Williams - Indiana Jones : The Pinball Adventure - 1993

Williams Indiana Jones : The Pinball Adventure is considered and rated one of the top pinball machines of all time. It's a wide-body pinball machine which features various toys, modes, DCS Sound, and non stop action which incorporates the first 3 films. It has a mini playfield that you can control with the flippers known as the "path of adventure". The game also has a ton of other features for starters ; drop targets which have idol heads, various multi-ball modes, 3 other video modes, 12 modes in total, a rotating idol, as well as two ramps. To me Indiana Jones : The Pinball Adventure was a game that I considered to be a "grail game". At some point I knew I was going to own one and really wanted to save it as one of my last machines because I knew it would likely be one of if not the best game in my collection.  The game most certainly doesn't dissapoint and lives up to it's high rating from other collectors. The theme is phenomenal, that is of course if your a fan of the Indiana Jones movies, which I am. I'm such a fan that I named my dog Indiana. Yeah I know Sallah's line from the movie... "You named the dog Indiana!".

I located several Indiana games throughout the country. Some were museum pieces overly priced, some were re-imports, some were good restoration candidates. A re-import is when a pinball machine gets shipped over seas has it's voltages converted, and then when it comes back to the USA it get's changed back which is known as a re-import. For this game I wanted to make sure that It wasn't a re-import. I also really didn't want a game that sat on location. Majority of these games had faded artwork, however I decided to go for a privately owned what i considered a good restoration candidate. The game I found had decent artwork, and the boards were all working, it was also a non-import, didn't have any cabinet lock bars or no drilled holes on the cabinet. Unfortunately the playfield was in dirty shape also had broken rubbers, burnt bulbs, the game was in need of an overhaul or in the pinball world it needed to be shopped out. Being this was my 3rd pinball machine I was slightly more familiar with the internals and how for the most part things worked. I bought the game from someone in Michigan, he actually drove to my house in NY to personally deliver it to me which I thought was crazy. He was a really nice guy and helped me bring the game down into my basement. Being the game is a wide body machine I needed to actually take some molding off my door frame this was the first time I ever needed to do that to get a game in.
  

 

Above you can see the drop targets had graphic issues, as well as being broken. Also in this other photo you can see that the playfield was on the majorly dirty side along with the metal ramps were rusty. In the picture above on the right you can see the pop bumper covers had wear issues.

Cracked Rubbers, Dirty Playfield

In the photo above you can see the broken rubbers, along with the dirty play field above the mylar. The problem with this pinball machine and most pinball machine that to get to certain parts requires you to literally tear down the entire play field. At first I was very apprehensive about going forward with the restoration being that I've never done a shopping out job on a pinball machine before, but it's really more time consuming than anything else. It most certainly does present an overwhelming feeling if you have never shopped out a pinball before.

Underneath Playfield

The playfield will lift up if you open the coin door, pull the yellow latch which will relase the metal lock bar. Once the lock bar is off you can then slide the glass off the playfield and carefully place it out of harms way. To lift the playfield simply lift it up by pulling where the balls drain, then pull the playfield towards you, it will click / lock into place. At this point you should be able to safely lift the playfield so it won't crash on your head while working underneath. Once under the play field is lifted you will see a countless amount of wire harnesses, solenoids, lamps, pcbs, screws and other various stuff. Certain pieces of the playfield on top require you to unplug harnesses to pull them off the playfield such as opto boards, the mini controllable playfield, the ramps the light up etc. I would advise that if your going to pull any wire harness to label them with a marker. Sometimes you might need to shift between having the playfield lifted, and then lowering it down again during shopping the game out.

Above you can see how dirty even under ramps where the ball doesn't see any action can get. Another thing to note is that while you are disassembling the playfield it's advisable to take as many photos as possible so you can remember how things become arranged when you need to place the pieces of the puzzle back.

"Path of Adventure" Removed

In the above photos you can see the deconstruction of the playfield as I pulled the mini "path of adventure", as I went along I started to clean some of the plastics with Novus 1. Novus is commonly used to clean plastics, it's basically like an extremely high grit sandpaper 3 being course 2 being medium to light scratches, and 1 is more of a polish.

