1978 Sonic Cherry Bell Pinball Machine (Repaired)

This pinball machine came in for repair recently. It was in pretty rough shape, so it needed to be cleaned and adjusted thoroughly. This machine is from Spain and is rarely seen. It has fast play and some interesting features. The machine has a slot machine theme. The center kickout hole bank will light features on the playfield like pictures on a slot machine. The rollover targets and the left upper lane advance the bonus. The bonus is accumlated on the handle of the slot machine. The bonus is collected by shooting the ball into the kickout hole at the top of the handle. I enjoy the outlanes. On the right side is a rubber up-post that can protect part of the lane when you score this feature in the the center kickout holes. The left outlane is disconnected, so a lane pass or a fast catch will drain the ball. It makes your touch on the flippers especially important. On this particular Cherry Bell machine I have the pop bumpers and slingshots set to extra sensitive to add speed and unpredictability to the game. The ones place and the tens place on the score displays are stationary. The score increases in increments of 100 or more. The match feature uses the digit in the hundreds place. I find the game to be the right level of difficulty so that you rarely score all of the features on one ball and you get that coveted "one more game" feeling. Fun!

1932 Mills "Official" Pinball Machine (For Sale)

 

  

This machine is a 1930s Pinball bagatelle machine I recently acquired in trade. The term "pinball" actually refers to an earlier time when these machine had "pin" or small nails in the board to redirect the balls plunged to the top of the field. This machine is especially significant in the history of pinball because this is the first ever game that was called a "Pinball" machine. All previous machines were "Pin Games". 

More information about this Pinball machine is available at:

  http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=4963

For $.05, a player got 10 balls to play. One of the ten balls was a brownish red color, the rest were white. The red ball is worth double points. The player would count up their points at the end and claim their prize from the location. This machine has a distinctive Art Deco appearance with stair stepped sides and a chrome diamond shaped plunger cover. This is a great piece of history and an interesting game to play. You'll notice a picture of the machine next to my Pharaoh machine to compare sizes. There is no back box. The machine and legs are made of wood. As you can see in the video, there is a spring loaded board underneath the playing surface. When a nickle is pushed into the coin mechanism, the mechanism pushes the spring loaded board forward dropping the marbles into a lower level. Gravity carries them back towards the collection plate and the plate funnels them back to the plunger. This could be a wonderful piece for your collection.