HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: v051r9bf@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (When will Mergle EVER shut up?)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Big Bang on Party Zone
Date: 14 Apr 92 19:59:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In one of my .sigs a while back I posed a question that everyone 
probably missed, considering everyone's liking of sig files.  :^)

I asked whether or not the Big Bang in Party Zone was just too
damn easy to obtain, considering the same sequence of ramp shots
gets you 750,000 on Bride of Pinbot's Metamorphosis Stage.  I got
39 million points on Party Zone for the shots that were more difficult
than BoPinbot's.  (The flipper passing technique almost never works 
on BoP, in my experience, whereby it has on Party Zone due to its
more parallel flippers. (bally!)

And everyone here knows a billion on Pinbot carries less water than
900 million on Pinbot.  :^)  Not that I've even cracked 100 mill yet.
:^)

.........................................................................

--Mergle                                William L. Priester Jr.
                                        V051R9BF@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu

Flipper wailing-----I mean passing!  :^)


...........................................................................
From: larry@chinet.chi.il.us (Larry DeMar)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Well Played Thing, You're Really On The Ball
Date: 6 Apr 92 16:42:08 GMT
Organization: Chinet - Public Access UNIX

In article <1992Apr3.142613.27657@random.ccs.northeastern.edu> lfs@ccs.northeastern.edu (Lyman F. Sheats Jr.) writes:
>
>Well, there is one thing that I'd like to know, and that's what Morticia
>says at the end of a game that leaves you with no credits.  She says
>something, and then the game goes into its "CREEPY. SPOOKY. KOOKY. OOKY."
>display, etc.  Anyone know what that is?  Thanks.

Morticia says "Rest in Peace" at the end of the game if there
are no credits on the machine.
-- 
------------------------------------------
Email:  chinet!larry@clout.uchicago.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: sigma@sun.ipl.rpi.edu (Kevin Martin)
Subject: Re: Thrice! Well done!
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 14:59:54 GMT

keatesm@cs.man.ac.uk (Martin Keates(MSC RJH)) writes:
>>Hitting a Cousin It target:
>>	It, old man!
>And various squeals.

I have some thoughts on these squeals.  There are three, perhaps four,
unique ones.  One is obviously "Hey!".  Two of the others sound similar,
but one is most definitely "Hey!  Careful with that hammer!"  The similar
quote almost sounds like that, too.

>After a bad game (when you don't get a replay) : Two out of three?

Finally, someone else admits it.

>'fraid not, you're still missing what Morticia says after a game that
>leaves no credits in the machine (sounds a bit like : 'That's sneaky', or
>'Best thinking' - I can't understand it at all).

"Rest in Peace"

>BTW (this has nothing to do with sounds, but...) I had a mansion tour the
>other day when I had a extra ball lit from the bearkicks, I managed to get
>one extraball before I drained, and I was quite annoyed because I wasn't
>expecting eb to still be lit on the next ball .... but it was! :)
>The machine gave me the mansion tour extraball (which only stays lit until
>the end of the ball) even though I had the bearkicks one lit first. Jolly
>decent of it, I thought.

Funhouse is decent like this too, if there's more than one extra ball
waiting in the Hidden Hallway, it awards the transient one first.  This may
be true only on Normal/Easy settings, though.

-- 
Kevin Martin
sigma@ipl.rpi.edu
"We're going to need another Timmy!"
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: king_p@saguaro.cs.odu.edu (Paul King)
Subject: Sounds
Summary: Looking for BK2K Sound files
Organization: Illuminati S-f Club Old Dominion University 
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 15:53:52 GMT

   Is it jus me or does everyone here seem to recognise
"No way, hahaha"
"Stand up and fight"

  And a few other choices,
Well in furthering my interest to be a pin.head
I was hoping someone out there may have digitalized
those sounds so we can make optimum use of the sound
capabilities of the fine (sparc) machines. If anyone
has these files, please send them my way, or tell me 
where to FTP for 'em. If no one has 'em, I'm gonna 
get together with someone wwho knows what he's doing and 
go get the samples.



        -Paul

Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: drew@ophelia.cs.colorado.edu (Drew Eckhardt)
Subject: Re: Pin-protocol
Organization: University of Colorado at Boulder
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 12:40:25 GMT

In article <92Apr15.090118edt.147543@rose.waterloo.edu> cclark1@rose.waterloo.edu () writes:
>The other day, my buddy and I were waiting to play TAF.  The guy on the
>machine at the time lucked out and got a match.  He said he had to leave
>and offered to SELL us his "hard-earned" match.
>

If I'm not going to play it, I'll pass it off to the next person, 
and would hope that in the same situation the other person would
do the same.

