HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: hempling@quorum.com (David B. Hempling)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Dr. Who sighted in San Francisco
Keywords: Watering Hole Saloon, SOMA
Date: 12 Oct 92 20:07:54 GMT
Distribution: ba
Organization: Quorum Software Systems, Inc.
Originator: hempling@parker

Sighted and played Dr. Who at the Watering Hole on Folsom, between
7th and 8th streets, South Of Market, in the City.

While there have been comments here that the rules are hard 
to understand if you're not familiar with the Dr. Who series,
I didn't find it too terribly difficult to find the jackpot
strategy. Granted, there are probably some more subtler aspects
to the game, but it still is easy enough to learn how to rack
up 150 million quickly. I won't spoil it for the un-initiated. 
You'll see what I mean when you play the game.

My opinion of the game? After playing only 3 games, I would have to 
put it in the "Not Bad" catagory. (I don't rate ANY Data East games 
this high. :-) I'll have to play it a few more times before I can 
really give a solid opinion.

Since the machine has made it to the Watering Hole, I suspect
it will begin populating your favorite pinball haunts. My 
expierience has been that the Watering Hole is one of those 
spots that tends to get games just before the rest of the City. 

Now, if only a Fish Tales would show up somewhere in the City...

Happy Hunting,
dave
hempling@quorum.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: trump@leland.Stanford.EDU (Michael Jason Lewis)
Subject: Black Rose commentary
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 92 06:13:54 GMT

1)  The machine at the student union at Stanford is finally fixed.  Glory be.

2)  I got the cows for the first time.  It was funny, although it caused me
to not get a free game.  As they went by, I completed the 2-way combo, but it
didn't award it to me.  Oh, well.  Then I missed the replay score by 400,000.

3)  Can anyone out there get the "Walk the Plank" bonus consistently?  Tires
my hand out, and I still don't make it more than 10% of the time.

4)  What are you supposed to aim for during multi-ball?  What are "jewels"?

5)  One defect on this game is that the ball comes out of the whirlpool moving so (oops, sorry) fast or something that it flies off the channel on the way back
to the left flipper.  It still lands on the left flipper, but it is much harder
to get repeated loops.

6)  I've never seen a game that bounces the ball off the glass so much, and I'm
not talking about the intentional times.

7)  Do 5 and 6 imply that the game is incorrectly sloped?

No other comments, as yet.

- Mike
From: kjohnson@csugrad.cs.vt.edu (Keith Johnson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: What makes a game...
Date: 10 Oct 92 06:47:56 GMT
Organization: Virginia Tech Computer Science Dept, Blacksburg, VA

Yeah, but you just GOTTA love TAF's entrance into multiball...  Probably the
most obnoxious noise emanated from a pinball machine!!  :)

But you're right...  Sound does make a difference.  A while back I brought up
soundtracks for pinball games.  My personal favorite is the music from FunHouse
(especially the midnight music when you're trying to shoot the ball into Rudy
for multiball).  I haven't played BK2K enough (like 3 times) to know its
soundtrack, but I certainly remeber parts of it...  "You can do it you can do
it!"...  

What are everyone else's favorites?  My personal entries are:

Bride of Pinbot - great futuristic music (except for that God-awful singing)
Whirlwind - lots of great guitar music
Dr. Dude - neat to listen to in general (I really like the Gift of Gab)

keith
-- 
|kjohnson@csugrad.cs.vt.edu|  / Amiga! |"'Relax,' said the nightman,          |
|.....Keith P. Johnson.....|\/ Not bad!| 'We are programmed to receive.       |
|.1711 Whipple Dr. Apt. 11.|           | You can check out any time you like, |
|...Blacksburg, VA 24060...|Pinball KEF| But you can never leave.'"  - Eagles |
From: sjc@hare.udev.cdc.com (Steven J Craig)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Pinball Expo. 92
Keywords: Expo
Date: 12 Oct 92 16:22:24 GMT
Organization: Control Data Systems Inc.

Last year I went to the Pinball Expo. and didn't get to meet
hardly anyone from the net (except Mr. Pinball Trader himself B-)

I am interested in who would like to meet for an informal gathering
this year at the Expo?  Maybe drinks?   Maybe dinner?  

Maybe an arcade?  ;-)

Let me know what you think.