At this point I was debating on weather or not to add LED's instead of keeping the incandescent lamps. I decided to outfit the game with all LED's. Supposedly they run cooler saving energy which is less of a strain on the power supply, last longer, and look brighter / cleaner.  I ended up ordering a kit next day air from "Coin Taker". Sadly I'm not sure what world Coin Taker lives in but to me next day air is next day air, not 3-day air. Melissa apologized about the mistake and did at the end of the day compensate me for my delay of shipment. I was upset because I was basically at a stand still on the machine I really wasn't able to continue. Prior to that I got in a shipment from Marco Specialties which included various goodies for the rest of my restoration. Some parts from Marco were 7 new pinballs (6 for the game, 1 for the captive ball), New drop targets, idol decals, new star posts, a rubber ring kit, new pop bumper covers etc.

I had mentioned earlier about labeling the wire harnesses, well It's also advisable to do the same thing to the various screws so you know where things will go once you need to start placing things back together.

The playfield was really starting to clean up. I used a combination of Novus 2, Novus 1, and then Mothers carnauba wax. I removed the mylar using goo-gone which worked very well. After applied Novus 2, then Novus 1, and then wax.

The same process was done on the right hand side of the playfield. Below you can see the playfield slowly transformation from disgustingly dirty to sparklingly sexy.

Before

During

After

Above you see the captive / held ball, I replaced it with a brand new one although the existing one was probably fine figured since I had the playfield torn apart it should be replaced. Also you might notice that at this point I actually hand sanded the metal wire ramps to get the corrosion and rust off of them. It's nice and sparkly now, I might in the future add gold wire ramps / bronze or perhaps powder coated ones. I'm not really looking forward to tearing the game down again in the future but I've seen the gold wire ramps and they give the game nice character. Mine came with gold legs. I generally try to retain the games originality not a fan of mods on pinball or arcade machines, however certain mods that are tastefully done are cool in my book.

 To gain access to the back box you need to simply unlock the top lock, lift the marquee up and pull off the machine. Once the marquee is off you will see a metal latch on the right hand side, if you pull that up it will reveal all of the components behind the back box. I noticed the batteries had an expiration date of 2013 which it happens to be 2013 (Crazy this game is already 20 years old!), so I replaced them with 3 new AA's. When you replace the batteries make sure you look for any acid damage and as a good habit you should replace the batteries on any previously owned machine. As of now I don't believe I have the latest ROM Revisions. I think the latest ones are L7. I'll visit that potential upgrade at a later time.

 Getting back to the playfield the drop targets were in dire need of repair, the center plastic was cracked not to mention the others were in rough shape cosmetically. I decided to just replace all of them with brand new drop targets, and licensed Williams decals.

 The drop targets are fairly simple they essentially have a PCB which has an opto sensor on it when dropped. One solenoid controls them back up using a metal bracket. The drop targets are spring loaded and to detach simply remove the pcb, unhook the spring and take off the various e-clips.

Above as you can see the new drop targets came blank and simply needed to have the Licensed Williams decals added and re-attached to the mechanism. If you notice the top of the drop targets have a wedge type design, this is so the ball actually rolls over it. You need to adjust the screws attached the metal bracket where the solenoid is so that the level is perfectly set for the ball to freely roll above the drop targets when dropped.  

Going back to the playfield I started to replace various star posts which are those yellow plastic pieces that hold the screws, rubbers etc. Even though it was necessary I also replaced every rubber even if they weren't cracked or broken I still replaced them while the machine was torn apart and much more accessible.

Old Rubbers

New Rubbers & Star Posts Installed

Taking off the mini playfield also known as the "Path of Adventure" was probably the most difficult. The reason why is because you need to pull other parts off such as the bridge, the metal slide etc. Once I had the mini playfield I stripped that down and waxed it as well. Also replaced all of the lights with LEDs.

