HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: knudsen@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (michael.j.knudsen)
Subject: Re: Pachinko Machines?
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 21:38:18 GMT

In article <19867@drutx.ATT.COM>, drb@druwy.ATT.COM (BurrittD) writes:

> About $75.00 is the going rate (from what I have seen) for
> older (> 10 years old) pachinko games. The older machines
> do not have any electronics in them and are fully manual.

That agrees well with my limited sampling of prices.
Yes, the workings are purely mechanical, not even
electro-mechanical in most cases.
About 1933 in terms of US pinball technology :-)
But consequently very likely to work right off,
and easy to diagnose and repair unless badly rusted or smashed.

> The new machines are electronic so they play music can
> make the characters "dance". They also have a motor which
> fires the balls so you can put the machine on autofire
> and balls are spit out at about a rate of 2 per second.

Data East fans probably consider these to be major improvements :-)

> Also, if you do buy an older machine make sure it is wired
> for U.S. power. If it isn't plan on spending more time & 

Some I've seen aren't wired for any primary voltage, just the
secondary light-bulb voltage supply wires dangling out the back.
I guess they were fed from a common bus behind the parlor wall.

The one I saw in New Bern had a 9-volt transistor radio battery
connector on its wires -- boy, that battery wouldn't last long.

You're right, find a transformer.  A 9-volt Casio adapter
suppling close to 1.0 Amp might do it, but they're $20.

> the older ones required 10 volts for the bulbs). Also, make
> sure the bulbs work. Some of them require some strange types
> and are very hard to replace.

Good point, and thanks for the warning.
Fortunately, the lights are either general illumination
or simply flash whenever you land in a score pocket,
so aren't really needed to play the game -- no state info
to keep track of.  Of course the machine is prettier and a little
more fun with the lights working.

> Pachinko technology has advanced in the last 10 years about
> the same as pinball technology has. Like pinball,
> the game's idea is the same, but the new machines 
> have a lot more features and are a lot more enjoyable to play.

Yes, at first anyway.  These flashy LEDs and dancing characters
may attract new players, but I've read about how Japanese pachinko
addicts just stand there for hours, glassy-eyed, pumping balls the
same as the slot machine addicts in Vegas.  They probably don't
notice the fun stuff anymore.  But for the more casual players,
sure, it's got to be more fun.  And the addicts probably appreciate
not leaving with a sore wrist, thanks to the ball-launch motor.
-- 
	"I don't think so, Al"
  Programmers Do It on paper.  So do puppies.
	knudsen@iexist.att.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: bbs-garfield@jwt.UUCP (David Eison)
Subject: Pinball Volume...
Reply-To: bbs-garfield@jwt.UUCP
Organization: The Matrix
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1992 19:14:18 GMT

I have a problem.  There's a lot of games out there with good music, but 
I never get to hear it.  Only one arcade I've ever seen has the pinball 
games turned up, but half of them are broken.. :(  (Most arcades just 
turn StreetFighter II all the way up, and everything else all the way 
down.. :(  )  Anyways, is there a way I could turn the volume up before 
playing a game, or is this something the operator HAS to do?  (IE: Is the 
volume control outside the coin door? <G>)

---
David Eison - Garfield           bbs-garfield@jwt.uucp
I'm not writing a message.  These words are just here to take up space.
From: michael@uk.ac.oxford.robots (& Stevens)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Weak flipper cures?
Date: 8 Sep 92 20:31:18 GMT
Organization: Dept. Engineering Science, Oxford University, UK
In-reply-to: Steve@klaatu.demon.co.uk's message of 8 Sep 92 12:29:44 GMT

In article <715983847snx@klaatu.demon.co.uk> Steve@klaatu.demon.co.uk (Steve Loft) writes:
   I'd still be interested in hearing anything anyone has to say about
   Zaccaria pintables, though!

Hopefully I won't get linched for what I am about to say but here goes
anyway.
	I LIKE ZACCARIA GAMES ...

Ok they don't have the best art work and look a bit cheap.
They also tend to rely on one gimic per game. But who cares they were
still great fun to play.

Here goes for my personal Zac machine review. I may get a few things
wrong but put that down to old age.


Soccer Kings: First Zac game I ever knowingly came across. All I can
remember was that it had a two level playfield. The top "pitch" was
perspex and had a flipper to shot at the goal with. The speach was a
bit naff and kept on repeating the same silly phrase. Anyone remember
what it said?

Magic Castle: Ah now this is definately my favourite. Lots of drop
targets, orange and red specials, and a glorious ramp shot. 
I remember shoting for "Zaculla" after getting "Zancinstein" etc, to
open the doors in the back box to reviel what was inside.
Great gimic, great look.

