HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: v051r9bf@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (When will Mergle EVER shut up?)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: More Bride of Pinbot stuff from Mergle
Date: 15 Apr 92 20:27:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

Yesterday I got the ball stuck in the pop-bumper section in the upper 
right hand corner, so instead of tilting the game, I let the machine try
and find it, and then wanted to see if it gave me a free 'seeker' ball
like some other pins do.  It didn't.  

I found that after the third time it tries to find the ball, the face will
move 1/4 rotation to see if the ball is stuck on top of the face.....

So I tilted the game, and recovered my ball.. No harm done, cept I lost 
a ball in my game.   

Next ball, it gets stuck again.  This time, I hit the power switch as it
was turning faces in its third attempt to find the ball.  When I turned
the game back on, the face did not switch back--the game thought it was
on face 1 but it was on face two.  Thus, when I sent the ball up the ramp
the first time, I filled an eyehole but activated the voice.  Now you can't
pop a ball out of her mouth when there's no hole there....so it tries to find
the ball, can't, flips the face, and the ball falls under the game.  Luckily,
any ball that does that finds the Jackpot/Small Wheel trough.  

But my point is----why doesn't the game fix this error when it knows it? 
Even the test listing after turning it on says 50002 rev. p-4 which must
be the face block being out of cycle.  I think it should know what face
is pointing upwards regardless what the mechanics of the game are doing inside.

And why doesn't the find the ball routine include popping both the eyes and 
mouth?  HUH?   :^)

This machine was brand spanking new, too.  Bad right flipper, but new.

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

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

It can make your game easy or hard,
but it can't find the ball.  Hmmm.


...........................................................................
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: aq009@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (David A. Johnson)
Subject: Funhouse "Grand Champion"
Reply-To: aq009@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (David A. Johnson)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 20:03:43 GMT


I was playing Funhouse today and managed to get the three highest scores on
the machine (it was a very good day for me).  But when the high score list
flashed on the display, it first lists a "Grand Champion" and then the four
"highest" scores.  The Grand Champion score was astronomical (around 169
million points) compared to my scores (oh, around 24 million).  :-)

What I'm asking is, what is the "Grand Champion" score anyway?  It seems
like it almost keeps two "highest scores."  So what's the deal?

-- 
_________________         David "Bucko" Johnson         _________________
      "I'm       \     aq009@cleveland.freenet.edu     /   ...no one
   looking for    \        dalton@irie.ais.org        /  seems to have." 
    something...   \   Motto: "Diversity in Injury"  /     -Mudhoney
From: knudsen@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (michael.j.knudsen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: FLASH drop target repair?
Keywords: FLASH maintenance fix repair
Date: 8 Apr 92 17:52:56 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T

A friend just got a Williams FLASH and fixed it up nicely.
But he has problems with the drop targets sometimes failing
to make momentary contact when they drop, so he gets cheated
out of some scoring.

The static contacts work OK, so he gets credit for clearing them all.
What sometimes fails is the pulse contact made as the target is dropping,
by a copper wiper sliding across a sort of PC board.
No matter how he cleans and lubes those contact surfaces,
the targets stop registering after about 24 hours of perfect operation.

What should he do?  Steel wool the PC?  Get it gold-plated?
What is a good lubricant -- TV tuner lube?

BTW, he was impressed with my PHAROAH, where Williams had given up
on those momentary contacts and just used smarter software on the
static contacts.  (Although my static ocntacts don't always work!).

I'm even more grateful that my HIGH SPEED uses micro-switches in all
places where a ball could get stuck if the machine didn't know it was
there to kick it out.
-- 
"Starbase, this is 1702: Suspect exceeded speed-o'-light, over!"
"OK buddy -- slow to impulse!"
	knudsen@ihlpl.att.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: consp03@bingsuns.cc.binghamton.edu (Kriston J. Rehberg)
Subject: REQUEST: Quote in Bride of Pin-Bot
Organization: Binghamton University - Politically Correct Public Ivy
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 16:51:56 GMT

I've recently noticed two seldom-heard quotes in Wms' The Machine:
Bride of Pin-Bot.

