HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: meyer@dbsun.uucp (Don Meyer)
Subject: Level question
Keywords: Gorgar, question
Organization: BioMerieux-Vitek, St. Louis Mo.
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 17:44:12 GMT

Well, I did it.  Just brought home Gorgar, at a price that was probably
only somewhat too high as opposed to the asking price which several
kind netters had labeled as out of line in email. :-)  Wheee!

Now some FAQish questions (yes I do have a copy of the FAQ...)

1) How do you level a machine?  I assume that the playfield should be
level left-to-right.  How about front to back?  I know that shouldn't
be _level_ :-) but is there a "correct" amount of slope or is it a
personal preference thing?

2) Could someone reiterate the stuff to use to seal the backglass
artwork?  I want to do some touch up and sealing it before I start
seemed like a good suggestion (in case I oops).

3) Is there a maintenance FAQ I've missed?  I know there is a lot
of good info that streamed past that I foolishly only skimmed since
I _didn't_ have a machine.  Sigh.

4) Related to #3 above, do the manufacturers (in this case Williams)
produce a general maintenance manual?  I've got the schematics and
setup booklet, but there is obviously a lot of info that it assumes
all pinball maintainers know already.

Thanks,
Don

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
meyer%dbsun.uucp@wupost.wustl.edu        |||     I am at two with nature.
Opinions expressed are personal.         |||       -- Woody Allen
From: knudsen@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (michael.j.knudsen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: *** High Speed II ***
Summary: oops, right knee
Date: 4 Sep 92 21:19:38 GMT
Article-I.D.: cbnewsd.1992Sep4.211938.8983
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T

In article <1992Aug31.230158.4124@cbnewsd.cb.att.com>, knudsen@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (michael.j.knudsen) writes:

> Anyone else shift gears with his knee?
> After losing a ball off the left flipper while I was shifting,
> I learned to prop my left leg up so I can easily pop an up-shift

Oops...
anyone can tell I really meant my RIGHT knee shifts the gears.
"I know the difference, just get the names crossed up."

Anyone else play HS-II this way?
-- 
	"I don't think so, Al"
  Programmers Do It on paper.  So do puppies.
	knudsen@iexist.att.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: knudsen@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (michael.j.knudsen)
Subject: Re: *** High Speed II ***
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 23:01:58 GMT

Not really a followup, but a good spot to hang my impressions
about HSII: The Getaway.

The resort in New Bern, NC where I was on vacation had a game room
with two pool tables, air hockey, a dozen vids, and ONE pinball,
the successor to my old fave High Speed.  After reading about it so much
on this newsgroup, I was delighted.  It was clean and in perfect
working order as far as I could tell.

I watched some others play first.  One guy was decent, and got up
to the Donut Heaven scene with three cop cars.  Based on what I'd read here,
I wanted to yell "Shift!" or pump the handle myself, but decided
that wasn't a good idea (he was a foot taller).

Anyone else shift gears with his knee?
After losing a ball off the left flipper while I was shifting,
I learned to prop my left leg up so I can easily pop an up-shift
with my knee when called for.  Inspired by an old joke about driving
while on a heavy date...

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.

Replay was set at 40M.  One game I did great, pulled off 9 supercharger
loops to lite the Jackpot, then nailed it!  Ended up with 49M,
which pushed the replay score up to 47M.  Only time I got the replay.
I and most other players typically were scoring around 20M.
This is to give you an idea of how the options were set up.
It was priced 50/1 75/2 1.00/3 as usual.  (Those German and British
pricings are scary -- we may have dollar/game sooner than we think.
Another good excuse to buy your own machine :-)

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.

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).

Is it totally random how many times the Supercharger loops?
Is the Jackpot always same fixed amount (20M here), unlike Classic's?
I agree Wms should give that yellow traffic lite back to Data East.

All in all, a fun game.  I may play some more at the local arcade,
but truthfully I'd check out all the other new games (like TAF) first.
-- 
"R-E-C-P-E-K-T -- that's what Quayle won't give to me!"
  Programmers Do It on paper.  So do puppies.
	knudsen@iexist.att.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: knudsen@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (michael.j.knudsen)
Subject: Re: playfield layout (secrets of)
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 22:59:12 GMT

Nice posting.  Made me realize a WEIRD thing about pinball --
--unlike a vid game, there is nothing that makes it progressively
harder to keep a ball on the playfield.

