Gomez's Design DetailsGomez's Design Details
For those of you who never played The Addams Family Pinball machine, here is a bunch of information pertaining to specific details about the game. All of this information is based upon my own observations and it is first hand information. Here, I discuss some of the pros and cons of this machine.
The Cabinet
The cabinet, like nearly all other pinball machines, is made of plywood. It is painted jet black and each side has decals showing Thing flicking a pinball along a cloud-banner with "The Addams Family" printed in purple letters inside the banner. This image is surrounded by images of lightening . Printed in the lower front corner is the "Bally" signature name.
Flipper buttons are mounted on the left and right sides. There are two holes drilled in each of the four corners to allow for the mounting of the four stainless steel legs. The top edges are garnished with stainless steel rails that hold the glass over the top.
The
front of the cabinet has a large black steel coin door mounted to it. It also has
the ball shooter mounted in the upper right corner. It is also decorated with decals
of Gomez's sword with "The Addams Family" name over it, more lightening bolts,
and a flower.
The back of the cabinet is not finished and it contains a number of caution stickers, serial number information, and manufacturing information.
The bottom of the cabinet is where the speaker, transformer, and coinbox are mounted.
Pros of Cabinet: Because it is jet black, mars are easily touched up with black enamel paint, that become virtually unnoticeable.
Cons of Cabinet: Also because it is jet black, mars and dings to the cabinet left untouched are easily noticeable. It is also very heavy!
The cabinet is supported by four sturdy, stainless steel legs. These legs are typical of most pinball machines. The legs are bolted onto the cabinet with two carriage bolts per leg. These bolts are inserted through the holes in the legs, through holes in the edge of the cabinet, and then screwed into steel plates that are located inside the cabinet.
On the bottom of each leg is a screw-in type leg leveler - much the same as found on some common household appliances (e.g., washing machines). When leveling the game, simply screw-in or screw-out each of the levelers to raise or lower each corner. Pros: These levelers should last forever. Cons: The machine awfully heavy to lift when leveling each of the legs.
The playfield glass is nothing more than a standard sized piece of tempered glass. It is widely available from many part dealers, as it is not a unique size. It measures 21" wide X 43" long X 3/16" thick. Should this glass break, it will crumble into millions of glass chunks - which, I hear, is a nightmare to clean off of the playfield. The difference between tempered glass and standard glass, which may also be used as a replacement, is the way the glass breaks. Non-tempered glass will break into sharp strands, which would also seemingly be a nightmare to clean up.
The playfield glass slides into two stainless steel channels along the edge of the cabinet. It is pushed in all the way to the back of the cabinet, where it meets a third channel in the back. A lockdown bar is then placed over the the end that meets the front of the cabinet. Two metal tabs from the lockdown bar are placed through holes in the cabinet edge, and a lever inside the coin door is pushed to the left to operate a locking mechanism that locks the glass in place.
The Coin Door
The coin door is located in the front of the machine. It is constructed of steel and painted completely with black enamel paint. It is mounted to a rectangular shaped hole in the front of the machine and is secured by glue and four rivets - one on each side of the frame. This is pretty much a standard design, as found on most pinball machines.
Hardware includes a long hinge on the left of the door, a lighted coin slot insert (some coin doors have two coin slots), a key lock on the right side, and a coin return hole on the bottom of the door.
Mounted to the inside of the coin door is the system control keys, which allow the operator to change the game control settings.
When the coin door is open, the system will detect it and turn off some of the high-power circuitry in order to protect the user.
Click here for the next page: Page 2
DESIGN DETAILS | GAME RULES | FOR SALE | REPAIR TIPS | GAME PHOTOS | OWNER'S LIST
MAINTENANCE TIPS | VENDORS | HISTORY | LINKS | WHERE TO PLAY | PERSONAL |
