HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bbs-garfield@jwt.UUCP (David Eison)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Lethal Cows
Date: 26 Aug 92 20:43:48 GMT
Reply-To: bbs-garfield@jwt.UUCP
Organization: The Matrix

emuly@chinet.chi.il.us (brian schmidt) writes:

> The ZZ top song from BTF was Double Back, the same song that played
> during the credits of the movie.  Another song in BTF pinball was
> "Power of Love."  The ZZ top song from LW3 is "Sharp-dressed Man."
> "Lethal Weapon 3 theme" is not a "REAL" song, just some original
> pinball music.
> 
> By the way, the guys in ZZ-Top are BIG pinball fans.

Cool.  Thankx for the info; now I just have to find an arcade with Back 
To The Future turned up enough to actually HEAR it.  Do any pinball games 
have headphone jacks?  I know one or two arcade games do (Neo-geo, some 
Laser Disc game...)  I've only ever found one arcade that had the 
machines turned up, but those were WAY too loud, and I made the mistake 
of playing Hurricane, which is the most annoying game in the world at 
full volume...

> Brian Schmidt
> (Ex Williams Sound guy, BK2K, Banzai, Space Station and others.........
> Currenty free-lance, including all Data East pins from BTF to the present)

So THAT'S how you know about pinball music.. <G>  Do you do the sampled 
voice or the music?  I've always wondered about technical details on Pin 
sound.. (Sample rate? Is the music digitized or synthed? How much space 
does all that stuff take up anyways?)  I've gotta go find another Banzai 
Run... Last one I saw was BROKEN :(

---
David Eison - Garfield           bbs-garfield@jwt.uucp
I'm not writing a message.  These words are just here to take up space.
From: overturf@bigbootay.sw.stratus.com (Dallas Overturf)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Another flipper question
Date: 27 Aug 92 21:03:01 GMT
Organization: Stratus Computer, Software Engineering

In article <1992Aug27.092953.6811@hemlock.cray.com> kak1@cypress31.cray.com (Kevin Kramer) writes:
>
>I noticed when two flippers are controlled by the same button
>(both flippers are on one side) if you only push the flipper
>button half way then only the bottom flipper will flip, then
>when yopu push it a little farther then the top flipper will
>finally flip.  Why are there two contacts in the flipper switch.
>Wouldn't it be easier to only have one?  Just wondering.
>
>Kevin

I don't know about the "why" aspect... but as far as playing is
concerned you are much better off with the two sets of contacts
at the flipper button.  In multi-ball this allows you to control
(or at least attempt to) the upper flipper while holding a ball on
the flipper below.  Not all games are like this.  In fact 
HSII has a single contact control both upper and lower flippers
(though I've seen one I suspect a proto that is seperate).

			Regards,	D...
From: ung@felix.filenet.com (Bill Ung)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: *** High Speed II ***
Date: 3 Sep 92 23:31:03 GMT
Reply-To: ung@fritz.filenet.com (Bill Ung)
Distribution: na
Organization: FileNet Corp., Costa Mesa, CA

In article <1992Aug31.230158.4124@cbnewsd.cb.att.com> knudsen@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (michael.j.knudsen) writes:
|I liked playing, tho it took a while to learn to modulate those
|new Willims so-solly-state flippers.  Boy, when you loop, you really
|loop fast!  Original HS has rubbers along the back that slow down
|the ball, but not HS2.  Once the ball hopped over left flipper and into
|the drain, and I got a few glassies.  Upper right flipper was just like
|HS Classic -- you swear (literally!) that it's too weak, till you
|hit a shot right and see how fast the upper loop goes.
|As I said, this game was in top shape.

Ah, but did the plunger shoot the ball around the top loop, all the way
to the upper flipper?  Most HS2 games I've played have had flakey or
non-fuctional upper flippers, making that loop shot a tad difficult.

|I liked the Burn Rubber awards -- now I feel let down when my HS
|kicks my ball out of the saucer without awarding much of anything.

