Tiger Rag was a conversion kit made by Bell Games of Italy. From what I understand they made their own playfields from scratch (this one is a copy of Kings of Steel with a couple physical changes). This Tiger Rag kit was installed in an old Bally Matahari. The kit consisted of the fully populated playfield, a metal mask for the cabinet, backglass and 3 Bell Games boards (power supply, sound board and game rom daughterboard).
Compared to Kings of Steel the only changes I see are that most inserts are in different locations and the right gate does not exist. Bell games made high quality playfields and backglasses and it shows in this example.
For more info on the history of Bell Games see this link:
https://www.tilt.it/bell.htm?fbclid=IwA ... dw03IAHOzs
I have stripped the topside of the playfield and installed all new rubber, cleaned the playfield and plastics. I cleaned and adjusted every switch. I added new leg bolts, new leg levelers, a new leg bracket, new ball, replaced a display, new coin door lock, new shooter barrel spring, new clear washers under any vulnerable plastics and I refurbished the flippers and installed new coil sleeves.
There are 2 insert lamps that I could not get to work. I tried to translate the inserts using the Kings of Steel lamp driver schematics but failed. Too many inserts on each machine that are similar. eg. there are like 6 King inserts on KOS and 2 sets of tiger inserts on TR and multiples of others.
Overall the playfield is in fantastic condition. Backglass is very nice as well. The metal cabinet wrap is pretty good but does have some wear. I have gone though everything on this machine and it plays great.
I had this game in a tournament I ran recently and it held up all night without issue. I also had this pin in the LOPL last weekend and it help up all night again no problems.
I had the MPU looked over and repaired and it is in very nice condition with no corrosion. I removed the battery from the MPU and mounted it off board. The Bell Games game rom daughterboard was not working so I had the original Tiger Rag rom burned onto two roms and installed them in the original MPU and have bypassed the little daughterboard. The daughterboard did not work with a newly burned rom installed so it could be its connector? It is a very small board with very little on it to go wrong so I’m sure one could figure it out if they wanted to but I have currently rendered it not necessary.
Mr Pinball says that 500-700 were made but who knows how many of them are left. There are 11 listed owners on the Pinball Owners website and only one listed in North America (not sure how accurate this info is).
http://www.pinballowners.com/CGI/psearch.cgi (type Tiger Rag into search bar).
Check out more pics of the game here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nb66t5tfgq0h ... FTtba?dl=0
Check out the video of the actual game.
https://youtu.be/A2yTMIBBMr8
Pretty hard to get any sales history on this rare machine. There is no marketplace history on the machine on pinside at all but I did discover that one sold recently for $2500usd to a pinball museum. Check out the pinside thread with this info.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic ... trade-rare
I would much prefer this is the hands of a collector that will appreciate it for what it is. A unique piece of pinball history. The person I bought it from was planning on converting it to a Tommy pinball machine for the Tommy annual festival thingy so I am happy that never happened. The machine stopped working for him so that is likely what saved the pin from this fate.
Price $2700
1984 Tiger Rag by Bell Games 500-700 made now $1800
- atariaction
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1984 Tiger Rag by Bell Games 500-700 made now $1800
Last edited by atariaction on Wed Feb 06, 2019 1:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: 1984 Tiger Rag by Bell Games 500-700 made
Cool!
Would love to try it!
Would love to try it!
Pins: 8BDlx, Stern Elvis, Frontier, Big Buck Hunter, Firepower, Fish Tales.
Gone but not forgotten: 6M$M, Sorcerer, WPT, Centaur II.
WTB: Fathom, TSPP, BSD, GOT.
Quit talking and start chalking!
Gone but not forgotten: 6M$M, Sorcerer, WPT, Centaur II.
WTB: Fathom, TSPP, BSD, GOT.
Quit talking and start chalking!
