Random Thoughts & Pictures
I bought this game at the 2006 White Rose Gameroom Show in York, Pennsylvania. I don't recall if I ever played Pin*bot on location, but I have played it on many occasions at various pinball shows over the last several years. I liked the game and it fits well with my general interest in Williams System 11 games. Also, I was drawn to Pin*bot because the theme, music and sounds remind me of Space Station. Space Station is one of my all-time favorite System 11 games.
The game was in very nice condition. The playfield Mylar was smooth and shinny with virtually no bubbling or peeling. In the few areas where there was no Mylar the playfield was not noticeably worn. In fact the only minor wear spots were in front of the three eject holes and around the edge of playfield slot for the visor targets. None of this was particularly noticeable. The plastics were also nice. The thin plastic by the ramp lift mechanism was cracked, but all the pieces were there. The right and left front corners of the plastic over the lock holes were chipped. But the movable ramp section and the upper mini-playfield were both clear and fresh looking. Also, the Vortex ramp was completely intact with only some minor decal wear. The Vortex ramp was also the correct color orange (i.e. not a black Jack*bot replacement). The cabinet was excellent and complete with a fully intact topper. The translite was perfect. The wiring and boards all appear to be original with original bright IDC connectors. Nothing appeared to be burnt or hacked. It's hard to believe this thing was over 20 years old.
GIVE ME SIGHT -- LOCK MY -- EYE BALLS
In November 2016 I bought a reproduction mirrored backglass from Classic Playfield Reproductions. This was one of their translite to mirrored backglass conversion projects. Comparison photos are shown below. What's gray on my translite is blue on the backglass. What's red on my translite is more orange on the backglass. There's little difference between red and orange on the backglass. What's red looks orange. What's orange looks orange/yellow. The mirroring is neat, but there's not much of it. The backgless might be a consideration for someone with a translite in poor condition. My translite was decent. If I had to buy the backglass again I might not.
Update: Over time I had given some thought to going back to the original translite. But I became hooked on the color saturation of the new glass. Now the old translit looks bland to me.
Translite.
Backglass.
Backglass versus translite. Click for larger picture.
Part of the System-11 herd.
Promo decal set for Pin*bot.
Promo plastics for Pin*bot. The small yellow plastic is the Pin*bot token from Taxi.
Promo keychain plastics that were included with the reproduction Pin*bot plastics set from CPR in 2007.
Around 2010 CPR produced a mini playfield that featured mirroring instead of yellow. As I recall, this was a small-run experimental sort of thing. I just happened to be surfing RGP when the playfields were announced and snagged one. I don't know if the mirrored mini playfields ever made it to a larger production run. The mirroring kind of just disappears and isn't as cool as it might sound. I also acquired a CPR standard mini playfield (with yellow) which is what I used when I shopped my game.
A mirrored mini playfield by CPR from around 2010.
A regular CPR mini playfield compared to the CPR mirrored mini playfield.
A promo keychain plastic that was included with the CPR mirrored mini playfield.
Four page promotional flyer for Pin*bot. Click image for larger picture.
Below is a set of NOS decals I found rummaging around a junk box at a pinball show many years ago. I loaned this set of decals to Planetary Pinball for scanning. Don't know if they ever got around to reproducing them.
NOS Pin*bot decals.
Patent drawings for Pin*bot. Click image for larger picture.
Here's a handheld Pin*bot game from Tiger. It's a boring little low-rez, two-dimensional LCD game. It's a neat little collectable for the Pin*bot owner who has everything. But game play is pretty uninspiring when the real thing is right here in the gameroom.
Tiger LCD Pin*bot game.
Pin*bot appeared in the 1988 film "Big", a Cosentyx (pharmaceutical) TV commercial and the music video "Pinball King" by Terra Lightfoot.
In 2019 I shopped my Pin*bot (see Repair and Maintenance Log). Subsequently I used some of the old parts to build a three-layer 3D wall sculpture. The base layer is a ¾" piece of plywood. I used a pencil inside a washer to trace a shape slightly larger than the mini playfield. The image is of my own playfield enlarged to a bit more than 100% across two sheets of photo paper. The paper is covered by a sheet of polycarbonate. The middle layer is the old mini playfield. The top layer is the mini playfield plastics along with the old outlane plastics.
3D wall sculpture.