Yeah, kinda.  Back then, you didn't expect much, it would spot a
stoplight for you and possibly advance the light (hey, I was a little
ignorant about such things back then).  You only gain from a saucer
shot if you light the saucer in advance (1000, Extra Ball or Escape).
I wonder how hard it would be to program a custom ROM to award a
random award for a saucer shot???

|Except the lopsided scoring feels weird in this way:
|You play the first ball, and get about 12-15M.  OK, you figure
|two more like that and you've got the 40M replay.
|So you knock the 2nd ball around for waht seems as long,
|check the score and it's barely advanced at all, maybe another million.
|Why?  Cuz you didn't Burn Rubber and get 5 Mil (that was about the
|smallest thing you could get there).

Yep, everything is lit when you start out, but then you spend the
rest of the game trying to relight stuff left and right.

|Is the Jackpot always same fixed amount (20M here), unlike Classic's?

That always kinda bugged me about HS Classic.  A really cool game could
easily be a really cool game, plus 1,750,000 points, if you happened
to collect the jackpot at 250,000 instead of 2,000,000.  I wish there
was a way to have it always be at 2,000,000 at the start of the game
(but after the first jackpot collection, let it be 250,000 and grow).
I always feel cheated after a good game where I only collected a few
hundred thousand for my jackpot shot, rather than 2 mil.

Bill Ung
  ung@filenet.com
From: roy@ecgcurly.UUCP (ecghub   Roy Kern)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Random recent pin musings.....
Keywords: spam?
Date: 1 Sep 92 13:05:29 GMT
Organization: Motorola Cellular Cad Group


  I happened to go camping this weekend and found some pinball at the
local pubs that I had never played before.  First off, I found a Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles where the plunger was so weak, you couldn't send the
ball up and around the corner of the plunger ramp.  Pretty irritating
watching the ball roll all the way back down, but being the ingenius
individual that I am, I raised the front legs to decrease the pitch and
we were off.  Not a whole lot of interesting things to do on this machine
and I really hate that spinning wheel.  I hated it on Fireball (was that
the machine?) and I hate the seance on TAF.  Yawn.
  On to the next machine:  Spring Break.  One of the strangest pinballs I had
ever seen.  Every ball was a multi-ball, no plunger, and an overall "miniature"
feel to the game.  This game had a free game set at 700K.  Is this normal?
I don't consider myself a good player, but I could have played all night,
in a drunken stupor, with one hand, while standing barefoot on broken glass
on this machine.  Strange.  I got bored and gave it over to whomever wanted
it.
  Finally, I saw a RollerGames.  Never heard of this machine before.  Looked
pretty cool with some of the tallest ramps I've seen on a playfield.  I would
have liked to have played this more, but the scenery in this particular bar
was definately worth my critical acclaim.   Ahem...  Now where was I....
  One more thing, one arcade had a TAF, HSII, Hook, and T2.  These 4 machines
were dirtier/filthier on the playfield, rubbers, and cover glass than
any single other machine I have ever encountered in the many dives (read:
fine upstanding drinking establishments where art and literature are
discussed in a pleasantly mild and loquacious manner...) I have been in.
And this was in an arcade!  You couldn't spill a drink (beer, pop, whatever -
no food/drink in this arcade) and yet I have seen no machines in a dirtier
condition.  Ugh.  It pained me to see this.

Roy.
roy@mot.com
From: pazar@hpnmdla.sr.hp.com (Steve Pazar)
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 22:48:18 GMT
Subject: NEEDED:Gottlieb PRO FOOTBALL info/parts
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Santa Rosa, CA
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball

Fellow Pinheads,
  Just got a new toy this weekend...its a Gottlieb PRO FOOTBALL
  circa 1973 (wedgehead). As usual, no manual or schematics were
  included (sigh). Soooo, if anyone happens to have any info on
  this beastie, I'd like to get a copy. Of course I'll be happy 
  to pay any copying/shipping costs. While I'm thinking of it, I'm
  also in need of the front bar (keeps glass from sliding out...).
  I believe that just about ANY Gottlieb machine from the '60's or
  early '70's has the same type of bar. If anyone has a spare they'd
  like to part with, let me know! Thanks!!!

		       Steve Pazar
		       pazar@hpnmdla.sr.hp.com
From: schlatt@lhasa.berkeley.edu (mark schlatter)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Fish Tales
Date: 2 Sep 1992 20:24:51 GMT
Organization: U.C. Berkeley Math. Department.
NNTP-Posting-Host: lhasa.berkeley.edu

	Hurrah!  The ASUC Underground at U.C. Berkeley just got a Fish
Tales!  It's a fun machine, with more creative dot matrix displays
than I've seen on any other machine.  (The video mode had me laughing
out loud!)  I'm also impressed to see drop targets used to such good
effect - I am not a fan of using drop targets (or the like) simply to
light kickbacks.  Anyway, a few questions for those who've played it:

1) Exactly what goes on during Fish Frenzy?  I saw some new lights go
on and some references to purple fish, but couldn't follow what the
machine was saying.