Later,
  -Steve
-- 
+----
 Steven J. Craig               "Get married without a hitch"
 Control Data Systems Inc.     
 M/S ARH215                       AT&T: (612) 482-4705
 4201 North Lexington Avenue      FAX:  (612) 482-4455
 Arden Hills, Minnesota  55126    e-mail: sjc@pooky.udev.cdc.com       

Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: hal@gateway.mitre.org (Hal Feinstein)
Subject: Lock relay anyone?
Organization: Mitre Corporation, McLean, VA
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 14:15:19 GMT


Wow!  I just got around to looking at the guts of William's RESERVE,
a vintge pin from out of the early '60's.  Like most I was raised
on semiconductors and felt right at home with fixing my other pingame
(eightBallChamp '86) that uses a microprocessor. But faced with banks
and banks of relays!  At first, I was impressed realizing that they did
all the logic with relays, latches, (there is actually three different
"rotors" (they look like rotors from a WWII cipher machine!)) But then
my joy turned to fear; how way I going to trouble shoot this thing?

I made a start by tracing connections between the relays and switches on 
the primary side of the transformer. I discovered the game's even got backbox 
animation. But I ran into something I can't figure out: the LOCK RELAY.
Now, I suppose veteran EM owners are probably snickering just now, but
I'm stuck. What does a LOCK RELAY do?   

Late at night I'm working on the playfield relay bank busily tracing faded
grey-yellow wires (or was it faded blue-yellow?)  when I notice a whole 
section rewired with black plastic hookup wire, Yuk!  How am I going to trace
through this mess?  After a period of black depression I get an idea:
why not inject a very weak square wave signal into one terminal and use a cheap
transistor radio to trace were the wires goes! In theory you could use the
radio's antenna as a probe and a square wave should have enough harmonics
in it to be heard on a cheap radio.  Keeping the square wave power down to
a very small amount should prevent it from coupling into other circuits. 
I don't know if I want to try this method on CMOS or TTL cicuits without
thinking through just what the consequences might be.  Since relays can stand
up to an atomic blast just fine, I don't think it can damage anything. With this
method you should be able to trace the path of the wire and also test were it
connects. Following up with a ohm meter seems the right move to make sure you
got it right. 


I guess the color coded cloth covered wires can't be had for love or money anymore. 




Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: cavers@menudo.uh.edu (Chris M. Cavers)
Subject: TAF 
Summary: weird stuff
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 18:20:52 GMT

Is it possible to reduce the replay score on a taf by slam tilting it several
times?  I thought I saw this happen when some guy (not me :) slam tilted it
several times when no one was playing a game (I think it went from 80mil to
78mil).  

The guy that I saw doing this was hitting the door just left of the coin
return slot (lower left corner).  He was able to get 2 credits on the machine
this way.  Too bad there is no operator at that place to complain to.
(also he did this on the getaway).

Someone here should pass this along to the taf makers to see if they can
figure out some way to protect the machine from such abuse.



From: ec@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Edgar Circenis)
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 13:41:09 GMT
Subject: Re: What are Solid State Flippers
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball

In rec.games.pinball, jonke@kong.gsfc.nasa.gov (Stephen Jonke) writes:

> One of the T2 machines I play has a right flipper that is
> "jumpy" -- when the ball hits it, it tends to kick back slightly by itself.
> Actually, this sounds worse then it is -- the game is still very playable
> and fun, but it's dissapointing considering the quality of other Williams
> machines.  Is that a solid state flipper problem, or an older style flipper
> problem (also, what do you call NON-solid state flippers?)

This is an "older style" flipper problem.  The impact of the ball moves the
flipper enough to close the EOS switch, thereby activating the primary
flipper coil windings.  This causes the kick you are noticing.  The cure is
to adjust the EOS switch so that it opens sooner (not as close to the end of
the flipper stroke).  This makes for a weaker flip, but you don't get the
annoying kick back.

Edgar
From: kjohnson@csugrad.cs.vt.edu (Keefer)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Data East Tilt
Date: 13 Oct 92 14:47:57 GMT
Organization: Virginia Tech Computer Science Dept, Blacksburg, VA

Nope, it was a real tilt all right ("You-u-u Tilted!")...  Also, I slam tilted
it right after it did that to me, so I know it distinguishes them.

I have never seen any other brand of games do that to me.  I have oft tilted a
Wms/Bally game on the last ball and nothing happened.  (Well, I tilted and
didn't get the bonus for that ball.)  I've even tilted right before getting a 
high score.