Think about it.  Surprising that back in the '60s, pin makers
didn't put in a timer, such that, after the same ball had been in
play more than 60 seconds or so, gates would open, posts would move,
flippers would move farther apart, or various other subtle playfield
changes to increase your chances of losing the ball.

You pin owners know there are lots of adjustments to post positions
to make the game more "liberal" or "conservative" (pin manuals
have used those very words since the 50s :-)
So there could have been "adaptive playfields" that got steadily tougher
as the ball stayed in play or the score mounted.

Remember the moving plunger chute in MILLIONAIRE?  Something like that
could have been used to make the game keep getting harder.

Instead, game designers have to just trust to luck that sooner or later
event he best player will lose each ball on a fixed playfield.
I'm sure that considerable experiementation is done on the "whiteboard"
prototype, moving things just a few millimeters until the odds are right.

While pinball is a game of skill, there's a lot of luck involved --
think of all the great balls you've played, followed by two that hardly
last 10 seconds.  That randomness must be what lets game designers off
the hook, so even a wizard can't tie up a game forever.

[Hmmmm....does SPACE SHUTTLE keep the heat shield up, and the right
outlane gate open, for shorter periods of time as your score goes up?]
-- 
"R-E-C-P-E-K-T -- that's what Quayle won't give to me!"
  Programmers Do It on paper.  So do puppies.
	knudsen@iexist.att.com
From: intruder@cats.ucsc.edu (Isaac Truder)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: T-Shirts
Date: 26 Aug 92 10:47:34 GMT
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz
NNTP-Posting-Host: am.ucsc.edu


> Okay, where can I get a PINBALL themed T-shirt from? Will I have to
> order one of the trade magazines - Do they have advertisments for
> Tshirts?

The WHIRLWIND machine at the 7-11 just down the street from my house offers
a T-shirt for $9.95.  I assume it has the back graphics for the machine.
I could copy down the 1-800 number if you want.
From: cavers@menudo.uh.edu (Chris M. Cavers)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Sources of games in Houston
Date: 26 Aug 92 20:01:11 GMT
Organization: University of Houston

Can anyone give me some info on good sources (good condition games and
reasonable prices) of pins in the Houston area.
From: gkwan@balboa.eng.uci.edu (Greg Kwan)
Subject: Re: Pachinko Machines?
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Date: 31 Aug 92 04:35:54 GMT

In article <Q!k-Rx#@engin.umich.edu> bovine@engin.umich.edu (Mitchell Rohde) writes:
>  I own a pachinko that I have yet to restore...
>  It has the Japanese gambling liscense plate ( gambling liscen) 
>  ... but the back piece is not so good...
>  I need to repair/make ssome of the behind-the-scenes ball shoots, etc...
> I've seen them in decent shape for less than 100$ or so....
> I paid $25 for mine... it was siezed by the cops from a gambling
> house somewhere.. and I bought it from them...

Back in '79, my brother and I saved up our allowances and bought a
pachinko machine from a mass import store (like Cost+ Imports here
in CA now). It cost $19.95 but only worked mechanically (no lights
functioning). Department stores were selling similar machines for
~$50 at the time (I think Sears Roebuck sold them, too (?)). Still
have it somewhere.

greg

gkwan@balboa.eng.uci.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: omitchel@fenris.claremont.edu (the mathenator)
Subject: Re: playfield layout (secrets of)
Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont CA
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 21:44:25 GMT

In article <1992Aug28.163702.4912@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de> S_TITZ@iravcl.ira.uka.de (Olaf Titz) writes:
...
>
>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.

That reminds me of the pinball game 'Genesis' where there was a giant magnet
under the playfield behind some pyrex.  They didn't try at all to hide the 
magnet, so at least they were honest.
Ocie

Ocie Mitchell                | what this .sig lacks in size it makes up in 
mitchel@fenris.claremont.edu | lack of originality.
-----------------------------+--------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: smiley@akasha.eng.hou.compaq.com (Colin Smiley)
Subject: LW3 gripes...
Followup-To: rec.games.pinball
Keywords: more DE fodder...
Organization: Compaq Computer Corporation
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 22:22:15 GMT


I really wish that Data East would get their software act together...

