBH was on but unplayable, there was a buck but balls had a trough issue and kept ball searching/not finding. Shrek was out for the count. SM was similar, flat, with the sticky flipper though I don't remember a stuck ball. KISS was dirty, but working.

I was happy to walk away with Grand Champ on Kiss... (I put £2 into it...) I also got placed on the Spiderman, after like you say, it just keeps giving you replays as it's set to about 20m for replay..

I was the Champ of WSM Pinball Wayne! There was no competition and I was happy with that! Don't keep me in suspense! Break it to me gently...Are my Scores still up there?

View attachment 95418View attachment 95419

Sorry I beat both those scores

146 & 123 mil on Kiss

102 & 87 mil on SM

Although best score only got 1st place. GC was held by somebody else.

BBH about 23 mil was my best.

 

[Wayne J]

GC on Kiss was around 300mil by someone called Jeeswees (?)
GC and HS1 on SM were still default!!

 

[GezTheHealer]

Ouch. Well done, not surprised on the spiderman but not too much in it on Kiss. I gave up on bbh as it just kept getting stuck. I left it still with 4 players up ball searching. I remember you asking where to go in Bristol: home leisure direct is also nearby... if only you’d gone there lol. Despite the filthy machines, I’ll likely be back at some point.. got a target now. Well done

 

[GezTheHealer]

Okay, so I was hs1 on kiss not GC. Now what hs3? Probably pushed down from hs3 on Spider-Man as you say they were defaults. Dunno who jeeswees is. I’ll just assume the operator with glass off testing it, likewise with SM GC. Yeah yeah, that’s it, I’m still second best in WSM lol.