Restored – Elton John – Captain Fantastic

Description

This legendary electro-mechanical pinball is the higher end commercial 4-player model. Built in 1976, this is the last production year before all pinball machines went to solid state electronics (first generation of the microprocessor). Only 16,155 were ever made, and not too many exist today in this condition.

Captain Fantastic was a “Tommy” inspired game picturing Elton John as pinball champ Captain Fantastic. David Christensen did the artwork for this Bally game, using a lot of bright reds and blues. Piano keyboards appeared throughout the game, which was one of the first featuring custom-designed bumper caps with drawings of Elton John’s face. The back glass pictured a crowd scene based on the movie Tommy. This game also features mirror lines worked into the back glass art for a dazzling reflective effect. The background crowd features some of the artists friends as well as other historical figures. Greg Kmiec created the playfield design, which has a pleasing, uncluttered arrangement of targets and bumpers, plus four flippers.

This machine also comes with a special bonus: matching framed album cover – Elton John and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (which incidentally also won album of the year in 1976).

Restoration

This machine started with a very low 30,000 plays in it’s lifetime – which shows in it’s all original and untouched playfield. Hairline cracks exist in the paint (as would any play field of this age), but no wear marks.

Top side playfield was entirely dismantled, cleaned, polished and waxed.
All posts were replaced
All rubbers replaced
All bulbs replaced.
Plastics cleaned and are crystal clear (no yellowing).
Pop bumpers were replaced with custom Elton John tops.
Drop targets were replaces with custom Elton John units.
Every single wiper contact was cleaned, filed and re-aligned. This took a long time but necessary for long term reliability.
New fuse holders.
New bridge rectifier for bumpers and thumpers
New flippers (4)
New flipper mechanisms (4), linkage, wipers etc
New bell coil (the other 2 worked fine).
Works exactly like it is supposed to. All lights, modes, alternating circuits, score wheels, over-the-top buzzer, lockouts etc work perfect.
coin door and trim polished. Slight dent in coin door.
Replaced legs with chrome models
cabinet just touched up, but no damage and fade.
Backbox touched up, slight wear on top that was touched up.
New locks
Coin mechs and lockout work