Inside Bally's CENTAUR Pinball Machine - I Thought It Just Looked Good, But No... It's Fun! 

One of the greatest machines ever, in my opinion. They crammed so many state of the art features into this very early electronic pin, and got it right. The speech, 5x multiball, the echo, outlane save gates, magnet under the playfield, heaps of ways to score... Kept me coming back again and again, never got tired of it. Eventually had to buy one, have had it sitting in the lounge room for 30 years or more.

I too am a proud owner of this amazing machine which I still recall seeing for the first time and being absolutely gobsmacked. The bizarre yet brilliant concept of a half-man, half motorcycle character captured by Paul Faris' fine artwork in an eye-catching black & white colour scheme was revolutionary at the time. And all these visuals brought to life with innovative sound effects and speech, futher enhanced by the 'say it again' reverb module. This particular module employs the infamous and extremely rare Reticon SAD 4096 IC which is prone to failure and the reason many machines lose their reverb effect. If you own such a machine, get this fixed immediately with a third-party reverb module as it's just not the same experience without this feature! As others have said, there were always crowds of mesmerised onlookers around this machine when it was released, more so than I ever witnessed with some of the other stand-out machines of this era (e.g. Black Knight, Xenon, Space Invaders etc.) and it was a long wait if you wanted to actually play! Interestingly nowadays, when we have friends around, they're both curious and fascinated by my Centaur and invariably have to be prized off it once they've played a few games. It's still weaving its magic 40+ years later and I hope to hand this down to my kids as a family heirloom!

Gotta be careful playing this one after dark...! This game was legendary back in the day. You could never get to play it, somebody was always camped out on it. The light show is awesome. Bally was not afraid run naked in the parade. They boldly went many places other companies would never get close to.

The sounds of pinball instantly transport me back to my youth. Oh the memories it brings. Thanks.

I've owned 3 Centaur's over the years. Fell in love with this machine back in the 80's when I was an Arcade Tech. Currently, I have a Virtual Pinball and it has 2 versions of Centaur on it. This is my all time favorite pinball. Don't think I'll ever be able to get my hands on another one since they're so collectable. Can't wait to see how this one turns out.

I love Pin machines for the same reason I love watches, the engineering is magic. Thanks for showing us your work Joe.

Finally, I've been waiting for this one, it was such an innovative game early 80's. Left flipper makes him speak in attract mode. can't wait for the final payoff! Hopefully you will get in a Space Invaders Pinball someday as well. Thanks for all your hard work with these vids! All the best to you guys for 2023!

I gobble your repair videos up like pecan pie on Thanksgiving, but this was the first time I ever talked back to one! LOL You said you’ve never played one before, and as you were examining the game wondering what some of the mechanics do, or how it scores, I’m sitting here shouting answers as if you could somehow hear me - if I was loud enough! I own a minty ‘81 and love it! Anyway, I’m only 15 minutes in, so I’ll get back to the vid, and try to stop yelling. 😂😂😂 Cheers!

It was pretty tough to tell just how much of the playfield paint was gone from out here until you ran the camera up the side which made the non-glossy blacked-out areas obvious. Of course the real lesson here is that black makes for great damage camouflage.

Great Video Ron and looking forward to the others. I have a Centaur and have had it for 30 years. The playfield is also worn, i have a reproduction playfield from CPR again that I’ve had for years, just getting the courage up to swap it out. All of the parts are availabe. I’ve repaired the score displays, power supply and solenoid driver board using all you videos and expertise. If you leave the machine on, in attract mode, it plays itself after about 15/20 minutes with Centaur talking through all the different features. It’s a great machine and definitely ahead of its time, it even has a 4 sided flyer!

Yes! My favourite machine! Amazing. Especially for when it was made. I sunk a lot in to playing one of these.

Can never resist the chance to play this game - very very cool. Love the opportunity to nudge the ball back in via the out lane, although the tilt is a fairly tight on the game so you can’t go too hard either.

I would totally have this in my collection! I'm not a fan of complete restorations...It takes the character out of it. This is an expensive game even in this shape. Looking forward to the next video!

@17:35 "Someone has replaced the main filter capacitor on it..." Does this mean we can replace the filter capacitor with a flux capacitor and turn this pinball game into a time machine, Ron? We don't even need Doc Brown. The Fonz could do it just by tapping on it! I think a pinball time machine would be neater and sound less stupid than a hot tub time machine!