QUOTE: "Oh, no"
When you tilt after you've gone down an outlane, you hear an "Oh, no!"
which is deeper and more pitiful sounding than the regular "Oh, no".
I wasn't proud of finding this one.

QUOTE: "Build me" or "Blow me"
I'm not sure about this one.. which is why I'm posting this.  During
attract mode, every 4 or 5 minutes the attract music comes on and she
says something that sounds like "Blow me".  What is she saying there?
The voice sampling rate on these machines is really pathetic.


Kris

--
Kriston J. Rehberg, POD Consultant   INET: consp03@bingsuns.cc.binghamton.edu
Binghamton Computer Services          BIT: CONSP03@BINGVAXA.BITNET
#include <stddisclaimer.h>           FIDO: kris.rehberg at 1:272/94 or 1:272/51
Labra lege:  Hackito ergo sum        Only Amiga makes it possible!
"Your lack of common decency reminds me of a computer" - emacs M-x flame
From: dka@chaos.arh.cdc.com (Dorian Adams x2675)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Miscellaneous
Date: 17 Apr 92 13:54:58 GMT
Article-I.D.: shamash.41244
Reply-To: dka@chaos.arh.cdc.com (Dorian Adams x2675)

In article <1992Apr17.020749.21970@newshub.ariel.yorku.ca>, cs911084@ariel.yorku.ca (NEMO G.G. DE FURIA) writes:
|> Hey, what ever happened to those good old single ball games like Comet, and 
|> its older brother Cyclone?  I really loved those games.  When I get the cash,
|> I think that my first home pin 'll be Comet.  What sound affects did that game
|> have?  The one that I played was turned all the way down.  All that I remember
|> is that the Dunk The Dummy Bonus Multiplier, always said something like "Hey
|> Dummy, Dunk me!".  Can anyone remember any other quotes.

I have a Comet and was playing it last night as a matter of fact.  It is one of the first
games that I learned how to play well, and it is one of my favorite single ball games.

Comet only has 2 quotes that I can think of off the top of my head.
The first is the dunk the dummy  "Hey turkey, Cmon hit me"
and the million shot  " A million "
The rest of the sounds are ducks quacking the Comet ride, shooting gallery and  a host
of other sound effects including the train whistle when you dropped it through the 
outlanes.

|> 
|> Another good thing about Comet was that wild left outlane!  I wonder how many
|> floors were scratched from people all around the world shoving it to the right.
|> Remember when they used to make outlanes like that?  Made for tilting?  

Yea, my floor has a few marks from the sometimes not so gentle nudge to keep the 
ball in play.

|> 
|> Finally, you know what I've always wanted to do but have never been able to
|> because I don't have my own machine?  I've always wanted to take the glass
|> off and run my fingers over the sensors in just the right order to get big
|> points and see all the effects!  Anyone ever try this?  On what game?

I do this sometimes on games I am fixing up. But has my friend Steve has commented
it takes the fun out of discovering a game. I think half the fun of playing a new 
game is discovering the sequences of shots that get you replays.

|> 
|> One more thing, on Fun House, is there some sort of optical sensor in the path
|> towards Rudy's mouth?  I swear that I saw a few times a back spin on a ball 
|> that just barely rolls into that path but doesn't actually nail Rudy in the 
|> mouth, and he still screams "Oww!"

I think that very topic was mentioned before, adn I believe the consensus from 
those lucky enough to currently own one is , that there is an optical sensor.  
Anyways, good luck on all your exams 
|> guys, and wish me luck!

Good luck on your exams

Later.
	Dorian Adams
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: wrl@kepler.unh.edu (William R Letourneau)
Subject: TAF magnets
Organization: University of New Hampshire  -  Durham, NH
Distribution: usa
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 00:49:14 GMT

 Hello all,

 A little question for pinball hardware experts.  Are the power of the magnets
 on TAF adjustible??? We have a machine here at UNH that gets endless hours of
 use.  I being one of the frequent players have two family member places.  The
 machine is so cranked up, that it takes 146,000 for a replay, and 10 bear
 kicks to light the extra ball.  (It kills me when people talk about machines
 with 56,000 replays).  My average was probably around 120,000 a game.  Anyway,
 the service man comes in the other day and "cleans" the machine.  Needless to
 say the play is much faster, but the magnets have become UNREAL!!!!  I now lose
 most of my balls during Seance or Multiball attempts.  It takes balls from near
 the swamp, and whips them across the table and down the left drain.... faster
 than I can even give a horrified shove to the machine.  It has become brutal
 to play.  My average is now about 50,000.
	Thinking it was just me, I watched as a few other "good" players 
 tried to play and they were also chewed up and spit out.  What happened
 to our sweet little pinball machine????