2) It seemed that to catch a fish, one didn't have to hit all 3
targets in the bank, just hit the bank 3 times.  Is that accurate?

3) How does the machine determine the stretched fish score (and does a
total lie count as a tale)?

4) And just how long does "rock the boat" go on?

						many thanks,
						mark schlatter
					  schlatt@math.berkeley.edu
	
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: Steve@klaatu.demon.co.uk (Steve Loft)
Distribution: world
Subject: Weak flipper cures?
X-Mailer: cppnews $Revision: 1.14 $
Organization: None to speak of
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 19:18:38 +0000

Can anyone tell me what the cause, and the cure, is for a weak flipper?
I've got a Zaccaria Aerobatics, an Italian-made mid 70's
electromechanical which I picked up for 75 UK pounds (currently
equivalent to around 150 US dollars) about 3 months ago.  It's in
excellent condition other than the cabinet which has a bit of graffiti
and some quite deep scratches.  Mechanically it's sound, other than the
right flipper which is becoming decidedly weak.  What can I do to remedy
this?

While I'm here, I've been reading this group for about a month now, and
I've never seen an Italian (or non-US, come to that) machine mentioned.
Is this because there aren't any in the States, or because they are
looked upon as inferior?   I've seen lots of Zaccarias in the UK, but
I'm not sure I've seen any electronic ones.  Maybe they don't make them
anymore.  I'm quite pleased with mine, but I reckon by about Christmas
I'll be bored with it and looking for something a bit 'flashier'.
Maybe a nice American job? :-)

Steve

|  Steve Loft                                  steve@klaatu.demon.co.uk   |
|  Doncaster,                                                             |
|  South Yorks.                                                           |
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: S_TITZ@iravcl.ira.uka.de (Olaf Titz)
Subject: Re: playfield layout (secrets of)
Organization: Fachschaft Informatik, Uni Karlsruhe
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 16:37:02 GMT
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.23

In <1992Aug27.142523.25288@linus.mitre.org> hal@gateway.mitre.org writes:

>...
>  playfield. For example, when the ball hits a backfield thumper, there 
>  is a chance that it will shot directly down between the flippers. 

This is also an operator's issue of balancing the whole machine right.
I have been playing much PINBOT in different arcades and I knew one
particular machine where the ball from the upper left thumper would
come down straight between the flippers, where that small pin that
would block it otherwise was missing (taken out on purpose, I
suspect); and all other machines would drop the ball onto the left
flipper, which was the right thing I think.

>  Another "feature" that's used to control game length is to use the balls
>  "english." If you look carefully at whats going on, you'll see the ball
>  is also rotating  around two axis in addition to moving across the playfield.

And magnetic devices that make a lot of a machine's internals can
influence this, not the way of WHIRLWIND (excellent game!) where this
is done on purpose but more accidentally, I knew a machine (forgotten
which) where magnetic fields biased the ball's motions every time it
was crossing the playfield, and one can doubt whether this was really
by accident or part of the design.


MfG,
        Olaf
-- 
Olaf Titz - comp.sc.student - Univ of Karlsruhe - s_titz@iravcl.ira.uka.de -
uknf@dkauni2.bitnet - praetorius@irc - +49-721-60439 - did i forget something?
There are more things in heaven and on earth, Horatio
 Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.   - Shakespeare
From: moody@brahms.udel.edu (John David Moody)
Subject: LW3, Black Rose, Hook, and Super Mario
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 22:59:24 GMT

Thoughts about these games follow:

1)  Black Rose

Played it for the first time in a mall in Reading, PA.  I ENJOYED IT!!!
It's almost an original, unlike Whirlwind, which "borrows" some characteristics
from Earthshaker.  I highly recommend Black Rose (both the pin and the lady
pirate!).  Shoot for Broadsides!!!

