HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dka@chaos.aqeng.cdc.com (Dorian Adams x2675)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Bad CMOS RAM on Black Knight
Date: 27 Jul 92 14:02:28 GMT

In article <Brpw3J.CF5@watserv1.waterloo.edu>, shewchun@boomer.waterloo.edu (Dave Shewchun) writes:
|> I recently acquired a Black Knight machine.  At first, the CPU board passed
|> all it's diagnostics, although the machine did have some odd behaviour
|> (like giving you infinite balls, and never ending the game).  Now the CPU
|> board fails with error code 8, which is bad CMOS RAM.  Does anyone know
|> if these diagnostics are accurate?  Should I go ahead and try to replace
|> the CMOS RAM chip?  What are the odds of me being able to find this chip
|> anywhere?
|> 
|> Thanks,
|> Dave
|> 
|> ----
|> Dave Shewchun (shewchun@boomer.waterloo.edu)

I have had to replace the CMOS ram on few of the Williams games I have worked on. They are not difficult to find or replace but pay attention to the fact that static charges can render the ram chip useless. I think you can purchase them for between one and two dollers at Jameco electronics. If you need more info let me know.

I would try to replace the batteries first though. As one reader pointed out the
information can be saved my replacing them with the power on. Another part that often needs to be replaced on older Williams electronic games are the battery holder. If the batteries have leaked at some point in the past you could just have a bad connection between the batteries and the holder. Check for corrosion at the ends of the holder. I have had battery holders where the contacts literally fall apart while taking the batteries out. Also when inserting the batteries pay attention to the way they go in


 On the black Knight game the plus
side of all the batteries face right. This is not true of all revisions of the Williams cpu card.

Later
	Dorian Adams
From: lfs@damon.ccs.northeastern.edu (Lyman F Sheats Jr.)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Addam's Family Questions and Hints (TAF in OC)
Date: 21 Jul 92 15:50:22 GMT
Organization: College of Computer Science, Northeastern University

moody@brahms.udel.edu (John David Moody) writes:

>Now for my questions:

>1.  I know of three ways to light the extra ball (getting enough bear kicks,
>lighting/touring the mansion, and getting enough train wrecks).  Are there
>any others (i.e. getting the bonus multiplier up to a certain point)?

Not that I know of.

>2.  In the graveyard, each of the bumpers can either be unlit (10,000 pts.),
>lit (20,000 points), or flashing (30,000 pts.).  I know that you can get 
>all bumpers flashing by getting the mansion award "Graveyard at Max".
>What targets must be hit in order to advance the bumper value and get the
>graveyard at max without getting the mansion award?

I thought it went 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, but I could be mistaken.

To increase the value of a pop bumper (and how many points it adds to your
graveyard value), you need to hit an unlit GRAVE target.  You can also spot
a GRAVE target by hitting the million plus ramp.  If you complete 5 GRAVE
targets, all bumpers will be lit.  If you complete 5 more, all bumpers will
be flashing.  If you lose the ball in play, then all of the pop bumpers
get reset to the unlit state at the start of the next ball.

Have fun.

--
Lyman F. Sheats Jr.
lfs@mitre.org
lfs@damon.ccs.northeastern.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: gse9k@holmes.acc.Virginia.EDU (Scott Evans)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Backhand shots
Date: 31 Jul 92 13:50:31 GMT
Reply-To: thrash@virginia.edu (Scott Evans)
Organization: or lack thereof


I've heard a lot of discussion on the "backhand shot" lately,
but I don't think I know what exactly that means.  Would anyone
care to elaborate on the different names for shots?  Who knows,
I might be doing em left and right and not just know it...


scott
From: rjung@aludra.usc.edu (Robert A. Jung)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Quick Pinball Vote
Date: 28 Jul 1992 23:17:11 -0700
Organization: Southern California Lynx Enthusiasts
NNTP-Posting-Host: aludra.usc.edu

In article <6324@tekig7.PEN.TEK.COM>, jerryc@tekig7.PEN.TEK.COM (Jerry C Carathers) writes...
>Well fellow pinheads, how about us generating a mid-year impromtu vote for
>our top five favorite pinballs of all time. 

  Oh, what the fnord...

