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The Classic Pinball Podcast
The Classic Pinball Podcast
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#24 Lady Death with Tommy Skinner The Classic Pinball Podcast

PodcastAnalysis updated 2d ago16 min listenBy George
From the creator

While Dave and George are interviewing Tommy Skinner ( This Flippin Podcast) about Fathom, he tells us a story about two different conversion kits he imported from Germany. The kits are Lady Death...

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Highlights

  • Geiger produced Lady Death and Space Rider re-themed conversion kits in the early 1980s for European market adaptation
  • Tommy imported approximately 50-60 playfields and 30-40 back glass sets, with roughly 8 Lady Death kits and numerous Space Rider kits
  • Geiger playfields used superior quality plywood with harder wood layers, resulting in better preservation and no insert cupping issues compared to American-made playfields
  • Geiger used generic brown cabinet graphics with colored stripes and a letter G that were hammered/nailed over original artwork
  • Three buyers are working to upgrade Lady Death kits with P-Rock boards and modern rulesets while maintaining original Mata Hari layout
  • BG Resto in Michigan is reproducing Space Rider back glasses from the single original Geiger back glass Tommy provided
  • Geiger used inconsistent insert types within the same game: Space Rider had roughly 25% opaque inserts and 75% translucent inserts across different playfields
  • European pinball manufacturers (Geiger, Zacariah, Spanish companies) produced playfields that aged better and showed less wear than American manufacturers

Notable quotes

“It ended up being roughly 50 to 60 playfields and 30 to 40 back glasses and plastic sets.”
Tommy Skinner
“He just had me pick each one up. And the German playfields actually weighed a couple more pounds, even though they were relatively the same thickness.”
Tommy Skinner
“They're definitely, you can tell they're a little bit more on the, they don't have the American conservatism ingrained in their designs, for sure. They're more revealing than even, you know, any of your greatest 70s machines out there.”
Dave
“There were several playfields where the insert color patterns were different. Or specifically the Space Rider playfield I have roughly I say a fourth of them were made with opaque inserts and the other three-fourths were made with translucent inserts.”
Tommy Skinner
“I'd like to know what the differences are between the American made stuff and their stuff like why is their stuff so much better aged and aging well versus our stuff?”
Dave

Entities

  • BG Resto· company
  • Deeper· company
  • Geiger· company
  • Zacariah· company
  • Texas Pinball Festival· event
  • Harlem Globetrotters· game
  • Lady Death· game
  • Mata Hari· game
  • Space Rider· game
  • Vampirella· game
  • Dave· person
  • Joel de Guzman· person
  • John Papadu· person
  • Ron Kruseman· person
  • Tommy Skinner· person
  • Zomby Yeti· person
  • P-Rock· product

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