Cleaning "Path of Adventure"

Underneath "Path of Adventure"

Above on the left you can see the mini playfield has red plastic ball guides that look like bricks, or perhaps snake skin, the original prototype Indiana Jones came with metal ball guides, Williams likely cut that out of the equation to save money. On the right you can see the underneath photo of the path of adventure. The wedge lamps are rather difficult to get to and will require you to unscrew the pcb's from the mini playfield if your going to change them to LED's or just need to replace them.

New Williams Flipper Bats & Red Rubbers Installed

 Above you can see that I changed the original white flippers with black rubbers to new yellow flipper bats, and red rubbers. I like this color combination much better, and they needed to be replaced. Changing out the bats is rather simple, you just need to lift the playfield & adjust a nut. The game doesn't require a full flipper rebuild which is usually replacing the springs, bushings, coils, sleeve etc. The flippers should be aligned with the tiny holes on the playfield so they are even.

 

Finally my LED's arrived from Coin Taker. For the most part they were organized, however I decided to line them up and separate by color. The kit came with a list of where each colored LED went on the playfield, it's best to cross off a list as you go so you know what's been completed. 

Under Lamp Board

Most of the colored lamps / LED's will go on this lamp board, Coin Taker provides a list of where each lamp should go. Only 2 lamp sockets needed to be re-soldered. For the most part most lamp sockets will easily twist off, but the side ones seem to be more difficult. Since two needed to be re-soldered I just decided to pull the entire lamp board off the playfield.

Playfield re-assembled ready for action !

 Essentially most of what was left was reconstructing the playfield, and testing everything. I placed the game into the diagnostics mode through the menu system which let me test all of the games lights, switches, mini playfield operation, idol operation etc. After minor tweaking the game was suitable for enjoying again! The cabinet does needs some minor touch-up which I might address down the road, but overall for it being 20 years old is in far better shape than various other cabinets that I've come across. Considering it has original art on the cabinet it has very light fade so I doubt I would replace the artwork any time soon. I might add gold trim, and possibly gold wire ramps but like I said I would like to keep the game as original as possible. I've seen people with gold or chrome gun handles which looks nice and shinny but Indiana Jones had a black gun so I might powder coat it down the road. I tried using a magic eraser on the stainless steel side rails and lock bar but to no avail, also tried using stainless steel wipes which didn't seem to change it's appearance. Then I did actually go ahead and hand sand the side rails and stainless steel lock bar using 220 grit to start out, and then 320 grit after for a nice smoother / cleaner finish which worked well.

Another minor cosmetic detail that I changed was I replaced some of the black rubber sleeves with orange colored rubber sleeves which make it pop a little bit more and the orange really compliments the playfield well. The company that sells the colored sleeves are called "Cliffy's" he is mainly known for metal protectors for the playfield and his website is Passion For Pinball.

Black Rubber Sleeves

Orange Rubber Sleeves

 

Lights on, no glass or lock bar,  playfield re-assembled

Once all of the minor tweaking was worked out the game is playing great! I'm just happy to revive a classic machine which is worthy of being restored. Also to note The Williams Indiana Jones from 1993 is 10x better than the newer Stern Indiana Jones from 2008. I've actually played a Stern Indiana Jones on location in Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge and thought it was OK, but felt that the game was rushed. I'm excited for Indiana Jones 5 when it comes out. Below is a roughly 11 minute video of game play on my machine. While not my best game by any stretch it shows various modes and gives a nice example of game play.

I've only had the machine for several weeks but it's addicting to date my best score on this machine is 1,147,690,400. One of the best parts about pinball is that it's completely unpredictable, it's a much more physical game than the video games. The brilliant John Williams score plays pretty much throughout the game so be prepared to have the Indiana Jones Theme song in your head for a while.

Data East / Bally Midway - BurgerTime - 1982

Burger Time was made by Data East which was distributed by Bally / Midway in the US in 1982. The game is another maze type game while avoiding enemies and forming burgers as you walk across the buns, meat, tomatoes, lettuce etc. Throughout the game your character "Peter Pepper" is being chased by hot dogs, eggs, & pickle character enemies. You have various point potential opportunities by trying to group the enemies together and having a piece of the hamburger either crush them or have them walk across the hamburger pieces as you are dropping them. Peter Pepper you might notice walks around with an "H" on his chefs hat because the games original title was supposed to be "Hamburger". Peter Pepper does have the ability to mobilize the enemies brifely by using his pepper spray, but use them wisely as you are only allocated a certain amount. You will be able to get replenishment peppers as you play various levels. To advance to the next screen simply complete forming all of the burgers on the screen.

