HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bi011@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bill King)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Fish Tales question
Date: 10 Jan 1993 02:58:52 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: bi011@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bill King)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, Jayson_Hahn@hq-bbs.wisdom.bubble.org (Jayson Hahn) says:

>In a message dated Sat  9 Jan 93 15:00, Bi011@cleveland.freenet.edu (bill K
>wrote:
> BK> For Fish Tales, when you shoot the far right lane, shouldn't the ball
> BK> go all the way around and come back down the left lane in most
> BK> situations?
>The ball only goes all the way around when the "Long Cast" is lit. You
>light it by shooting the ball through the right part of the boat, then it
>hits the switch in the left return lane lighting the "Long Cast" for a
>period of time.
>Jayson Hahn

Thanks to Jayson and everyone who responded to my question. Unfortuntaely,
it doesn't "fix" the gate. The ball goes through the gate when, and ONLY
when you shot the ball to start off. If you die and Autocast comes on, the
ball will not go through. If you shoot the far right lane, even if Long cast
is lit, it will not go through. The gate only lets it through when you first
start, and even then it slows down the ball. I'm wondering if instead the
gate is somehow just "slow" in that it can't get up in time when I shoot
the right lanes when lit. Is this a viable possibility? Also unfortunately,
the repair guy still doesn't think there is anything wrong. I tell ya,
age descrimination is alive and well here in the U S of A. Just because
I'm in my early 20's, I must know nothing from this guy's point of view or
something.....
Bill

-- 
Hey, hey champ, was she a "whoo"?  No, she was a "WHOOOOOO!" --Ric Flair
From: sigma@degas.ipl.rpi.edu (Kevin Martin)
Subject: Re: FishTales Super Jackpot
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 06:24:05 GMT

holland@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Rich Holland) writes:
>bowen@leland.Stanford.EDU (Bowen P Kerins) writes:
>>	From what I saw, yup, the jackpots are all double, including the Super
>>Jackpot.  Strange that one simple little shot is worth 2OO million points...
>>though I suppose the same could be said about the 9 ball in Cue Ball Wizard.
>Where's the 9ball in CBW?  Also, how do you make the 8 ball shoot up to the
>targets?

The 9 Ball is the lowest drop target on the upper right side.  You make the
8 ball shoot up to the targets by knocking the cue ball into it.  Perhaps
there's no cue ball installed on your machine?

Is that REALLY supposed to be an optional feature (the cue ball)?!  Seems
to make about as much sense as the option of lowering the outlane rail on
the right side of T2, or an option of, say, leaving out a flipper or two.

-- 
Kevin Martin
sigma@ipl.rpi.edu
"I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY didn't you BELIEVE me?!"
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: mikec@hfglobe.intel.com (Mike Coleman)
Subject: EB in <HSIIZ  Video Mode
Organization: Intel Corporation
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 19:44:17 GMT

s 

is there any login - logic - in the way the EB comes up
during video mode on HSII?

Thganks - thanks (new terminal, can't find the backspacE!)

Mike
From: kahlerm@sumax.seattleu.edu (Michael Kahler)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Big Guns
Date: 6 Jan 1993 12:33:59 -0800
Organization: Seattle University
NNTP-Posting-Host: sumax.seattleu.edu

In article <1if7gkINN7nb@uwm.edu> despair@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Craig Andrew Tollifson) writes:
>Okay, is the big green button thing between the flippers suppossed to pop up
>or something when you're invincible or what?  I think the machine I've been
>devoting so many quarters and hours on is flawed.  Otherwise I don't see a
>point to becoming "invicible."
>
>Also, I'm curious about point earning tips for this oldie.  I usually go for
>multi-ball right away and try to rescue the princess.
>

Yes, the flipper post is part of the timed invincible sequence,
obtained by loading both cannons, shooting the center gun, then
re-loading the lit cannon.  Invincible consisted of 15 seconds
(settable?) of the post being up, the gate on the right drain open, and
unlimited kickbacks on the left drain.  

Learn the tower bonus skill shot; it's worth 100K times the number of
the ball used on the ball in play.  This means for each locked ball or
extra ball on a given ball in play, the tower bonus incremented by
100K, up to 1 million max. By achieving several multi-balls in a ball,
the 1 million is easily reached.

