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. 

An obvious comparison would be between a classic car which remains on show in a garage and one that you can actually enjoy driving. 

Rare though many of these machines are, rarer still are the examples which have been properly restored or can truthfully be said to be in full working order. It goes without saying that when unrestored machines come up for sale online or at auction, they’ll often be priced rather lower than the machines sold by The Games Room Company, and the point we wish to get across above all others is that there’s a reason for this. 

In this business The Games Room Company’s reputation is second to none, and as it’s been hard won over the years it’s something we never take for granted. Every machine that goes off to a customer, be they corporate or private, is a potential advertisement for the business and if we didn’t do our job properly then we wouldn’t have the high number of loyal, returning customers that we do.

We’re justly proud of our One Year Parts and Labour Warranty, which extends to on-site visits so if your machine does require some attention, you won’t necessarily have to endure the pain of separation.

We’ve always recognised that with specialised products such as these the after sales service is just as important as the initial sale. It takes a long time to build a reputation and over the years our commitment has won us not just the loyalty of our clients but also the trust of the last remaining American Jukebox manufacturer, Rockola, who in 2014 appointed us as their Exclusive British dealer.

The Games Room Company is one of the oldest pinball dealers in the country. Our founder, Reginald Waldersmith, played his first pinball game in 1960, and described it without irony as being “flipping excellent”. We’ve been selling pinball machines since 1962, so know a thing or two about our products! Our showroom will gladly assist you on any questions you may have before or after you purchase any Games Room Company equipment.