Yeah, yeah, yeeah. Oh yeaaaah!

[Seven]

I got a good deal on a Data East WWF Royal Rumble. I got it home late Thursday. Yesterday I cleaned it up, waxed it, made a few minor repairs. Today I made some tweaks, threw in new balls, and gave it a good drive around the block.

The entire wrestling thing passed me by when I was a kid. I never had any interest in it. If I saw this machine out on route somewhere I probably wouldn't give it a second glance because of the theme. The ONLY reason I bought this one was because of the price. I agreed to buy it sight unseen and it ended up being almost mint condition. Even after I bought it I was sort of like "this machine is kind of dorky".

After playing a few rounds I was thinking this is a really good machine. It's still a dorky theme (dorky to me anyway), but the game play is really good. Lots of nice shots, a ton of things to do, and it really has just about everything. Scoops, pop bumpers, diverters, mini playfield with mini flippers and a little mini orbit, ramps, wire habitrails, two banks of drop targets, standing targets, shaker, captive ball, VUK, and DMD. It's like someone at Data East said "Just throw everything on it and make it work" - and they pulled it off.

My only dislikes about the machine would be the music. It's kind of cheesy and thin sounding. The callouts and voices are cheesy but in a comical way, but the music is just kind of meh. The only other thing is one part of the playfield is a little dark, up around the pop bumpers, but that can be fixed. Those are pretty minor dislikes though.

If you haven't had a chance to play this machine, I highly suggest you give it a go if you run across it. It's quite good.

 

[mwong168]

Congrats on your WWF Royal Rumble and it is a very underrated like most DE titles. The problem with DE games is you need to get past the crayola style hand drawn artwork and recycled sound bits then you have yourself a very good game. For what DE's are commanding today you are getting great value for your dollar compared to the more expensive Bally/Williams and Stern titles but for how much longer is the question.

 

[mwong168]

Also not sure if this would interest you but there was a fellow reproducing the original prototype translite for this game here on pinside. He just posted that he is doing another small run of these and likely only going to be less than 10. I think he uses the same printing place as Aurich did for his Shadow alternate translite which was amazing quality.

Original:

Prototype:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/who-wants-a-wwf-royal-rumble-prototype-trans

 

[Menace]

I really like the proto translite... should grab one for my game.

D

 

[mwong168]

It's kind of sad looking at the prototype translite to realize most of them have passed away and some at such a young age too.

Randy "Macho Man" Savage - May 20, 2011 (aged 58)
Elizabeth - May 1, 2003 (aged 42)
Ultimate Warrior - April 8, 2014 (aged 54)
Rowdy Roddy Piper - July 31, 2015 (aged 61)
The British Bulldog Davy Boy Smith - May 18, 2002 (aged 39)
Earthquake (aka John Tenta) - June 7, 2006 (aged 42)
Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig - February 10, 2003 (aged 44)
Big Boss Man - September 22, 2004 (aged 41)

 

[quarter grabber]

It's kind of sad looking at the prototype translite to realize most of them have passed away and some at such a young age too.

Randy "Macho Man" Savage - May 20, 2011 (aged 58)
Elizabeth - May 1, 2003 (aged 42)
Ultimate Warrior - April 8, 2014 (aged 54)
Rowdy Roddy Piper - July 31, 2015 (aged 61)
The British Bulldog Davy Boy Smith - May 18, 2002 (aged 39)
Earthquake (aka John Tenta) - June 7, 2006 (aged 42)
Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig - February 10, 2003 (aged 44)
Big Boss Man - September 22, 2004 (aged 41)

Roids aren't good on the heart.

 

[stiffler4444]

neither is cocaine, speed, hydromorphone...etc, etc, etc.......bad era for wrestler's.........fun to watch though.......

 

[mwong168]

neither is cocaine, speed, hydromorphone...etc, etc, etc.......bad era for wrestler's.........fun to watch though.......

Don't forget to mix in over abuse of pain killers due to the pressures to perform 300+ days of the year even when injured to maintain your top spot.

 

[Seven]

Also not sure if this would interest you but there was a fellow reproducing the original prototype translite for this game here on pinside.

I've seen that translite. I don't know any of the people on the production translite or the prototype, so I'll probably just leave it as is. That said, it might be a good idea to nab one just in case I resell it later to a WWF fan. They might want all those guys on the translite.

 

[spiroagnew]

Please sell the game to me when you are finished with it. I have an alt translite already...just no game to put it in.

 

[Seven]

spiroagnew: You have first dibs.

 

[REVOLUTION]

Well then... dibs on Doug's! awesome game..

 

[Seven]

This machine has been the perfect example of why pinball machines may not a good idea if you don't know how to tinker with them.

The guy I bought this from bought it around 2000. This machine had been on route because it has a couple lock down bar holes. We can assume the first few years of it's life it was in a bowling alley or bar or something. Then it was probably cleaned up a little and sold. It sat in this guys basement for 15 years. His kids played it, his friends played it, but it has had no maintenance that entire time.

Almost everyday something has gone wonky. Yesterday I went to play it and it wouldn't launch the ball. The nylon rod on the ball launcher had broken off. After a bit of searching I found it wedged under the upper playfield. Luckily the local pinball shop had one for the ball feed VUK. Its the same length and works well enough until I can order in the right part.

Right after I got that installed I was playing a couple games - the upper right flipper stopped working.

Off goes the glass and up goes the playfield.

It was a simple fix. Just a bit of adjustment. No big deal. I kind of like this stuff. But for someone who isn't mechanical I can see why these things end up half working in basements collecting dust.

 

[Menace]

Yep. I have some clients that want absolutely nothing to do with maintaining a pinball machine. Some things can be so simple and get overlooked simply because the owner doesn't know how or feel comfortable working on a game.

I, like you, enjoy that aspect of the hobby immensely.

D

 

[REVOLUTION]

Yep. I have some clients that want absolutely nothing to do with maintaining a pinball machine. Some things can be so simple and get overlooked simply because the owner doesn't know how or feel comfortable working on a game.
D

Darn those stuck balls and 0 credits

 

[Dave Astill]

i always thought this was a pretty fun game . Like many of the data east games of the same era.