When I first picked up my cabinet it was in mediocre condition at best. While It's tough to tell from the above photos, the BurgerTime cabinet had various scratches, faded artwork, some minor planking, as well as the game was completely dead when I picked it up. Oh yeah the cabinet also had no CRT monitor, a bad control panel overlay, a bad power supply, faded t-molding, no locks, drilled lock bar holes to mention a few. The good news was that overall the cabinet was structurally pretty solid without any water damage. Also the cabinet had all of the original wiring for the most part intact, this cabinet was always a BurgerTime and never was converted. Probably one of the most unique features of the BurgerTime cabinet is the wood on top forms the chefs (Peter Pepper's) hat. I think cosmetically it's one of the more iconic, and eye catching cabinets that is cleverly done just right.

First I started with the coin door which was rusty, scratched, and very dirty as most midway coin doors are before a restoration. Especially being that this game sat on location for years. I disassembled cleaned, sanded, primed and painted the coin door as well as added new cabinet locks. Above you can see the various stages of the coin door restoration taking place. I might even redo the coin door again in "textured plastic" this one I just used a flat black, while it looks fine it can be improved. Below is a picture of the completed coin door with the flat black paint, and before I replaced the barrel lock:

The next  challenge was to tackle the cabinet. First I started to sand away the old existing artwork. I used my Dewalt 2 1/4'' palm sander, which works great but it's just a tedious process. I would recommend probably using either an 80 grit or even possibly go as low as a 60 grit. Or just use what ever method works best for you. Once you get it down to the bare wood, your going to want to fill in any holes, cracks or wood issues with Bondo. You really want to stay away from wood filler as it sometimes does shrink over time.

 

Once I filled in all of the nicks, dents, and lock bar holes from when the game sat on location I was ready to paint. I used the main mustard color with a Home Depot color called "Yam" in case anyone needed the paint code. This was a very almost Identical match to the original. I needed to wait for the stencils to come because they had a long delay due to the fact that Rich at Thisoldgame.com was busy with other projects. The delay gave me some time to work on other cosmetic / and mechanical issues on the cabinet.

The first thing I decided to work on while waiting on the stencils to come in was the control panel. The original control panel overlay was peeling, dirty, along with the control panel had rust etc. Below you can see pictures of the CPO (Control Panel Overlay) before:

I ended up using a wall paper steamer for the first time to remove the older control panel overlay. This is actually great because you don't need to use harmful chemicals, sure it's not as fast but you can certainly even do it inside without worrying about toxic flesh melting paint stripper. Once the control panel was stripped of all parts including the CPO, I sanded, and used bondo, as well as painted the panel to prevent future rust from forming. I bought the New Silk Screened CPO from "Backtothearcade.com" which was actually made by Rich at Thisoldgame.com.

New Silk Screened Control Panel Overlay

During Installation

Control Panel Reassembled 

The control panel was just about finished with one detail missing the "Pepper Buttons". I ordered my button stencils from gamestencils.com. Brian who runs the website gamestencils.com sometimes offers the buttons already completed but I figured I would try them on my own. I ordered several sets of them as back-ups, and of course in case I made a mistake. I found the best method to applying the stencil to the button was flip the button upside down, and than simply use your fingers to smooth out the stencil. Once the stencil is applied I used painters tape around the button to prevent any paint from going where I didn't want it to go. I used a piece of Styrofoam to help keep the buttons in place while spraying. Once you take the stencil off you will have a nice pepper button. After the stencil fully dries probably best to wait several hours if not the next day a good Idea would be to clear coat them to prevent button wear in the future . 

