Eight Ball Deluxe - Prototype Blue Displays

Eight Ball Deluxe
Prototype "Blue Displays"

I was lucky enough to land this prototype blue display Eight Ball Deluxe on July 21, 2004. There's not a lot of information out there regarding the game as far as facts or the number that were made, but it's been estimated from knowledgeable sources that about 30 (maybe as many as 50) of these were made. There were all built by hand at the end of the "classic" Eight Ball Deluxe production run and was an early prototype to the 6803 CPU Bally games that would come out about 4 years later. I know of 4 other proto EBD's in existence. Mine in particular, with a serial number of 9201, appears to be one of the earlier ones as it is missing some of the features the later serial numbers had (ability to track 5 high scores, missing a ROM, jumpers are different).

On an interesting side note, there were two prototype Flash Gordon games made that were very similar to the proto EBD's with blue displays.

Special thanks to John Mohr, Ted Estes, and Allan Reizman for providing information and assistance on this very unique piece of pinball history. See John's site for information on his prototype pins.

If anyone reading this has prototype EBD like this one please drop me an email, I would love to chat.

Cabinet exterior is the same as the production version.

The blue displays in action.

Playfield surface is the same as the production version.

The main controller board. This would later become the 6803 controller.
The interfacer board which handles solenoids, lamps, and some display functionality.
Just a plain old Squawk & Talk sound board for the proto games. This is not the original one but it will work.

The playfield underside has some unique features.

Rubber o-ring "cushions" are in place on all the coil plungers to reduce shock.

All coils were hand wound and hand labeled, and operate at 24 volts rather than 48. Coil size/strength had to be increased over the production version to account for the lower voltage.

The flipper and kicker plungers are tapered/cone-shaped, with matching coil stop. Click the picture above for close-up details.
Each playfield lamp has a diode and operates in a matrix.
The main power supply board. This was incorporated with the solenoid driver board in the 6803 games.
Game settings and audits are controlled by a keyboard inside the coin door.

Cabinet underside, as with the rest of the game, is extremely clean. I doubt this particular game was ever on location.

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Cabinet exterior is the same as the production version.		The blue displays in action.	Playfield surface is the same as the production version.
	The main controller board. This would later become the 6803 controller.	The interfacer board which handles solenoids, lamps, and some display functionality.	Just a plain old Squawk & Talk sound board for the proto games. This is not the original one but it will work.
	The playfield underside has some unique features.
	Rubber o-ring "cushions" are in place on all the coil plungers to reduce shock.		All coils were hand wound and hand labeled, and operate at 24 volts rather than 48. Coil size/strength had to be increased over the production version to account for the lower voltage.
The flipper and kicker plungers are tapered/cone-shaped, with matching coil stop. Click the picture above for close-up details.	Each playfield lamp has a diode and operates in a matrix.	The main power supply board. This was incorporated with the solenoid driver board in the 6803 games.	Game settings and audits are controlled by a keyboard inside the coin door.
		Cabinet underside, as with the rest of the game, is extremely clean. I doubt this particular game was ever on location.