			--Bill

Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: cs202124@umbc5.umbc.edu (cs202124)
Subject: Re: Another TAF bug, or a feature?
Keywords: TAF, reset, sex, lies, videotape
Organization: University of Maryland Baltimore Campus, Academic Computing Services
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 13:47:54 GMT

>In article <17060@fritz.filenet.com> ung (Bill Ung) writes:
>>simply reach under the game, switch it off for a second or two, then
>>flip it back on.  The game will go through the usual test mode that
>>it does at power up or after getting seriously confused (the other
>>bug), however, while doing this, it will KICK BOTH OF THE OTHER BALLS
>>OUT OF THE SWAMP!  They'll find their way to the drain and now you
>>have three balls waiting for plunger shots.  Nice :-)

Yeah, but don't you lose all your credits when you do that?

-John
From: tyager@maxx.UUCP (Tom Yager)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Lethal Weapon 3 and The Getaway
Date: 11 Apr 92 02:31:35 GMT
Organization: New Hampshire Public Access UNIX

While I was at Comdex in Chicago, I took advantage of the chance to visit
a nearby test location. I spotted Data East's Lethal Weapon 3, and Williams'
High Speed II: The Getaway. I don't have time to post a full summary now,
but I think they're both excellent games. High Speed II is a fast, challenging
game with excellent display work and a very clean playfield layout. Lethal
Weapon 3 has stunning backglass art and is the debut of DE's (finally)
full-height dot matrix, and their cover of the C+C Music Factory dance tune
is amazing.

I give them both high marks. DE's game was a little more noticeable for me
because it shined so much brighter (I thought) than either Star Trek or
Hook. I didn't get to see Premier's latest.

More later.
(ty)

-- 
Tom Yager, Technical Editor, BYTE  *  Freelance coin-op reviewer
           Multimedia Lab manager *  Former fire eater
           Author, Addison-Wesley UNIX programming book (Summer, 1991)
           decvax!maxx!tyager, maxx!tyager@bytepb.byte.com
From: knudsen@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (michael.j.knudsen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: BLACKWATER 100
Summary: Clunky?
Date: 10 Apr 92 18:28:37 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T

In article <5042@tekig7.PEN.TEK.COM>, jerryc@tekig7.PEN.TEK.COM (Jerry C Carathers) writes:

> Anyway, it sounds like you got a good deal. However, I bought mine in 1989
> when it was barely a year old for $650. I shopped it out, didn't play it at

Did I say I'm paying $300?  That's less than I've been paying for ho-hum
EM pins lately.

> all, let it sit in my livingroom for a month and took it to a distributer and
> got $1200 trade in for it (one of my more lucritive deals ;^) on a new pin.

Nice.  But since I'm getting BW100 from my local pin shop, I doubt he'll
go for this in the foreseeable future!

> It's all a matter of personal taste, but the playfield is far too clunky for

I'll accept your opinion, but what does "clunky" mean?  That the two playfield
levels are crowded, and you can't get those long sweeping shots that make
Williams pins feel so good (like consecutive loops on High Speed)?
Or that balls keep bumping into everything (related to the above)?

I'd heard "clunky" to describe early SS Stern and Bally games,
where the slingshots and pop bumpers always complete a full stroke
and hit against the metal/wood stops, making a very noisy game with
the glass off.  Also known as "ker-chunky."

While we're here, what does "loose" mean when referring to a machine's
play feel?  I've seen it used to describe pre-Stern Chicago Coin games.
(No, you didn't use it about BW100).

> BW100. The Secret Services were getting the most play (perhaps the beauties in
> the gold mini-skirts and gnarly CFM pumps had something to do with it that
> were walking around the machines giving out free Secret Service toy cars),

And we thought "sexism" was just paint on the glass and playfield....
But seems that one Williams logo could equal the bimbos at that show!

