AUCTION TRIP YIELDS A GREAT FIND
J UST NOT AT THE A UCTION
by Phill Emmert - Colorado Springs
A recent trip to the northern part of the state to
attend a nostalgia auction was responsible for the
addition of another piece to my collection. There
were many interesting items among the complete
inventory of auction items, however, it was the
stop along the way that yielded the piece for my
collection. The stop was at the home of an individ-
ual from whom I have acquired a handful of items
over the years. He is very good at covering lots of
ground, in search of the myriad of coin-op items of
interest to collectors. A recent trip he had made
through Wyoming turned up the item that caught
my fancy, an early 1930's Baffle Ball, Inc. basket-
ball game. This version was a 10 Shots for 5 Cents
example, likely a later version to the initial 20
Shots for 1 Cent, and then 10 Shots for 1 Cent
model.
The machine was
complete and in an "as
found" condition that
included broken glass, a
broken portion in the
mechanism, surface rust,
grime, and years of use. -
But the very critical
backdrop was there and
the graphics in particularly nice shape for it's age.
Definitely a machine that I wanted to own, so then
the transaction began, and it ended in me trading a
working countertop ABT Challenger gun game for
Baffle Ball basketball. Other than a photo I had
never seen one of
these games. I truly
enjoy sports- theme
machines, and this
one needed the TLC
that I enjoy giving.
Having
owned
many of the Challenger games and considering
them more plentiful, I was certainly thrilled with
the trade and my acquisition.
The game was certainly in need of restoration
as the many years of use and then somewhat
unprotected storage had indeed taken it's toll on
the game. So after taking a variety of photos the
restoration effort began. The broken part in the
shooting mechanism needed a simple weld. There
was also a cross - member that the basket attaches
to and it needed a weld as
well. That work was fol-
lowed by complete disas-
sembly, bead blasting,
cleaning, adjusting, paint-
ing, etc. The front glass
panel had an original
instruction card attached.
,.....,---------~ The front panel was
~ leftr
c.ia on
iii lefl,
..... wllidt
Pulh 1111,,,.,
in bunen.
also only half there! ! So
ball
a111ui.e~~~ ~:".: :: ..... ,;, ... ,, a digital photo of the
BAFFI.E BAI 1-, I C.
instruction card and
some
work
in
PhotoShop produced a new card ready to be
attached to the new front panel. Other panels need-
ed to be replaced as well and pretty soon it was
looking like an aquarium. The nifty graphics on the
original backdrop make the aquarium disappear
when it is re-inserted in place. The original balls
were too many years beyond usage, but being there
they allowed me to determine a very suitable
replacement.
After all the work was done the game was final-
ly re -assembled and I got to play it for the first
time. The nickel is inserted in the vertical coin
slide on the front of the cabinet, and then the slide
is pushed in to release the mechanism from the
locked position to start the game. The player uses
P,U ""'Pl"'! •
Ml J\t lro11,, ,11:-.
2