I play Lethal Weapon 3 for the first time the other night, and I have
mixed feeling about the game.  I like the layout, and as usual with
the DE games, the sound and dot matrix graphics were nice.  My biggest
problem was with a 3 million point software bug.  Every time I hit the
bad guy in the shoot out, it would say 300k, and then I'd see the
three million display.  The only problem was no million points.  My
roomate and I saw an inordinate number of 3 million awards on the
display, yet no where near as many points as it said we had.  

Other than that, the game was ok.  As an interesting side note, I had
a high number of odd bounced balls.  Three times in one game, the ball
got kicked off of a target/slingshot/whatever and on to the middle of
a ramp lane.  Weird.

When is Houston going to get Black Rose?  <*sigh*>

Colin

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colin Smiley, Compaq Computer Corporation, Houston, Texas 77269-2000
e-mail: smiley@compaq.com                           Phone: (713) 378-8426
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer:  Any opinons expressed here do not reflect the opinions of
Compaq Computer Corp.  They make computers.  I make noise.

Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: wscotti@utkvx3.utk.edu (Scotti Z. Whitmire)
Subject: Target Alpha?
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: University of Tennessee Computing Center
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 04:26:00 GMT

Recently someone in my area has been advertising this pin 
for sale for $150.  This seems like a good deal, but I'd 
like to get some information about it before I decide to go 
look at it.  

1.  Is this a reasonable price? Or is it so cheap
that the machine is probably in terrible shape?

2. I've never seen this game. I know it's a mid-70s 
Gottlieb, but other than that, no idea.  Could someone 
describe the general layout (lots of drop targets, ramps, what)?

If anyone else is interested, I'll be happy to give them 
the number in the ad-- I'm not all that serious about it myself.

Thanks!
--Scotti Whitmire     + Bill sings to Sarah. Sarah sings to Bill.
wscotti@utkvx.utk.edu + ...They have love but they also have
wscotti@utkvx.bitnet  + typewriters.  That is interesting.--Racter,
wscotti@utkux.utk.edu + _The Policeman's Beard is Half Constructed_
From: sbb@panix.com (Steve Baumgarten)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Fish Tales
Date: 3 Sep 92 01:44:02 GMT
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC

In article <1837ujINN7fj@agate.berkeley.edu> schlatt@lhasa.berkeley.edu (mark schlatter) writes:

   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.

   [ other questions delete ]

I have no answers for you (just played it myself the other day for the
first time), but a question:

Does anyone else remember when they *weren't* totally confused when
first encountering a new game?  I seem to remember even back in the
early eighties you could pretty much get the hang of a game after a
couple of plays -- maybe you wouldn't know all the secrets and the
best way to play right yet, but you wouldn't be downright confused,
either. 

But I decided that until I watched someone else play FISH TALES, I'd
never know what was going on.  I had the feeling that the game was
trying to tutor me -- show me pictures, give me little lectures on the
game's rules -- but I was too busy actually playing the game to take
notes. 

I had the same problem with LW3, though now I understand it as well as
anyone.  But certainly I had no idea what was going on the first dozen
times I played it, and it wasn't until I watched a really good player
take it through its paces that I started figuring things out.

When did pinball cease to be intuitive?

--
    Steve Baumgarten       |  "New York... when civilization falls apart,
    PANIX, New York, NY    |   remember, we were way ahead of you."
                           |  
    Email: sbb@panix.com   |                            - David Letterman
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: person@plains.NoDak.edu (Brett G Person )
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: older pinball machines
Date: 3 Sep 92 03:32:55 GMT
Article-I.D.: plains.20098
Organization: North Dakota Higher Education Computing Network

I used to own one ( probably stil do, not sure heat happened to it.) 
Maintanace on the thing was a breeze.  I think I replaced one light
bulb in 15 years.    

I'd love to buy more.  All I can find around here are the occasional
electronic ones.

-- 
Brett Person
Guest Account	
North Dakota State University
person@plains.nodak.edu || person@plains.bitnet
From: xor@acm.rpi.edu (Joe Schwartz)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: TAF problem
Date: 28 Aug 92 17:45:10 GMT
Article-I.D.: rpi.7bryktd
Organization: The Voice of Fate

In article <7526@monmouth.edu> ben@monmouth.edu (Bennett Broder) writes:
>The other day, when the ball was ejected from the electric chair, it
>lifted and removed a bit of DiamondPlate coated paint with it.  The
>area affected is about just under 1/2" wide and about 3/4" long, and
>is basically the unprotected paint between the edge of the hole and the
>start of the protective mylar under the hole.  Now the black outline
>around the electric chair has a 3/4" gap of bare wood showing.  A tiny
>bit of yellow paint is missing too.  (Why didn't they run the mylar
>directly to the edge of the hole?)

