I love these old pinball machines,I had an old 1970's pinball wizard when I was a kid. My dad had an arcade company here in Ireland and I used to work for him about 20 years ago,my job was wiring up jamma connectors into the cabinets and making new button panels for two player games, he has some old taito sit down cabinets in storage which are old space invader cabinets converted into poker games,and I kept the old parts in boxes,so im planning to convert them to jamma as I have some old mother boards like street fighter,bubble bobble and some neo geo mother boards and games also. it takes many hours to do but im really looking forward to restoring these old cabinets. I haven't any of these at my house at the moment but my kids will love them and if I had as many machines at home as you do she would divorce me very quickly ;) thanks for posting.
I adore the way these 1980-82ish pinballs sound. Fat and terrifying! Especially the Williams machines. They actually scared me as kid and Black Knight was the one I remember the most. Awesome video!
I bought a Black Knight from an arcade that was going out of business sometime n the 80's. It's stuck in the 04 test mode for way too long. I live kind of away from a city and having an expert come and just look at it costs more than I originally paid for it. Thanks for the vid and review/history. Now I kinda know what to look for and try and trouble shoot it myself. I never knew what/how cool this machine is. Thanks. 👍
Wife was reading this and was LoL about MvsC2 comments... Just picked up a MvsC 1 in my 3rd z-back. for $25 non-working. Turns out the fuse fell out of the holder, works now, needs little. Video soon I hope. Workin' on it got me all in the mood for a John's video now!!!... Hope you have some good stuff coming for us. TKS!
awesome video, I bought a Black knight about three years ago and after buying a new mother board and fixed some wiring problems, It was having the same issues as yours, finally got it fixed, thanks, keep up the good work
Great Video (and great video SERIES..) Black Knight was my FAVORITE pin when I was younger, and I had always wanted one. I found a broken Gottlieb Black Hole that I fixed, and then was able to sell to get a 95% working Black knight which I have now fixed and mostly restored. Your video brought back a lot of memories and makes me realize that I need to go home and play it more often!! Of course, my wife wants me to get rid of it... By the way - If you call 1980 an "old" pin, you must be pretty young.. I'm 45, so BK was "my time" but I have an old ElectroMechanical pin too, which is a WHOLE different beast.. you should get into one of those some time to finish your timeline of pins!!
Another awesome video. Love the build up moment when you think it might be fixed and awwwww, that didn't do it. But glad when you do get it working. I enjoy all the vids, especially the pin ones. Keep it up!
AWWW YEAAAHH! i dunno why but its always exciting to me when problems like these are figured out relatively easy lol thats crazy the owner didnt know that it was in test mode or anything. you got a great pickup on this one! ive always loved the original black knight more than the remake, such a fun and simple game
Well, I can touch it up. I touched up my QIX bezel and you can't tell. The only that worries me is that it's backlit. And, that doesn't hide the touch ups well.
Awesome video i did what you did and it fixed my one video arcade game well i got it to come to life lol i am looking for a black knight or black night 2000 awesome job!
John Love your vids sounds like you got a lot of awesome friends you all sound like you just have a fantastic time together but don't listen to that guy that says to swear more kids and adults may watch this they may not like it if you do that anyway thanks again for you great vids can't wait until your next one take care God Bless
a pinball video, nice... and in my opinion Great deal, electronics were scred up, but everithing electronic in a pinball machine have a repair,and in last case you buy a new PCB from rotten dog amusemnts or other similar brand. the playfield looks in a good shape thats whats most important. the back glass, you just put LEDs behind instead of bulbs, and no more destructive heat to that precious backglass. anyway congrats on your new pinball machine, from a pinball fanatic. eheh
Not sure if you are familiar with TNT Amusements in PA, but they have LOTS of pinball and video game videos (they do home sales and restorals) on TH-cam, and they always talk about those batteries. They put a new Lithium battery in to replace those old alkalines. Check 'em out. Their videos are HILARIOUS. Todd Tuckey and his crew are amazing. He'd probably even give you tips/advice on replacing that thing.
Wow, anytime you can trade (well it's working now) a Vid for a Pin, you're ahead, like you said. Congrats! Now you must choose.... who leaves the basement. Must be like getting voted off the island. Unless you make more room.