Along similar lines : 

We all get at least mildly anoyed to get stuck behind some one playing 
our favorite game, that keeps getting replay after replay after 
replay after replay..... 

If I'm getting multiple replays on a game (Ie - SNS you get one for 
score, replays for Safari, and for your second completed grid,
HSII, you get a replay for score and another for tunnel shots,
most games will give you credits for a high score) and the guys 
behind me are being unobtrusive and politely waiting, I'll 
invite them to join in and use a few of the surplus credits.  

How common is this?
From: overturf@bigbootay.sw.stratus.com (Dallas Overturf)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Williams' ruthless outlanes
Date: 8 Apr 92 23:51:48 GMT
Expires: 4 May 92 04:00:00 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: Stratus Computer, Software Engineering

in Article 4771 of rec.games.pinball lopez@ils.nwu.edu (Chris Lopez)
replies:

>>>>
overturf@bigbootay.sw.stratus.com (Dallas Overturf) writes:
>
> [much stuff deleted]
>
>  I should think that auto adjust should be limited to
>  some reasonable maximum level; and let the replay boost be responsible
>  (within reason!) for making us so called wizards put in money
>  occasionally.
> 
>   				Regards,	Dallas...

The feature you ask for does exist.  Operators can set the auto-adjust to
reset the play level every 1,10,100,1000 plays on some of the machines I
have been inside.

The only place I ever saw a funhouse had it set to readjust every game.  The 
first time I beat the machine it raised the replay by about 30%.  The second 
time I beat it, it raised it another 40% or so (I went over the replay score by 
a larger amount the second time).  Needless to say this put it beyond me.  As 
soon as my credits were gone the replay dropped back to its initial value.

Some stuff deleted

<<<<<

Yes, I know replay boost exists.  Some operators (such as the one
you mention have gone a bit too gung ho on it.

My point is that the replay level upon putting in a quarter should be
fixed then go up (as they do already).  Otherwise I see games such 
TAF have repay scores of around 120M after certain really good players
have nailed it for 500M to 2B for a few ours several days a week.

I can deal with 120M me and my pals can deal with the 120M score;
but what about the the average ordinary guy that can't play for beans??

If Pinball had been that tough when I first started playing, I can't
help but wonder if I would have decided it was a waste of money.
I just don't aggree with the machine self adjusting the initial
replay for the first game after $$ has just been put in.

As much as I prefer to play for free :-) on a completely fixed replay
level; I can understand the reason that replay boost was put in; and
I don't completely disagree with it.  It is the auto percentaging
of the first replay score I disagree with.  It should IMHO be
fixed.  If the operator wants to change it he can, but the machine
ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT touch it.  In fact with replay boost active,
I would think the operators would want to fix the initial win low
and use the replay boost to move the score up untill more $$ is put in.  
This would at least I think encourage people to play the game more as
they can win, at least a little.  This is the main reason I play
pinball and refuse to play video; I can beat the damned thing!!


The TAFs I play on boost the score about 5 - 10M every time you beat it.
we can still kill it good as long as we are playing real well.
Though on off days it gets a bit more expensive :(.


		Regards,	Dallas...
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: sigma@sun.ipl.rpi.edu (Kevin Martin)
Subject: Re: TAF rules and ramblings
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 15:03:55 GMT

sbb@panix.com (Steve Baumgarten) writes:
>After foolishly stating my guess as fact (a bad habit of mine), I
>looked again, and I think it really is just a fixed (but large) score
>for hitting It again.
>Also, the timers really do stop when a ball is locked, though they run
>at regular speed as long as all the balls are in play.
>Sorry for adding to the general TAF rules confusion...

I'll add some more.  We were theorizing that hitting Cousin It during
Cousin It briefly pauses the timer.  I know I had zero seconds of Cousin It
left, and I managed to hit him FOUR TIMES from the upper right flipper and
it still seemed to take an extra second to finish the sequence.

>(BTW, ever have a ball drain just after you've spotted a Mansion room
>via a Bear Kick and you're just finishing up another Mansion room?
>TAF is so beside itself totalling up your award and starting you on
>another Mansion room that it doesn't realize for a while that your
>ball drained a long time before...  Kind of fun to watch, and pretty
>much the only time I've ever seen TAF get confused -- and even then
>it's not really confused, just a little behind.)