2)  LW3

Not one of the better games that I played.  On subway shots, my ball drained
about half of the time.  I have no problems with a ball drain resulting from
a missed shot, but do have problems with a drain from a successful shot.
Interesting that you sometimes have to fire the gun while the ball is in play.
"Whatever Leo wants, Leo Goetz."

3) Hook

Too easy.  The croc clock bonus is no problem to get.  None of the ramp shots
are a real challenge (provided the flippers have enough push).  Also the
sound is poor except for the background music played during fast scoring. 
The saying "I can fly" is said too many times, and the saying "Jackpot" makes
a sick cow sound like an opera singer (I mean, it is bad).

4) Super Mario Bros.

Easily the worst of the lot.  I played TAF which was next to Super Mario.
The annoying saying "Lugi" still rings in my ears, as well as the tilt warning,
which is a very high frequency beep, unfortunately, audible to the human ear.
The scoring with the chance is terrible.  Can you imagine a beginner getting
3 7's, thereby scoring 200 million?  Also, the kickout from the saucers drained
the ball 80 percent of the time (terrible).

Until then, GET THE JACKPOT!!!



*----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
*                                                                            *
*  John David Moody - PhD candidate - Physical/Theoretical Chemistry         *
*  University of Delaware - Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry         *
*                                                                            *
*       E-mail:  moody@brahms.udel.edu or moody@chopin.udel.edu              * 
*                                                                            *
*  "Are you in good spirits, or are good spirits in you?" - John D. Moody    *
*                                                                            *
*  The opinions expressed here are those of John David Moody, and are        *
*  for the private use and entertainment of the viewers of the internet.     *
*  Any other use of these opinions without the express written consent of    *
*  John David Moody is prohibited.                                           *
*                                                                            *
*----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: meyer@dbsun.uucp (Don Meyer)
Subject: Re: Older Pinball Machines (Was:A Hardware Question)
Organization: BioMerieux-Vitek, St. Louis Mo.
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 13:29:13 GMT


Yeah!  I remember these old machines! :-)  When I was a boy (late '60s)
we would go camping at a semi-civilized place that had a pool and a
small rec room with a couple of machines.  The games were 5 balls for
5 cents.  That's the first place I ever played pinball.  Those were
great!  I can still "remember" in my hand how it felt to use the
second plunger to load the ball, and hear the 'clunk'. :-)
Ahh, nostalgia.

Aside from the maintainence problems, I would love to own one of
these old pins.  Perhaps one of these days...

Don

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
meyer%dbsun.uucp@wupost.wustl.edu        |||     I am at two with nature.
Opinions expressed are personal.         |||       -- Woody Allen
From: bradam@twobits.Eng.Sun.COM (Brad Martinson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: An old pinball question: Willams Reserve
Date: 1 Sep 1992 20:11:12 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: twobits

 Williams Reserve, 1 Player, 10-1961.  That's all the info to be found in
the Pinball Collectors Reference.

-- 
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 | Brad Martinson, XWindows janitor   SunSoft,Inc   brad.martinson@sun.com |
 |    Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc   #include <std/disclaimers.h>  |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
From: tek0@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (TOYOTA ERIC KOMATSU)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: LW3 - Just a note
Date: 4 Sep 92 01:56:15 GMT
Organization: Lehigh University

I was playing LW3 the other day when a funny thing happened. After already
having used my Karate Kick (on the far left side), the ball went down the left
side again. It was rolling pretty slowly and it got stuck right where the
karate kick shoots the ball back (the kickback). Anyway, the ball sat there
for a while, and then the machine started doing the system check thing -- what
happened was it also executes the kickback, so luckily I was able to continue
playing.
-- 
========================================================================
     Toyota Komatsu                   TEK0@LEHIGH.EDU
     Lehigh University                (215) 758-1985
     U.C. Box 281                     Trembley 53
     Bethlehem, Pa. 18015
========================================================================
From: roy@ecgcurly.UUCP (ecghub   Roy Kern)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: TAF High Score
Summary: Yeah, me.
Date: 25 Aug 92 16:44:07 GMT
Organization: Motorola Cellular Cad Group

In article <l9ie8mINNq04@utkcs2.cs.utk.edu>, graham@cs.utk.edu (Jeff Graham) writes:
> drain 9 out of 10 times).  Does anyone else have problems with players overly
> abusing a machine?
> 
>  -Jeff

Yeah me.  Many is the time I wanted to take a sledgehammer to my Strange
Science.  Of course it is MY machine, though.....

