Sea Ray

March 23, 2005

I saw this machine on the IPD and decided it would look really good next to “Scuba” I kept looking for one and finally saw one on E-Bay but was on the road when the auction ended without any bids meeting the reserve. So I e-mailed the seller and offered $550 for it and he agreed. Well, it is another horror story of bad shipping and a deal gone awry. When I went to pick it up from Pilot Air, they had neglected to tell me it had been damaged, so I was upset when I saw the cabinet brutally smashed and the playfield glass in a Zillion pieces. The head and back-glass were intact. I called/e-mailed the seller and informed him I had refused delivery but he said to go ahead, accept delivery, take pictures and he would reimburse me for any repair costs once he had settled with the shippers. Well it’s been almost 3 months now and despite many e-mails, Jim Southwell of Captain Kid Amusements in Mauldin, South Carolina still hasn’t coughed up any money. Admittedly, he didn’t break the machine and it was packaged well but I cannot make any claims, only he can. So if you’re listening Jimmy, do the right thing and pony up some cash or have your good name tarnished in this rant. So anyway, the artwork on this looks like good ol’ Marche’s pointy people but is actually a look-alike artist named Jerry Kelly. Why would anyone want to copy his style is beyond me but… I still like it. It has an underwater theme with a barely visible Manta Ray and a unique squiggly ball path for lighting up various features such as extra ball, up post and lite bumpers. This is a bonus game where you don’t collect the bonus at the end of play, but rather, you have to collect it by hitting the top saucer or going into the right side chute where it drains the bonus and you have to refill it each time. Pretty hard to do but it has one saving grace. The features all sequence and if you time it right, you can go down the squiggle and light up everything which makes it come to life. I mainly like the artwork on this.
Update on Sea Ray: Capt Kidd never got a hold of me, it's been more than 2 years, he is a Jerk and I would never ship Forward Air! Beyond that, I was wrong about this art work (see comments below) and also about pointy pople in general. I have come to love P. P. art work, especially after having seen "Double Up" Bally '71. Incredible! I was also wrong about Jerry Kelly copying Christian Marche, apparently, it was the other way around and Bally "forced" Marche to copy Kelly's style. An interesting side note; the Bally "Harlequin" logo of the 70's was created by Jerry Kelly. He created art for 12 machines, some of the most influential pinball art of the 60's. Sadly, he passed away on September 8th, 2002.

Produced by Bally, 1971. 2 players. 5.5 out of 10 on the Play-O-Meter

High Score 107,520 by Dan Fontes on November 22, 2003

Adding comments is temporarily down