After 10 months of searching locally for a Black Knight in exceptional condition, I finally hit the jackpot. This pin was hidden away for 15 years in non-working condition until a friend of mine found it and brought it back to life (Thanks Dave!).

Fresh out of the box....a gorgeous reproduction backglass from Mayfair. Even the chrome lift channel is brand new.
Absolutely stunning!

The artwork on this game is simply incredible and this playfield is in excellent, unmolested, original condition. Not hard to tell it's been well cared for in the past. Of course, it doesn't hurt that it hasn't been played in over a decade either.

Lower playfield shot. Aside from the usual ball swirl marks, there are virtually no worn areas except for the black outlines around some of the inserts. The lower apron is almost flawless.

Upper playfield. All plastics are intact which is rare for this game. Some are a little warped but a quick trip to the oven will fix that. Even the spinner looks like new.

Here's how this game looked to me when it used to kick my butt in the arcades. I'm a little taller now....

The magna save areas, which are usually worn to the wood, show no signs of paint loss.

The left magna save is just as nice.

With a total of 12 drop targets in this game, I'm in my glory. However, the decals on the targets and that nice, factory-original pop bumper have faded (or fallen off!)over the years and look worse for wear.

Here are the new decals installed. After checking the usual suspects for replacement decals for the drop targets and pop bumper, I wasn't satisfied with the current offerings. None of them were "correct", so I decided to make my own. Special thanks to Steve Corley for the scans, and the photos of Eric J's NIB BK found elsewhere on this site that helped me with color matching!

Closeup of the drop target decals. The artwork was scanned from an original decal, and then the colors restored in Photoshop. You can get them at www.stevechannel.com. I printed on white self-adhesive vinyl media and laminated with mylar before cutting them to size.

The drops were sluggish and inconsistent when I first received the game, but cleaning and straightening out the copper tabs improved their performance. I also found that the two horizontal metal strips hindered their movement if tightened too aggresively.
With these adjustments made, the drops now work flawlessly.