        5. WHIRLWIND / EARTHSHAKER / FUNHOUSE / COMET / GILLIGAN'S ISLAND
             (Yeah,a five-way tie. What can I say...)
        4. DR. DUDE		(Bally)
        3. BLACK KNIGHT 2000	(Williams)
        2. TERMINATOR 2		(Williams)

  and the all-time favorite...
        1. HIGH SPEED		(Williams)

                                                --R.J.
                                                B-)

//////////////////////////////////////|\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
   Send whatevers to rjung@usc.edu    |      If it has pixels, I'm for it.
--------------------------------------+------------------------------Lynx up!
"You weren't chosen because you are the best pilot in the Air Force. You were
    chosen because you are the class clown and frankly, you're expendable."
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: brady@sed.stel.com (Sean Brady)
Subject: Bally Supersonic Restoration Info (was Re: SST Pinball Restoration)
Organization: Stanford Telecom, SED, Reston
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 20:04:32 GMT

My thanks to all respondents.  It took several weeks, but all
information has been great.  To summarize;

1) Playfield restoration is going to involve multilayer painting with and
  airbrush, followed by a Varathane finish (much in line with the FAQ).

2) Logic Problem - There were many mentions of the diode array as the
  culprit, and from all appearances, it was the cause of all problems
  (misfirings, global warming, etc.).  But, thanks to hours of testing
  (and some valueable guidance from Greg McKay of Bally repair), I
  discovered the problem to be on the MPU board (I'm expecting a
  replacement to be delivered "any day now" (TM)).

  It seems the Bally machines of this era were prone towards MPU
  corrosion due to leaky batteries.  As such, Greg suggested a simple
  test; remove the J2 bus (the diode array output and input), and jumper
  between the right bumpers input and output.  If the MPU is good, the
  right bumper should fire.  If MPU is bad, it won't.  Result: the MPU
  is the dead.

3) Faulty target bank - The target bank problem was addressed by 

From dpettit@javelin.sim.es.com
: They probably need a good cleaning anyway.  The cause of the problem
: depends on the game.  Some targets are supposed to knock themselves down,
: but usually not all of them all the time.  If they are not supposed to ever
: knock themselves down then the problem is probably a loose/worn reset
: mechanism or missing/loose springs on the targets.  A worse-case would be
: that the targets are physically damaged and cannot be kept up.  Playing
: with the reset mechanism by hand will probably tell you what the problem
: is.  If the targets are supposed to knock themselves down sometimes then
: the problem could be any of the above, or electronic--the machine
: mistakenly 'thinks' they are supposed to be down.  This could be another
: switch matrix problem.  You should have seen the post about that solution
: by now.  

-AND-

From motcsd!mcdchg!mdisea!dyndata!eskimo!victim@apple.com
:  Your target bank sounds like bad logic to the transistor driving the
: solenoid that resets them.  The transistor might be bad (2 are often
: used, a 2N4401 (or 2N3904) and a TIP122 (or equivalent).  Replace both
: if 1 is found to be bad.)

The target situation awaits the arrival of the new MPU.  I'll post the
results of this problem if there is interest.  My thanks again for all
responses.

Sean
-- 
******************************************************************************
*           Sean Brady              *      "The point of a journey           *
*     Journeyman,Brewmeister,       *          is not to arrive...."         *
*       all around good guy         *               -Neil Peart              *
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: iott@rtsg.mot.com (Joel K. Iott)
Subject: Black Knight Info wanted
Organization: Motorola Inc.
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 15:47:57 GMT

I have the schematics for a Black Knight but not the instruction manual.

Therefore, I am looking for info about:

DIP switch settings
Other game settings

How to get it into test mode

What the various numbers mean when I press the "advance" (could be wrong name) button
inside the coin door.  I assume these are accounting statistics.

Thanks
Joel Iott
From: pazar@hpnmdla.sr.hp.com (Steve Pazar)
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 01:34:25 GMT
Subject: HELP:need KISS bumper cap
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Santa Rosa, CA
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball

Fellow Pinheads,

  My latest acquisition is a Bally KISS pin (my second...). Unfortunatly,
  one of the bumper caps isn't correct, so if anyone out there
  happens to have a spare set or a parts machine I'd like to talk 
  to you. Other than the incorrect cap, its in B+ condition (if anyone
  cares...).

