Bally/Greaves Haunted Mansion restoration

[riche100]

The Haunted Mansion by Greaves Amusement of Leicester... I finally found one and it jogged my memory. I had to have it.

Is there any love for this?

[clubconsoles]

Well, I love it, as I do most of the "feature" Ballys.
What exactly is supposed to happen in that top box?

[riche100]

When the jackpot drops, you see a ghost in the mansion window and you hear him laughing too, as the old 8 track tape plays

Soon as I get it on its stand / table I will play it. Hopefully. I land jackpot, but as you know - could take an age.

[gameswat]

Nice machine - maybe would look good with blacklight tubes to make those reel strips really GLOW!

[cheeky]

Fab. I love it. Where did you find it?

I remember one of these in an arcade in Maldon, Essex. There were two others Greaves machines with them. I think one was called Money Tree.

[treefrog]

Not a big fan of Ballys, but I agree these feature themed ones look a lot of fun....always liked the bandits that have extra features, usually though they are in the larger floor standing units, so these are probably quite collectible if all working

[riche100]

On the off chance, I just rang up the makers Greaves of Leicester. He remembers the Haunted Mansion machines 30 or 40 years ago and said they sold all the spares they had too about 25 to 30 years ago and didn't keep anything.

I thanked him for making such a wicked machine .

It's a shame they didn't keep anything, but worth a call

Somebody on Facebook called David who does steam fairs has a Haunted Mansion with different and, I suspect, correct belly glass so I am hoping he can scan it for me or take a good enough picture so I can get something made up for mine.

Watch this space

Old skool.

[cheeky]

I did exactly the same with another Greaves machine I used to own. The guy there said they had sold all the parts to Carl Stein of Steinslots.

Anyone know what happened to Carl? I know he used to turn up to the slotty auctions but I haven't seen him for years.

A nice friendly knowledgeable chap, but where is he?

[badpenny]

I talk to Carl most weeks ...... he's a rock star now!

1013750_540446306016986_1623474956_n.jpg (7.01 KiB) Viewed 4256 times

I've left him a message

BP

[steinslots]

Er......hi guys!
I’m still about, mainly building animatronics and special effects for theme parks, fairgrounds and model villages etc. Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/SteinElectronics.
Oh and there is the other thing, where I have this traveling cynical satirical music show: https://www.facebook.com/LordofLoops.

I’ve known Mark Greaves for about 30 years. Ever since I was a kid I used to hang around their workshops in Blaby (which did look like a haunted mansion!).
Greaves were one of the big site operators in Leicester, many of the pinball and Jukebox sites around the county were owed and operated by Greaves. There was also a subsidiary called “Ballymagic” in which Mark and his Father enjoyed the demand for refurbished Bally machines in the 70’s and 80’s. His Father (now sadly passed way) was behind the crazy ideas like “Haunted Mansion”, together with the technical genius of Keith, (also sadly not with us) were working round the clock to meet the demands of the fairground and seaside small AWP market by buying-in the original Bally’s, completely stripping them down and re-building them into new cabinets. The most popular (of which there are still many around) was “The Showman”. This was less complex than the “Haunted Mansion” which preceded it. There were “Haunted Mansion” variants, but most sported an elaborate fibreglass scary face set behind a dark transparent panel, in the space usually occupied by the coin mechanisms for the change-giver. These were triggered via the reel feature. Some early ones had sound effects. All had an appetite for black paint!
I cannot stress how busy these guys were. There would be at least 4 machines in progress at any one time. Between the 3 of them they used to fit the refurbished mechanism, hopper, new glass, new reel strips and re-chromed castings.
There was another machine called “Find the Lady”, a few of which are still about. It was very basic, there were no reels, just 3 lights and 3 buttons. This employed the semi-transparent glass over 3 card symbols which went through a pseudo random sequence, and you had to guess which card was next. I used to have an early prototype which was built into a Bally Money-Honey cabinet. Later versions were wall mounted, or mounted on stands.

It’s true that I did buy some old Bally stock from Mark, but by this time all of the Showman kits had been sold for spares, most of the "Haunted Mansion" stuff was long gone. All I was left with were some glass panels and some reel-strips from the old donor machines, oh and of course the obligatory scary face from “Haunted Mansion!”.

