Nice little repair story

[u2sean]

I was contacted by someone that had a Bally Circus that was being "brought up to Madison" and they wanted it fixed as it was a game from her childhood. I said sure, I could stop by and check it out. After it arrived, they called back and said it was actually called Big Top. I told her that it was a rare breed, but that if she really wanted I could stop out and see what could be done. Agreed. I stop out.

At one time, one of the flipper coils had been cooked and it took out one of the circuit breakers built into the back of it along with a few other components under the playfield that had been replaced. There were a few hacks that had been made to try and rectify it, but didn't quite get there. There ended up being a half dozen different things keeping it from starting up. Once it made the first noise and started playing and scoring, she was absolutely thrilled and even made the comment that she felt like she was 5 years old all over again! Her 3 kids were there, all wanting to play it. Also, her husband was at the game the whole time watching what I was doing so he could do future fixes himself (awesome!).

Yes, it is a Wico Big Top. It's not a full size game and most of us completely dismiss them. I am sure they'll have fun with it for many years. And who knows, maybe one of the kids will become a future pinball player. Keep the kids involved and interested in the game - they will come!

I'm sure some of you have warm fuzzy stories like this. If so - share!

[Methos]

Excellent work Sean.

Note to self -

New pinball tech for hire in the Madison area - good to know.

I only have had three fixes I could not do on my own. One was a Getaway that was just messed up and took it to Racine. Anothe was a EM that kept shorting out - Sean helped me with that one. The third is a sound board issue on a Bone Busters that is driving me crazy.

Everything else I've managed to either figure it out, or use research/pinside/RGP to find the problem. There does come a sort of a thrill when you figure out a pinball problem and fix it. The one I'll remember the most where the coils that activated the Gofers on NGG. They would not work at all. Tested fine, even worked when I took them out of the game and shorted to ground. Finally I ran across an old threadon RGP that led me to believe that you needed to break the coninuity of the metal casing. Bought a few brass washers, and it worked!

That one had me going around in circles.