Both the cannons can easily be loaded from the flipper on it's side.
Hold the ball on a raised flipper, drop the flipper then almost
instantly raise it again and the ball will head straight for the
cannon.  

I assume you play a game that holds the loaded balls;  several i have
seen release the locked balls as soon as a new ball is set in the
plunger alley; impossible to score a multi-ball.  

I've topped 30 million on a fully functional game; nice as the replay
scores are vaild the second and succesive times around.  One not nice
thing though; anyone topping 9,999,990 gets the first highest score,
no matter what score was actually achieved after turning it over.

Mike Kahler
kahlerm@sumax.seattleu.edu
From: gbolcer@kleber.ICS.UCI.EDU (Gregory Alan Bolcer)
Subject: Pricing
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Date: 5 Jan 93 00:59:32 GMT

Does anyone know what an A- condition Black Knight 2000 is
going for nowaday?  I might have to let mine go to pay for tuition.

Greg
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: schwartz@piccolo.cs.uiuc.edu (Bradley W. Schwartz)
Subject: Re: Pinball in Annapolis? (or anywhere)
Organization: The Island of Misfit Toys
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 19:50:09 GMT

In article <6j+3fgd@rpi.edu>, sigma@degas.ipl.rpi.edu (Kevin Martin) writes:
|> earl@rtsg.mot.com (Brent R. Earl) writes:
|> >I usually go to the yellow pages, and look for amusement devices.  I
|> >then call around and ask whether the company places machines for play,
|> >then whether or not they own a machine that I am looking for.  Then, I
|> >ask where the machine is at.  (saved me from driving 40 miles to the
|> >nearest TAF that my brother knew about).
|> 
|> Look under:
|> 
|> Amusement Devices, Amusement Places
|> Shopping Centers (malls often have an arcade which may or may not be listed
|> separately under the above heading)
|> Bowling Alleys (I have yet to find ANY bowling alley without at least one
|> pin!)
|> Billiards Halls, Pool Halls
|> Miniature Golf (Putt-Putt, etc)
|> 


For those of you who haven't lived in the Crofton/Bowie area to which
the original poster referred, its pretty much a pinball wasteland.  The
list that Brent Earl provides above is very revealing, though.

I don't think there is *any* pinball in Crofton at all.  There is a 
bowling alley on a side street just south of "the circle", but this may
well be the one bowling alley in the world without a pin (don't know for
certain)!

In Bowie, you  could check out the cinema that's a block off of 450;
there's a decent-sized games area in there with a few pins (I didn't see
which ones).  Bowie has two theaters at least, but I've never been to 
the others.

Then there's the Annapolis Mall (on the far west side that 450 runs into).
There's an arcade there with some pins, too.  They also have a very good
Taco Bell, but I guess that's another newsgroup....


bradley s.
From: rettigca@ucbeh.san.uc.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Funhouse for IBM?!?
Date: 12 Jan 93 23:58:36 EST
Distribution: world
Organization: Univ. of Cincinnati

I received the demo of Tristan for IBM yesterday. I already have the full game,
but on the demo I noticed something strange and exciting. I know that the
company (Amtek?) is going to produce Eight Ball Deluxe for the Mac and IBM but
on the inside of the sampler next to the EBD logo (coming soon) was to other
title names. Premier's or Gottlieb's Royal Flush (circa '76/'77) which I have
never played and the best choice (next to TAF) FUNHOUSE (Williams '91). Does
anyone know if these two will be coming out as stated??? I'd kill for Funhouse
on my PC.


Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: "Robert Baker" <rbaker@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: Re: Need Rubbers!
Organization: The Ohio State University
X-Nupop-Charset: English
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 11:39:21 GMT

I don't know how used your rubbers are but in case they haven't cracked yet
you might try cleaning them with trichloroethane (a good brain cell destroyer
in your hardware store for about $5)  The TCE is great for restoring the
bounce as well as the look of the rubber.

a little warning ... make sure you apply the TCE with Q-tips or with a clean
rag.  If you try to soak your rubbers or plastics in the stuff you'll end up
with a concoction the consitency of eggnog ;-(
--
  Robert"not Bob"Baker  -  beta version husband, father, technician, typist
          please send your comments, ideas and upgrade suggestions to
                       rbaker@magnus.ohio-state.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: hempling@quorum.com (David B. Hempling)
Subject: FishTales Super Jackpot
Originator: hempling@parker
Organization: Quorum Software Systems, Inc.
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 00:45:31 GMT

Well I finally got to see just how a score over 1,000,000,000 is
achieved in FishTales. Activating the Super Jackpot light on
the captive ball gives 100,000,000 for each hit as long as it
stays active. 