> I did think the captive ball saucers were innovative in that they rev up,
> while halfway kicking the ball out and then release it when the engine gets
> going. Other then that...

Thanks, I hadn't noticed that feature yet.  Sounds like an analog
current driver in the kicker solenoid circuit -- something else
to go wrong :-)  Should be fun to watch.

What I like best is the two honest levels (a la Black Knight) plus
all the extra sky-alleys around the edges, and the 3-D model RR style
scenery.  Wonder what maintenance will be like, compared to Pharoah
and High Speed?

Anyone got a set of rules for the beast?  Hope I get a manual!
-- 
"Starbase, this is 1702: Suspect exceeded speed-o'-light, over!"
"OK buddy -- slow to impulse!"
	knudsen@ihlpl.att.com
From: v051r9bf@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (When will Mergle EVER shut up?)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Bride of Pinbot Loop Timers
Date: 7 Apr 92 18:53:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In order to satisfy my appetite for a BK2000 U-Turn Loop type of shot, I've
taken a liking to The Machine/Bride of Pinbot's two loops--the left loop 
which increases 25K, 50K, 100K, 500K+lite extra ball  and the right loop 
which increases 25K, 50K, 100K, 500K+lite jackpot. 

Are the timers on these loops operator-settable?  It seems to me that the 
25K and 50K timers are very short, while our 100K light stays on much longer.
(Not really complaining there!  :^)    

It seems backwards to me that you have all the time in the world to light
an important feature of the game when it took tons of skill to hit the 
loop three times in 8 seconds altogether!  What usually happens is I'll
hit the loops every few seconds, and collect the 50K and 25K awards over
and over instead of advance it.  But if I do ever advance it to 100K, I
light the extra ball or jackpot nearly every time.

I would estimate our 25K and 50K lights stay on about 6-8 seconds, while
the 100K light stays on about twice as long.

If I remember right, BK2000's U-Turn light stays lit 8 seconds after each loop
regardless of point level.
.........................................................................

--Mergle                                William L. Priester Jr.
                                        State University of NY at Buffalo
                                        V051R9BF@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu
UB--Home of the most April Fool's
Day Newspaper Parodies.

UB--Home of the most tiring and
overused literary devices.

...........................................................................
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: gracedc@craft.camp.clarkson.edu (Damon C. Grace)
Subject: Funhouse laugh
Organization: Clarkson University
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 06:43:33 GMT

	I was playing Funhouse tofay and during a midnight
multi-ball I got all three balls in the kicker on the lower right
at about the same time. I then found out the hard way that the game
couldn't handle having all three balls there! The game tried to kick
them out, which popped them into the air, still beneath the table level
and then the balls would settle back in. The game would immediately try
again. I was getting 10k for each time the kicker activated. My friends
and I were tempted to leave the game at the current 8 million and let
it keep going to the grand score of 110 million! Ended up we had to raise
the back end of the game pretty high so that the top ball could roll
down during the pop. Once the top ball was out, the others were kicked
out easily by the game. Anyone else ever see this?
From: larry@chinet.chi.il.us (Larry DeMar)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: SCORPION query
Date: 6 Apr 92 16:49:19 GMT
Organization: Chinet - Public Access UNIX

In article <204325@unix.cis.pitt.edu> dtate@unix.cis.pitt.edu (David M Tate) writes:
>Anyone remember a Williams widebody called SCORPION, which had some sort
>of monster mechanized tank-tread vehicle artwork?  This was one of the
>earlier multi-ball games, just after FIREPOWER, as I recall.
>
>My question has to do with scoring.  I'm trying to remember what the 
>incentive for multi-ball was, and I believe that it was a scoring bonus
>based on how long (in seconds) you managed to keep both balls alive.  It
>didn't do any good to hold balls, if I remember correctly, although it 
>may simply have kept counting as long as targets were being hit.
>
>Does anyone remember the details of how multi-ball scoring worked on
>this machine?