[I tried to email the following reply, but our mailer is having some
problems.]

Hiya Ben.  I've been having some DiamondPlate problems too, but not
quite as bad as this.  On my machine, the DiamondPlate INSIDE the
electric chair hole has peeled back.  After numerous attempts to
glue it down, I finally gave up and removed it.  Since the wood
inside the hole is fairly rough, I'm not surprised that it had
trouble adhering.

Also, the DiamondPlate has been starting to peel at the very bottom
of the playfield, where the ball drains and gets kicked by the
solenoid.  I haven't worried much about this one, because it's
hidden from view.

Sorry to hear that you lost some paint off the playfield.  I don't
have any advice for you, other than to complain.  (And even if you
succeed in getting a new playfield, installing it is gonna be a
lotta work.)  Lemme know how things turn out.
-- 
Joe Schwartz (xor@acm.rpi.edu)
From: kjohnson@csugrad.cs.vt.edu (Keith Johnson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: *** High Speed II ***
Date: 4 Sep 92 00:12:53 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Virginia Tech Computer Science Dept, Blacksburg, VA

Hmmm...  The jackpot at the machine here at VA Tech is 25 mil.  I
didn't realize it was changable (every HSII I've played is 25).

keith

-- 
|kjohnson@csugrad.cs.vt.edu|\\\XXXXX///|"The players tried to take the field, |
|.....Keith P. Johnson.....| \XXXXXXX/ | The marching band refused to yield.  |
|.1711 Whipple Dr. Apt. 11.| /XXXXXXX\ | Do you recall what was revealed      |
|...Blacksburg, VA 24060...|///XXXXX\\\| The day the music died?" -Don MacLean|
From: adoerfer@bk2000.pko.dec.com (_bill)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Pinball Music (was Re: Lethal Cows)
Summary: Request time
Keywords: more music more music more music
Date: 27 Aug 92 04:06:54 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation


Neil <ecvu28@uk.ac.ed.castle> writes, says, sings or flips:
> I started to collect music tracks which feature
>in games, to put together a tape (You know, so I could get a pinball fix
>when ever I wanted one). Anyway I didnt get very far...

>ZZ top - La Grange          (The Getaway)
>Elton John - Pinball Wizard (Party Zone)
>Hendrix - Purple haze       (  "    "  )

>OK, so 3 tracks isnt very much. So which others should I get, I'm sure
>between the whole network, just about every pin must have been seen. Lets
>see if we can fill a C90!


A tape of tunes heard on pinball machines... neat idea!
KISS was mentioned, it says that it actually plays 2 KISS tunes.
Sweet Georgia Brown was mentioned, and I won't list the more recent
Data East music (and BTW, Brian, I'll second that remark that sound on Banzai 
Run and Space Station is TOP NOTCH (on space station, the main theme is built
on by the lock 1 and lock 2 theme, and while the bonus ball theme sounds a lot
like the multi-ball theme :-) the whole package is excellent.  High score
theme on SS has a section that seems to go on forever...  Banzai Run
does it too (long sustain on some sound(s) at game over, which I think
was real interesting))) and I won't mention all of Party Zone

er, anyway... more for the tape
Here You Come Again, Satisfaction, Jumpin Jack Flash, Miss You, When the
Whip Comes Down, The Merry-go-round Broke Down, Addams Family Theme,
Theme from Close Encounters, Theme from "Rocky", Theme from Gilligan's Island,
Hail to the Chief, Anchors Aweigh, 1812 Overture, Theme from "Rollergames"
Louie Louie, Tequil, Shout, Shake?, 96 Tears, Wipe Out, Theme from "Get Smart",
Secret Agent Man, Mission Impossible, Nobody Does it Better, Theme from
"Dr. Who".  If each tune were 3 minutes that's 75 minutes, pick up the
ZZ Top and the ones from the DE theme era, and that should be a wrap!

