1975 HOKUS POKUS by Bally

This was the first pinball machine I purchased. There is always a start to everything and this piece was the beginning of my obsession. It all started one day at work. A friend at the time came up to me and said he just got a pinball machine from a guy that worked in the IT department and did I want to come over and play this weekend? "What do you mean, a real pinball machine or what"? A real full size 1973 Bally Time Zone big heavy commercial pinball machine in my living room, he replied. We played that machine all weekend and could not move our wrists on Monday. My friend had purchased two machines but could only bring home one at a time in his little truck. I asked if this guy had any other pins for sale and he thought he did. So, one night the next week we arranged to go over to the guys house to pickup a pin for my friend and to look at what else he had.     Little did I know that this evening out was about to change me for the rest of my life. That I was about to go to a little piece of heaven and that I was going to meet a god of the underground pinball world. We pulled into the driveway of a house that I had driven by a hundred times. It was dark as we approached the open cellar door that looked more like the entrance to a catacomb than a basement. I could see pin bodies on end almost blocking the narrow path that led inside. I had to watch my head inside as the ceiling and pipes hung low. And there he was, a guy not unlike us, average in size with bushy dark red hair. My friend then introduced me to Duncan Brown! I had seem him at work but did not know him nor did I know of him. But that changed all too quickly.

We had to be careful of how and where we moved. Machine parts, playfields, heads, legs, bodies, you name it, we saw it stacked in Duncans 'workshop'. In the back room were all the bodies lined up 6 and more wide and 4 or 5 deep. The only way to get a look at the playfields was to do the 'coin door crawl'. After looking at everything several times I finally found one that he was will to part with 'as is' but he would help get it fixxed up. Of the two machines my friend had purchased, the Time Zone Duncan had already shopped and the other game - a CCM Gin made in 1974 - was 'as is not running'. The one I had picked out is this very Hokus Pokus. I kind of forced my wife to come back a couple of nights later and pick out a game too - a 1965 Williams Pot'O'Gold that was already up and running. With a lot of help from Duncan and tons of research on the net, we got the Gin and Hok Pok playing very well. That was in early fall of 1996. I purchased a few more games out of Duncan's basement before he moved a little farther into the spotlight.

The Play - I still have this game because it is loads of fun. This pic to the left is what the ball would see or ballview. Three spinners - not to many games with 3 spinners. I love drop targets and spinners. You would to go for the left and right ones here because a shot up the middle might send you right down the drain.

This would be the ball shot off the right flipper. One of three ways to light the 'A'. The way to score is to light the 'ABCD' in the bonus area in one ball. This will get you into double bonus. Light them again in the same ball and you get to shoot again. Sounds easy?

The left flipper ball shot here with the 'D' target and the right spinner. Thru the spinner lane and right into the pops or all the way across and down the left spinner lane.

There is a nice chance for a skill shot on the ball launch. With the 'B' and 'C' rollovers above the 'ABCD' lanes you can get 2 letters on the launch. I go for the 'B' and 'C' because the other two are easier to get other places.

Nice tight area around the pop bumper for good action. I like the art work with the animals coming out of the hats, too.

This ball saver gate is a great feature but it's only on the right side. It is activated by the center target straight up the middle.

I love the bonus countdown that you get in the double bonus. It has a great rhythm. 15K is the top bonus, 30K doubled.