		       Steve Pazar
		       pazar@hpnmdla.sr.hp.com
From: wasallee@RWASIC24.AUD.ALCATEL.COM (}Bill Sallee)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Judgement Day
Date: 30 Jul 92 20:36:12 GMT

I have been meaning to post for a while but just have been too busy.
But since Jerry got flamed for bragging about his machines let me
say that when I was up in Vancouver on vacation Jerry was gracious
enough to let me play his games and they are all in A++ condition.
All features, lights, rubber, and playfields were in perfect condition. 
All were perfectly clean. And all were incredibly LOUD playing through
stereos located at each machine.  There are a lot of subtleties in the 
music and sound you just don't get when the volume is low or there is
a lot of background noise.  I've been playing pinball for about thirty
years and I've never seen any better conditioned or cared for machines
than those at Jerry's house.  So go ahead and keep it up Jerry.  As
for the machines that you sold, whoever bought them is lucky to find
them in such good condition.  
	I can't even remember all the games I've played but I'll give
a list:
	5. Fireball (early multi-ball machine)
	4. HSII     ( currently what I play at lunch )
	3. BK2K	    ( got me back into pb after several years off)
	2. Funhouse
	1. TAF

Honorable mention: T2,Pinbot,Taxi,Elvira,Dr. Dude,Party Zone.

Bill Sallee 
wasallee@rwasic24.aud.alcatel.com
Alcatel Network Systems, Richardson,TX
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: jeremym@ravel.udel.edu (Jeremy A Moskowitz)
Subject: Re: TAF, the full quote list, I dont think so....
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 17:55:47 GMT

In article <5190@transfer.stratus.com> overturf@bigbootay.sw.stratus.com (Dallas Overturf) writes:

>I think your missing a quote from Cousin It himself!
 
>"I don't want no trouble"


See.. I always thought it was:

"Hello Uncle Fester.."

It does have the same metre to it. (That's musical term for # of beats,
or in this case sylables.)

But, I once saw an interview with the kid who did the real IT voice
for the movie. He was a little 15 yr old, who said he made up the
language AS HE WENT along. If this carries on to the game,
it would make our hearing anything a total coinsidance. 
 
I just think he made a sentance of audio blur's. It really doen't
say anything, but to us humans.. it does.



-- 
     // Email: jeremym@brahms.udel.edu------\  Monitor of---------------\
    //  Registered Commodore Amiga Developer|  Comp.sys.amiga.EMULATIONS| 
\\ //                    This is the Nineties Hamton - -
 \X/            Go get a bank loan, and buy yourself a clue!
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: irace@kaula.keck.hawaii.edu (Will Irace (jnr))
Subject: HSII Backglass
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4   
Reply-To: irace@kaula.keck.hawaii.edu
Organization: W. M. Keck Observatory (CARA), Kamuela, HI, USA
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 20:55:27 GMT

I'm surprised I haven't seen this discussed previously, but 
perhaps I missed it somewheres. Anyway...

Has anyone noticed that the guy driving the hotrod on the 
backglass in HSII looks amazingly like Steve Ritchie? 

--Will                        #include stddisclaimer.h
irace@kaula.keck.hawaii.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: dryan@sgi1 (Dan Ryan)
Subject: Pinball Trader?
Organization: Department of Mathematics & Statistics, Univ. of Guelph
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 13:04:59 GMT


Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: kak1@cypress31.cray.com (Kevin Kramer)
Subject: Re: Pin Characteristics (Was: Re: older games)
Originator: kak1@cypress31
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Date: 31 Jul 92 09:25:23 CDT


The first game that I remember with a sub-level underneath
the main playfield was "The Black Hole" (tm).  A really bad game,
at least for me at the time.  I always wanted to go down into 
"The Black Hole" (tm), but on re-entering from the hole it would
shoot the ball down the right drain lane unless you did something
in the hole to prvent this (which I never did, I never lasted more
that 1 minute in "The Black Hole" (tm))

Give me High Speed anyday.

BTW, I have though of at least 10 more games for my top 5 list
so disregard my old top 5, I still am trying to narrow it down
to 10.  There are to many good machines to only have 5 favorites.

Kevin
From: lfs@damon.ccs.northeastern.edu (Lyman F Sheats Jr.)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: TAF - Thoughts, Tips, Tricks
Date: 21 Jul 92 20:31:55 GMT
Organization: College of Computer Science, Northeastern University

sigma@sun.ipl.rpi.edu (Kevin Martin) writes:

>Tip - some rooms are bad to get last before the Attic.  THING will be more
>or less cancelled.  Mamushka will be replaced.  Raise The Dead is probably
>the best, since it will continue to run during the frenzy modes (Cousin It
>and Mamushka) and you can shoot the Graveyard.

