The blog has been on hiatus for awhile. Things are always busiest for me at the end of the year with the holidays and Crimson's birthday demanding my time in addition to my passion for NFL football and the NHL.
I've returned with a vengeance. Hopefully several posts over the next few days will make up for the lack of activity over the last 2 months. A full range of topics will be covered but I feel it is best to resume where I left off. I had promised a little more on my pinball obsession.
After acquiring The Simpson's Pinball Party, I was playing like crazy. I'd try to sneak in a game before work, a couple at lunch, plenty more in evening and often end the day playing yet another game. My knowledge of the table and the rules was improving as was my overall skill level. My scores began to climb. I wouldn't call myself a "great" player but I was no shlub either. While there was still plenty to uncover in The Simpson's Pinball Party, known as one of the deepest pinballs ever made, I was starting to think some variety would be nice. Hell, since I had more space, why not fill it with some more pinball.
Since Twilight Zone had been the last machine I cut when deciding on The Simpson's Pinball Party, I decided I'd go back and get that one. I knew going in that this machine would be a bit different experience than my first. For one, the machine was over a dozen years old and had spent a good deal of time in some smoke-filled bar in Germany. Although it functioned pretty well and had been spot cleaned, it was going to need some tender loving care to keep in functioning and make it more presentable. However, I looked forward to this opportunity to learn about pinball maintenance and restoration. I plunked down my money, got it delivered and squeezed into the basement.
I was delighted with the purchase. Although I had played it for more than a few minutes at the dealer, this pin really came to life with extensive play at home. The unique features, toys and challenging game play coupled with some great artwork linked to one of my favorite TV shows made it a great purchase. However, on closer look I discovered several cosmetic and a few mechanical problems. Nothing really major but enough for me to realize that I may have overpaid a bit.
My next step was to gather the resources, information and tools so that I could maintain and beautify this machine as well as any future purchases (already I'm thinking of more!). There were two great resources I discovered rather quickly. First, I found the USENET group, rec.games.pinball. Having been a long time user of USENET, it was great to discover this was THE place for pinball discussion. I'm not a huge fan of web based forums and find USENET a much speedier experience but for those not familiar or comfortable with USENET, Google does provide a web based interface at rec.groups.pinball. The knowledge of people frequenting this group is incredible and in general they are very helpful. With years of posts archived and searchable via Google, I learned a ton very quickly. The second valuable resource I found was the pinball repair guides. These contained enough information to start another spending spree on tools and give me the guidance necessary to attack just about any pinball problem.
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