Yes, this is amusing.  Ball is already waiting to be returned, and the two
lagging awards, GRAVE and Spot Mansion, can still happen.

-- 
Kevin Martin
sigma@ipl.rpi.edu
"We're going to need another Timmy!"
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: blowfish@carina.unm.edu (rON.)
Subject: Re: TAF rules and ramblings
Date: Tue, 07 Apr 92 05:28:35 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
Keywords: TAF, family members


Just as another note- I was looking again- Wednesday and Pugsly do
both appear on the playfield, as well as the back-glass.
Pugsly is right below the left ramp, holding a removed stop sign, and
Wednesday is just above the G-R lights (just below the pop bumpers),
reading a book.
It is next to the it lights, and fester is right between the flippers.
Morticia and Gomez adorn the slingshots.
Thing, of course, has his own box ';-)
r.


Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: omitchel@jarthur.claremont.edu (Ocie *banjo* Mitchell)
Subject: Re: Another TAF bug, or a feature?
Keywords: TAF, reset, sex, lies, videotape
Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 05:55:15 GMT

I was wondering, is there an easy way to tell if there are balls locked in the 
swamp if you weren't the last person who played?


----------------------------------------------+-------------------------------
``What do you think sirs?''  -Joel (mst3k)    | do not write above this line
----------------------------------------------+------------------------------- 
   __             _ _ _                       | Ocie Mitchell
  / ')           ' ) ) )  _/_    /      /) /) | omitchel@jarthur.claremont.edu
 /  / _. o _      / / / o /  _. /_  _  // //  | Q:is that your real name? 
(__/ (__(_(<_    / ' (_(_(__(__/ /_(<_(/_(/_  | A:yes, it is my real name.
----------------------------------------------+-------------------------------
From: kucharsk@solbourne.com (William Kucharski)
Subject: Whirlwind on CNN
Organization: Solbourne Computer, Inc., Longmont, CO
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 06:07:01 GMT


CNN aired a report yesterday (April 12) about how the Phillip Morris company
was producing an old-style high tar, high nicotine cigarette for the fans
of such cigarettes in what was East Germany.  Anyway, they were talking to
folks in a bar in Dresden about it and what should be in the back of the bar
than a Whirlwind machine!!

Anyone know how to say "The Storm Is Coming" in German? :-)
-- 
| William Kucharski, Solbourne Computer, Inc.     | Opinions expressed above
| Internet: kucharsk@solbourne.com   Ham: N0OKQ   | are MINE alone, not those
| Snail Mail: 1900 Pike Road, Longmont, CO  80501 | of Solbourne Computer, Inc.
| President, "Just the Ten of Us" Fan Club        | "It's Night 9 with D2 Dave!"
From: joee@cabezon.uucp (Joe Eckardt)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Gotleib "Black Hole"
Date: 6 Apr 92 20:17:16 GMT
Article-I.D.: cabezon.1992Apr6.201716.21133
Organization: Logic Automation Inc of Beaverton Oregon

Does anyone know how to put this machine in "free play"?  I
have the manual but can't find anything on the subject.

Thanks for any help.


		Joe Eckardt
		Logic Modeling Corporation 

            Please use one of these return addresses instead of 
            the one on the return address line:

		lauto!joee@gateway.sequent.com or,
		lauto!joee@cse.ogi.edu         or,  (very slow)
		...!uunet!sequent!lauto!joee
-- 
		Joe Eckardt
		Logic Modeling Corporation 

            Please use one of these return addresses instead of 
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: dh195236@alfred.carleton.ca ( dh student 195236)
Subject: TAF rules
Summary: TAF rules
Keywords: TAF
Organization: Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 14:56:45 GMT

Could someone please e-mail me the rules to TAF. I want to make sure
that I am not missing anything (doubt it though after something like a
hundred hours of playtime.)
On another matter (I don't know if you've had this discussion as I
dropped out for a while during the essay crunch), how is the Thing
Flips working out on TAF pinballs out there. At our Unicentre, it
seems to hit the only 20% or so of the time. I don't know if this is
just shitty luck or if it is a common problem on all machines. We also
seem to have a lot of problem with the 2 top flippers. They often jam
or work intermitently. Any similar problems out there.
Last thing. I tried that trick that someone posted a while back about
letting the ball roll down from Thing and then letting hit on the
right bottom flipper (held up) to go into the swamp kickout to collect
mansion rooms. Both times that I tried it, it nudged the bottom of the
swamp on its way down and and I lost both balls (thanks a bunch for
the tip.) Apparently, this is not common to all Addam's Family tables.

