I first played a Popeye when it came out - a restaurant in Houston had one and I played it on a trip many years ago. It was the first game I had played with a
Mini playfield, and the ship theme was well executed. I haven't played it in years, but I am looking for one in Texas - was actually just posting to find one!

Great game, and great value for a wide body DMD!

It's a far better game than most give it credit for; I think it's a lot of fun! I don't own one, but would like to someday.

I loved mine, had it for years. Had the the plastic molded Bluto head.

After owning Popeye , i could say I have owned All the Super Wide body pin's ..

And to be honest , it wasn't that Bad of a game !! It Sure was Fun pimping it out ..

Also skygauker ,, You have the Wrong Bluto head on yr Pin ,, I did 2 .. Go to IPDB and loOk

Here's my Popeye b-Lo --

PoPeye_004.JPG

Hi all Popeye fans,

I have to say the Popeye is one of the best pins. I like it very much and I don´t understand why it is not in favour for many people. The system of "easy" extra balls is very funny and the design is also excellent.

What strategy do you use for this pin? I always use the right flipper to shoot the left ramp to get EB then I use it for lock in the jaw. Left flipper is mainly used for the lock in jaw and for the elevator (when it lights). I choose spot item mainly as a skill shot.

Have somebody played the final mode?

Do somebody please know why was raised the number from four to six ball throughs to get EB in the left ramp?

Thank you!

I finally have finished changing out the rubber on mine, and fixing a few minor issues.

Now I just wish my kids would let me play it.

image.jpg

Hello,

Could please someone send me the photo of J136 / J137 / J138 where can I see the colors of the cables? It is in the lower right part of the power board.

Thank you!

I had one. Just sold it recently cause a great deal came along and something had to go for space and money. I rescued it from despair in a laundromat and cleaned her up. Popeye is not a perfect game, but way better than people give it credit for and it is a lot of fun. Here's my son playing it on route before I bought it and after I went through it and cleaned it up and added LEDs. It looks fantastic with frosted cool white LEDs.

Hi,

Hope this helps

Cheers,
Phlash

image-892.jpgimage.jpg

You are excellent!

I love it when people step up. Well done.

I bought my popeye from an operator, and I think he removed the post that is at is between the entrance to the outlane and the flipper return lane. Does any one know what size post that is?

Its the same little post with small rubber on both sides. So since you didn't say what side you wanted, just look at the other

I'm missing both posts.. I need to know what diameter they are.

Well, I took a look at mine and when I look underneath to figure out of it was a wood screw post or going into a tee-nut. But they both fall right where the rails land. The base is rounded so I started thinking the post goes through the hole and the rail is put over the bottom of the post and a nut put on.

So I looked in the manual on IPDB and looked at the list on page 95. The only one that matched is 02-4660

http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=catalog&mode=search&search_in=all&search_str=02-4660

99% sure without taking it out. They are single bumper posts with the cone top and smooth base. With the round tells me there is nothing to put a wrench on so it must slip though and have a nut.

I bought one of those last week from Marco specialties. It turned out the base is too large. What size nut is on your post?

The post actually penetrates the playfield to become the mounting post for the inner safety support bracket. The nut that fits it is a 3/8" locking nut, the thread size is 10-32

BTW it's a very tight fit in the wood, I would carefully use a punch to drive it out from the bottom side.

Hope it helps,
Cheers,
Phlash

image.jpg
image_1.jpg

hmmm... it looks like mine has been replaced with a smaller sized screw and nut, that might explain why the 10/32 post I purchased didn't fit. I may need to get a few 3/8" lock nuts to install my posts. Thanks for the pictures....

Well I got my posts installed over the weekend, and that makes a huge difference in the amount of outlane drains.

My Popeye has been modified with standard flippers at the bottom, and the lightening flippers moved to the upper playfield. Honestly, I am beginning to think this make the game too easy.
IMG_3069.JPG

This game was nearly 45 minutes long, and I saved Olive twice, doubling my lifetime total of saves. Granted, it was a 5 ball game. It may be time to put the flippers back in their original configuration.

I like to keep my games set difficult. This way when I play a different one I am not at a disadvantage of what to expect against other people.

Next you need a ColorDMD

Recently picked up popeye... and I don't understand why it receives so much negative press. I spent last night playing kiss, metallica, and walking dead on location, came home and had more fun playing popeye. Well blow me down!

Taxman,
I already have an LCD screen I am setting up for my P-Roc. I wish ColorDMD made a short kit for guys like me who already had an LCD setup.

My P-roc version of Popeye is still very much a work in progress.

IMG_3072.jpg
IMG_3070.jpg

The lower back glass was via eBay about a month ago.

I don´t understand it too. We own one and I think that it is the one of the best pins ever. I like the difficulty very much. I think that people can´t play it

There is only one weak place and it is the story but it doesn´t change the game fun..

I don't even think the theme is all that bad. If you watched the cartoons, bluto owned restaurants, taxi cabs, etc....in the pinball episode he is an oil business tycoon, and popeye is out to save the world in his ark (he is a sailor man afterall, the boat ties in well)

Different strokes for different folks I'm enjoying popeye !

Don´t you please have a link on this episode?

Thank you!

He is saying that as if the theme for the pinball machine is an episode. It was not a real cartoon. He is just saying the theme of the game kind of follows along with the way Popeye / Bluto are portrayed in the old cartoons.