For the even more trival minded, at least TWO and probably three of those
tunes were on MORE than one machine!
_bill
           -----------------------    "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1"
adoerfer@laserwar.pko.dec.com    /
adoerfer@welkin.enet.dec.com     --------* adoerfer@bk2000.pko.dec.com
From: ung@felix.filenet.com (Bill Ung)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: buying a PB: space problems
Date: 26 Aug 92 20:45:34 GMT
Reply-To: ung@fritz.filenet.com (Bill Ung)
Organization: FileNet Corp., Costa Mesa, CA

In article <1992Aug25.155006.12458@fokus.gmd.de> mhs@fokus.gmd.de (M.Schmeil) writes:
>once i'll buy me a pinball. this will happen 
>when i have my own home (i'm 26 now, lived 
>the past 4 years at my GFs home and now again
>at my my moms home 8-( ). cause the rents for
>flats are very expensive in berlin i'll just
>get a small one. do you think it's a problem
>to build up a pinball? should i stop dreaming
>of my own machine?

    "Never stop your dreamin' ... cause dreams are what the world
     is made of."		    -- Susanna Hoffs


Ya know, I feel for you.  I live with my mom till I was 23, then I
had enough money to move out and buy a pinball game.  Up until then,
I had plenty of money to afford a pin, just no place to put it.
Damn frustrating, I tell you!  As for a pinball, you're buying one
or you're building one?  Buying one probably won't take that much
space, unles it's a really, really tiny little place.  We call those
studio pads out here (ie: one kitchen, one bedroom/living room,
a bathroom and maybe a closet).  These are things just big enough
to put a bed, cook and shower ... if it's one of these, probably
not.  If you're building one, well, you probably need a lot of
space.  I dunno, look at the place, and measure an actual game, and
make the judgement call.  Can't tell unless you've got the place.

>- tB!

Bill Ung
  ung@filenet.com
From: michael@uk.ac.oxford.robots (& Stevens)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: buying a PB: space problems
Date: 26 Aug 92 11:54:29 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: Dept. Engineering Science, Oxford University, UK

Space problems are all in the mind. When I was in university
accomodation I took my Williams Soccer with me. The room was very
small with just space for a bed a desk and a bookshelf. I managed to
squeze the machine in with enought room to walk past it. Only problem
was that if there was more then one vistor sleeping on the floor one
had to sleep under the machine.
Now I also have a Haunted House and am glad that I didn't own it back
then. This machine really would have filled up the whole room. As it
is it dominates/adornes my kitchen.

--
Michael Stevens, Robotics Research Group,Dept of Engineering Science,Oxford,UK
INTERNET: michael@robots.oxford.ac.uk
From: sigma@picasso.ipl.rpi.edu (Kevin Martin)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: replay percentaging
Keywords: reflex vs. auto-percentage
Date: 4 Sep 92 17:23:16 GMT
Article-I.D.: rpi.tazy09b
Distribution: rec

marston@coos.dartmouth.edu (David Marston) writes:
>Typically, the replay score will revert to the "base" score when credits
>go to 0, giving you the power to buy a lower replay score by wasting
>credits.

A couple of days ago I noticed that a MATCH on Hook raises the replay
score!  Whose bright idea is this?  Well, Data East's obviously.

-- 
Kevin Martin
sigma@ipl.rpi.edu
"We're gonna need another Timmy!"
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball,misc.forsale,ne.forsale
From: boggs@a.cs.okstate.edu (BOGGS RICHARD GRAN)
Subject: Re: Terminator 2 pinball machine for sale
Organization: Oklahoma State University, Computer Science, Stillwater
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 92 02:23:11 GMT

Boy, this guy sounds real friendly.  I'm real inclinded to buy from him.


-- 
Grant Boggs
boggs@a.cs.okstate.edu
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, Oklahoma
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: daleg@hubcap.clemson.edu (Dale Geiger)
Subject: Re: Pachinko Machines?
Organization: Clemson University
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 13:14:20 GMT

mattock@rand.org (Michael Mattock) writes:

>Pachinko is Japanese pinball.

>Does anyone know of a distributor for new or used pachinko machines in the U.S.?  I am especially
>interested in pachinko machines built since 1980.  Any help would be appreciated.

While on the subject, what do these machines usually run for???
	Daleg@hubcap.clemson.edu

Xref: sparky rec.games.pinball:3962 misc.forsale:24874 ne.forsale:3783