I think it depends on the ROM revision.  I know my Addams with L-3 will
add 20 seconds to The Mamushka during a tour if The Mamushka was the mode
running at the start of the tour.

I like Raise The Dead more and more, and shoot for it a lot now, mostly
for entertainment value (I like the eye with tentacles the most).  The
shot is really easy from the left flipper if the bookcase is open.

>On the machines I've played, there are inconsistencies in how quickly rooms
>are spotted from Bear Kicks.  THING is spotted even before it's awarded on
>screen, so you can shoot for the 15M Quick Multiball right away.

One thing I noticed about spotting THING from the bear kick ramp and then
shooting the metal ramp: if you miss the sensor and hit the hole instead,
you don't get the 15M (i.e. THING multiball gets activated while the ball
is between the switch and the hole).

>I've never played a machine where Million Plus was held over from ball to
>ball, so I've never gotten it past nine.  I presume it stops at ten.
>G-R-A-V-E stops at 10M.  The Graveyard maxes at 4M.  Train Wrecks never
>seem to require more than six hits.  T-H-I-N-G maxes at 15M plus Stars.
>The Triple Jackpot maxes at 75M (unfortunate!)

The prototype at the Brodway back in early February held the million plus
value from ball to ball.  You can set it to max out between 5M and 20M; the
factory setting is 10M.  The extra easy setting for TAF holds the million
plus value; all others don't, if I remember correctly.

>114.1 million total bonus

I had 327M total bonus one time.  It's the only bonus I have worth bragging
about on this game - everybody else's Cousin It, Mamushka, and Raise The Dead
totals simply blow mine away.  I did have a 60+M Mamushka bonus one time, but
that was a result of a short somewhere in the game.  I kept hitting the right
flipper button and the swamp 5x feature would go off :-).  But I don't think
that was very fair, so I don't count it as a legit bonus.  The machine did,
though, and the bonus got me a replay :-).

--
Lyman F. Sheats Jr.
lfs@mitre.org
lfs@damon.ccs.northeastern.edu
From: bradam@twobits.Eng.Sun.COM (Brad Martinson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: HSII Backglass
Date: 27 Jul 1992 18:08:56 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems Inc., Mountain View, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: twobits

Okay, so Steve is in the car on the backglass.  Fine. So who is the guy 
on the dot matrix when the chick looks in and says "Nice Car!" ?

--
========================================================================
   Brad Martinson        Sun Microsystems        bmartinson@sun.com
#include <std/disclaimers.h>
========================================================================
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: zimerman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jacob Ben-david Zimmerman)
Subject: Looking for a (relatively) cheap Pinbot
Originator: news@ernie.Princeton.EDU
Organization: Princeton University
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 20:19:14 GMT

Hi!  The subject line says it all.  I have no idea if I can even afford
one of these things, as I have no idea what they are running now, but if
anyone out there has one they'd be willing to sell in the northeast (DC
to New Hampshire) I'd love to know about it.  I do know I'd rather buy
one from a private individual than from a distributor...thus this msg!
Thanks.

-JBZimmerman!
-- 
___________           |-Is that Scotch over there?  Hold everything.
     ||               |                -Sean Connery, The Russia House
||   ||acob Zimmerman!+> <zimerman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> INTERNET 
 \===/                |  <zimerman@PUCC>                  BITNET
From: keatesm@cs.man.ac.uk (Martin Keates(MSC RJH))
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Quick Pinball Vote
Keywords: 2-ball multi-ball, million plus ;^) <- is the smiley a key word?
Date: 29 Jul 92 12:41:38 GMT

Ok, here's my list:

5) Elvira
4) Whirlwind
3) Surf'n'Safari
2) TAF

... and ....
(taran-taran-tara)

1) Funhouse

I'm surprised that nobody else has mentioned S'NS yet, I think it's a
brilliant game.
And I'm still not sure whether I prefer TAf or Funhouse, I haven't played a
Funhouse for a few months, but I'm getting well sick of TAF (just from
overplaying it).

Honourable mentions: BOP (I really like this, now I've made the B club :)
    LW3 (I like it, you need someone else to do the gun, but I _like_ the
 flippers, they are extremely easy to control the ball with compared with
 previous DE flippers, so bog off all you moaning minnies who can't adapt)

Interesting that nobody's included BK2K in their list.

Oh, and here's my _worst_ five pins (I've not been playing very long so my
experience is limited, but ...)

