fixing 2 bugs in Kick Off

I realized my arcade room had been askew for about 2 months since I had been neglecting it.  The games were all shoved aside to give me access to Kick Off's backbox.... and then I just got distracted by life and other projects.  One goal of the weekend was to get things back in to a state of order!

The first issue with Kick Off was that on player 1 the 10,000 reel wasn't resetting.  I've dealt with this many times on Gottlieb machines, but Kick Off is my first Bally.  The principles aren't widely different, just things shuffled around and renamed a bit.

Here is the part of the schematic dealing with the scoring reels:

working on Kick Off

Here are some notes for my Kick Off saga.  I hadn't had time to get it to 100%, and there were a handful of things bugging me.  This all happened earlier this year, but better late than never.  More pics and schematics under the cut, below.

First thing was that the upper lines alternate 1+3 lights and 2+4 lights for rollover bonus.  They scored fine, but the lights weren't coming on for one position.  Where to look?  Check the schematics below

Introducing... Kick Off!

Huzzah, it is my first Bally electromechanical machine: Kick Off!

Lord Of The Rings has gone back to his home and Kick Off is filling up that empty space.
Back in the spring a pinball friend of mine was selling this game for a decent price, but I didn't have room.  It was a good opportunity, since the seller was someone whose tech skills I highly respected.  (If you can get a game that's been gone over by someone who knows how to make games perfect, it is such an added bonus.)
Another friend offered to buy the game and play it over the summer, then sell it to me, and so that's what we did.  It worked out so well and I'm grateful to have it now.


Want to know what I love about this game?  this:

See that?  That is five ways to drain.  Sure, you can attempt to bounce in from the outlanes, but take note of the gap under the upper flippers.  You try and catch a ball and it rolls up?  That's going up the side, under the upper flipper, and out.

Let's take a closer look:

flippers resting

first, take note of that drilled hole above the middle rubber band.  That's probably an adjustment, meaning the post could be set at a higher anger, so the gap is smaller, and the ball won't just roll in with the flippers resting.
Buts nuts to that, we want this game to be brutal.  We're leaving those gaps open and dangerous, so you better not plan on letting that ball roll up as you attempt a catch.

flippers up!

With the flipper raised, look at that massive hole.  It doesn't mess around.
And if you get the ball anywhere underneath there?  If you release the flipper, it's just going to swat the ball directly to the outlane.



The game;s backglass is in excellent condition, and the playfield is decent.  Very bright, minimal damage, but lots of cupping around the inserts.  After initial cleaning and waxing, I took some of my low tack laminate sheets and covered all of the inserts to add a temporary touch of more smoothing.

it's very hard to see the covering, which is kind of the point.

Next up is to start swapping LEDs in to the backglass.  I know lots of people hate LEDs in EMs, but for me it's all preservation.
The glass itself will also be sealed with Triple Thick later this weekend.
At some point I'll redo all of the playfield GI and insert lights as well.  Time to place a Comet order.

This game plays FAST and brutal, with tonnes of high speed bouncing.  Cool and calm patience is required to observe the angles and to know when flipping is necessary.

Tomorrow I am going to give it a fresh coat of wax, and see if I can pitch it up an extra whole degree to make it extra tough.
The game gives up the extra ball a touch too early for my tastes, so I am going to see about making it even more of a drain monster.

Also, coloured coded super bands rubber will need to be ordered!