- atariaction
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- Joined: Fri Mar 21, 2014 9:18 am
- Location: London
Re: 1984 Tiger Rag by Bell Games 500-700 made
Price is now $2300
- cait001
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Re: 1984 Tiger Rag by Bell Games 500-700 made
that artwork kicks so much ass
PINS: GTB Super Soccer (lent), GTB Sure Shot, BLY Mousin' Around, WMS No Good Gofers, WMS Triple Strike (loan)
COUNTERTOP: スマートボール (Smart Ball), 1934 PAMCO Contact Master, 1936 Bally Challenger (lent), 1934 Rock-Ola World's Series, 1934 Bally Signal Jr, 1934 Bally Signal Sr (lent), 1950 Culp Bridge Ball, 1964 Daiwa Pachinko, 1972 CC Mini-Baseball (loan), 1975 Satomi Arrangeball, 1930 Fields Five Jacks, 1931 Pace Base Ball, 1931 Pace Whiz Ball, 1932 Bally Goofy, 1978 Haiwa Pachinko
WANTED: スマートボール (Smart Ball), payazzo/kronespill, Bell-Fruit Cascade, 1932 Ballyround, 1935 Par Golf, 1960s Bingolette
backglasses wanted: Fairy, Fire Queen, Out Of Sight
marquees wanted: Dark Planet, Strider, Astro Invader, R-Type (w/ship)
Pinball Women Ottawa -- Ottawa Pinball Map -- repair blog -- game ratings
COUNTERTOP: スマートボール (Smart Ball), 1934 PAMCO Contact Master, 1936 Bally Challenger (lent), 1934 Rock-Ola World's Series, 1934 Bally Signal Jr, 1934 Bally Signal Sr (lent), 1950 Culp Bridge Ball, 1964 Daiwa Pachinko, 1972 CC Mini-Baseball (loan), 1975 Satomi Arrangeball, 1930 Fields Five Jacks, 1931 Pace Base Ball, 1931 Pace Whiz Ball, 1932 Bally Goofy, 1978 Haiwa Pachinko
WANTED: スマートボール (Smart Ball), payazzo/kronespill, Bell-Fruit Cascade, 1932 Ballyround, 1935 Par Golf, 1960s Bingolette
backglasses wanted: Fairy, Fire Queen, Out Of Sight
marquees wanted: Dark Planet, Strider, Astro Invader, R-Type (w/ship)
Pinball Women Ottawa -- Ottawa Pinball Map -- repair blog -- game ratings
Re: 1984 Tiger Rag by Bell Games 500-700 made
It is an incredibly beautiful game. I have a pristine one in my gameroom that I bought many years ago from JD. Had to find a backglass from Switzerland. Has all the original boards from Bell games in it. I love tigers so that was the big draw to buy it
and keep it all these years. Good luck with the sale.

- atariaction
- MAACA Collaborator
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- Joined: Fri Mar 21, 2014 9:18 am
- Location: London
Re: 1984 Tiger Rag by Bell Games 500-700 made
Thanks guys new price is $1800
- cait001
- MAACA Death Knight
- Posts: 3806
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2012 3:42 pm
- Location: Centretown, Ottawa, ON
Re: 1984 Tiger Rag by Bell Games 500-700 made now $1800
if you want it extra challenging do it up like they did at INDISC and remove the gate by the left flipper. 

PINS: GTB Super Soccer (lent), GTB Sure Shot, BLY Mousin' Around, WMS No Good Gofers, WMS Triple Strike (loan)
COUNTERTOP: スマートボール (Smart Ball), 1934 PAMCO Contact Master, 1936 Bally Challenger (lent), 1934 Rock-Ola World's Series, 1934 Bally Signal Jr, 1934 Bally Signal Sr (lent), 1950 Culp Bridge Ball, 1964 Daiwa Pachinko, 1972 CC Mini-Baseball (loan), 1975 Satomi Arrangeball, 1930 Fields Five Jacks, 1931 Pace Base Ball, 1931 Pace Whiz Ball, 1932 Bally Goofy, 1978 Haiwa Pachinko
WANTED: スマートボール (Smart Ball), payazzo/kronespill, Bell-Fruit Cascade, 1932 Ballyround, 1935 Par Golf, 1960s Bingolette
backglasses wanted: Fairy, Fire Queen, Out Of Sight
marquees wanted: Dark Planet, Strider, Astro Invader, R-Type (w/ship)
Pinball Women Ottawa -- Ottawa Pinball Map -- repair blog -- game ratings
COUNTERTOP: スマートボール (Smart Ball), 1934 PAMCO Contact Master, 1936 Bally Challenger (lent), 1934 Rock-Ola World's Series, 1934 Bally Signal Jr, 1934 Bally Signal Sr (lent), 1950 Culp Bridge Ball, 1964 Daiwa Pachinko, 1972 CC Mini-Baseball (loan), 1975 Satomi Arrangeball, 1930 Fields Five Jacks, 1931 Pace Base Ball, 1931 Pace Whiz Ball, 1932 Bally Goofy, 1978 Haiwa Pachinko
WANTED: スマートボール (Smart Ball), payazzo/kronespill, Bell-Fruit Cascade, 1932 Ballyround, 1935 Par Golf, 1960s Bingolette
backglasses wanted: Fairy, Fire Queen, Out Of Sight
marquees wanted: Dark Planet, Strider, Astro Invader, R-Type (w/ship)
Pinball Women Ottawa -- Ottawa Pinball Map -- repair blog -- game ratings
- atariaction
- MAACA Collaborator
- Posts: 65
- Joined: Fri Mar 21, 2014 9:18 am
- Location: London
Re: 1984 Tiger Rag by Bell Games 500-700 made now $1800
For sure..or..
Other tournament directors have swapped the wiring on the middle and right stand up targets to prevent the exploit of just hitting the right target over and over again for points. No one will attempt that when that shot is middle center of the playfield, way too dangerous, so this opens up the entire playfield to a fun balanced game. Easy mod and reversible!
Other tournament directors have swapped the wiring on the middle and right stand up targets to prevent the exploit of just hitting the right target over and over again for points. No one will attempt that when that shot is middle center of the playfield, way too dangerous, so this opens up the entire playfield to a fun balanced game. Easy mod and reversible!
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