5) Batman
4) Star Trek
3) The Simpsons
2) Hurricane

and the worst pile of pinball shit ever ...

1) Phantom of the Opera
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: jimh@pacdata.uucp (Jim Harkins)
Subject: HSII gripes.
Organization: Pacific Data Products
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 18:10:24 GMT

In article <LFS.92Jul19014654@d62avalon.mitre.org> lfs@mitre.org (Lyman F. Sheats Jr.) writes:
>The HSII I play just got cleaned.  The ball now *always* makes it around
>the speed loop from the plunger (go figure :-)

On 2 of the 3 HSII's I (used to) play the reason the ball won't go all the
way around is because that damn ramp doesn't go up far enough.  I for one
am completely disgusted with the game and refuse to play it any more.  It's
fun as hell but much too frustrating.  It's the only game where I can
consistently score under 10 million, and fairly often never even hit the
damn ball once in a game!  A rip off is what it is.

jim

-- 
Never name your character Clint Flicker
--------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Harkins                         [ucsd|uunet]!pacdata!jim
Pacific Data Products               jim@pacdata.com
--------------------------------------------------------------

Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: blowfish@carina.unm.edu (rON.)
Subject: Re: Quick Pinball Vote
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 13:54:01 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque


Top 5 or so.... :)

#1- Xenon. This game got me hooked on pinball. I like it still like :)
#2- Black Knight 2000. I still love playing this one.
#3- TAF. An overall good, fun playing game.
#4- Earthshaker. Another fun playing game.
#5- Pinbot.

r.
From: ung@felix.filenet.com (Bill Ung)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Collecting Pinball Prices
Date: 27 Jul 92 22:20:27 GMT
Reply-To: ung@fritz.filenet.com (Bill Ung)
Organization: FileNet Corp., Costa Mesa, CA

In article <1992Jul21.170118.7686@athena.mit.edu> sao@athena.mit.edu (Andy Oakland) writes:
|In article <1992Jul21.150355.9192@infonode.ingr.com> dale@ingr.com writes:
||I am collecting prices that have been paid for pinball machines....
||
||Machine Name          Condition     Price   Date   Comments
||--------------------- ---------  --------- ------ --------------------
||Black Knight          A - F         $450    4/91  

Using the Pinball Trader-type grading system:

  High Speed (Wms 86)   B+	      $800    5/92

|B+	The playfield is STARTING to show wood where the paint is worn.
|Some screening over playfield insert lenses may start to show wear.

Good luck!

Bill Ung
  ung@filenet.com
From: jasper@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Keith A French)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Quick Pinball Vote
Date: 30 Jul 1992 03:41:13 -0500
Organization: Kansas State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: matt.ksu.ksu.edu

In article <DAVIDB.92Jul29151520@kuwait.gdfwc3> davidb@gdfwc3 (David Brynell) writes:
>
>In article <6324@tekig7.PEN.TEK.COM>, jerryc@tekig7.PEN.TEK.COM (Jerry C Carathers) writes...
>>Well fellow pinheads, how about us generating a mid-year impromtu vote for
>>our top five favorite pinballs of all time. 
>

5. Jokerz
4. Funhouse
3. Bad Cats
2. T2
1. Batman

--
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''    Internet: jasper@matt.ksu.ksu.edu
  K e i t h   A.  F r e n c h                 jasper@ksuvm.ksu.edu
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,      Bitnet: jasper@ksuvm.bitnet
From: ben@monmouth.edu (Bennett Broder)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: (Yet another!) TAF question
Date: 31 Jul 92 20:53:59 GMT
Organization: Monmouth College, W. Long Branch, NJ  07764

In article <1992Jul31.181851.17627@nsisrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> oday@lobster.gsfc.nasa.gov  (Orin Day) writes:
>There is one feature of TAF that, after loads of play, I still
>don't understand.  I know that after a drain the Mansion room
>that is "next up" will sometimes change, but what action sometimes
>changes the "next" room during a ball?  Is this a timed thing? 
>Occasionally the "Lite Extra Ball" window will be flashing, but
>by the time I eventually get the ball into the Chair something
>else may be lit.

Actually, the answer to this one is right on the machine, on the
instruction card.  The mansion room lights are advanced by hitting
the jet bumpers (the round targets in the graveyard).

This question brings up another.  What determines the first room lit
at the start of a game?  It is always either Cousin It or Mamushka,
but I can't see any pattern as to which room it will be.

>Orin 

-- 

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