Let me tell you why this Data East tilt is so bad:  Suppose you're in a multi-
player game...  Obviously if one of the first people tilts on the last ball,
the game isn't going to stop for the rest of the players (at least I hope
not!  :)...  So suppose the very last person playing tilts.  It goes to Game
Over, no matching chances (which in a 3-4 player game kinda sucks), and if
anyone before the last player got a high score, they're dissed because of the
mistake of some other jerk.  See, this has happened to people before by slam-
tilting, which I can accept.  But to totally trash everything because of a
regular tilt is totally unacceptable.

Data East, stick with video games.

keith
-- 
|kjohnson@csugrad.cs.vt.edu|  / Amiga! |"'Relax,' said the nightman,          |
|.....Keith P. Johnson.....|\/ Not bad!| 'We are programmed to receive.       |
|.1711 Whipple Dr. Apt. 11.|           | You can check out any time you like, |
|...Blacksburg, VA 24060...|Pinball KEF| But you can never leave.'"  - Eagles |
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: bcasper@eos.ncsu.edu (Brian Casper)
Subject: Re: Where to find PLASTIC WOOD?
Originator: bcasper@c00752-400wi.eos.ncsu.edu
Reply-To: bcasper@eos.ncsu.edu
Organization: North Carolina State University
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 00:39:05 GMT


ec@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Edgar Circenis) writes:
|>> |>I've bought "Plastic wood", and I've bought "Bondo".  Besides the color
|>> |>difference, is there any other?
|>> 
|>> Big time...  Bondo is a polymer based putty that uses a mixture of chemicals
|>> similiar to epoxy to form a hardened substance.  The putty itself will stay
|>> in a liquid form virtually forever until it is mixed with the hardener.  At
|>> this point, it begins to get hotter than hell until it gels over and
|>> solidifies.  Now plastic wood on the other hand, is made from cellulose - 
|>> just like real wood - and some other stuff.  It begins hardening shortly 
|>> after you remove it from the can/tube.   When it's hard, you can carve
|>> it like regular wood.  Bondo is more like a plastic.
|>
|>Maybe we're not talking about the same "Plastic Wood".  I bought a can of
|>some kind of plastic wood at a Builder's Square store a few months ago to
|>hide nail heads in some doors I hung.  This was a two-part (just like Bondo)
|>mixture that could be sanded, drilled, carved, etc.  The only difference
|>was that instead of being pink, it was grey.  IMHO, it was worlds better
|>than the old-style wood putty that begins to harden when you take it out
|>of the can (which usually hardens or becomes unworkable in seconds).

The_Thread_That_Wouldn't_Die...

We are definately talking about a pair of different substances.  The stuff
I use comes in a red can with yellow lettering and the brand name is
"Plastic Wood".   It is exactly like the old-style wood putty that begins to
harden when you take it out of the can.  The key is that it is cellulose
based which means that when it's dry, it's just like real wood.  Bondo and 
other stuff like it is more like a resin or a plastic.  I don't know which
is better, but I've had great results with PW...

-- 
-- 
Brian Casper                |   "I like to study psychologists.  It gives
bcasper@eos.ncsu.edu        |    good insight into what rats are thinking."
  Pinball Consultant        |     -  Dr. Oscar Wesler
From: mstephens.520@postman.gsfc.nasa.gov (mark stephens)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Purchasing Funhouse... comments?
Date: 8 Oct 92 21:18:05 GMT
Organization: nasa/gsfc

I may have a chance to purchase a William's Funhouse game.  This is from
a vendor and will be one of their refurbished games.  I was just in their
used game warehouse and, although not impressed with the kind of games, 
I was impressed with their seemingly good state of repair.  I would 
rate them all above B+ (but I'm no expert!).  The games they had were
Motocross (?), Raven, Rock 'n Roll, Eight Ball Champ and Spy Hunter.
All these games cost about $400 with a 90 day warrenty (free-you bring in
(ha) or flat $35 they come to you ).  There was a $35 fee for delivery 
and setup.  I was especially impressed that all of them had strong flippers.
Only the Motocross was beat up (below a B+, certainly).

But, I asked if they had or were getting Funhouse, a game I've been playing
(when I can't get my hands on TAF) and enjoy.  They said possibly yes and 
I left my number.  I don't expect to purchase this game for $400!  Yes/No?