Just a thought. The correct voltage should be 5V, correct? (Obviously it works with 4.5V but perhaps it would be more reliable at the correct voltage?) Would it make sense to use 4 batteries and wire it up to a 5V voltage regulator? This would also prevent any accidental voltage overload.
that thing looks gorgeous nice playfeild really nice backglass. if that backglass was anything like firepower that i have most of them got washed out. it cost me $300 for a NOS backglass NOT cheap. how much did you pay for that game being that it is INOP?
John's Arcade Game Reviews & Tech I know exactly what you said….I have done a Hyperspin minicab from scratch…. And I have only 10 pictures take from the whole project…. And all this because I want to do all quickly to finish….and you know fuck the pictures or the video Lets DO THIS!!!
Hi john.. nice vid again!.. notice that common diodes have a 0.6v voltage drop. most of the time not a problem. But sometimes i.e. like in low battery warnings etc. quite important.
+DPPA the original holder was marked as to battery polarity but you really do NOT want those batteries on the board. it was a terrible idea from day one.
Great video. I watch these on my treadmill, so it can take 2 views for the entire thing, keep that in mind for what I'm about to say, since I haven't watched right to the end. Stay away from alkaline, its ok for a quick fix. But you can get quick connects so you can connect Lithium battery, which will last you 5 years at least no worries about leaking again. Seeing how old the game is (good for project video), I would take all the boards out and re-flow solder on all the connectors and depending how the other contacts look, do the entire board. Power Supply: I would replace the large capacitors with brand new ones and possibly replace other components depending on how they look. Any socketed chips, I would take those out and clean the contacts carefully with fiber glass eraser which you can buy online. I'm not a pinball expert, just have had experience with electronics, which same principles would apply here.
I agree with everything you are saying. I was planning on reflowing the header pins asap as I am having issues with at least one connector that is causing the displays to flicker. I have identified it to be one particular connector as I can wiggle it to make it stop. So, a reflow will happen first. Then, replace if needed. I plant to rebuild the power supply too! I watch vids at the gym too. :)
John's Arcade Game Reviews & Tech It would be nice if you can make a video about reflowing the headers and such, so others can learn :) and great going with the Gym. I do all my working out at home. I watch all my subscribed channels while on the treadmill and even though I cant comment, I can still thumbs up :) Keep up the great work, it is appreciated.
I love your videos, and watch them all, I am not trying to bust your balls, but does that ring on your thumb hurt? It looks so tight in the video with the closeup of you soldering the battery holder.
John you should do ram upgrade so no batterys period!! And KEEP THIS GAME!! Its in great shape..hard to find in this shape!!!!!!! Worth way more than Dk
I just love the NVRAM upgrade..Love seeing EMPTY battery holder!!! :-) Just love when modern day tech hits the old school games!! DON'T SELL THIS PIN! VERY hard to find in such great shape! Backglasses are always bad on BK as you know but even its pretty darn nice..I just picked up a FIREPOWER...Another awesome Steve Richie classic..Like you said BK rounds out your small pin collection! VERY COOL game and HARD as fuck to BEAT so you always go back to it since it kicks your ass!!! Again I stress..DON'T SELL IT!!
It's a pretty well documented way of doing the battery holder if you don't have a 3 position holder. The diode just acts as extra safety. There is absolutely nothing technically wrong with the way I did it here. www.pinrepair.com/sys1/#battery
LOL what John calls hard I call cheap! They purposefully made it that way because of the magna grabbers. better master those grabbers if you don't want your ball draining down the sides all the time.
I'm not as familiar with Williams pins, but on a Stern, and many other games; Puck Bowlers, and video games, If the batteries go dead, the game will factory reset every time you start it up. They lose the settings every time you turn em off with dead batteries: like pricing, high scores, volume, I guess on Williams, they go into test mode.
Couldn't you just put in a 4.5v power supply so you don't have to worry about swapping out the batteries all the time? Solder onto a connector and viola!
That might be the nicest Black Knight playfield I've seen in years... good find man.
Wow, thanks!
I can't explain the overwhelming joy/jealousy I feel when you walk around the basement. So awesome,.
I love these old pinball machines,I had an old 1970's pinball wizard when I was a kid.
My dad had an arcade company here in Ireland and I used to work for him about 20 years ago,my job was wiring up jamma connectors into the cabinets and making new button panels for two player games, he has some old taito sit down cabinets in storage which are old space invader cabinets converted into poker games,and I kept the old parts in boxes,so im planning to convert them to jamma as I have some old mother boards like street fighter,bubble bobble and some neo geo mother boards and games also. it takes many hours to do but im really looking forward to restoring these old cabinets. I haven't any of these at my house at the moment but my kids will love them and if I had as many machines at home as you do she would divorce me very quickly ;) thanks for posting.
