From: phaedrus@milton.u.washington.edu (Phaedrus)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: TAF: Do I play on a lousy machine, or what?
Date: 22 Jul 92 07:01:27 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Jul22.070127.16561
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

In article <medic.711752218@milton> medic@milton.u.washington.edu (Travis Lauricella) writes:
>I'm not sure if I'm ignorant or if I play on a lousy machine.  

     Well, that depends on the machine you're playing.  If you're playing the
machine at the HUB, then when last I tried it, you were playing a lousy
machine.  If you're playing the machine at Game Space, then ignorance may be
a possibility. :)

>                                                               Everyone talks
>about bear kicks as if they are simple to get.  However, I've only been able 
>to get bear kicks twice... every other time the lane channelling device clicks
>(rather loudly) over so that the ball drops down and lights "Thing Flips."
>Are there any special tricks to getting bear kicks, or am I just playing a 
>beat-up machine.

     There's one common fault with the bear kick ramp that can cause this.
There are two switches on the bear kick ramp, one at the entrance and one at
the top.  The top switch's wiring is completely exposed, at least on early
machines (newer machines have a metal guard protecting this switch).  As a
result of balls colliding with this switch's mechanism, it tends to fail
frequently.  When this happens, extremely quick shots around the bear kick
ramp will still count as bear kicks.  If the ball isn't moving very quickly,
however, then it won't be counted as a bear kick, because the machine doesn't
realize that the ball went up that ramp.  (If too much time passes between
when the ball hits the sensor at the entrance of the bear kick ramp and when
it hits some other switch along the ramp, the machine apparently assumes that
the ball just nudged the entrance sensor of the ramp without actually going
up it.)  So when the ball finally arrives at the first sensor on the common
part of the ramp (the vertical channel that both the Bear and Million+ ramps
feed to), the machine assumes that you shot it up the Million+ ramp, and
scores it accordingly (awarding the Million+, not awarding the bear kick,
and feeding the ball to the Thing flipper).
     Note, however, that this malfunction is not necessarily bad for the
player!  Basically, it means that both ramps act as the Million+ ramp.  This
is bad on the one hand, since it keeps you from getting extra balls and 
mansion rooms from the Bear ramp, but it is very good on the other hand,
because it lets you rack up very high Million+ totals.  It's particularly
good during Multiball, because a shot up the Bear ramp will award a Double or
Triple Jackpot, just as the Million+ ramp would!  So don't use this malfunction
as an excuse for low scores :) ; it should actually *increase* them.

>Another note:  I am having problems with the left "Thing Flips" light channel.
>About 15% of the time the ball will bounce gracefully off of the metal divider
>between the "Thing Flips" and "2 Bear Kicks" lights into the left out channel.
>Does this happen often on other machines?

     Yes; letting the ball drain straight from the Million+ ramp exit to the
left lanes is quite definitely an unsafe shot, and one that you shouldn't use.
If you don't want to take a shot at the Swamp, there are two other strategies
you can use; you can either just hold down the left flipper button and leave
it held down, which will cause the ball to roll down the Thing flipper and
head straight to the lower-left flipper without going through either inlane,
or you can hold down the left flipper button, but release it a few tenths of
a second after the ball arrives at the Thing flipper, which with practice will
steer the ball to the inlane of your choice (but until you get the timing
down, you're actually increasing the chance of getting a drain or a bad bounce
by doing this).

>And what does it take to get thing to flip?  I have shot up the lit ramp five 
>or six times in a row without a single flip.  (And the only reason I stopped
>was because of the before mentioned out lane bounce.)

     This ties directly into your first question.  Note that the "Thing Flips"
light is on the Bear Kick ramp; that means that in order to trigger the Thing
Flips shot, the shot up that ramp actually has to be counted by the machine
as a bear kick, not as a Million+ shot.  When you hear the game say "Let's go,
Thing!" as the ball heads down the ramp, you know that Thing Flips has been
triggered.  If you hear the Million+ sound instead, you'll have to use the
Thing flipper yourself.

>On a side note, what causes the flippers, on rare occasion, to snap("click
>click") in time with the Addams Family theme after losing a ball?

     Just another bizarre whim of the programmer. :)

>Just a few ignorant questions from a guy who considers 100M to be a good
>score on such a lousy machine ;P

     Tsk, tsk.  If you can't consistently break 100M on a machine that counts
Bear Kick shots as Million+ shots, you need to practice more. :)

>Travis Lauricella <medic@u.washington.edu>
-- 
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!"
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball