Rick's Game Repair

12/29/2025

My Black Knight trio! The newly restored original on the left. Black Knight 2000 in the center sporting the clear coat NOS play field I installed some time back. On the right, a limited edition Swords of Rage with the premium animated topper.

12/29/2025

Black Knight complete! A few more steps along the way of my restoration. Check the individual photos for more comments. A few overall observations. Pinball machines of this vintage take a lot of tweaking and adjusting. The drop target banks needed to be in just the right place or they wouldn't knock down or reset correctly. The trim at the top of the edge of the top glass had to be adjusted just right. A big adjustment was getting the insert (the white board behind the back glass) in just the right place so you can clearly see the displays and so the displays don't rub on the back glass and wear through the paint.

And the electronics are getting more and more temperamental for sure! I have lots of spares and still struggled to get a solid working board set and won't be sure I have until I play if for a bit. As an example, the game would play for a short time and then lock up and it was not the MPU or the power supply but instead the sound board. I swapped in a spare and all has been fine. A good example of how hard it can be to get these games working reliably at a customer's location.

12/13/2025

Everything on my work bench was removed from the Black Knight cabinet to prep for repainting and decals. Not nearly as much as the playfield swap but no small amount of work. And, I'll have to figure out how to put it all back together.

12/08/2025

I've completed the playfield swap on the Black Knight. Check out the individual pictures for comments.

11/10/2025

OK, I'm still alive though not doing as much with gaming as I'd like. I decided to take on an original Black Knight as a cold weather project. I have the machine and the parts are starting to come in. The original cabinet paint is not that bad but as usual I'm going a bit crazy making everything nice. I haven't had great luck with stencils and decided to go with new decals. Side by side it's amazing how poor the original paint job was. Stencils weren't aligned and not held tight to the cabinet so there is overspray. Not my best pictures but here are comparisons of the original cabinet versus the decals.

01/13/2025

Here is something you don't see every day. At the arcade in the West Town Mall in Madison, a Hyperball! These were hard to keep running when they were new! I didn't have time to try it

12/23/2024

Flash Gordon Restoration (Part 3, Electronics). I replaced all of the circuit boards with new reproductions except for the circuit board in the base of the cabinet.

12/23/2024

Flash Gordon Restoration (Part 1 Playfield). I deleted the album I had put up for this as I didn't like the way it was displayed as the pictures were jumbled out of the order I wanted.

12/23/2024

Flash Gordon Restoration (Part 2, cabinet) I've redone 4 cabinets, 2 with paint and stencils and 2 with decals. Painting was frustrating. Even the smallest imperfections come through and I've had paint issues both times. This game came out OK but in the future I think I'll stick with decals.

12/02/2024

Pinball service. I've got years of experience with solid state pinball service and have decided that I need more to do during retirement. I specialize in 1977 through new machines though I'm not as familiar with the newest games. Sorry no Gottliebs. I'm located south of Portage and will consider driving up to an hour. The first hour is $200 and added time at $100/hour.

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05/18/2024

Hi all! I am still alive and kicking. Over the winter I finished the basement game room in our new house so here are some pictures as promised. This was an unfinished basement to start with so it was an ambitious project. I've also been working on my Flash Gordon pinball machine and I'll put up some pictures of the playfield swap eventually. As nice weather is here it's time for outside stuff but I can see how maybe this fall I'll get more active with gaming again. I have made a few trips back to Illinois for service.

08/05/2023

Many of you already know but I've relocated to Wisconsin about 9 miles south of Portage. I've not been doing service since around March. I sold off most of my classic video game parts but brought my pinball parts with me. I may eventually start doing some pinball work but I've got a lot to do dealing with the move, settling into the new house and setting up my own game room! It was a big move for me after 45 years in the same house and 40 years working on games as first a hobby and then a business. When I get the basement in shape to start setting up my games I'll start sharing some pictures but I've got to finish the basement first which is much larger than my Illinois house. Thanks to everyone that follows my page! Sharing my experiences has helped keep my interests alive.