I adore the way these 1980-82ish pinballs sound. Fat and terrifying! Especially the Williams machines. They actually scared me as kid and Black Knight was the one I remember the most. Awesome video!
I bought a Black Knight from an arcade that was going out of business sometime n the 80's. It's stuck in the 04 test mode for way too long. I live kind of away from a city and having an expert come and just look at it costs more than I originally paid for it. Thanks for the vid and review/history. Now I kinda know what to look for and try and trouble shoot it myself. I never knew what/how cool this machine is. Thanks. 👍
black knights is one of the best pinballs out there.. definitive worth having.
Wife was reading this and was LoL about MvsC2 comments... Just picked up a MvsC 1 in my 3rd z-back. for $25 non-working. Turns out the fuse fell out of the holder, works now, needs little. Video soon I hope. Workin' on it got me all in the mood for a John's video now!!!... Hope you have some good stuff coming for us. TKS!
awesome video, I bought a Black knight about three years ago and after buying a new mother board and fixed some wiring problems, It was having the same issues as yours, finally got it fixed, thanks, keep up the good work
Nice job John. The pinball looks great!
Great Video (and great video SERIES..) Black Knight was my FAVORITE pin when I was younger, and I had always wanted one. I found a broken Gottlieb Black Hole that I fixed, and then was able to sell to get a 95% working Black knight which I have now fixed and mostly restored. Your video brought back a lot of memories and makes me realize that I need to go home and play it more often!! Of course, my wife wants me to get rid of it... By the way - If you call 1980 an "old" pin, you must be pretty young.. I'm 45, so BK was "my time" but I have an old ElectroMechanical pin too, which is a WHOLE different beast.. you should get into one of those some time to finish your timeline of pins!!
When I was a kid in the 80s, I never played pinball. It seemed like something the old guys did. I was dumping quarters into video games! :)
Another awesome video. Love the build up moment when you think it might be fixed and awwwww, that didn't do it. But glad when you do get it working. I enjoy all the vids, especially the pin ones. Keep it up!
AWWW YEAAAHH! i dunno why but its always exciting to me when problems like these are figured out relatively easy lol thats crazy the owner didnt know that it was in test mode or anything. you got a great pickup on this one! ive always loved the original black knight more than the remake, such a fun and simple game
Great video. I was looking forward of you doing a Black Knight. Larry Demar's sound effects were the best!
Just finished the video, nice PIN, love the looks of Black Knight.
Very nice Black Knight. If I were you though, my row of pinball machines would be arranged in the order in which they came out.
What an awesome trade! The back glass does not look that bad. If you or a friend is good at art they might be able to touch it up for you.
Well, I can touch it up. I touched up my QIX bezel and you can't tell. The only that worries me is that it's backlit. And, that doesn't hide the touch ups well.
I always digg ur shows man. Always informative and educational. Thumbs up from me bro. Keep em comin.
Fantastic video! Great you got it working, look forward to the game play vid =)
Great and informative video John! Thanks!
Great video, you need to dig out some more basement!
Great video John thanks for sharing!
Great trade! BK rocks, last weekend I broke 3.7 million:)
Wow! that's a great score. my high is like 600k.
Thanks John! My fave pin, have a nice one in dining room. Keep up the vids.
Good work John
Keep the videos coming. Don't let that pin frustrate you . I feel your pain that pinball drops. I cuss at my machines too ( funny).
Awesome video i did what you did and it fixed my one video arcade game well i got it to come to life lol i am looking for a black knight or black night 2000 awesome job!
Isn't it possible to fix that back glass by painting the back using the correct coloured acryllic paints - just to fill in the scratches?
Yes, it is. However, because it is backlit you will see blotches where the paint is.
=/
Wow, what a lucky break with a easy fix. Congratz on the new pin man. Btw, you should curse more, I like it.
LOL! Well, listen to the Arcade Outsiders podcast if you want maximum potty language. :D
John Love your vids sounds like you got a lot of awesome friends you all sound like you just have a fantastic time together but don't listen to that guy that says to swear more kids and adults may watch this they may not like it if you do that anyway thanks again for you great vids can't wait until your next one take care God Bless
Don't listen to the preacher John. Be yourself and talk anyway that feels natural for you. Atheist bless.
+1 for swearing here. Loosen up, preachy.