The game would show the "seconds of multiball" in a timer in
the "ball in play" display (the ball would be moved to the units
column of each player's score).  The return shot to the top lanes
(up the left side) had 3 lamps, a white one, an orange one and
a red one.  Keeping multiball alive for 15 seconds would lite
the white one for points (I think 25,000), for 35 seconds would 
lite the orange one for Extra Ball, and for 45 seconds would lite
the red one for special.  At the end of any ball that had multiballs
you would recieve 1,000 points for each second of multiball play.
If you hit the 5-bank during multiball, this would double to
2,000 for each second.
-- 
------------------------------------------
Email:  chinet!larry@clout.uchicago.edu
From: jerryc@tekig7.PEN.TEK.COM (Jerry C Carathers)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: BLACKWATER 100
Date: 10 Apr 92 15:42:41 GMT
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton,  OR.

In article <1992Apr9.160112.5126@cbnewsd.cb.att.com> knudsen@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (michael.j.knudsen) writes:
>As part of a lousy deal on FLIP-A-CARD, I got a great buy on
>a Bally BLACKWATER 100 in very good shape, with maybe a few problems.
>
>I'd like to hear anyone's opinions and experiences with this game,
>and of course any tips for playing strategies.
>This will be my first S-S Bally (won't pick it up for a couple weeks),
>and my most modern machine, being dated 1988.  Was this just before
>Williams bought out Bally's pin division?  Any comments?
>-- 

I had a BLACKWATER 100 about three years ago. It may one day be collectable as
it was indeed Bally's last release before the big buyout. Escape from the Lost
World preceeded it and Bally/Williams' Truck Stop followed it which was a
hibrid of Bally and Williams components.

Anyway, it sounds like you got a good deal. However, I bought mine in 1989
when it was barely a year old for $650. I shopped it out, didn't play it at
all, let it sit in my livingroom for a month and took it to a distributer and
got $1200 trade in for it (one of my more lucritive deals ;^) on a new pin.
 
It's all a matter of personal taste, but the playfield is far too clunky for
me and I detest banjo music. For the record, Bally almost couldn't give those
away. I was at the Reno game exposition in February of 1988 when DE was
showing Secret Service, Williams was showing Cyclone and Bally was showing
BW100. The Secret Services were getting the most play (perhaps the beauties in
the gold mini-skirts and gnarly CFM pumps had something to do with it that
were walking around the machines giving out free Secret Service toy cars),
Cyclones were also getting heavy play and a long row of BW100's stood
hauntingly alone with an occasional tumbleweed blowing by and crickets in the
background (you get the picture :^).

I did think the captive ball saucers were innovative in that they rev up,
while halfway kicking the ball out and then release it when the engine gets
going. Other then that...


		      Just my $.02,

		      Jerry (Mr. Pinball) Carathers

-- 
Internet: jerryc@tekig7.MAP.TEK.COM
___          __   __                __                        __  __
|_ ) | |\ | |__) |__| |   |      | (__     |\/| \ /    |   | |_  |_    
|    | | \| |__) |  | |__ |__    | ___)    |  |  |     |__ | |   |__
From: v051r9bf@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (When will Mergle EVER shut up?)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Just my addition to the software discussion
Date: 9 Apr 92 18:58:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

With everyone talking about slow CPU's and Data East's overload of the 
system with too much going on, I got a little break in my Whirlwind
game last night.  

I had the million shot lit, and the 'storm' lock was lit also.  I sent 
the ball from the lower right flipper through the left loop around the game,
used the upper right flipper to send the ball through the upper loop, and
sent the ball around the upper ramp, when it came down, the ball spun off
the discs, onto the left flipper, and I shot it up the right ramp to calm
the storm.  

So then it took about 10 seconds after the ball was resting in the lock
to tell me:
1.  250,000 3-Way-Combo
2.  1-Million (for the ramp shot)
3.  Replay (which I just won)
4.  Extra Ball Lit (The ramp gave me 3 tolls)
5.  Skyway Tolls 7 + 60000  
6.  2-balls locked message

At least it told me and kept track of everything.  :^)    A remarkable job
by Williams.  It felt like I was getting the Mega Door Bonus, or something!

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

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

I thought the Big Bang would
be a tougher shot for 39 Million.
The same sequence on Bride of Pinbot
gets ya 750,000 and a metamorphosis.
Sexual Point Discrimination?!?  ;^)

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