1976 Captain Fantastic Pinball Machine by Bally

The Captain Fantastic pinball table draws its inspiration from the character played by Elton John in the movie ’Tommy’ and is justly renowned for the terrific quality of the illustrations. However, the artwork was notable for another more controversial reason too, since artist Dave Christensen depicted several characters engaging in lewd activities in his design for the back glass. His X-rated additions initially went unnoticed by the Bally management, which resulted in early editions of the table going out uncensored. Once alerted to the issue Bally insisted that graphic stars be added to the offending areas, although the stars seem to have been rather carelessly applied in some cases with the result that the ‘censorship’ is haphazard at best! These days the early Captain Fantastic tables tend to be referred to as the ‘no stars’ version.

The controversy didn’t stop at the back glass either. Christensen also managed to sneak signatures from other contributing designers into the play field design and these too had to be removed once the management cottoned on. All in all then, a slightly difficult and protracted birth for a table that went on to be a great success in the late ‘70s! This particular table has been immaculately restored by our experts and features upgraded LED lighting. As to the play itself, it has great drop targets, lots of extra balls, and an easy double bonus nice spinner!

The designers clearly had a lot of fun making mischief when they created the artwork and now it’s your turn to enjoy this ‘Fantastic’ table. Come by for a demo whenever you like, and we promise to show you the ‘naughty’ bits too!

Allow us to explain how and why we go to such extreme lengths when repairing and restoring vintage games.

Over the years we are fortunate enough to have gathered together a select few individuals whose enthusiasm for jukeboxes, pinball machines and vintage arcade games ensures that they are never less than 100% committed to the task in hand. They quite simply love breathing new life into old circuitry and want to see as many of these classic pieces preserved for future generations as possible.

Not for them the perfunctory checklists and proverbial ‘tyre kicking’ which pass for an inspection at other dealers but instead an unflinching determination to get to grips with the detail. This usually begins with a thorough strip down of the machine and a forensic examination of the internal workings. They’ll be aware of the particular quirks and foibles of any given piece and instead of just replacing failed parts they’ll always go the extra mile, swapping out components which are likely to fail in the near future.