Phetishboy
Well-known member
While trying to figure out which Midway coin door of mine I should refinish and use on my Pac restoration, I started to realize how many different versions Bally Midway progressively used over the years. Does anyone have a chronological Midway coin door revision pictorial complete with all amalgams and missing links? So far I have noted the following:
The earliest Video game doors were grey and had a button between the chrome/polished metal coin inserts. These doors came with a slam switch and the early Pyramid coin badge. There were no illuminated coin lights.
Next generation were the same, except the button hole was plugged with a metal blank.
Next generation were the same, except they were painted black and the button hole was plugged with a metal blank.
The following generation was the same as the previous, except the button hole was now gone and they started to add 12V bulbs behind the plexi coin mini marquees.
After that, the door basically stayed the same, as did the chrome coin inserts, but the coin badge changed to the style with the stylized Exploding Video Monitor with the "Fun is our Business" slogan.
Now sometime after this version the coin badge changed to a different slogan (anyone know what the second slogan was?), and cheap plastic coin inserts replaced the polished metal ones. The finish also changed from a sparse splatter texture to a dense and even rough rhino-lining type texture. Amidst and during all those changes, the plexi coin marquees changed fonts, added or lost the cents sign, added or lost the word 'cents', and some I've seen even had "1 Quarter" written on them.
If there isn't a pictorial coin door guide for Midway machines, there should be. I just wanna know which coin door would be right on a Pacman.
The earliest Video game doors were grey and had a button between the chrome/polished metal coin inserts. These doors came with a slam switch and the early Pyramid coin badge. There were no illuminated coin lights.
Next generation were the same, except the button hole was plugged with a metal blank.
Next generation were the same, except they were painted black and the button hole was plugged with a metal blank.
The following generation was the same as the previous, except the button hole was now gone and they started to add 12V bulbs behind the plexi coin mini marquees.
After that, the door basically stayed the same, as did the chrome coin inserts, but the coin badge changed to the style with the stylized Exploding Video Monitor with the "Fun is our Business" slogan.
Now sometime after this version the coin badge changed to a different slogan (anyone know what the second slogan was?), and cheap plastic coin inserts replaced the polished metal ones. The finish also changed from a sparse splatter texture to a dense and even rough rhino-lining type texture. Amidst and during all those changes, the plexi coin marquees changed fonts, added or lost the cents sign, added or lost the word 'cents', and some I've seen even had "1 Quarter" written on them.
If there isn't a pictorial coin door guide for Midway machines, there should be. I just wanna know which coin door would be right on a Pacman.

