Chris Buys a Comet Pinball Machine
On Monday eve, Chris got a little early Christmas present: a Comet pinball machine. Likely fueled by our recent excursion to the 2009 Pinball Expo, Chris got permission to store his new purchase over in our Annex area, at work.
While it was transported over, the entire machine wasn’t assembled yet. During lunch, I ventured over to watch as Chris, Allison, Justin and Ben put things together.
Adjusting wires for the main head/display piece.
Interior of the top display area. Lots of wires and fancy whatzits.
A closeup view of the board.
The incredibly awesome and disturbing main panel.
Tools to help assemble things. When I arrived the pinbal machine was more or less put together, with the exception of the main display area.
Observant readers may notice that the Star Trek backdrop is still on the walls in the photo.
Wondering what kind of camera M. C. Escher used, when he did this.
Full view of the board. In the top right corner, there’s a metallic ramp that leads to three large holes. I’m not 100%, but that topmost hole is for a million points I think.
Chris, troubleshooting.
Detail artwork, along the side of the machine.
Chris and Justin, placing the glass display piece into place.
Another closeup of the Comet design.
Opening the coin slot door. I sent so many quarters through so many machines in my youth, I probably paid for my own college education before I hit high school.
A view of all the wires connecting everything, inside the machine. Notice the industry-standard Triscuit cardboard adapter, on the far left.
We killed the lights and played a few rounds in the dark. Add a few more games, a few guys smoking in the corner, and a Walkman… and we’d be back in the Mall arcades of the 1980’s.
Related:
Pinball Expo 2009
Pinball Expo 2007: Free Play Heaven
Visiting Nickel City Arcade, Family Entertainment Center
Collection of Pinball Promotional Videos
Arcade (poem)
Thanks for getting all of these great shots! Interesting facts about this machine: as you mentioned, Comet has a million point shot and it was the first machine to feature a million points in a single shot. The playfield and roller coaster theme is actually based on the Riverview amusement park, which used to be located right here in Chicago at Belmont and Western until 1967. The main coaster at the park was Comet (hence the name of the machine). If you look closely, you can see the Chicago skyline in the upper-right of the backglass!
Chris (December 9, 2009 at 10:39 am)