Thanks in advance for the rules,

Daniel Royer
Internet: dh195236@ccs.carleton.ca

p.s. "Have a bitchin' summer" (John Hancock)
From: steveskr@milton.u.washington.edu (Steve Skrzyniarz)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: used pb machines in Seattle?
Date: 14 Apr 92 02:48:27 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

I live in Seattle and would like to find a good place to buy an inexpensive
used pinball machine ($300-$400 range).  Also, if anyone could tell me where
to pick up an issue of Pinball Trader, I'd really appreciate it (preferably
locally?)

Thanks,

Steve Skrzyniarz
(steveskr@milton.u.washington.edu)
From: ostubble@agsm.ucla.edu (Otha Stubblefield III)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Why TAF Tilts automatically, a thought:
Date: 6 Apr 92 08:42:13 PDT


Could be a short in a transistor array, or similar multi-control area.   One
example that comes to mind is a Bally Star Trek that got so fouled up that 
hitting the bumper behind a set of drop targets would cause the game to tilt,
and hitting another bumper would make the game think that you had lost
the ball.  

ottoh3@CFSMO.Honeywell.COM (Otto Heuer #3) writes:


>ron writes:

>| There have been a number of complaints about TAF machines spotaniously
>| tilting for no readily apparent reason. I think I may have an idea, but
>| am not sure.

>| I suspect it has something to do with the magnets underneath the field.
>| No, the magnets aren's 'attracting' the tilt mechanism, otherwise it would
>| tilt all the time.

>| What I suspect happens is that an electric charge gets built up somewhere in
>| that general area. Perhaps from the magnets, aided by static electricity, and
>| the kickout mechanism of the electric chair (I noticed the spontanious tilts I
>| had tonight started soon after a chair shot). Is it possible that enough of
>| a charge is built up in that area that it sparks from the tilt sensor to the
>| tilt washer thingy? Its not that far to go, so it wouldn't take a huge spark
>| or anything, but that would set off the tilt warnings, no?

>Dunno if that's the reason or not, but I've had T2 tilt on many occasions
>when I wasn't even touching the flipper buttons, much less bumping the
>machine.  And most of the time it skips the warding completely and goes
>dtraight for the "TILT" and "Chill out!"

>Enough to piss a guy off at 50 cents a game...

>                --Otto "HACK-MAN" Heuer
>--
>C, Pascal, Fortran, BASIC, Assembly Language, Snobol, Ada, APL, Prolog, LISP
>Unix, MS-DOS, ProDOS       .  .   .   .... .  .   .   .   .   .   . Audio/Video
>ottoh@cfsmo.honeywell.com  :..: .:.:. :    :.' .. :`.': .:.:. :`. :   Star Trek
>hackman@pnet51.orb.mn.org  :  : :   : :... : `.   :   : :   : :  `:  Apple IIgs
From: keatesm@cs.man.ac.uk (Martin Keates(MSC RJH))
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Thrice! Well done!
Date: 6 Apr 92 17:11:58 GMT

blowfish@carina.unm.edu (rON.) writes:

>The Third incarnation of The Addams Family noise list.
>And you thought Rudy had a lot to say ';-)

For the sadists amongst you : pressing a flipper button during attract
mode makes It squeal.

>When adding another player:
>	That's the spirit!

If the ball is in play then you get the last 2 bars of TAF music
(da-da-da-dum, click! click!)
(it always makes me think that the game has restarted).

>Two consecutive weak plunger shots:
>	You should know better.
? Do you mean shots into the swamp here?

>Hitting a Cousin It target:
>	It, old man!

And various squeals.

>When starting an extra ball:
>	Good man!  Shoot again!
>	Good show! Shoot again!
>	That's the spirit! Shoot again!
>	Keep the ball, I've got a whole bucketfull.
Don't forget : Well played! shoot again!

>When T-H-I-N-G is collected, no stars:
>	No, no, no!
>	No time for that now.
The stars don't affect it, the 2 quotes just alternate.

>Multi-ball related noises:
>When G-R-E-E-D is spelled:
>	Greeeed!
1st and 3rd time.

>When G-R-E-E-D is spelled the second time:
>	There, see what greed will get you?
2nd and 4th time.

>When a ball is locked in Thing:
>	That's the spirit Thing, lend a hand
Sometimes: Why, thankyou thing!