Clown: Not bad art work for a Zaccaria, I liked it anyway. Mainly you
had a clown which was pulled from side to side, everything else I forget.

Robot: Good game. Five robots (cyclinders with metal man faces painted
on) poped up out of the playfield. You had to knock them back down
again to score anything.

Black belt: This must have been on of the last Zacarria's. I big
cylindrical roto target it the middle of the playfield was the center
of most of the action. Just keep on hiting it and a few other karatee
themed features.

Aerobatics: I afraid I've never seen it. What does it play like? and whats
the gimic :-)


On the technical side, I always found Zacarria machines were very
reliable on site. They seemed to suffer less from dirt, weakness and
nigling faults then the Bally's and William's.

Does Aerobatics have the funny perspex flippers in a colour to match
the game. I quite liked to look of them until one fateful day one
exploded on me durring a game of magic castle. Certainly makes the
game harder when one flipper is just a stub, and bits of perspex fill
the playfield.


Finally, on holiday I played a Data East "Laser War". Quite a good
machine for their first attempt. It all still worked although was
poorly maintained. Since this is the first one I've ever seen I guess
they are not too common. Did anyone play it when it first came out?

Finally (again), I just saw and played my first TAF. They seem very
had to find here in the UK. So keep all the postings about new machine
in the US comming, at least that way we can read about them if not
play.

--
Michael Stevens, Robotics Research Group,Dept of Engineering Science,Oxford,UK
INTERNET: michael@robots.oxford.ac.uk
From: marston@coos.dartmouth.edu (David Marston)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Pinball Trader???
Date: 15 Sep 92 16:42:44 GMT
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

In article <51810007@hpscit.sc.hp.com> al@hpscit.sc.hp.com (Al Knox) writes:
>     Has anyone heard what the status is of the Pinball Trader magazine?

I have heard the status--it will be back. Jack Simonton is not yet able to
post news from his new venue, but he told me in a private communication
about his move to Texas and his hopes to get a quickie issue out as soon as
he can. Any subscribers living near Austin should consider whether their
skills can expedite its publication.
.................David Marston          uunet!dartvax!coos!marston
                                        marston@coos.dartmouth.EDU
From: ung@felix.filenet.com (Bill Ung)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Most expensive place to play pinball
Date: 15 Sep 92 21:37:03 GMT
Reply-To: ung@fritz.filenet.com (Bill Ung)
Organization: FileNet Corp., Costa Mesa, CA

Hi folks, just got back from vacation in San Francisco.  Went with a
bunch of my friends.  As sacreligious(sp?) as it sounds here, I had
no real desire to play pinball while on vacation ... on the other hand,
there was a lull, and I did it anyway :-) ...

We were on Pier 39 in S.F. and there was a 'NAMCO' arcade near the
street-side of the pier.  Inside were bumper cars, video games, and
pinball games (and other miscellaneous token-suckers).  Pinball games
were labeled 2 TOKENS per game.  Well, that means 50 cents a game, I
guess that's liveable ... except that you only get 3 tokens for a dollar.
Wait a second, that translates into 66 cents a game!  On top of that,
there was no way to buy a single token, you had to buy at least a full
dollar's worth.  One (minor) saving grace was that if you put in a $5,
you'd get 18 tokens instead of 15, I forget what you'd get for a $10
or a $20.  A pretty expensive arcade if you ask me, I don't mind a
.50/.75/1.00 scheme, and I just love stumbling upon a 25 cents per game.
50 cents a game is really pushing it but this was going over the top.
At the very least the games were in really good condition (CREDITS 0
instead of CREDITS 0.) and seemed to play well, and the tokens I spent
were leftovers from the bumper cars.

Anyway, if you're in the S.F. area, do watch out, they're expensive
on Pier 39!

Bill Ung
  ung@filenet.com
From: ec@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Edgar Circenis)
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 19:13:54 GMT
Subject: Re: Has anyone besides me seen this game?
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball

In rec.games.pinball, jimd@m2xenix.psg.com (Jim Dorman) writes:

> In <schmata.715738020@camelot> schmata@camelot.bradley.edu (Peter Stein) writes:
> 
> > I was wondering if anybody out there in r.g.p. might remember seeing a
> > pinball game with an extremely bizarre playfield? Rather than a normal 
> > playfield, it was made up entirely of craters that would send your balls
> > off in crazy directions. I only saw it once, about 5 or 6 years ago at    
> 
> As a matter of fact, I do.  I believe the game was called Orbiter 1.  I only
> played it twice, at a local arcade about 10-12 years ago.  The playfield was
> a "lunar landscape", with none of the standard pinball features (drop targets,
								   ^^^^^^^^^^^^
Not counting the 13 drop targets on the playfield, of course. :-)

> rollovers, etc.), and the machine was run almost entirely by magnets.
					^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is the exact reaction I get from people who play my machine.  There
are no magnets that affect the play of Orbiter.  The combination of the
spinning bumpers and bowl shaped playfield is sufficient to make it seem
like something else is going on.

