Do you have a special serial number?

[Luckydogg420]

I'm fairly new to the hobby and enjoy finding out as much info as I can about each pin I own. The reasearch and repair of these machines is as much fun as playing them. I just picked up a '79 Bally Mystic and started my regular searches.

The first place I went was the internet pinball machine database. A wealth of knowledge for almost every game. While there I learned that my game had different colours then the early production games, I also missed out on the cool "3D" backglass that was in thoes first models. They made 3950 Mystic machines, not a bad sized run of production.

http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=1650

Then I remembered looking at the serial number earlier in the day, and had to go back to double check. I thought my game right near the end of the production run. Well, not that close, another 74 games were built after mine. Nothing memorable.
The serial numbers started at 1000



It got me thinking.... Has anyone here found a notable game in their hunts? Did you pre order a game just to get a number you wanted? Have you ever tracked down an elusive prized title? I'd love to hear the story why that game is special and how you finally found it.

 

[brad808]

I've been slightly curious about this. Never actually looked it up but my Simpsons pinball party has a 10 with a smiley face on it under the apron. I wonder if it's the 10th playfield of that particular run? I haven't looked at any of the other numbers on the game i just stumbled across that. It could be a number of things I guess, maybe a quality control mark? Anybody know?

 

[DRANO]

While it's not a special number, I did buy a Banzai Run a few months ago. I lifted the playfield (which seemed way too shiny and bright for a 26 year old system11) and the code XR7 was written in sharpie across the edge of the playfield.
XR7 was the early code name for the diamondplate process that was being tested out at the time. Only a handfull of BR playfields were sent out for trial. A few were put into the prototypes and the remainder were likley used up in production machines like mine.

I'm also signed up to get the #2 Predator machine produced. I guess that's a pretty cool number too

 

[Menace]

I've got a Starlight which in and of itself is rare as they only made 100 of them. To make things even more interesting, Starlight is a System 7 game but WMS was on the cusp of moving to System 9. There were rumors that WMS installed the Sys9 boards into some of the Starlight games but nobody could ever confirm this as no examples seemed to exist... at least until I bought mine. So on top of a very small run, I managed to find and purchase the only known example of Starlight with a System 9 board set.

I talked to Larry DeMar about this at Expo years ago and while he didn't have any specifics about it, he theorized that my game was likely the copy they had in the engineering lab and was the last one to leave the factory. (and it has an "X" in the serial number which is the standard WMS marking for a prototype machine)

D

 

[tim.sanderson]

... So on top of a very small run, I managed to find and purchase the only known example of Starlight with a System 9 board set.

Now that is cool!

Mine isn't nearly as interesting, but I've got this number 'stamped' on the front of my RG:

It might have something to do with the 'GAMES Company' sticker I've left on the upper-right side of the backglass:

I like leaving that sort of stuff on my games. I'm sure it was just for their service records or keeping track of their routed games or something.

Does anyone know anything about that company? Judging by the 705 area code, it was some place in northern Ontario. I haven't found any reference to them online. I'm sure they're likely very long gone.

 

[spiroagnew]

The first place I went was the internet pinball machine database. A wealth of knowledge for almost every game. While there I learned that my game had different colours then the early production games, I also missed out on the cool "3D" backglass that was in thoes first models. They made 3950 Mystic machines, not a bad sized run of production.

I frequent the Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (http://www.ipsnd.net)

I took the liberty of submitting your Mystic serial number for verification (http://www.ipsnd.net/view.aspx?id=1650), and sure enough, its serial is the very last, sequentially, to have been submitted to date. Granted, a hair less than 1% of all Mystics manufactured have had their numbers submitted to the database. The IPSND has some fantastic stats available. I'm suprised many collectors choose not to submit their serial numbers.

 

[REVOLUTION]

I'm suprised many collectors choose not to submit their serial numbers.

Some of us don't keep the games long enough to really even bother

 

[Vengeance]

I'm suprised many collectors choose not to submit their serial numbers.

Some of us don't care

 

[spiroagnew]

Some of us don't care

Sigh. Yes...we all know....

 

[spiroagnew]

The last game into the gameroom, a Gottlieb Totem, arrived with an "S" attached to the serial number...making it an early sample game. It has slightly different side art than the rest of the production run. Nothing special, really...just an extra letter in the serial number!

