More pinball travels!

The lengths Pinstig will go to for the love of pinball! Two weeks ago he was travelling the length of Britain from Scotland to London via Wales to help a pinball owner re-locate a machine. And this weekend he's going to be taking a machine to a sixth floor flat using the stairs cos the lift's not working! Joy!

Change those batteries!

Don't forget to change the batteries on your CPU regularly. If you don't then you risk the dreaded battery acid damage to your CPU if they start leaking. Pinstig recommends changing your batteries at least every six months. And make sure you use a decent quality battery and not re-chargeable. Or better still - install a remote battery holder. If you need any advice, drop Pinstig a line at pinballchat@hotmail.co.uk

Pinstig's memorabilia

Pinstig has been a huge Tommy fan (for obvious reasons) for many years and is always looking for memorabilia from the film. After a long time looking Pinstig has managed to get his hands on an original Tommy prop - the blazer worn by Oliver Reed in the film! It's not in brilliant shape and will need restoring but still a great item and EVEN BIGGER NEWS COMING SOON!

Pinball travels

Pinstig is off on his travels this weekend to help out a pinball owner who needs a machine re-locating from the wilds of Scotland to good old congestion charging London. Weather permitting of course cos Pinstig isnt a big fan of a snowy track....How far is Pinstig prepared to go for the love of pinball?

Exciting News coming soon!

Watch this space! Pinstig hopes to have some very exciting news coming here soon......

Pinballs in ski resorts

Thanks to Jon - just back from skiing in Sauze d'Oulx in Italy and he spotted a T2 in one of the bars in the square. He's not too sure of the name (a bit too much Apres Ski I suspect) but thinks it was something like The Club. Cheers!

Pinballs in ski resorts

We seem to be getting a bit of interest in pinballs in ski resorts at the moment, so if you've been skiing recently and come across a pinball machine, drop us a line and let us know.....

Pinball spotted in ski resort

Thanks to Nigel for his email. He's just come back from skiing in France in a little resort called St Jean d'Arves where he's been spending his Apres Ski hours playing the Creature from the Black Lagoon in the main bar in the resort. The machine was in reasonable condition and seemed to be fully working so it seems the ski resort love of pinball continues.......

Pinball machines on holiday.....

If you're off skiing this year, keep an eye out for pinball machines... European skiing resorts seem to be the last bastion of pinball machines in bars! Most resorts have pinball machines and you can get to play some machines that you don't get to see often over here unless you've got a big collection. Always worth checking out the motorway service stations as well, especially in France, although this is becoming rarer.....

Ribbon cables

Have you got "garbage" on your dot matrix display? Try reseating the ribbon cables in the backbox - be careful to make sure you line all pins up correctly. Do this a few times to clean the pins.

Old backglasses - careful....

A word of warning for anyone out there with a machine with an old painted backglass - be very careful about moving the backglass between different temperatures and levels of humidity. If, for example, your backglass was being stored somewhere relatively cold and with some damp in the atmosphere, if you were to suddenly bring it in to a warm dry atmosphere (such as your average centrally heated house) you may find within a few days that the paint on the backglass is cracking and peeling off as it dries out. To avoid this you need to be sure that it dries out and warms up very slowly.

Scared Stiff frogs

Is your Scared Stiff missing one or more of its frogs? Save yourself some money and don't bother ordering "special Scared Stiff frogs". The best frogs you can get, and the ones that most nearly match the originals, can be bought for pennies from Toys R Us of all places. You can buy a bag of plastic frogs from there - usually found in the section with cheap toys to be given away at kid's birthday parties. Then just find some appropriate gauge wire to make the mounting stick and away you go......