Unfortunately I didn't do this myself. I was merely watching 
someone else do it and I didn't catch the sequence of events
that lead to the Super Jackpot's activation.

Could someone please explain how to activate the FishTales
Super Jackpot?

Thanks!
dave
hempling@quorum.com

Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: sigma@degas.ipl.rpi.edu (Kevin Martin)
Subject: Re: Pinball in Annapolis? (or anywhere)
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 06:32:13 GMT

earl@rtsg.mot.com (Brent R. Earl) writes:
>I usually go to the yellow pages, and look for amusement devices.  I
>then call around and ask whether the company places machines for play,
>then whether or not they own a machine that I am looking for.  Then, I
>ask where the machine is at.  (saved me from driving 40 miles to the
>nearest TAF that my brother knew about).

Look under:

Amusement Devices, Amusement Places
Shopping Centers (malls often have an arcade which may or may not be listed
separately under the above heading)
Bowling Alleys (I have yet to find ANY bowling alley without at least one
pin!)
Billiards Halls, Pool Halls
Miniature Golf (Putt-Putt, etc)

-- 
Kevin Martin
sigma@ipl.rpi.edu
"I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY didn't you BELIEVE me?!"
From: kjohnson@csugrad.cs.vt.edu (Keefer)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Tristan players?
Date: 9 Jan 93 04:38:10 GMT
Organization: VA Tech CS Dept., Blacksburg, VA, USA

Well, I wouldn't say I HATED Tristan...  It was a semi-decent attempt at
a pinball game.  I've only seen the game in SVGA mode, and my biggest
qualm with it is the fact that the ball is about the size of the flippers.
This causes great difficulty in aiming.  %)

Pinball Dreams is excellent.  Pinball Fantasies could be so much better
than Dreams except that it's terribly bug-ridden.  (Maybe that makes it
more true-to-life.  %) )  If you read comp.sys.amiga.games a while back,
you probably saw my posting(s) on that matter.  But I DID get a nice
apology email from Andreas Axelson, the main programmer.  

Even with all its problems, though, Pinball Fantasies (and Dreams) is in
just a totally different league than Tristan.  You can't fairly compare
the 2 given the capabilities of the Amiga vs. the IBM.

later,
keith
-- 
|//----------------------\\|  // Amiga!|"I heard it was exciting - just like  |
|/     Keith  Johnson     \|\X/  "It's |a spike in volleyball!"               |
|\CS Major--Pinball addict/|really not |                                      |
|\\----------------------//|that bad!" |      - Kelly on "Saved By the Bell"  |
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: smiley@akasha.eng.hou.compaq.com (Colin Smiley)
Subject: Re: Star Wars problem
Organization: Compaq Computer Corporation
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 20:13:23 GMT



In article <1993Jan6.185518.13160@PacBell.COM> sgsimon@srv.PacBell.COM (Steve Simon) writes:
   I was playing a few games of Star Wars yesterday, when I
   ran into a strange problem.  The machine was just going into
   it's "Shoot the Death Star" mode, and had lowered the door
   to the deathstar.  I immediately shot the ball in, but it
   never registered!  The machine kept going through it's "Shoot
   the Death Star" routine, with the big arrow on the display
   pointing to the still open door.

   [...]

   Has anybody seen a SW lose a ball like this before?  Do you 
   suppose it fell off of the track inside the machine, or is
   there simply some internal resting place (ie. inside the DS) that
   the software doesn't know to check?


As a matter of fact I have seen this.  Some friends and I were playing
a Star Wars right after it had been serviced (We figured we couldn't
go wrong that way).  Anyway, after we had played about 6 or so games
on the machine, it started to lose the ball when it was shot into the
Death Star with pretty much the same results as before.  Additionally,
the game started to go into a random tilt mode.  The tilt was not set
particularly sensitively, but for some reason the machine would tilt
without us really touching it.  It even tilted on me when I shot it
into the pop bumbers.  

