More money than sense, part 1

I just finished listening to a podcast of Boing Boing editor Cory Doctorow's novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. I enjoyed the book immensely because a) I'm a huge Disney fan (I worked at Disneyland for almost a year after high school), and b) I'm a Science Fiction fan, and c) the book is about how fans take over Disney World and start running, maintaining and improving the rides. Somehow, a story about keeping archaic machinery running appeals to me...

OK. Right after I figured out what (I think) I would need to get the Doctor up and running, I went to what to me is the #1 source of obsolete computer parts, eBay. I was happy to find lots of WPC boards and parts up for auction, including a guy -- pinballchuck -- who was parting out a Doctor Who playfield. One of the first things I got from pbc was one of the things I was most worried about, the lower playfield ramp. Before I saw that ramp on eBay, I was toying with the possibility of parting out the pieces I had... the ramp made me think that I would be able to assemble the parts to get this game running again.

But really, the first thing I bought was some lamps and sockets from chuck, which got me the 15 twisty sockets I needed. That cost me almost $12 (including shipping), but I may recoup some of that by selling the parts I don't need to the second place bidder. Next up was the ramp, which was a steal at just under $20. My final chuck purchase was the Bi-directional motor board, one of the few parts I knew was missing from the pictures when I bought the game; this set me back about $31.

Next came a lull in eBay, during which I scrounged for parts on the various online pinball places: Pinball Resource, Marco Specialties, and Bay Area Amusements. I was surprised to find almost nothing I needed at PBR, which I'm of two minds about. My left brain likes the fact that PBR has a good selection of high quality stuff at low prices. The right brain thinks Steve Young is a prick and I've been annoyed, irritated, or humiliated by my every interaction with him. At this point I save up all my purchases and buy stuff from his dealer's table at the Pinball Wizard's Convention in Allentown. Marco has always struck me as too expensive, but they have more stuff I need. Bay Area I had never looked into, but they have reasonable prices on a couple of boards I need.

That's all for now... next time: Adventures with Boards!