Some questions for players and owners... How often does this puppy break
down?  Do you still enjoy playing is as much as when you purchased it?
Any other tips or thoughts?

 thanks!
         mark
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: chupchup@ferkel.ucsb.edu (Robert Earl)
Subject: Re: Fish Tales Q's
Organization: (EVIL!)
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 09:55:37 GMT

phaedrus@carson.u.washington.edu (Mark Phaedrus) writes:

| In article <Ier7L9e00WB0ICpEo0@andrew.cmu.edu> Joelle Ann Mellon <jm7w+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
| >CMU's gotten a Fish Tales, and after poking some bucks into it, I have
| >some questions.

| >4) Is it just me, or is this game just too damn hard? I enjoy a
| >challenge, but this game is downright frustrating. The shots aren't
| >really harder than any other Bally/Williams game, but ball control is
| >insanely hard, considering the stiffness of the flippers (one reason I
| >miss HOOK), the very large space between the flippers, and the
| >hypersensitivity of the pop bumpers.

|      It's an odd machine for me; I'll play one game and not break 20M, then
| the next game I'll get 400M or so.  The flippers do indeed have a wide gap, but
| there aren't any "instant death" shots that drain the ball if you miss,

Well, there are a few "instant death" routes that the balls can take,
for instance just "casting" a new ball into play can sometimes send it
directly between both flippers.  The culprit here seems to be a small
section of rubber at the end of that counterclockwise loop; it bumps
the ball ever so slightly and sends it centre-wards instead of
flipper-wards.

The other death route is the multiball eject: half of my balls seem to
drain themselves when I start multiball!  This (and the former drain
problem) might be an adjustment bug, so maybe others want to comment
on it, but the machine I play just fires the balls clockwise around
the field and right out the centre drain.  Luckily when there's an
autocast going I get a second chance.

-- 
robert earl          |
rearl@ucsd.edu       | "I got a bottle of tequila, baby, who needs friends?"
rearl@piggy.ucsb.edu |   --Johnette Napolitano, Concrete Blonde
From: kjohnson@csugrad.cs.vt.edu (Keefer)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Fish Tales: Insert Coin to Continue?
Date: 11 Oct 92 22:30:18 GMT
Organization: Virginia Tech Computer Science Dept, Blacksburg, VA

Most games nowadays have a custom message feature.  Heck, a lot of Williams'
VIDEO games had messages that you could customize (Narc comes to mind - the
arcade back home is an Aladdin's Castle and says "Ask an attendant how you can
get 20 tokens for $3.75" or something like that).  The 5-ball TAF back home
says "Shoot pool", next page "not", next page "drugs."

There are apparently some games around that have built-in hidden messages.  One
time I slam-tilted a Bride o' Pinbot (by accident of course :), it shut down
for a second, than came back online with the first 6 notes of "Happy Birthday
to you" in that typical BoP musical style, and flashed the message "Happy
Birthday Lou Isbitz (sp?)".  Neat, huh?

Anyone else seen any messages like this?

keith
-- 
|kjohnson@csugrad.cs.vt.edu|  / Amiga! |"'Relax,' said the nightman,          |
|.....Keith P. Johnson.....|\/ Not bad!| 'We are programmed to receive.       |
|.1711 Whipple Dr. Apt. 11.|           | You can check out any time you like, |
|...Blacksburg, VA 24060...|Pinball KEF| But you can never leave.'"  - Eagles |
From: overturf@bigbootay.sw.stratus.com (Dallas Overturf)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Fish Tales: Insert Coin to Continue?
Date: 12 Oct 92 21:26:19 GMT
Organization: Stratus Computer, Software Engineering

In article <7666@monmouth.edu> ben@monmouth.edu (Bennett Broder) writes:
>In article <1992Oct11.201334.927@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU> bhayes@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Barry Hayes) writes:
>>In article <1992Oct11.185926.29568@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU> bhayes@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (me) writes:
>>>In article <ja81652@pro-cynosure.cts.com> dig@pro-cynosure.cts.com (Doug Granzow) writes:
>>>>It was neat watching this person install Dr. Who [...]
>>>>You can select [...] match percentage
>>>
>>
>>Whoops.  I thought I added a query:
>>Does this happen a lot?  The operators jimmy the odds on the match
>>away from 1/10?  What are tipical settings?
>
>Don't blame the operators on this one.  Recent machines come straight
>from the factory with a match percentage under 10%.  Factory default
>on the Addams Family is 7%.  My experience is that operators rarely
>fiddle with these settings, so 7% is what you are probably seeing.
>
>Before you say "bummer", realize that the actual freeplay percentage is
>much higher.  A factory default TAF will give away 10% of its games on
>earned replays, 7% on matches, and probably another 2-3% between specials
>and high score to date winners (the bottom four entries in the high score
>table are automatically reset every 3,000 games).  One free game in
>five is not at all bad, considering that video games don't give away
>a thing.
>
>-- 
>
>Bennett Broder               Monmouth College


	So what the heck does a video game have to do
	with this????  This is pinball group not video.

