Random Thoughts & Pictures
This game started off as a loan. A friend of mine put the machine in my gameroom because he was temporarily out of space in his own gameroom. The game arrived in my basement on January 21, 2022. But then I bought it on September 16, 2022. I love buying games that have already been delivered to me! This is the same friend who loaned me the Sure Shot, making Sky Jump my second experience with a Gottlieb wedge head. I like what I call the "big flipper, drop target" wedge heads. Sure Shot didn't have the drop targets. Sky Jump has it all!
I guess the game wasn't in great shape and my friend did quite a bit of work including a new coin door and a new BGresto backglass. There was some cabinet damage necessitating replacement of the floor. Then the entire head and cabinet were repainted. Now it looks great! The plastics are okay with a few chips and cracks. The playfield is okay with a bit of insert wear, but the art is nearly all intact except for some specking. Unfortunately there are three blemishes where some previous person had added posts in front of the outlanes and outhole. Also the inserts are noticeably sunk. The game is sloped a bit steeper then I'd like just for the sake of keeping the ball moving over the inserts.
Cabinet detail.
Cabinet detail.
Head detail.
Playfield detail.
Playfield detail.
Manufacturer's Certificate on the left side of the top arch.
Inside the head.
Under the playfield.
"Ed K" under the playfield.
Inside the cabinet.
Chimes are awsome!
Tilt mechanisms (note the new floor).
Non-functional play meter stuck at 87,000.
Promotional flyer. Click image for larger picture.
I've always been more of a solid state pinball person. There are a lot of neat EMs to be sure. But the two EM characteristics I least like are short flippers and no memory. The later Gottlieb wedge heads solve both problems. Single play is a bit of a bummer when I have guests. But I like the machine's progression such that each new ball isn't its own game as is the case with multiplayer EMs.
The add-a-ball version of Sky Jump is Free Fall. The add-a-ball Italian export is Sky Dive.
Free Fall and Sky Dive.
Sky Jump appeared in an episode of The Six Million Dollar Man. I believe this was the season 3 episode 19; "Love Song for Tanya".
Steve Austin plays Sky Jump.
Epilogue: After having the game for nearly three years, I decided to sell it in October 2024 via Pinside. I didn't find myself taking an interest in learning the EM technology, I wanted to free up some space and my guests weren't particularly interested. While I do like the "memory" feature of single-player EMs, it didn't get much attention during gatherings.
When games pass my way I'm always curious to hear where they may have ended up. If you happen to own this specific Sky Jump (Gottlieb Serial Number 05347), shoot me an email.