In about 1990 I bought a Centaur. It was not working and had no backglass. It cost me A$100. … The playfield had similar issues to this one. I managed to get it working (can’t remember exactly what I did) and enjoyed playing it in the garage. While I really liked the game, I couldn’t warm to the art work - black & white with scary lookin’ creatures. Just not my cup of tea. So, I sold it (A$1300). At that time this was a lot for a game without a backglass. While I’ve loved each and every machine I’ve ever owned, once I’ve sold them I never miss them….they just stay fondly in my memory. This is an excellent pinball and I’m sure you’re really going to like it a lot Ronnie. …Is Shipmates getting near the front of the queue?

Would love it just the way it is vintage

Hi Ron! I actually restored a Centaur on a Swedish television show with an brand new playfield and plastics. Looked awesome and was really fun. A lot of work! Great game😀👍

The first time I saw Centaur was when BigClive built a replacement echo board for it. He owns a Centaur. Apparently the board that does the echo has a habit of failing.... I love the artwork. It's very interesting, especially for monochromatic artwork. Apparently Centaur has a 5 ball multiball. Sounds a bit crazy to me, but would be fun to see :) . Looking forward to seeing how you go with this one.

Best ever Bally pinball !! Thank you guys x

The memory chip mod is surprisingly easy to do. You only have to reroute 2 signals.

Centaur II was my first game that i have find back in 2008 ,a nice one!😎👍

WOW the lights are very cool! The FCC label on the side box should also say “Some flashing lights sequences may affect photosensitive viewers.” Love Joe's "It's Broke" description ! Simple and to the point.

Interesting, those sounds are very close to what Williams was using in that period (the ones that ended up in Joust). I would never have guessed it was a Bally just hearing it.

That is one bad-ass looking game. Bad meaning holy crap that's amazing. I love the art. Looks like some sort of early 80s post-apocalyptic demons on motor bikes theme.

This was one of my favourite Pinballs back in the day. It sat next to a Black Knight at my local arcade. So yeah I had a hard choice to spend my hard earned pocket money :)

Much easier to follow the game when you keep some lights on 😂

That artwork is mental!!!! So much wear though. Be crosseyed painting that all back up!

Awesome

Have had to opportunity to play this table. Such awesome artwork. Got a new phone RU-vid decided to unsub me from your channel. Glad you are still there/here!

The voice! That reverb! I just added another favorite to the wish list! This game is crazy!

Had a chance to actually play one of these at MAGFest this past weekend. It's a lot of fun! Also, the table and backglass art is one of the all-time greats.

That's a great looking and sounding game! Looking forward to your video series.

Centaur is a fantastic game. Accuracy counts. Hit the center and right drops in order . Light all 4 rollovers on the bottom and the multiball won't stop. Lots of fun

You are a brave man i would have told him wait for a hardtop.

The voice used to scare me as a kid. We have a Centaur II at the bowling alley where I help fix games. It's so much fun. I'm not too surprised how many quarters the owner collects on this machine.

Amazing machine. Glad to see it featured on your channel! I made a video of a game on it in slow motion recently. Quite interesting to see the mayhem of those 5 balls (6 when you count the captive ball) when the action is slowed down.

After endlessly playing this machine as a teen, I bought a rather hacked-up Centaur off eBay back in 2000 for $500(!). Given the half-a$$ maintenance the machine endured, not to mention the nearly completely worn-away playfield, it had to have been in a crappy bar or in a bowling alley. I just this winter replaced the playfield with a CPR repro that also went through the Ron Kruzman treatment. With all new CPR plastics (originals kept, just because) and a new Power Module (again, poor tech skills evident on the -54 board), my machine looks and plays like brand new. This machine is tops of all time, in my book. Old-school electronics that a hobbyist can work on, while at the same time having great play and 5 multi-balls. Other than maybe a Marilyn Taxi, IDK what machine I would more want.

Really looking forward to this series, Ron! Keep up the great work & content…thanks!

Ron, I think your English is fine, I didn't even suspect that was the language you were speaking!! 🤣

Awesome machine. I've never played one. That playfield refurb looks challenging. The electronics seems fine. Thanks for the shout out on my replacement Squawk & Talk sound board. And.... You pronounced my user name right!

