Uploaded September 2013 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
London Pinball normally likes to focus on classic electromechanical and solid state pinball games, but here in the shop we have a 1992 Bally Doctor Who machine.
Let me begin by saying that I've been fixing up pinball machines from every era for about 10 years, but this particular machine was, hands down, the biggest basketcase time suck bastard of a machine I've ever encountered. It had so many bloody problems that I very seriously considered setting it ablaze in a farm field somewhere. It was recently re-imported from Europe and whoever worked on it throughout its life was likely under the age of six and had serious sensory deficiencies. Obviously I'm joking, but it was very challenging in every respect to diagnose and repair, mostly because of shoddy previous repair work and hacks.
I don't have much else to say about this game, really. I'm not going to venture into the rules as there's so much to do that anything I say here would merely be scratching the surface. The upper ramp shot is a satisfying shot to make from the upper flipper and the Time Expander is a cool toy, in spite of it being the most pain-in-the-ass pinball mechanism ever created. The shot around the left side of the time expander into the pop bumpers is also a satisfying shot, as are the shots to the Daleks with the "clunk" sound when the mini playfield is fully extended.
The sound is well done with the music pulled directly from the old series. The voice calls are cool, but the Dalek voices can get realllllly annoying. Of course, I guess they're supposed to. They're Daleks, after all.
Anyway, the game was designed by Barry Oursler and Bill Pfutzenreuter with artwork by Linda Deal. Lots more info on Doctor Who pinball here: ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=738
I realize that the ship on top of the right ramp is backward. I noticed this after I shot the video. And for anyone that cares, the credit dot is related to the upper right flipper opto, which is bad. Of course, there's no upper right flipper, so replacing the opto is unnecessary, although I'll probably do it anyway just to eliminate the credit dot.
London Pinball normally likes to focus on classic electromechanical and solid state pinball games, but here in the shop we have a 1992 Bally Doctor Who machine.
Let me begin by saying that I've been fixing up pinball machines from every era for about 10 years, but this particular machine was, hands down, the biggest basketcase time suck bastard of a machine I've ever encountered. It had so many bloody problems that I very seriously considered setting it ablaze in a farm field somewhere. It was recently re-imported from Europe and whoever worked on it throughout its life was likely under the age of six and had serious sensory deficiencies. Obviously I'm joking, but it was very challenging in every respect to diagnose and repair, mostly because of shoddy previous repair work and hacks.
I don't have much else to say about this game, really. I'm not going to venture into the rules as there's so much to do that anything I say here would merely be scratching the surface. The upper ramp shot is a satisfying shot to make from the upper flipper and the Time Expander is a cool toy, in spite of it being the most pain-in-the-ass pinball mechanism ever created. The shot around the left side of the time expander into the pop bumpers is also a satisfying shot, as are the shots to the Daleks with the "clunk" sound when the mini playfield is fully extended.
The sound is well done with the music pulled directly from the old series. The voice calls are cool, but the Dalek voices can get realllllly annoying. Of course, I guess they're supposed to. They're Daleks, after all.
Anyway, the game was designed by Barry Oursler and Bill Pfutzenreuter with artwork by Linda Deal. Lots more info on Doctor Who pinball here: ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=738
I realize that the ship on top of the right ramp is backward. I noticed this after I shot the video. And for anyone that cares, the credit dot is related to the upper right flipper opto, which is bad. Of course, there's no upper right flipper, so replacing the opto is unnecessary, although I'll probably do it anyway just to eliminate the credit dot.