Completed button

The next thing I got in the mail from Arcadeshop.com was the switching power supply kit. The original power supply is over 30 years, thus a new switching supply kit is easier to just drop into the game and likely more reliable than an older linear power supply. The only major complaint I have about Arcade Shops kit is that the adapter is not secure on the power supply, they should of had the adapter completely slide through the terminal screws rather than having it sit on the very edge of the adapter. I think this power supply kit also works with the following games: Mappy, Super Pac-Man, Jr. Pac-Man, Gorf, Wizard Of Wor, & Bump N' Jump.

Arcade Shop BurgerTime Power Supply Kit

 The next thing I did was I cleaned the inside of the cabinet, in addition to sanding down both the inside of the cabinet as well as the "brief case" style original transformer / power brick. Also my interlock switch was completely not connected, this could be dangerous if your working on a game and forget to shut it off, so I reconnected the wires accordingly.

Inside of cabinet

Interlock Switch

At this point in time I was still without a CRT Monitor to test the game, but I wanted to see if my PCB (Printed Circuit Board) was working. The game was now essentially wired up correctly after testing voltages with a multimeter I decided to turn the game on with the PCB connected. The game was now playing blind I was able to coin up / add credits to the game and I was able to hear the game sounds but unable to see anything because obviously no monitor was in place. So rather than remove another monitor from one of my other games I decided to build a test rig / portable LCD. Sitting in my closet for years was a PSone LCD screen which is able to run CGA resolution if modified. I decided since I wasn't using the PSone LCD screen for anything I decided to break the case open and solder the respective wires. To my delight I was able to see the BurgerTime PCB working properly on the PSone LCD screen !

BurgerTime PCB Working on the PSone LCD CGA Test Rig Monitor

I ended up going on a service call to fix another persons Centipede locally and instead of taking payment I bartered for my arcade skills for parts, to help off set the cost of my restoration I was granted the Stencils for fixing someones Centipede. Fast Forward about 4-6 weeks later I finally received my stencils for the art work on the side of the cabinet to replace Peter Pepper with. The Side Art stencils will come in a large tube with 6 sheets in total. Two for the white, two for red, and finally two for the black stencils. This is probably without a doubt the most tedious part of the entire restoration process but the results speak for themselves and are worth it in the end. My advice is take your time and either dedicate an entire day for this process or even space it out over 2-3 days, so it doesn't become repetitive and overwhelming.

 The first color that's applied is "White". When you apply the stencil try to smooth it out as best you can using a squeegee, credit card, soft edge etc.. Once you place the stencil on and finish smoothing it out, you will notice some cut outs that look like Pac-man, don't paint over those and don't remove them as they are markers for the following layers of the other stencils so that the rest of the artwork will line up. Here you can see I also used some painters tape to prevent errors. I happened to of rolled this set instead of spraying I wanted to try an alternative method and I think rolling you have extreme control, the stencil won't lift on you from the air and won't have over spray. I rolled one layer of white, waited about 20min or so and than rolled another coat. You want to try to remove the stencil when it's still slightly tacky, as latex has a tendency to peel. 

Next color was the "Red" (*again I added two coats of paint in the photo was one coat) :

 The final color was the "Black" This coat was the hardest in terms of removing it because you needed to literally cut out / pick off all of the tiny pieces even the seeds on the hamburger bun, some smaller pieces within the pepper shaker etc:

Once everything was peeled off the end result is well worth the effort. The process is obviously repeated on the other side of the cabinet:

BurgerTime Stencil Kit Completed

 At this point in time the cabinet was ready to be moved into my basement, I was done painting, and the cabinet essentially just needed certain parts to be put back together as well as a CRT needed to be installed. The next item I added was new orange T-Molding. The original T-molding over time fades, cracks etc. After I added the T-Molding I installed silk screened kick art. The kick art was made my www.thisoldgame.com, but was sold out at the time so I luckily obtained mine from another KLOV member.

T-molding & Kick Art Applied

 Next I needed to add a CRT. I bought a used monitor but I needed to change out the frame. Luckily I had a G07 frame available so it would seamlessly fit without any issues. I also installed a brand new sheet of smoked plexi. I added 2 new wedge lamps in the coin door, along with a new fs2 starter for the marquee and a new florescent lamp. Below is a video of the game play.