Edgar
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: bbs-garfield@jwt.UUCP (David Eison)
Subject: Whirlwind Stuff
Reply-To: bbs-garfield@jwt.UUCP
Organization: The Matrix
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 21:11:48 GMT

Whirlwind is my favorite game.  I love it.  But It's hard to find around 
here.. Anyways, I was wondering if someone could explain all the rules to 
me?  Rules on games confuse me, and I can't play Whirlwind enough to 
figure them all out... (Last time I played I didn't even know what a "Lo 
Pressure Jet at Maximum" did, but I figured it out since then.. :)  )
Also, I wanted to comment on a thread from a week or two ago, about 
tricky pinball lighting to make you lose balls.  Whirlwind has GOT to be 
one of the worst abusers of lighting.. I played it in a DARK arcade/bar 
place around here, where the only lighting was from the game itself.. 
Well, the storm drove me crazy.  No steady lighting, lots of flashes and 
strobes, and I was blind and lost the ball before I knew it.. <G>  How 
long have machines been using tricky lighting to get people?  (BTW: This 
can also tie into the thread right now about having games move stuff and 
such to get harder as you do better.. If you get multiball on games these 
days, the lighting drops and goes crazy and strobes, to make you lose the 
ball.  It's not mechanical, but the same effect occurs...)

---
David Eison - Garfield           bbs-garfield@jwt.uucp
I'm not writing a message.  These words are just here to take up space.
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: dpettit@javelin.sim.es.com (Daina Pettit)
Subject: Re: Captain Fantastic: Classic or junk?
Organization: Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1992 17:30:53 GMT

In article <23132@hacgate.SCG.HAC.COM> grover@vulcan1.edsg.hac.com writes:
>In article 14639@vax5.cit.cornell.edu, q96j@vax5.cit.cornell.edu () writes:
>> Bear with me, I'm new to all this.  
>[ some text deleted]
>> 
>> Question is, is it worth something, or is it junk.  To get it, I'll have
>> to travel about four hours and haul it in the back of my friend's Bronco.
>> I'm assuming the legs are detachable and we can turn it on its side.
>> 
>
>I'd say it is worth "something", and is probably on it's way to becoming a classic.
>Out here in So CA, I've seen Captain Fantastics 
>for sale for up to $1500 (private parties).  Of course, I didn't find out how much 
>they actually sold it for :-).  I have mine, and am keeping it mainly for the
>artwork.  Ever look closely at the backglass ?  You'll see all kinds of things!!
>It hasn't been played since TAF came to town, but it is pinball.

Where's the original post for this?  It never made it to my site...

If you're buying a pinball for art (good or bad), then Capt. Fantastic is
considered very collectable.  If you're buying a pinball to play then
forget it.  You can get a lot more fun per $ on almost any other machine.
More than 20,000 Capt. Fantastics were made, so they are not rare.  I keep
bumping into them.  

How about a new thread?  On the backglass of Capt. Fantastic is pictured
Elton John playing a pinball machine.  One obvious problem with the machine
is that it has no playfield glass--the ball is pictured above the machine
in the air!  Besides that the score on the machine is 31775 points.  This
is a very unusual score and I bet it's not just made up.  Is it a date such
as March 17, 1975 or July 31, 1975?  Does either of these dates mean
anything?  Generally when machine flyers are made up, do the scores in the
photo mean anything to the designer or photographer or are they just
samples of the photographer's skill?  Could the numbers be phone numbers in
the Chicago area?  Any ideas?
-- 
  Daina Pettit  (801) 582-5847  dpettit@spiff.sim.es.com   
  Evans & Sutherland  600 Komas Drive, SLC, UT  84108
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: jimd@m2xenix.psg.com (Jim Dorman)
Subject: Re: Has anyone besides me seen this game?
Organization: Pacific Systems Group, Portland Oregon US
Distribution: na
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1992 07:50:21 GMT

In <schmata.715738020@camelot> schmata@camelot.bradley.edu (Peter Stein) writes:


> I was wondering if anybody out there in r.g.p. might remember seeing a
> pinball game with an extremely bizarre playfield? Rather than a normal 
> playfield, it was made up entirely of craters that would send your balls
> off in crazy directions. I only saw it once, about 5 or 6 years ago at    

As a matter of fact, I do.  I believe the game was called Orbiter 1.  I only
played it twice, at a local arcade about 10-12 years ago.  The playfield was
a "lunar landscape", with none of the standard pinball features (drop targets,
rollovers, etc.), and the machine was run almost entirely by magnets.  I 
remember one ball went stright out the center, only to be hauled straight
back into play!

