Wacky late night pickup...

action53

Well-known member
Joined
May 17, 2016
Messages
1,764
Reaction score
91
Location
West Columbia, South Carolina
QnfjnqPl.jpg


I've been halfheartedly looking for one of these for a while and one happened to pop up about 15 minutes from my house, it's a little rough around the edges but it's solid. It plays and works OK but the gators get a bit jammed up coming out of and going back into their holes, I think it has something to do with the rollers that go between the gators and guide rail being worn out or over spray on the optos.

Regardless, i'm super excited about it and I look forward to tinkering on it and watching the kids enjoy it.
 
It's all yours!

Uh, why would you want that? What was driving the desire?
 
Fun game, I'd always give it a go when I saw one.
Worked on them a few times too.
You are going to win SO MANY TICKETS. :)
 
Our wee-one loves that game.
How much did you pay for it?...if you don't mind me asking.
 
Our wee-one loves that game.
How much did you pay for it?...if you don't mind me asking.

$199 there was a dollar in quarters in the bottom

I cleaned and oiled all the mechanical parts, scraped all the gross old wheel off the gators and the play field and threw down some baby powder to keep it running smoothly until I feel like coughing up the crazy prices Happ wants for parts. I ended up getting 92 points with just the mallet




Someone had painted the gators so I hand painted back on some eyes

nY4OC8tl.jpg
 
He's the right color green for sure. Quirky thing you got there, kids will love it I bet.
 
Fun game, I'd always give it a go when I saw one.
Worked on them a few times too.
You are going to win SO MANY TICKETS. :)

Just put the tickets on a loop and you will never have to fill them again!

:D
 
IMSHO it's great classic up there with Skee-ball and Whac-a-mole!

Gators usually get stuck because the original rubber wheels deteriorate and become sticky and/or flat-spotted.

The replacement upgrade wheels, and rollers (on the top back of the gator) were a yellow urethane.

As you mentioned the replacements are very expensive for a home game and seem to have been out of stock through distributors for some time now.

I looked around for anyone that might stock something similar (i.e. McMaster) but urethane rollers are pretty expensive anywhere I could find them.

There was a thread in the "redemption" section here a while back with a user was looking into making some, but to my knowledge there wasn't any follow-up on this though.
 
So far I've repainted the eyes, mouth and teeth, I also had to replace a pulled, twisted n taped wire on one of the gators. Every single bushing and wheel in this thing is rotted away/worn out but it's still playable. I look forward to fabricating what I can't buy as I slowly restore it to perfect condition. All the kids love it, especially the younger ones. My 3yo is terrified of the gators, she won't play a game alone but she'll help someone else play.

1SSaqnf.jpg
 
I like it. I would love a whac-a-mole for the kids, but I would take one of these too. I always feel bad then the little kids get frustrated at the regular games and want something like this for them. Nice find.
 
Just for shits n giggles I looked up what I'd need from happ, just the bottom rollers, two top rollers and the mouth bushings is nearly 800 bucks...

Looks like I'm buying a lathe and drill press...
 
Back
Top Bottom