 

[WARLOCK]

Great thread. I have "lucked upon" more sample games and rare pins than many have or may have opportuity to see.
I knew about the S on the Totem that I sold to Rob (Spiroagnew) but didn't remember to mention it to him at all. What was I doing then? Too busy, I guess.

Menace and Drano's games are just excellent examples of these games that are both rare or unique and fun to play.

I bought Tim's Rollergames and passed it on to Brock, so now maybe Brock has to hold onto it for a while at least! (I think I have dibs back if I recall) lol

I have several examples I will share at a later date with interesting samples of pins all the way back to the 1940's.
I will wait until my new cell phone is chosen ( I know - I procrastinate Wong) and pictures may eventually be submitted. My avatar is my first and only picture I have ever posted in 3 years in this hobby. That is my original and beautiful (non touched up) Black Knight playfield. I have never seen the like anywhere. Don't think it is particularly special, but it is special to me...

Keep the posts coming. Excellent read.

Tim, Isn't your Skylab a bit unique as well? Tell us about it. (I hope I have dibs on it still?) Cheers.

 

[Menace]

Love this thread. The stories behind the games is one of the best parts of this hobby.

D

 

[meegis]

Not really a serial number story, but it is quite possible that the DE Star Wars I had as kid growing up, may be the very same machine that currently sits in Warlocks collection.


I wish I could find a way for sure to know, but the wonderment is quite suspenseful.

 

[WARLOCK]

Good question. Let's see if Dave Astill reads this thread. If he picked up this SWDE before he sold it to me somewhere in the area of where your parents cottage used to be, we may have a winner.

 

[WARLOCK]

My 1948 Cinderella woodrail that I procured in a film set auction has been sitting untouched for 30 years I was told.
The previous owner never restored it and felt it was time to let it go to be repaired and used again. Sparky is on it for me. Thanks Ian!
Turns out to be a very interesting game. Serial # is S 0004. It is a sample game, the 4th one apparently out of 4000 made. R.A.B. has already repaired the original coin mech for me to work and function as intended. Thank you!

Curious to see the estimate of how many remain. Wait until I show Sparky the 1940's original cast wheels I found for it this morning.

 

[tim.sanderson]

Tim, Isn't your Skylab a bit unique as well? Tell us about it. (I hope I have dibs on it still?)

Yup, you still have dibs.

Yes, it turns out my Skylab is one of the machines that had been posted to the IPDB, several years before I bought it. I was looking for a photo that showed the original flippers, as mine were of the Gottlieb variety. I found a playfield photo and thought 'weird, this guy had the same flippers on his machine'. Then I noticed the wear around the DOUBLE BONUS insert looked very similar to mine. After comparing a few photos, I found out that's the machine I had bought. --> Here is a little more on it, in my SKYLAB thread <--

 

[luch]

Was at Playdium store today and played Wrestlemania . then I asked one of the guy to open up the game to see the new spike system , What I noticed about the game was that the serial number on the back was not a printed serial number sticker but the number itself was hand written in pen , just makes you wonder why they would do this and not print it like those before . Hmmmmmmmmmm ?

 

[spiroagnew]

Was at Playdium store today and played Wrestlemania . then I asked one of the guy to open up the game to see the new spike system , What I noticed about the game was that the serial number on the back was on printed serial number sticker but the number itself was hand written in pen , just makes you wonder why they would do this and not print it like those before . Hmmmmmmmmmm ?

Often sample games, or the first few off the line, get handwritten numbers. Or it could have been a simple cock-up...one got ruined, and a substitute was needed ASAP.

They could have hand wrote ALL the numbers for Wrestlemania...wouldn't have taken that long given the low numbers it sold! Playdium said they only sold two!

 

[Luckydogg420]

This thread has (kind of) come full circle for me. I began this topic long before I decided to order Game of Thrones NIB. Although the serial number is nothing special; I was told that my game was the first to be delivered anywhere in the world. ...and truly, this is nothing too special, it's just the order that stern ships games out. Toronto receives their games first, I just ordered early and picked up rather then wait for delivery. By this logic there should be many "1st in the world" games in the GTA.