I do miss mine. I had a HUO and should not have given it up. I poke the guy every year of so that bought it, funny thing is, the machine developed a trough issue shortly after he bought it, like 3-4 years ago, and just sits there, but he won't sell it as the table isn't on the VP system he has. He has something like 7 real machines, I don't believe any working, and plays the VP, but won't give any up....

And because I had a HUO, I can't bring myself to buy another that isn't as good. LESSON - think real f**king hard before you sell a b/w HUO game...

I miss just about every old B/W game I had sold in the past (especially Junkyard). Funny thing is I never gave Popeye a real chance in the old days. It was hard to see things and I didn't know all of the rules as well as I do now so I joined the crowd and used it as a running joke with GI and Raven.

But then -

I actually picked up my Popeye just to color it for ColorDMD. Oh, and mine had a trough opto issue also, and a few others. But I fixed it up quick like any B/W game, easy when you have done it for years. Now after having to go through every switch, every animation, every short cut to goals and every bonus there is on that game I have a new appreciation.

No it is not my favorite game of all time and it will never be an "A"-list game. But it is fun solid game with good rules and great animations (especially in color). Definitely worth the money.

May have to bite the bullet and get color for popeye, would look lovely next to road show and fish tales

I was very surprised when I saw Fish Tales cabinet first time. It was warranted that the artwork was done by the same person who made it for Popeye

Thank you for explanation. What is please HUO and B/W?

Have somebody played final mode whith three balls game? I was nearer when I have missed one Bluto mission so I lost it

Btw it´s nice to see that it is still played. New HS is very nice

https://pinside.com/pinball/archive/popeye-saves-the-earth/scores

HUO = Home Use Only, a game that was never put into a bar or arcade but usually went into someone's home game room or similar. A HUO game can be in very nice condition since it was never "abused" on route, but it is no guarantee of good condition. Some HUO games were neglected, stored in bad conditions, etc.

B/W = Bally/Williams Pinball Co.

RM

I have saved Olive, and found Sweet Pea in the same game, just before I sold it. Really good wizard.

GJ!

Oh thank you! I think that we have HUO Popeye too. It is in a very nice condition and there were played only apx 4500 games but maybe it was not played only

Does anyone have a source of the Popeye's Arc decals (an tat little blue triangle) for the apron boat bow?

Agodfrey,

If you can't find these and want to print your own, let me know and I'll scan the images direct from the boat, and take a picture of the the lines along the front, these should be easy to reproduce and then a picture of the blue thing, that too looks fairly simple to recreate. I would just post them, but I'm too lazy to pull the glass and remove them unless you need it.

Cheers,
Phlash

Thanks! I'll let you know. I will most likely try to make my own. I have a really good source for printing vinyl stickers. If this game wasn't so.......contentious I would print up a batch. But....I'll keep looking.

If you were to print up a batch, I'm sure you could find buyers, like me.

$30 shipped from Portugal.......

http://www.pinballpt.com/prestashop/home/53-popeye-saves-the-earth-ark-decal-set.html

These guys do goo work.......is it worth $30....hmmm.....

Yeah, I'm not sure it's worth $30. I'm thinking more like $10.

That's the tough part. I made some decals for a similar run game. And still haven't broken even on making 10 sets......cost of liking a game that people aren't screaming for....

I'll prob just make my own.....like one.......nahhhh do it right or not at all.....

The only reason I am looking for a set is because I will have remove mine to soak the plastic in peroxide to hopefully get the yellow out.

I imagine this a commonly broken plastic, it broke on day 2 of owning this game....now when I tighten what's left down, it moves with any ball hit....anyone have a spare laying around or maybe yours it broken too and you rigged it somehow?20150810_133039.jpg

The top of the plastic to lite Super Animals broke? I don't think it is common.

I would super glue a metal washer underneath. And if you have the broken piece of plastic glue it back on top. If you get a washer of the perfect size it can act like a fender washer saving slingshot plastics from breaking again.

Is there any way to find out where Sweet Pea is? Clues or anything, or is it just random what door you stumble through?

I'm fighting a Bluto trough switch issue and then mine is 100% functional. Had the switches all working and then it must have worked its way loose again.

With sweet pea , there is a map on the dmd....the left, middle, and right shots move the arrow (popeye) in the corresponding directions, sweet pea can be found straight ahead with middle shots, but it's ridiculously difficult still.

Thanks for your help taxman, I think I have the plastic still, and some plastic washers I'll see if I can get something rigged up...appreciate it

What Shrekman said!! That's how I fixed mine. Use a washer under the plastic, and depending maybe on top also...You might want to put one on the other side as well so they are level!

Phoebe

What he said. There is a map. Also 3 lights under the ramp. The lights let you know what pathways will move you. Trap the ball and take a look.

If you are real good then from the start just shoot the center about 4 times and you won. But if you miss you are down a wrong corridor.

(thanks Phoebe)

I thought that is what it was to find him. However, I took the glass off and rolled it through the center to that circle/dot and it just took me back to the start of the map. I had done it with the glass on and thought that is what I saw, but wanted to confirm. You don't have to qualify him being there right? Just get the ball to the upper PF and you are on the search is my understanding.

Here I will post a GIF showing you how moving forward 4 times from the start does a rescue. The map on the right shows "you" the arrow moving to the "X". The animation will show if you went forward, left or right. Hopefully your optos and switch are working correctly and when the ball goes through the center it does not roll up to the right opto (common problem) looking like a right door.

RescueSweePea.gif