‘Lost 2 balls in 1 game I’m a unique idiot’ sounds like a T-shirt logo!! Great video love that table YOU WIN!! I play a local one here in NY but that reverb board sets it far apart and is sweet as hell even just on simple headphones! ENERGIZE ME. DESTROY CENTAUR!

Dopest dark pin ever!💀💀💀😎

It looks great I would love to have that machine in my home it looks very fun

A friend of mine has a Centaur. I had never played this one back in the day, so I was blown away when I first played it. My favourite pin from the 1980-81 period, has always been Black Knight, and I have owned one myself. But Centaur has so many features built in, that I'm stunned that such an old pinball could be so technically advanced. So I must admit that Centaur has a lot more replay value. But Black Knight still has the best backglass art though. 😊 I love the demo function, where you can push a button during attract mode, and the game turns the lights off and then flashes the individual features, one after the other, so you can get a hint of what to shoot for. A lot of pinball machines should have this demo function, so that the rules can be more clear and easy to understand.

im glad to see your videos get more views and comments. You have my vote for the twippys.

I snagged one for 1k bucks last year..sold it this year for 6k..pretty good ROI on this game

Now that one is one of the coolest pinballs of Bally. It has very special sound card with echoing sound, when settings from 16 to 19 are set In 03. It taunts you, when you miss lights. "Slow aren't you ?" "Bad move, human". " No class, human". (TILT). By doin drop targets or orbs on side lanes you get additional balls shooted to playfield. There exists also Centaur II, which was built, when Rapid Fire failed.

Nice game. I remember playing this game back in the day.

Love the voice and freaky art. What was going on when that was thought of and illustrated?

You got your work cut out there m8 lol

Don Arbuckle? Does he have a brother who has a lasagna-loving orange cat?

When other tables have multiball... *CENTAUR HAS POWER ORBS!!!*

I had a service call on Centaur that stuttered , in attract it would announce my name is C C C C Centaur !

Woop! Off we go again! Happy New Year Ron!

6 multi ball ! Have played it alot. Talks too.

This game is so cool, I just wish the magnetic drain catch didnt fail 75% of the time. Seriously, those outlanes suck, they should have gone with simple gates. But I suppose if they were just gates, this table wouldn't be nearly as difficult and notorious as it is.

Hit the ORBS targets in order to release a ball.

THE BEST, CYBER-PSYCHOPATH, PINBALL MACHINE!!!!!

Susan B. Anthony 5 plays!

Yer that is a cool pinball 👌👍

Centaur is a great game. Though technically I've never played a real one. Tons of time logged on Pinball Arcade though.

BTW haggis next title with OG and 2.0 code is likely to be centaur, get hyped and order yours today!!

Great video Ronnie, The mpu board looked a little rough. On the drop target in front does the o and r mean anything? Can not wait to see the next video. Thanks Ronnie for filming.

I have a talking g centaur. Love it

I’d be happy with it, but I don’t know where I’d put it. I guess I don’t need a bed that badly…

Have someone with a 3D printer reproduce those lamp cowls on the backboard, maybe?

I would be happy with it because I don't have a pin.. YET.

CENTAUR IS THE BEST EVER

Bally Centaur and Xenon has always stood out as the two most beautiful pinball machines when it comes to the artwork. But when it comes to gameplay, Centaur offers so much more... imo. Not compared to more modern machines, which are way too complex for me anyway.

Can you add that reverb board to any machine?

Yodelayheehoo

goth pinball

If I wanted to go the route of a Zeropower SRAM I would get the version which uses a Snaphat battery.

You say Cent-are, I say Cent-ore

Hey Ron!!

Removing the RAM chip 5101 and replacing it with a MK48Z028B-20 SRAM instead of a RAM 5101. Can this work for any pinball game using the MK48Z028B RAM chip and removing the 5101 RAM chip?

the 60 hz hum would drive me crazy. otherwise i love it

Exactly who did the back glass artwork ? H R geiger ?

Great Video Now, if only someone would have told you about the GTO months ago ...

Nice game but not much color on the playfield, and then that aweful annoying fan noise!!! First thing I would replace with more silent one(s)…!