|
Who fixes my machines when I can't
Great Pinball Links
The mean Dino head on the Playfield.
|
Bally 4 Million BCSOLD I'd always been intrigued by the 4 Million BC but was a bit hesitant to pick one up for too much money. I bid on a German Edition early in 2005 but finally won this one off an Ebay auction in the summer of 2005. It was in with a bunch of pins that some collector was liquidating and I also bid on a Bally Skyrocket and a Twin Win, but I didn't get those. The problem with all of the games was that they were located in Reno, Nevada. I used North American Van Lines and it got here in one piece.
The pin had a few problems but all were fixable. The machine plays fine but came with a sticky 1000 points real on Player 1, a sticky 1000 point bell and a broken 10 point bell. There was also a cracked mushroom bumper and a bad "Tar Pit" wire gate that I have replaced in both cases. The playfield has the usual wear along the cross-field shot and around the bumpers (like most old Bally's of this age) but it cleaned up well. The big problem is the right side of the backbox which again like most Bally 4MBC's is peeling. Fortunately, since I like to play them more than I like to look at them, it can be hidden easily next to the Space Time. It also needed an interior cabinet corner support bracket which I had to install in order to structurally improve the pin. With all that's bad the good thing is that the backglass is spotless!!
Strategy The most obvious highlight of this machine is the initial plunger shot which shoots the ball diagonally from right to left across the playfield up around a right turning curve and onto an incline where the ball passes over three rollovers. Each rollover will light a corresponding colored bumper and score 100 points. If the rolls a bit farther over the fourth rollover and then back down the ramp you will score 1000 point for each of the rollovers. Don't shoot hard enough and you only get 100's for the lower three rollovers. Shoot too hard and you go off the top of the ramp and score nothing else. The game features two capture areas where the ball in play can become trapped and yield another ball to the shooter tip. Hitting the middle mushroom bumper will advance the ball one step in the Tar Pit and score 1000 points. It takes three hits to get the ball out of the Tar Pit for multi-ball play. Hitting the right mushroom bumper releases the ball trapped in the Volcano and scores the amount 1000 to 5000 points as indicated at random on the cycling Volcano indicator and releases the captured ball. Thus a three ball multi-ball play is always a possibility. The game has zipper flippers which close on the Volcano bumper as well as the release of the Tar Pit. A left out lane kicker and right side gate that will allow the ball back in the shooter lane complete the features of the pin. The game strategy is quite simple after you get the hang of it, but it's definitely not easy. Anytime you can, balls need to be shot into the capture areas, preferably the Volcano since it scores higher and easier. The problem is in when to shoot for the holes. You need to play out multi-balls as far as possible, but take the opportunity to "hole out" the last of any balls in play, winning an additional ball and extending the ball in play. When balls are caught on the zipped flippers, it's an easier task to hole out the ball in play. Always make sure that you shoot for the holes when the flippers are zipped. An additional skilled hand is also required on the initial plunger shot in order to gain the 3000 point roll-back top score. Keep winning additional balls and you'll score high! Game Rating I could never see the allure in the game before I owned one. The cross field plunger shot can be a real point of frustration at times due to it's difficulty and tendency to drain easily. The ease of simplicity of the scoring also may turn some people off. There seems to be a lack of scoring items in the middle of the playfield and that can sometimes lead to some really slow and quiet games. Nonetheless, once you get the hang of the game it's not too bad. Each game is different despite the easy strategy. I'll give it a 7.3 out of 10 and hope that the fun improves as I get more used to it. Game Rating I sold the game in February 2007 to a fellow UT alum from the Cleveland area after the pin sat disassembled for several months. I hope he has fun with it! It was a good machine but I needed the room.
| ||||||
 The Entrance to the Tar Pit is "When Lit" | |