Well, since the service person had just left, we just gave up, turned
the machine off, and played Fish Tales instead.

I can offer an off the cuff opinion after playing Star Wars and Fish
Tales so soon after one another, though.  I found I enjoyed Fish Tales
more, even though my average score was higher on Star Wars.  (To be
fair though, my highest score on Fish Tales was better than my highest
score on Star Wars...I'm just not consistant :-) )


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

Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: sbb@panix.com (Steve Baumgarten)
Subject: Re: White Water - TIPS
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 16:05:36 GMT

In article <C0qCvn.Ct0@cantua.canterbury.ac.nz> henwoogr@elec.canterbury.ac.nz (Gazza) writes:

   I say that this game has a high quick-to-bore factor. 

Funny, I got exactly the same feeling.  It seems like I can play this
game all day long, and I've only recently cut way down on my total
game time because I'm purposely going for harder shots, trying to get
the Vacation bonus, that kind of thing.  Otherwise I've scored up near
2B points, and I think it was lack of stamina that stopped me there,
rather than because the game suddenly got very challenging.

The high score on the machine at Broadway is well over 3B points...

So you might want to play at least until you see the extremely goofy
"Vacation" bonus -- you'll know it when you get it, believe me -- and
then see whether TAF is free...

(I should also note that the game itself is quite a lot of fun to
play, but you really can get nearly an infinite score just by shooting
for whatever happens to be lit; no real strategy is needed.  If a
super-high score is your goal, just lock up three balls for multiball,
then hit all three over Insanity Falls for triple jackpot.  Don't
worry if you lose one ball while this is happening -- you only need to
keep two in play.  Then cradle one on the right flipper, shoot for "No
Way Out" to pop the ball back up to the top flipper, shoot Insanity
Falls for another triple jackpot, repeat ad infinitum.  Ho hum.)

Looking forward to CREATURE, that's for sure...   :-)

--
    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
From: josh@cqs.washington.edu (Josh Hayes)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Longevity of games
Date: 4 Jan 93 17:58:49 GMT
Article-I.D.: pogo.josh.726170329
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Washington
NNTP-Posting-Host: pogo.cqs.washington.edu

sbb@panix.com (Steve Baumgarten) writes:

> victim@eskimo.com (Tony Garton) writes

>   yea, but it's a DE, which means it will self-destruct two weeks after
>   it's on location...

>Oh fooey on this!  Broadway got its WHITEWATER in and one day later
>Big Foot had a nervous breakdown and started shedding parts (he wasn't
>bolted together all so very well, and pieces started dropping off).  

		[...]

>I don't see that Data East games fail so much more frequently or
>sooner than Williams games; anyone have any hard evidence to the
>contrary?

		[...]

>How about people with wider experience than just what their local
>pizzeria or bar gets in?  Let's see if we can collect some facts here,
>rather than just a bunch of anecdotes...

I asked the operator of the arcade nearest the U of Washington - the
one where Phaedrus holds court--er, where Phaedrus plays, that's 
what I meant...this place typically has around seven machines,
generally three DE, three Williams, and a Bally. They've never
had a Premier/Gottlieb, that I recall.

He told me two things I found interesting:

1) The reliability of DE versus Williams/Bally is about a tossup;
probably Bally has the worst record but that's primarily because
he had a Gilligan's Island in for a time and it was a real dog. The
DE machines he's had (Star Trek, LWIII, Star Wars, most recently),
although they FEEL ticky-tacky, tend to go on working just fine,
although they DO get out of adjustment rather quickly.

2) Williams pins are getting LESS reliable as they get more complex.
Fish Tales has had significant downtime, and even TAF had some bad
times not so long ago. He attributes it to the fact that there are
just that many more things that can be broken.

I have noticed nothing that would contradict his findings, but then,
he hasn't gotten in Hook, or Black Rose, or any of the other dogs
mentioned in this forum over the last year. I can also attest that
the ONE Cue Ball Wizard I see regularly burns out lights at a 
phenomenal rate, especially in the wagon wheel, but in general is
a very robust machine. So far. Knock wood (knock, knock).

There's ONE data point....

