Fish Tales was released in 1992 and is quite a popular game based around sports fishing. Personally I am not into fishing at all but I really enjoy this simple modern game that has very good 'flow' ( in my opinion ).

The game starts by the ball being shot from the usual place via an electric button start , it has the usual 3 rollover lanes at the top of the playfield as well as 3 bumpers

The playfield has a loop shot when shooting from the left flipper to the right orbit , this is also the Long Cast shot.

The shot from the right flipper to the top of the playfield passes through a spinner and ends up in a hole at the top of the playfield that is used to collect random bonuses.

It has a 3 ball multi-ball mode where balls are locked in a 'fishing reel' and released at a stupidly fast pace as they get flung all the way around the top of the playfield and returned down a wire ramp to the flippers.

In the centre of the playfield is the 'boat' - You can get into a hypnotic rhythm on this machine by shooting the boat ramps in order to complete the 'school of fish which give you a Monster Fish Hurry Up shot. These 2 ramp shots are available from either flipper and a successful shot is always returned to the opposite flipper.

I have to say that this is one of the toughest games to score Jackpots on ( the Tackle Box Jackpots ) and I am yet to complete all 3 in one game.

There is plenty of features to keep the average player happy for a while in Fish Tales and while it is not a deep ruleset and doesn't have modes, I am really happy to have this in my mix of machines. I have owned my Fish Tales since 2007 and still have it in my collection with no intention of selling it.

I believe that 99% of Fish Tales machines are incredibly faded , this was no exception in the main body and the backbox was just back to wood in a lot of places.

The cabinet structure itself on this machine was in VERY ordinary condition and at one stage the front must have come apart and the last 'restorer' had just belted some self tapping screws  straight into the machine - it was an ugly repair job. The playfield was quite good but had wear around the 'Stringers' fish and in the Tackle Box area, it also had a post screwed into the playfield between the flippers.

So I decided to do the big job and re-decal it as well as fix up the playfield.

Over the next few pages you will see a faded old beaten up Fish Tales revived to a very nice condition and hopefully be amazed at the difference ( especially in the cabinet ) between the old faded decals and the new vibrant ones.

Follow the links below to see my restore on this machine.

Here is one photo of how it began - and this is just the cabinet