Good video this week John. :)
a pinball video, nice... and in my opinion Great deal, electronics were scred up, but everithing electronic in a pinball machine have a repair,and in last case you buy a new PCB from rotten dog amusemnts or other similar brand. the playfield looks in a good shape thats whats most important. the back glass, you just put LEDs behind instead of bulbs, and no more destructive heat to that precious backglass. anyway congrats on your new pinball machine, from a pinball fanatic. eheh
Nice job John - love me some BK
Not sure if you are familiar with TNT Amusements in PA, but they have LOTS of pinball and video game videos (they do home sales and restorals) on TH-cam, and they always talk about those batteries. They put a new Lithium battery in to replace those old alkalines. Check 'em out. Their videos are HILARIOUS. Todd Tuckey and his crew are amazing. He'd probably even give you tips/advice on replacing that thing.
Great video. If I can ever get the space for it, I would love an Addams Family Pinball machine!
Amazing collection! Great video too.
Wow, anytime you can trade (well it's working now) a Vid for a Pin, you're ahead, like you said. Congrats! Now you must choose.... who leaves the basement. Must be like getting voted off the island. Unless you make more room.
Good job John with getting Black Knight working. Congrats! Which of the pinball machines do you prefer, Black Knight or Black Knight 2000?
I think I like Black Knight better! The playfield is more interesting.
Just a thought. The correct voltage should be 5V, correct? (Obviously it works with 4.5V but perhaps it would be more reliable at the correct voltage?) Would it make sense to use 4 batteries and wire it up to a 5V voltage regulator? This would also prevent any accidental voltage overload.
wots that tool you are using called the you are striping wires
Would like to meet you sometime, you go to PAX Prime here in Seattle?
No, I am not planning on going to PAX Prime but I should be at PAX East.
that thing looks gorgeous nice playfeild really nice backglass. if that backglass was anything like firepower that i have most of them got washed out. it cost me $300 for a NOS backglass NOT cheap. how much did you pay for that game being that it is INOP?
John you MUST film everything you do......!!! Don't do that again!!!! We love the work you do and we want to see EVERYTHING :) Nice!!!!! Keep it up!
LOL!! I KNOW!! I felt guilty for not filming everything. :) Sometimes I just wanna get it done quickly!
John's Arcade Game Reviews & Tech I know exactly what you said….I have done a Hyperspin minicab from scratch…. And I have only 10 pictures take from the whole project…. And all this because I want to do all quickly to finish….and you know fuck the pictures or the video Lets DO THIS!!!
Hi john.. nice vid again!.. notice that common diodes have a 0.6v voltage drop. most of the time not a problem. But sometimes i.e. like in low battery warnings etc. quite important.
That's what I was thinking.. I was surprised he got the voltage out of it that he did.. I was expecting maybe 3.6-3.9.
+Steve Jones 1.5v x 3 batteries, 4.5v it makes sense 100%.
+andrew donohue 1.5v x 3 = 4.5 - 0.6v diode voltage drop = 3.9 makes sense 3.9/4.5 = 86.7%
great video, thanks for sharing!
Hey ask arcadeuk he could give you some pointers considering he does do a lot of pinball repairs he might know something about that machine
If you have the old battery holder in a black knight 1980, with no marks, which way do the batteries go in +to he right - to the left on all three
+DPPA the original holder was marked as to battery polarity but you really do NOT want those batteries on the board. it was a terrible idea from day one.
My all time favorite pin... besides Haunted House! :)
Both Galloping Ghost Arcade and Underground Retrocade have this pin... woot! Nice to be in Chicago! :)
I think Haunted House is SUPER COOL. Would love to get one! Black Hole is also pretty cool!
John's Arcade Game Reviews & Tech Oh yeah, Black Hole was awesome as well!
hmm black knight... i usually hear people like black knight 2000 more though
easy fix, pretty lucky
Great video. I watch these on my treadmill, so it can take 2 views for the entire thing, keep that in mind for what I'm about to say, since I haven't watched right to the end. Stay away from alkaline, its ok for a quick fix. But you can get quick connects so you can connect Lithium battery, which will last you 5 years at least no worries about leaking again.
Seeing how old the game is (good for project video), I would take all the boards out and re-flow solder on all the connectors and depending how the other contacts look, do the entire board.
Power Supply: I would replace the large capacitors with brand new ones and possibly replace other components depending on how they look.