Roy.
From: overturf@bigbootay.sw.stratus.com (Dallas Overturf)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Abusing pins
Date: 27 Aug 92 19:38:22 GMT
Organization: Stratus Computer, Software Engineering

In article <l9lh17INNill@utkcs2.cs.utk.edu> graham@cs.utk.edu (Jeff Graham) writes:
>In article <17ctv1INNidp@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> intruder@cats.ucsc.edu (Isaac Truder) writes:
>>
>>Now, explain to me just how the player is supposed to cause these problems
>>by "overly abusing the machine"?  Seems like having a little steel ball
>>smacking around the playing field of a machine all day would account for
>>more of the problems you claim than shaking the machine or using four
>>fingers on the buttons would.
>
>  Maybe its just me (but I doubt it), but after this guy plays (usually for
>2 to 3 hours), the machine doesn't feel like it's playing as good as it should.
>I realize that playing that long is going to add some dirt, etc. to the play
>field, but nobody I've talked to has been able to have a decent game after this
>guy plays.  Plus the fact that his excessive shaking (up to a foot side-to-
>side) has knocked a lane seperating gate loose (what are those called anyhow).
>It's not easy to explain.  I guess you'ld just have to play before and after
>this guy to understand what I mean.  Like I said, maybe it's just me (pinball
>envy?), but it seems like my (and other players) worst games happen after he
>plays.
>

I think if you pay attention to what is different you may find it easier
to explain.  First it is not the players fault.  He is playing the game
the way it was set up to be played.  Now here are my thoughts on what
the real dope is behind this.

1.  Note the power of the flippers on a game that is cold and
    then check them out after he as played.  I'd bet that after
    2 hours of his play the coils have warmed up and the flippers
    have slowed down.  This is especially noticeable when someone
    plays with the flippers up alot.  And is partly due to
    Not using a good enough coil for the job.  This seems to
    have gotten better with the SS flippers in all the New games.

2.  Check that the front legs are positioned correctly especially
	if he ever kicks them in anger.  one leg will be in slightly
	and throw off the level and the tilt.
	(I tend to give each one a slight kick outwards now before 
	I start a game to be sure they are set straight).  The real
	cause of this is that the operator needs to tighten up the
	legs a bit as to don't have to kick them inwards to make
	them wrong.


	Other than that there is not much the guy should be able
	to do to the machine to mess it up.
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: tyg@HQ.Ileaf.COM (Tom Galloway)
Subject: Mata Hari price query
Organization: Interleaf, Inc.
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 92 19:50:08 GMT

I've happened upon a Bally's Mata Hari (roughly late 70s, although it's
set for three balls for a quarter rather than five) which I'm considering
buying. To be honest, while interested in getting a machine eventually,
I've not yet done much research into prices and the like as I'd not 
planned on doing it soon. However, a Mata Hari is quite high on my list
of machines I'm interested in due to a nostalgia factor so I'm tempted
by this one. Could someone let me know if $695 is a reasonable price for
this machine? In terms of condition, it's obviously been in an arcade
(some paint missing on the play field and on the outside, a carved initials
on the side) but in what seems to my uneducated eye to be in reasonable
appearance for such. Haven't played it yet; wanted to get a feel for
whether it's worth pursuing before adding to temptation.

Email to me; as this is more personal interest than general, I won't
post a summary but will email the results to anyone who emails a request.

tyg    tyg@hq.ileaf.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: yyz@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (donald.w.coons)
Subject: Re: LW3, Black Rose, Hook, and Super Mario
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 03:16:12 GMT

In article <Btnzv0.KGB@news.udel.edu> moody@brahms.udel.edu (John David Moody) writes:
>Thoughts about these games follow:
>
>1)  Black Rose
>
>Played it for the first time in a mall in Reading, PA.  I ENJOYED IT!!!
>It's almost an original, unlike Whirlwind, which "borrows" some characteristics
>from Earthshaker.  I highly recommend Black Rose (both the pin and the lady
>pirate!).  Shoot for Broadsides!!!
>

Finally somebody else likes this machine. I thought I was the only one after
reading some of the other posts here. I did grow tired of this game real fast
,once I got the shots down. If I play it now I can get 150 to 200 million with
no problem.

Don Coons
dwc@wnb3b2.att.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball