This machine has sold but we may have other pinball machines in stock.
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SOLD – Located in Grantham, NH – Contact: uppervalleypinball@gmail.com
In a world full of flat screens and virtual experiences, vintage pinball machines provide great real-world, 3D, physical gaming fun.
Bally “Sky Kings” is a fun, single-player game with a sky diving theme and unique captive ball targets and a great spinner target shot.
“Sky Kings” was designed by Jim Patla with artwork by Dick White. Only 2,000 of these machines were produced back in 1974. Now nearly 50 years old, this particular machine needed a bit of restoration.
In 1974 everyone was “Kung Fu Fighting” and listening to Abba singing “Waterloo” on the radio. Barbra Streisand was crooning about “The Way We Were” and Elton John was telling us about “Benny and the Jets”.
We’ve spent over 100 hours refurbishing this classic pinball machine from the 1970s.
What’s the difference between our refurbished pinball machine and those you see on Craigslist? Unlike that grungy old pinball machine on Craigslist, our machines are free of grime and potential safety issues.
We refurbish pinball machines to the point we’d be proud to display them in our game rooms.
We take the entire machine apart and inspect everything.
Every contact, every relay, every score reel, every coil, and every mechanical unit, is cleaned and checked for good operation. Worn-out or cracked parts are sourced and replaced. Metal parts are tumbled. Plastics are cleaned up or replaced. Original paint is touched up and sealed.
Vintage pinball machines usually have cracked and unsafe power cords. The grounding plug is typically non-existing – cut off by an operator who placed the game in a location that didn’t have a three-prong outlet, so they just snipped off the ground.
On our “Sky Kings” the safety issues have been upgraded – a new grounded power cord is added and a new grounding braid is connected to the metal parts such as the coin door and rails.
We do all sorts of “behind the scenes” work that few owners will ever notice. Like removing everything from the old grimy relay board, sanding it down and then putting down a nice fresh coat of primer. Clean up the metal supports, spray them gray and then reassemble everything.
- Original backglass – sealed to prevent any flaking
- Original cabinet artwork sealed. Headframe painted.
- Cabinet strengthened – Original chipboard back panel replaced with plywood.
- Playfield and original plastics cleaned and waxed
- Metal parts tumbled.
- Relay board sanded and painted with primer gray
- Colored LED lights under inserts
- LED light bulbs in the head including flashers for the marque “Sky Kings”
- All switches and contacts cleaned
- All mechanical units were cleaned and lubricated.
- New stainless steel coin door bolts
- Safety upgrade: NEW grounded power cord
- Safety upgrade: Grounding of coin door/lockdown bar/siderails/legs
- Safety upgrade: New power switch cover installed
- Legs freshly painted
- Pop bumpers rebuild with new plastic parts. Mylar pop bumper playfield protectors added.
- Inserts protected with mylar circles
- New mushroom bumpers
- New pop bumper caps
- New flipper rebuild
- New back panel and lock.
- New leg levelers
- New white silicone rubbers
- New rebound rubber
- Owner’s manual and schematics
- New plastic protective covers for the original apron information cards.
- New fuse holders
This 1974 Bally “Sky Kings” is now ready for another 50 years of fun!
Playing Bally Sky Kings
On the plunge, aim for the center kick-out hole at the top of the playfield for 3,000 points and to light the two captive ball features. If you miss it, you can always get the ball back up there from the flippers.
When the pop bumpers are lit, hit them for 100 points.
Hit the spinner for 100 points every spin. Every spin will also move the lights along the arc under the spinner. For every 10th spin, the bonus ladder moves up.
The bonus ladder will count down at the end of the ball.
On your last ball, the Double Bonus light will come on.
Reach 8,000 points on the bonus ladder and you’ll have a chance to shoot at the lit Extra Ball targets.
A well-placed hit on the captive balls will rocket it all the way up and award a special. Light the captive balls via the top lanes.
Win a free game by matching the last two digits of your score with the match light.
About Electro-Mechanical Pinball Machines
Pinball machines built before 1978 were all electro-mechanical – switches, coils, plungers, relays, springs, and score motors. Everything worked by electromagnets pulling in and releasing plungers and levers.
There are no expensive modern electronic circuit boards. Everything is sensory – you can see and feel the machine come alive. Watch the score reels click, hear the chimes, and feel the machine going through its reset pattern beneath your hands as you wait for the ball to kick out into the ball trough.
Electro-mechanical pinball machines are basically a machine designed with a single hard-wired program although you can change a few settings like 3 balls or 5 balls per game.
Once set up properly these machines were designed to work hard for the operators who placed them on location. Occasionally a light bulb might need changing or a switch might get stuck, rubbers will eventually wear out and need replacing and playfields should be cleaned and waxed from time to time.
But there are no finicky electronics needing expensive technicians.
Owner Resources and Maintenance Tips
The best way to keep an electro-mechanical pinball machine working well is to play it! The contacts are self-cleaning when used.
- Light Blubs: We used Comet Retro SMD Bullet Bulbs “warm white” https://www.cometpinball.com/products/retro-smd-bullet-bulbs?_pos=20&_sid=bec332fc0&_ss=r and colored LEDs on the inserts.
- Playfield cleaning and waxing – Periodically wipe down the playfield with Novus 1 plastics cleaner and then wax with high-quality carnauba wax.
- Switches keep themselves clean when the machines are played. An idle machine might need a switch cleaning. Switches can be cleaned with 91% alcohol and a cotton squab. Or pull a business card through the contacts. Don’t get any alcohol on the apron – it will remove the paint!
- Rubbers – I suggest Titan Pinball – https://www.titanpinball.com/ or Pinball Life’s bulk rubber sets which are a great deal – https://www.pinballlife.com/rubber-ring-sets.html
- General parts – The Pinball Resource – http://www.pbresource.com/ PBR manufactures and stocks parts for vintage pinball machines, especially Gottliebs.
- Other parts stores: Pinball Life https://www.pinballlife.com/ and Marco – https://www.marcospecialties.com/control/main
- Pinball Forum & Advice from the pinball hobby community – pinside.com
- Otakus Ultimate Electro-Mechanical Theory of Operation https://forums.arcade-museum.com/threads/otakus-ultimate-electro-mechanical-guide-em-theory-of-operation.417885/
- Historic information – https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1329
- Electro-Mechanical Pinball Repair Guide – http://www.pinrepair.com/em/index1.htm