Any socketed chips, I would take those out and clean the contacts carefully with fiber glass eraser which you can buy online.
I'm not a pinball expert, just have had experience with electronics, which same principles would apply here.
I agree with everything you are saying. I was planning on reflowing the header pins asap as I am having issues with at least one connector that is causing the displays to flicker. I have identified it to be one particular connector as I can wiggle it to make it stop. So, a reflow will happen first. Then, replace if needed. I plant to rebuild the power supply too!
I watch vids at the gym too. :)
John's Arcade Game Reviews & Tech It would be nice if you can make a video about reflowing the headers and such, so others can learn :) and great going with the Gym. I do all my working out at home. I watch all my subscribed channels while on the treadmill and even though I cant comment, I can still thumbs up :) Keep up the great work, it is appreciated.
Brazilian wax on a pinball, only at John's Arcade! :)
LOL! :)
Still around?
LED the back glass first to stop further damage to the paint.
I'll probably triple thick it soon. I'm not sure about the LEDs at this stage. We'll see... I have been very anti-LED. :)
awesome vid
You got the power! You got the might! Got ready for battle. Refurbished that "Black Knight"
hey guys we are in the basement!!
I love your videos, and watch them all, I am not trying to bust your balls, but does that ring on your thumb hurt? It looks so tight in the video with the closeup of you soldering the battery holder.
LOL! NOPE! It's not tight. :D
Theres an online repair guide for williams system3 to 7. Pinrepair guide.
John you should do ram upgrade so no batterys period!! And KEEP THIS GAME!!
Its in great shape..hard to find in this shape!!!!!!! Worth way more than Dk
Thanks, Dan! Yeah, I agree! I know about the NVRAM upgrade. I'll roll with the AAs for now. It's working.
I just love the NVRAM upgrade..Love seeing EMPTY battery holder!!! :-) Just love when modern day tech hits the old school games!! DON'T SELL THIS PIN! VERY hard to find in such great shape! Backglasses are always bad on BK as you know but even its pretty darn nice..I just picked up a FIREPOWER...Another awesome Steve Richie classic..Like you said BK rounds out your small pin collection! VERY COOL game and HARD as fuck to BEAT so you always go back to it since it kicks your ass!!! Again I stress..DON'T SELL IT!!
can you do the star wars arcade game pls ?
I've done a video for the Star Wars. Check my uploads!
WHERE IS YOUR NEXT VIDEO?!
TODAY!!!
is black knight 2000 7 or 11
Black Knight 2000 is Williams System 11.
why would you do that with batteries? why not just put the wire on the 3rd battery and not -put a 4th in?
It's a pretty well documented way of doing the battery holder if you don't have a 3 position holder. The diode just acts as extra safety. There is absolutely nothing technically wrong with the way I did it here. www.pinrepair.com/sys1/#battery
LOL what John calls hard I call cheap! They purposefully made it that way because of the magna grabbers. better master those grabbers if you don't want your ball draining down the sides all the time.
Instead of going through the adjustments menu you could just flick the game off and on quickly :)
the manual says 2500 2 is the game identification, you have 2500 4 I assume is has to be version 4
good job, by the way
That's interesting! They had an earlier version with the transformer in the head. Thankfully I don't have that version!
Refurbish that machine the best you can it will pay off for you in the long run
I'm not as familiar with Williams pins, but on a Stern, and many other games; Puck Bowlers, and video games, If the batteries go dead, the game will factory reset every time you start it up. They lose the settings every time you turn em off with dead batteries: like pricing, high scores, volume, I guess on Williams, they go into test mode.
Couldn't you just put in a 4.5v power supply so you don't have to worry about swapping out the batteries all the time? Solder onto a connector and viola!
Link Description www.pinball.com
I don't care if you do some work without us.
'F@#$ You! Oops sorry..." so funny...I just came out. That's true gaming
Haunted House.
Get marvel vs cap com 2
Get marvel vs capcom 2 and tell pewdiepie and smosh
We're can I find a donkey kong 2 kit.not jr but donkey kong 2.and also Krazy kong
stop talking, do it
Uh, no.
I always digg ur shows man. Always informative and educational. Thumbs up from me bro. Keep em comin.
Thanks, buddy! I always appreciate your comments. THANKS!
Hey ask arcadeuk he could give you some pointers considering he does do a lot of pinball repairs he might know something about that machine
wots that tool you are using called the you are striping wires
Wire Stripper. :) You can get it at Radio Shack for $20.
thanks