If this isn't the same game, well......if anyone's ever seen another Orbiter 1,
I'd love to play it again.

Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: jjhoxsey@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Major Lee Obvious)
Subject: Secret Mania
Organization: ACME Acres Looniversity Public Relations.
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 18:58:49 GMT

	While playing High Speed II, I had quite a surprise.  Right
after I locked the second ball, the display flashed "SECRET MANIA" and
all targets were worth 500,000.  What triggers this?  Both times this
happened (it happened while someone else was playing) the current gear
was redlined by the RPM collected by locking the ball.  Is this what
does it?
	Thanks in advance....

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"Even I must take a break from | jjhoxsey@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Kuros)
 wackiness occasionally."      |
               Gogo Dodo       | The IRC Silly Knight (w/rubber chicken)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
From: jdeitch@umiami.ir.miami.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Wanted : Atlanta Pinball List Info
Date: 10 Sep 92 18:18:45 EDT
Organization: Univ of Miami IR

Wanted :

A list of what pinball machines are where in the Atlanta, GA areas ...

Similar to recent postings for other cities ...

Please email me entries at either :

jdeitch@umiami.miami.edu or jdeitch@gisatl.fidonet.org

If you're fidonet, I'm Jonathan Deitch at 1:4549/7

I'll post a summary when I get sufficient info to do so.

Thanks in advance ...

- Jonathan 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internet : jdeitch@umiami.miami.edu | Go Braves !! | "I hate it when I can't
---------------------------------------------------| trust my own technology !" 
"Thrills!  Chills!  Magic!  Prizes!"  -- Hurricane |    -- Geordi LaForge

*** Please note, Sep 1st I change to : jdeitch@gisatl.fidonet.org !!!

Gene Roddenberry, Isaac Asimov, Jim Henson, Dr Seuss, Mel Blanc ... Sigh ...
From: ung@felix.filenet.com (Bill Ung)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Weak flipper cures?
Date: 15 Sep 92 20:50:11 GMT
Reply-To: ung@fritz.filenet.com (Bill Ung)
Organization: FileNet Corp., Costa Mesa, CA

In article <1992Sep8.175804.29446@cbnewsd.cb.att.com> knudsen@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (michael.j.knudsen) writes:
|In article <715662736snx@klaatu.demon.co.uk>, Steve@klaatu.demon.co.uk (Steve Loft) writes:
|| Can anyone tell me what the cause, and the cure, is for a weak flipper?
|
|There's some stuff in the FAQ posting.  I'd say first thing is to check
|that nothing is loose.  Second, take out the solenoid plunger and clean
|it off with mineral spirits or alcohol.  Likewise for the inside of the
|solenoid itself -- use pipe cleaners.  After that...???

Agreed, my HIGH SPEED's upper flipper was attached to the playfield by
two out of eight screws, the rest had fallen into the bottom box.  After
putting these screws back in, it worked fine for a while.  Later on, it
got sticky and wouldn't always return to its normal rest position.  I
worked it for a long time and never got much for results.  I finally took
the entire flipper apart and cleaned and re-lubed it.  Old gunk makes for
inefficent parts.  The flipper works great now!  Take care and make sure
you know how to put the flipper back together!!!

|| excellent condition other than the cabinet which has a bit of graffiti
|| and some quite deep scratches.  Mechanically it's sound, other than the
|
|Graffitit, carved initials, etc. can be thought of as adding "nostalgia"
|and "historic auntehticity" to a machine, IMHO.  Don't try telling that
|to collectors or upwardly-mobile types, tho :-)

Hmmm, "good quality pinball game with lots of nostalgia?"  If I ever
sell, I'll keep it in mind.  Mine's got some "nostalgia".