Of all the Bally’s that we see on the slot scene, we usually ignore them but this one certainly worth holding on to, as there is some history attached to these and this one is getting hard to find. You have a lovely machine, with an 8 track as well! If you don't want to keep it then I could provide a nice loving home!

I have an old Mills Black Cherry from 1946. Historically it obviously came from the states but I know it was refurbished in the late 60’s by someone like “Ruffler & Walker”. They had re-sprayed the casing with what was cool at the time, then it was sold to a traveling showman who operated it up until the 80’s (when electronic games appeared) and stored for 30 years in a trailer. Thus I haven’t altered the paintwork or replaced its fading panels for shiny ones. If your machine has traceable history like that it is far more valuable than a machine which has been totally “restored” by a loving owner.

Carl Stein XX

[badpenny]

Thanks for getting back to us so quickly.
Interesting spot of industrial history there, until you explained it I had been confused why obvious Bally machines were being described as made in Leicester.

Are you still in possession of a rather splendid example of a Bryans Elevenses that you wheedled out of the hands of a publican just over ten years ago? He let you have it for a fraction of its true value as he couldn't put up with your crying and tantrums in his bar any longer.

BP

[steinslots]

I still have that very machine, in all its original beauty!

I feel your sorrow, in the form of the Jennings Governor I "let go" to George a few years back.

[riche100]

PM sent to Carl about my Mansion.

Regards,

Richard.

[riche100]

Hi peeps,
I wondered if there was anyone on here who uses Corel Draw or Photoshop a lot that could help me out.
I've got a Bally Haunted Mansion one armed bandit with the wrong belly glass. Well, I've got some pictures of the correct glass I need. So I'd like an image making to size 38.5 cms to 20.5 cms.
Can anyone help? Please PM me so I can send the images to you.

http://www.dropshots.com/jamma#date/2013-12-10/18:26:58

So many thanks,

Richard.

[riche100]

Can anyone help please?

[wembleylion]

Hello Richard,
I don’t know if this will help as I am not very au fait with Bandits, other than the UK Government.

I assume you are looking for a print of your Haunted House image onto clear adhesive film.

38.5 x 20.5cm is within the area of A3 sized film therefore if you were to print your image as large as possible, without altering the length / width ratio, (which appears to be correct as shown in your post) on to A4 photo paper and take it to a good print shop they should be able to enlarge it to the size required and print it onto A3 clear adhesive film.
Some print shops can print from DVD’s so perhaps if you download the image to a DVD they may be able to print it from there; you will get a far better reproduction this way.

Please accept my apologies if you have already thought of this and disregarded the idea.

John

[coppinpr]

Do you intend to make the glass your self? if so will you print as is and attach to outside the glass or reverse image and attach to inside the glass (if using clear adhesive printing film. Send me the image and Ill take a look at least. might be a bit big for me to print but I might be able to do the art work on paint shop

[riche100]

Thanks for the replies. I was and am hoping once the image has been centred and made to the ratio / size I require

I was then going to go to my local printer and get him to print me off a sticker and attach it to a sheet of Perspex and then install in into my machine.

It seems the cheaper option for me, as I can't see me getting this screen printed cheaply onto glass?

I have over 100 pics of the glass taken today. Hoping someone can help me with this. As each file is over 5 meg each I was hoping to compress them and email/send them somehow. Anyone have any ideas on that too?

Thanks so much for this.

Regards,

Rich.

[wembleylion]

Hello Richard,

As a cheap solution you could get a photo print of your image and sandwich it between two pieces of 2mm non etched picture glass. I have done this in the past and it looks quite good. You won't, of course, get a light to shine through it very well and this is where clear adhesive film comes into its own.

I used, Mr Bees, a firm in Swaffham and Downham Market, Norfolk to enlarge a photograph. I think he can print from photo, DVD and SD cards; he can also, according to his website, use emailed material.

For the job I had done he enlarged my photograph on a big photocopier that is arranged to print glossy or matt photographs; he took quite a bit of time to get a good enlargement of the original and I was very pleased with the result.
I presume he would be able to print off say an 10” x 8” photo of your image from however you want to submit it and then enlarge it on the photocopier to the size you want.

It might be worth you giving him a ring to see if he can do what you want.
http://www.mrbee.co.uk/#!develop-and-prints/cwvn

John

[coppinpr]

I've done best I can with the photos provided and sent a face up and flipped version of the finished artwork at the correct size to you by email. If the forum wants these in the Resources let me know how I upload the files.