Popeye Saves The Earth Leaves The Barncade

As I mentioned in previous recent posts, one of either Popeye or Stern Pirates of the Caribbean was probably going to be the next game to leave the Barncade. To prepare Popeye for sale, some work was going to be needed. I had not serviced or adjusted anything on the game since purchasing it in 2006. In fairness, the game received less than 100 plays over that time. It's not that I find the game terrible to play; on the contrary, I seem to have enjoyed this game more than most others. It's just that I'm not big on the theme and there have always been other games in the collection I like a lot more. When it came to picking machines, I used to let my roommate pick them; he did well with White Water, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Scared Stiff; not so much with Popeye, Junk Yard, and The Munsters. I do like the artwork on this machine, some of it is pretty hilarious...like the porcupine whose cigar falls out of his mouth when he sees Mrs. Porcupine knitting baby booties and realizes he's going to be a father.

Ball trails in the orbit and dirty mylar around the pop bumpers.

There were some things in the game that were missing, not working, or broken, but over the years, due to a lack of time, I put a higher priority on fixing other games such as White Water and Creature. So when it looked like I had someone interested in buying Popeye, I pulled the glass and stripped almost everything off of the top of the playfield. Here's what that consisted of, in order of removal:

1. Removed left and right guides between inlanes and outlanes
2. Removed left and right sling plastics (note: must remove spacer posts and metal ramp protector)
3. Removed Bluto head
4. Removed 2 screws and lifted upper playfield
5. Removed rubber and plastic posts around right sling
6. Removed 3 screws and washers from Animal Ramp
7. Pulled Animal ramp forward and up to hang over outside of cabinet
8. Removed rubber and plastic posts around left sling
9. Removed smoked plastic Back Orbit Ramp cover (2 screws)
10. Loosened Back Orbit Ramp (2 screws, loosen t-nut and remove white plastic spacer)
11. Pulled out metal ramp
12. Removed plastic #31-1878-20 (2 screws)
13. Removed left flamingo plastic (2 nuts)
14. Removed lane guides (8 long screws and 8 plastic posts)
15. Removed right flamingo plastic (3 nuts)
16. Removed screw from carousel drop ramp to loosen it
17. Loosened zebra plastic (1 remaining nut...1 nut removed earlier)
18. Removed metal and plastic shield on front bumper cap then remove bumper cap
19. Removed plastic #31-1878-34 (2 nuts)
20. Removed back bumper caps (4 screws)
21. Removed drop scoop from upper playfield to lower playfield 
22. Removed wire rail on left side (2 nuts, 4 washers)
23. Removed left bear plastic (2 nuts)
24. Removed 4 screws on kicker assembly and moved out of the way
25. Removed plastic #31-1878-29 (1 screw, 1 nut)
26. Removed 4 screws from metal ball guide and moved out of the way
27. Removed 4 screws and 1 nut from back left plastic and moved out of the way
28. Removed 1 screw and 2 hex extensions, 1 L-bracket, and upkicker extension
29. Removed 1 additional screw from metal ball guide
30. Removed upper metal ball guide (2 nuts)
31. Removed 3 screws, 1 t-nut, and 1 white plastic spacer from right metal ball guide and move out of the way
32. Removed 2 screws and 2 washers from carousel plastic and moved out of the way
33. Carefully removed porcupine plastic (1 screw, 1 washer)
34. Removed the carousel cap (2 screws), noting the orientation of the awards
35. Removed carousel wheel (nut and large washer)
36. Removed red plastic ring (4 small screws)
37. Removed metal base plate (4 screws: 2 hex, 2 phillips)
38. Removed carousel exit gate (1 screw, 1 hex)
39. Removed screw and washer from right inlane ramp and moved out of the way
40. Removed screw and washer from bottom of top right plastic

Left kicker assembly with Animal Ramp removed. Look at that dirt on the playfield!

This is pretty much the bare minimum needed to gain access to clean everything, and to reach every plastic post, rubber, and bulb. I cleaned the playfield, plastic parts, and metal parts, and swapped out plastic posts, all rubbers, and incandescent bulbs for LEDs with a kit from Pinball Bulbs. Then I simply reversed the steps listed above. The notes I took weren't great, and there was some previous jury-rigging by previous owner(s) to keep the game running, so some things may be incorrect or different from other machines or the manual. Also, I didn't always use proper terminology as described in the manual, but it's pretty evident what these things are from simply looking at the playfield.

Underneath the carousel wheel with the assembly removed.

In addition to cleaning and bulb changes, I had to replace the left kicker upper switch; the right Bluto target was flopping (replaced missing screw under playfield), and the right kicker was binding (replaced the spring). 2 bulbs were not working: Aphrodesia and Pandamonia. I reflowed solder on the light board underneath, which fixed 1 of the bulbs, but the other still didn't work... the socket was bad, so I cannibalized one from Scared Stiff since I didn't have any sockets on hand, and that fixed the final non-working light. And the mylar around the pop bumpers was filthy, so I used freeze spray to carefully peel it up. Unfortunately only the plastic game off and left the glue, so I used the flour + IPA trick to get the glue off (it took about 3 tries to remove all the glue).

Rubbers were stiff, misshapen and crumbling.

The leaf switches for the slings were pretty much toast (some were broken off completely) so I replaced all 4 of those. I swapped out the upper playfield, which was in bad shape, with another used (but in better condition) upper playfield I had bought years ago. The old upper playfield had a scratched up window, the life preservers on the front plastics were broken off, and some other pieces of plastic were broke off and missing.

Dirty inlanes and outlanes.

The inside cabinet was in pretty good shape but there was broken glass everywhere, so that got vacuumed out. Also, the switch for the buy in button was incorrect (too short for the button to depress it), so I ordered and installed a replacement switch which worked perfectly.

Plastics were cleaned or replaced where possible.

In a final bit of cosmetic work, the cleats were missing from the front plastics that are shaped like the prow of a boat, and replacements simply don't exist (that was true for several parts used in the game game including plastics, the Bluto scoop etc.). So I searched online for cleats that might fit. The key to finding a good replacement is that the screw holes have to line up. I found a store that was local to me that had black nylon cleats with screw holes that lined up perfectly. They were bigger than the originals but a test fit worked great. So I bought some Rust-oleum chrome finish paint and spray painted the cleats with about 3 coats. In retrospect I should have sanded them down first due to some rough areas/mold marks in the nylon, and I should have used a clear gloss finish to protect the paint. But the solution turned out just fine in the end.

Cleats purchased from West Marine.

Rust-oleum chrome spray paint.

A painted cleat.

Both cleats painted and installed in the game.

The final result was pretty nice if you ask me! The game looked fantastic (photos of finished work below), and the game play with the machine set at a 7 degree pitch wasn't floaty at all. The buyer was very pleased, so that's the true affirmation of a job well done. I was a little sad to see it go. I know my roommate had loved the game and never wanted to part with it, but it was time for me to move forward with my own desires and my continued efforts to revamp the collection. With Popeye leaving (and Deadpool gone not long after that), it dropped me to 11 games in the collection - but the game that came to me in Deadpool's trade brought that number back up to 12, and a 13th game also recently entered the Barncade, but those are tales for another post...