Random Thoughts & Pictures
I acquired this game from a friend of a friend of a friend in May, 2007. My interest in Power Play goes back a few years to when I first started going to pinball shows and discovered Mara Hari. I like Bally games from this era and liked the symmetrical playfield layout of drop target banks. After a little research, I also discovered two similar games in Night Rider and Power Play. Having had the opportunity to play all three machines, I decided I liked Power Play the best with its arrangement of four flippers and center "Play-More" post.
I'm mostly indifferent to Power Play's theme. I could care less about Bobby Orr, ice hockey or sports in general. Nevertheless, it is a colorful game, has a mirrored backglass and is pleasing to look at. Who doesn't like red, white and blue?
Cosmetically this game arrived in excellent condition. The glass has only minor flaking around the edges and a few small scratches. The playfield has the usual three wear spots in front of the kickout saucer and slingshots. However, the spots are small, barely noticeable and covered with Mylar patches. There's the tiniest hint of insert wear. The top left plastic has a chipped corner. And that's about it. This is the kind of game you have to stare at for a minute or two before you start noticing the imperfections.
I consider myself to be a solid-state person. But early attempts at solid-state sound were pretty pathetic. Although Power Play is a solid-state game, it still employs an old-school mechanical chime unit for sound. This is one of the coolest features of the game. The chimes are far more charming then what was to come.
The game came with a modern Alltek "Ultimate MPU" board as well as a modern rectifier board. One of the score display modules was also replaced with a modern offering from PinLED. The remaining original boards and wiring appear to be intact and un-hacked.
The right coin acceptor and the cash box were missing and the game was ready for a thorough going over. But what a great starting point!
Drop target games don't lend themselves well to memory recall. And granted the software possibilities of the new solid state technology were still in their infancy. But Power Play completely fails to take any advantage of the features offered by the new solid state technology. Power Play "feels" like an EM game. The digital score displays are the only hint that you're playing a solid state game. I suppose that the game designers were still thinking in terms of EM and that their EM ideas were simply translated to the new solid state architecture. But interestingly, an EM version of Power Play was not produced. Many other solid state games from this era did have a low-production EM counterpart such as Black Jack, Evel Knievel and Mata Hari. I believe that Power Play is the only Bally transition era game that plays like an EM, but does not have an EM counterpart.
Drop Targets: blue or red? Apparently blue is the "official" color for Power Play drop targets. But I've seen just as many games with red. Mine is red. Even the Power Play promotional flyer shows red. I think I'll stick with red.
There are six #47 bulb sockets in the insert panel for illuminating the "Power Play" area of the backglass. I replaced these bulbs with #455 flash lamps. Despite my crappy attempt to photograph the effect, it's a neat little touch of random light animation.
A solid red playfield post was the covert signature of game designer Greg Kmiec. Power Play's red post is hidden under a playfield plastic by the shooter lane ball gate.
Shown above is the two page promotional flyer for Power Play. Click for larger picture. Note that the flyer shows red drop targets. But blue is apparently the specified color. My game came with red targets and I kept it that way. Also note the yellow flipper rubber. This looks out of place as there is no yellow on the game. Again, my game came with red rubber and I kept it that way. The third image shows another flyer signed by designer Greg Kmiec and artist Dave Christensen.
Occasionally I play in the FSPA pinball league. One season I placed well enough to pick a prize. I picked a Professional Pinball backglass. Professional Pinball was a company that produced a series of conversion kits for Bally games from the late '70s. There were five kits called Professional Pinball: Challenger I, II, III, IV and V for Eight Ball, Evel Knievel, Power Play, Strikes and Spares and Star Trek, respectively. I believe the backglass was the same for each of the five kits. I'll probably hang mine on the wall someday. But for now I stuck it in my Power Play to light it up and see how it looks. There's a great deal of mirroring which makes it pretty damn hard to get a decent picture. It looks a lot better in person. For more information go to the IPDB and search "Professional Pinball".
Professional Pinball conversion backglass.
After a few years I sold both my Power Play and Dolly Parton at the 2013 White Rose Gameroom Show in York, PA. I'm always curious to hear where one of my games may have ended up. If you happen to own this specific Power Play (EPP 14696) please shoot me an email.
2013 White Rose Gameroom Show in York, PA, October 11th-12th. Sold both the Dolly Parton and the Power Play.