Five Star Final Jr glow-up and score card

Another machine I bought from Curiosity Inc, here is how it looked on their counter: 

At the beginning of the pandemic I lent the machine to my friend Steve so he could have something to work on during the downtime, and this is how it looks now:

One issue was that the original plunger knob was cracked and bust.  I eventually did find the pieces of it, so I might be able to fuse it all back together one day.

cracked original shooter knob

And hey, anyone want a score card for Five Star Final Jr?   My friend's brother Nick produced this:

You can download a PDF ready for printing: http://thetastates.com/pinball/FiveStarFinalJrScoringCard.pdf

Here is the original score card that came with it.  We still have it, but they wanted to try and make it cleaner

still pretty great condition

Fill Em Up & Curiosity Inc

Something new has arrived!  a 1953 Fill Em Up from Ruffler & Walker

There's a story with this one though:

There's this guy Alex in Edmonton who's doing what you kind of wish every antique dealer did: Make regular videos about things in the shop!
I was watching a video of his and of course my eyes immediately go to the bits of coin-op at the sides of the frame.
His store is called Curiosity Inc and I sent him an email, and we quickly struck a deal for the Fill Em Up!

It should be noted he has a bunch of other coin-op in his store, including 3 EM pinball machines, some slots, another allwin, and a classic trade stimulator.  He is an expert shipper, and if you're in the Edmonton area you should definitely know where he's at.  Some pics he sent me:

We are living in interesting and difficult times, so it's fascinating to see businesses adapt and cope however they can.  If that interests you, I would highly recommend following Alex and the Curiosity Inc exploits in how he's dealing with this time.  I even get a mention just after the 6 minute mark here:

It's been interesting to see him entirely overhaul his store during the time off.  He also has a great series where he buys a house that was packed full due to years of a hoarding condition, empties, cleans, and fixes it up, and then reveals the owner's identity, promotes and auctions her famous pottery, meets her before she dies at over 100, and then publishes a book on her.