>When a ball is locked in the swamp:
>	Good Thingking! {that is correct, thinGking }  
Who says? That wouldn't make much sense as locking in the swamp has got
nothing to do with thing, and _I_ can't hear the 'g'.

Various times during multiball: Get the jackpot!

After a bad game (when you don't get a replay) : Two out of three?

>OK- Now is it correct ';-)

'fraid not, you're still missing what Morticia says after a game that
leaves no credits in the machine (sounds a bit like : 'That's sneaky', or
'Best thinking' - I can't understand it at all).

>As usual, please send further corrections/nits to me.
>r.

Martin.

BTW (this has nothing to do with sounds, but...) I had a mansion tour the
other day when I had a extra ball lit from the bearkicks, I managed to get
one extraball before I drained, and I was quite annoyed because I wasn't
expecting eb to still be lit on the next ball .... but it was! :)
The machine gave me the mansion tour extraball (which only stays lit until
the end of the ball) even though I had the bearkicks one lit first. Jolly
decent of it, I thought.
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: dpettit@javelin.sim.es.com (Daina Pettit)
Subject: Looking for Pinball Trader back issue
Organization: Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 22:17:49 GMT

I'm looking for a copy (a photocopy is okay) of Vol. 2 #6 Pinball Trader
Newsletter issue.  This issue is no longer available from the Pinball
Trader--I've tried. :^(  Send me email if you have this issue.

-- 
  Daina Pettit  (801) 582-5847  dpettit@javelin.sim.es.com   
  Evans & Sutherland  600 Komas Drive, SLC, UT  84108
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: gracedc@craft.camp.clarkson.edu (Damon C. Grace)
Subject: TAF bear kicks
Organization: Clarkson University
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 07:01:14 GMT

	This is probably against the group's etiquette, but
what highest number fo near kicks around here?
I got 83 a couple of days ago and would like to know how that
stands up around here.

*********************************************************
Go ahead! Flame me! I graduate in three weeks and won't
be around to hear it!
:-)
From: josh@cqs.washington.edu (Josh Hayes)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Pin-protocol
Date: 15 Apr 92 15:42:51 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Washington


>In article <92Apr15.090118edt.147543@rose.waterloo.edu> cclark1@rose.waterloo.edu () writes:
>>
>>My question is : What do most of you do when you want to leave and you still
>>have a credit(s) on the machine ?

Back in the dim and distant past, my college roommate and I had a code
of pinball behavior. One rule covered this situation. You cannot sell
games from a pinball machine for more than you put into it. Say you put
in a quarter, that gets ya two games (I _told_ you it was dim and distant),
you win and win and win and.....wind up with ten games. You can only sell
them for a quarter. Of course, you can give them away, too.

Nowadays, with the tendency to put a buck into a machine to get the
full three games, this seems to me to be no longer workable. When I
have to go, I leave the games. I will often dawdle until a real pinball
player walks by, in order to avoid having some obnoxious brat play them,
but I do give them away.....

Now, if somebody has lots of games racked up and invites me to join in,
I ALWAYS proffer my money to him (or her, as the case may be), rather than
to the machine. Generally with the thought "better s/he gets my money than
that the machine does". Any thoughts on this? Should we drop money in the
machine anyway? (An alternative is to put yer coins on the glass, and should
the two of you run out of games, pay for the next set of games for both of
you.)

Doctor Josh    josh@mowgli.cqs.washington.edu
From: phaedrus@milton.u.washington.edu (Phaedrus)
Subject: Re: Funhouse Multiball
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 05:05:41 GMT

    FunHouse only ejects one ball from the Mirror (or from anywhere else, for
that matter) at a time.  If your machine is trying to eject two balls at once,
then that is a malfunction, that needs to be adjusted.
    I've noticed that this condition on FunHouse isn't as rare as I'd expect
it to be.  When FunHouse machines first came out, the Mirror kicker on a large
number of the ones I played wasn't as strong as it needed to be; if you managed
to stack three balls on top of the kicker (entirely possible during multiball),
the kicker wasn't strong enough to kick any of them out, and the game would be
stuck until an operator fished out one of the balls.  I think operators have
strengthened these kickers somehow to compensate, and now some of them are set
too strong, and kick out two balls at once as the poster described.
-- 
Internet: phaedrus@u.washington.edu        (University of Washington, Seattle)
 "If you can keep your head while those about you are losing theirs,
    consider an exciting career as a guillotine operator!"
Hi!  I'm an anti-virus utility!  Install me in your .signature right away!