Flipper Service book by Henk De Jager

The picture is of the dutch version of the book that I have, but an english version is also available: Pinball Machine Maintenance.

There are not many books about repairing electro-mechanical pinball machines, and this book really is the best !
Henk has years of experience repairing them, this book is absolutely fantastic. It really is a must have if you own an electro-mechanical pinball machine.

It has some general chapters, like how to read schematics and how pinball machines operate in general. The beginning is simple, basic information.

The most valuable is all the game and brand-specific repair information.

The book really covers all assemblies and possible problems for all major brands (Bally, Williams, Gottlieb) from the 1960ies and 70ies. Every chapter has clear, detailed illustrations so you can see how an assembly fits together, the small part of the schematic that is applicable to this circuit, and a description of how it should work and how to fix common issues.

Electro-mechanical pinball machines are complicated as a whole, and this book is almost 200 pages. It is organised in such a way that it breaks down all the complex parts into small chapters. There's no need to read and understand everything. You use this book to trouble shoot a specific problem. Do you have an issue with your zipper flippers, don't they open or close anymore? Does the game not switch to a new player when the pinball drains? Or opposite, does the pinball not get start and issue a new pinball at the start of a game? All these types of problems have their own dedicated chapter, and each is split up per brand and era. Just search for your problem, and then find the part that's about your specific machine. It's all explained in detail, but split up enough so it can be understood by everyone.

You really need this book if you want to learn to repair electro-mechanical pinball machines !
The English version is available from Pinball Resource.
The dutch version is available by the Dutch Pinball Organisation. It's not on their website right now, but can be bought at events (like the DPO) or their clubhous meetings.