Midwest Pinball

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August 2010 – Special When Lit Movie Premiere

Next month the Chicago United Film Festival will be premiering a new documentary about pinball. “Special When Lit” will be opening the festival on Friday September 10th at 7PM at the Music Box Theatre (3733 N Southport Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60613).

The movie is billed as “the definitive story of the rise and fall of pinball as told by the fans, collectors, designers, and champion players from across the globe.” Get more information and watch the trailer at the Chicago United Film Festival website (http://the unitedfest.com/chicago/schedule/htm)

May 2010 – Gottlieb Wedge Head Collection

Midwest Pinball recently acquired a large collection of Gottlieb pinball machines from the early to mid-1960′s.  These games have been in storage for several years and need to be tuned up and restored, but the playfields and glasses are in great shape.

Many of these games feature the artwork of Roy Parker with vibrant colors and classic themes from the 1960′s.  The collection includes the following games:

  • Cowpoke (1965)
  • Cross Town (1966)
  • Flipper Clown (1962)
  • Flipper Cowboy (1962)
  • Flipper Fair (1961)
  • Flipper Parade (1961)
  • Flipper Pool (1965)
  • Hurdy Gurdy (1966)
  • Ice Show (1966)
  • Rack a ball (1962)
  • Royal Guard (1968)
  • Sittin Pretty (1958)
  • Skyline (1965)
  • Slick Chick (1963)
  • Square Head (1963)
  • Subway (1966)

 

If you are interested in any of these titles, please contact us for more information at richhuff@mwpinball.com or (312) 925-1386.

October 2009 – ESCO Samba

We have for the past several weeks been working on a 1948 ESCO (Exhibit Supply Company) Samba. This game features flippers in the middle of the playfield and kickout holes near the bottom of the field, but no flippers to keep the ball in play.

Also, as can be seen in this photo, the back glass does not have score wheels. The lights illuminate various scores on the glass that total up to be the player’s current score.

Oftentimes the painted glass in these games will be held into the frame. The top of the frame can be unscrewed and the glass can be lifted out to access the lights behind the glass.

March 2010 – Gottlieb E/M Pinballs

Spring is here. Along with almost a dozen Gottlieb electro-mechanical pinball machines from the late 1960′s and early 1970′s. In the past few months, we have restored Big Indian, Cow Poke, Guys Dolls, Jungle Queen, Road Race, Sure Shot, and Wild West.

On a few. we also rebuilt sections of the cabinet that had been chipped or had gotten damp. Even these old games can be made to play like new, while still maintaining that classic look.

October 2009 – Astro Black Sheep Squadron

Here is a picture of the restored playfield for a 1979 Astro Black Sheep Squadron.  With the feel of a classic Bally pinball machine from the same time period, the Black Sheep Squadron is the only game from Astro to make it into production. The playfield was covered in old wax that required a lot of work to clean up.