Bill Ung
  ung@filenet.com
From: overturf@bigbootay.sw.stratus.com (Dallas Overturf)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: LW3 - Just a note
Date: 4 Sep 92 21:27:57 GMT
Organization: Stratus Computer, Software Engineering

In article <1992Sep4.132006.23649@nsisrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> oday@lobster.gsfc.nasa.gov  (Orin Day) writes:
>In article <chupchup.715597895@piggy> chupchup@ferkel.ucsb.edu (Robert Earl)  
>writes:
>> Hmm, you were lucky.  I was playing LW3 just tonight, and what
>> happened to me was, the ball jumped up onto the scenery and nestled
>> above the saucer on the left side.  The game sat around waiting to
>> find the ball, did ball checks a few times, but the ball stayed put.
>> Then it told me "Missing 1 Pinball" and shot me a new ball.  Well,
>> that's fine, but when I got multiball, and knocked that ball clear
>> back into play, then lost two balls, guess what happened.  The
>> flippers went dead and I watched helplessly as my third ball sail past
>> them.
>> 
>> Well, guess Data East still makes stupid software.  Why do they shut
>> down the flippers when you lose a ball?  It doesn't make sense.
>
>Actually, it sort of does make sense (from an operators perspective,
>unfortunately).
>
>We used to have a similar problem on the evil "Batman" machine on campus.
>The middle of the top three lanes had a sticky switch that the ball could
>get hung up on.  After searching for a while, it would send out another
>ball, but it would assume only one was in play.  Why?  Well, if the ball
>had gotten dropped down into the cabinet or was hung up off the playfield,
>it would prevent the game from being played again.  This way, the player
>gets screwed, but the machine is "OK" once the ball returned.  I guess
>it would be pretty shi**y to play Batman with two balls instead of three,
>but Batmas was a kinda shi**y game to start with anyway.
>

No! No! No!; it does not make any sense at all; the machine should 
have gone into a wait loop for a period of time (10-30 seconds) and checked
to see if there was any playfield activity; if there is then the ball has
been knocked loose and play continues; if not then the ball is done
set a flag in memory somewhere that tells it it is now on two ball play
until it sees 3 balls in the trough at game start at which point the
flag gets reset.  I don't claim it to be an absolutely perfect solution,
but it will fix %90+ cases of the problem.  Of course you can also
request a refund of the credit if you don't beat the game :)

				Dallas...
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: David Brady <Brady_David@Tandem.Com>
Subject: Re: About that time
X-Xxdate: Tue, 15 Sep 92 18:51:20 GMT
Organization: Tandem, Inc.
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1.1d9
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 17:45:50 GMT

In article <REMY.92Sep14085310@sun450a.ccs.northeastern.edu> Remy Evard,
remy@sun450a.ccs.northeastern.edu writes:
>Sneak preview announcement:
>  You can ftp to "ftp.ccs.northeastern.edu" to get pinball related 
>material.  At the moment, it contains mostly rule sheets, opinions,
>previous polls, the quotes lists and various other text files that 
>I've pulled from this group, but we're hoping to get some images in 
>fairly soon. 
>  Ftp there, try it out, let me know how it goes, and if you have 
>anything to add to it, just mail it to me, or put it in the /incoming 
>directory.

Just tried it and the sight wouldn't allow 'anonymous' access.
-----------------------------------
email: Brady_David@Tandem.Com

Remember, David Brady IS Lee Harvey!
From: ec@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Edgar Circenis)
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 14:25:29 GMT
Subject: Re: Pinball Auction Summary
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball

In rec.games.pinball, dpettit@javelin.sim.es.com (Daina Pettit) writes:

> Games with a free ball gate.  A free ball gate is defined as a gate that
> deflects the ball from draining, it may not deflect it to the ball shooter,
> just away from a drain.

  [ list deleted ]

> I suspect there may be several others with free ballgates not on this list.
> If anyone knows of any please let us know.

Black Hole (Gottlieb) is another with a free ball gate.  I just bought a
mostly non-functional, but otherwise perfect Black Hole for $125.  Hopefully
I can fix it and still have a bargain.

Edgar
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: schmata@camelot.bradley.edu (Peter Stein)
Subject: Has anyone besides me seen this game?
Organization: Bradley University
Distribution: na
Date:  6 Sep 92 00:07:00 GMT


I was wondering if anybody out there in r.g.p. might remember seeing a
pinball game with an extremely bizarre playfield? Rather than a normal 
playfield, it was made up entirely of craters that would send your balls
off in crazy directions. I only saw it once, about 5 or 6 years ago at    
one of the arcades at Coney Island in New York, and have not seen it since.
Might someone out there have a clue as to what I'm talking about? If so,
is there a chance that it might be floating around somewhere? Sorry, but I
don't remember the manufacturer or even the title; however, it still stands 
IMHO as the strangest, most radical concept for a pinball I've ever seen, and
I would love the opportunity to own it. 
--
Pete Stein, rspw's number-one free agent
+==