	Personally I have no complaints about the match settings
	but considering that it used to be 1/10 and now it is not
	(but still looks the same) I think that the percentage it
	is set to should be part of the status report.
	(I'll bet they'll never include it however :) )

			Regards,	Dallas...
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: koziarz@chinet.chi.il.us (Louis Koziarz)
Subject: New Gottlieb: CUE BALL WIZARD
Organization: Chinet - Public Access UNIX
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 02:38:20 GMT

Just got back from my favorite (well, not really) arcade, there's a new
Gottlieb that totally took me off guard.  Yes kids, it's the tavern owner's
favorite theme: Pool!

First of all, the cabinet has morphed to be more like a Bally/WMS one.
A little taller and fuller, but the same backglass style (plastic insert,
two speakers framing the dot matrix display, pretty much like Super Mario).

The basic idea is to just sink racks of balls, and make a really easy ramp
shot once in a while to get some hurry-up bonuses and timed scoring features.
The ramp runs up the very far right and around the top, ala Hurricane.
 
There are no other ramps, launches, gizmos, etc., save for two big ones:
A real 8-ball and a real cue ball on the field.  The 8-ball is trapped at the
top of the playfield in a plastic triangular ramp.  Lanuching the ball
(with a _plunger_), puts the ball up and around the ramp.  When the ball passes
the ramp a kicker nudges the 8-ball at a row of targets.  Center targets
score big.

The cue ball is sitting in the middle of the playfield, held in place by a
V-shaped metal bar.  Flipper shots directed toward the center will knock the
cue ball into a pair of targets and send it flying.  The cue ball also blocks
a BK2K-type u-turn.  It really adds a twist.

There's not much more to the game, three jet bumpers surrounded by 20 or so
drop targets comprise the upper field, and there are some Gottlieb-type
'sinkholes' for multiplier advance, bonuses, etc.  Most shots are long
shots, the game had a much slower feel to it.

The flippers feel really different, I couldn't tell if they were solid state
or coil type.  Slapping the flipper button didn't spark the leaf switches,
so I'm guessing solid state.  A really good feel to them.

The display software and sounds are excellent.  Typical country music, 
digitized cowboy and cow-girl voice cues (the cowboy voice tries to sound
like Clint Eastwood, at the start of the game he says 'Quit talking and
start chalking'.  Any lawsuit here, Bally?).  The displays are simple, 
very few pictures, a little animation.  Looks like Gottlieb chose solid 
coding over featuritis.

This game is simple, not so bad for a beginning player.  It'll be
perfect for bars, etc. where people don't play too much or want to 
understand rules.  Mastering the ramp shot took one game and got me
290,000,000 on the second game.  The replay score seems fixed, it never changed
through six games.

Looks like Gottlieb got their act together, this game is much better than
Super Mario.          

Afterward I switched to Fish Tales.  You know that feeling you get in your
feet after you take off a pair of ice-skates and put your street shoes
back on?   Fish Tales is much faster and tighter.  I felt like a retard
trying to play.  (See next msg for something I found on FIsh Tales)

-- 
Louis Koziarz
koziarz@chinet.chi.il.us
From: dig@pro-cynosure.cts.com (Doug Granzow)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: TAF tilting/3 way combo?
Date: 14 Oct 92 22:44:49 GMT
Article-I.D.: pro-cyno.je68336
Organization: ProLine [pro-cynosure]

ben@monmouth.edu (Bennett Broder) writes:
>
>A four way combo is Lite Adv X, then Adv X, then the left ramp, then
>the swamp.  A three way combo is the first or last three of these shots.

As I recently found out, the four way combo starts with the bear kick ramp,
then the Advance X shot, then the left ramp, then the 5x swamp.  A 3-way
(first 3 or last 3 of these) scores 5 million.  A 4-way scores 10 million
(plus 5 million for one 3-way).  Since you score at least 5 million for the
5x swamp, and at least one million for the left ramp, a 4-way is actually
worth, at minimum, 21 million points (and you get a star for the advance x /
left ramp combo).

>Bennett Broder               Monmouth College
>                             Computer Services
>ben@monmouth.edu             W. Long Branch, NJ 07764