Josh Hayes
--
  Josh Hayes, Quantitative Sciences HR-20 U of Washington
  josh@mowgli.cqs.washington.edu             206 543-5004
  The harder they come, the harder they fall, one and all
From: jrt@gap.Eng.Sun.COM (Joel Tornatore)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Dr Who WIZARD
Date: 4 Jan 93 18:22:07 GMT
Reply-To: jrt@gap.Eng.Sun.COM
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: gap.eng.sun.com


I finally found a Dr. Who, but was unable to play it! (This was
a couple of weeks ago, just before Christmas). The guy playing
the machine was incredible! First of all, his first ball score was
9.4 Billion and took no less than 20 minutes. And he got at least
400 loops. He was playing a 4-player game, so there was no
chance of me seeing his final score.

His style of play was fantastic. He has a very calm wide stance,
standing close to the machine. He never shook it, but *slid* the
machine gently if the ball was not going where he wanted. There
were nice smooth marks on the carpet from his sliding the machine
back and forth. The machine did have a tilt (he tilted once). My
favorite aspect of his play was when the ball went down the right
drain lane: He would slide the machine to the right when the ball
was just above the lower tip of the flipper (as it rolled down
towards the outhole). The ball would essentially stay stationary,
and the left flipper would move underneath it. Flip-flip, and he
was playing again.

If anyone is around Keystone on El Camino in Mountain View/Sunnyvale,
check out the high score!

joel
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
From: earl@rtsg.mot.com (Brent R. Earl)
Subject: Re: Pinball in Annapolis? (or anywhere)
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 15:19:21 GMT

I usually go to the yellow pages, and look for amusement devices.  I
then call around and ask whether the company places machines for play,
then whether or not they own a machine that I am looking for.  Then, I
ask where the machine is at.  (saved me from driving 40 miles to the
nearest TAF that my brother knew about).
From: jrt@gap.Eng.Sun.COM (Joel Tornatore)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Pinball at Macy's
Date: 4 Jan 93 18:48:17 GMT
Reply-To: jrt@gap.Eng.Sun.COM
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: gap.eng.sun.com


Sometime ago someone mentioned pinball machines were for sale at
Macy's in San Francisco. I was there yesterday, and checked it out.

ON the top floor of the Men's Macy's (yes, there are two; one for Women/
Cosmetics/Accessories/Kitchen, and one for Men/Electronics) you will
find Macy's Vintage Arcade. They have about a dozen pinball games,
all priced at $2149. The games I remember are:
	Eight Ball Deluxe (broken right flipper!)
	Harlem Globe Trotters (score displays not lit)
	Pinbot
	Sorcerer
	Pinball Wizard (Tommy)
	Captain  Fantastic
	Spanish Eyes
	F-14 Tomcat

I forget the rest. The machines were in okay shape. Pinball Wizard had
wood showing in at least 6 places on the playfield: around the top hole,
and around each of the bumpers. I didn't look at the others too closely,
but all looked great from ten feet away.

They also had a number of old Coke machines and two very nice baseball
arcade games (over $3000 each!). Check it out!

joel
From: Rob_Rosenhouse@hq-bbs.wisdom.bubble.org (Rob Rosenhouse)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject: Re: Data East stole my replay :-)
Date: 10 Jan 93 01:22:24 GMT
Organization: Headquarters BBS (Morristown, NJ)

In a message dated Sat  9 Jan 93 20:15, Gary@aragorn.inmos.co.uk (gary Mort
wrote:

 GM> In one game I captured the
 GM> ball
 GM> on the left flipper, turned around to take a drink from my pint
 GM> glass, and 
 GM> when I turned back to the table the ball had gone ! It soon became


 GM> When the game had finished a message appeared on the dot matrix
 GM> display
 GM> along the lines of "current game replay percentage : 8%" and on the
 GM> line below "desired replay percentage: 7%" and then "Press start to
 GM> increase
 GM> score replay from 40M to 45M". Needless to say, I wasn't sure what
 GM> was
 GM> going on, and I wasn't too keen to press the button to up the replay
 GM> score.
 GM> After about 30 seconds the display went away. When I pressed the
 GM> start button
 GM> to have my replay, I noticed that it had disappeared as well !

 GM> So come on Data East, what's going on ? What happened to my replay ?
 GM> You owe me 50p (or at least give me my free play back) !!!!

 GM> Has this happened to anyone else ? Any explainations ? Software bug ?

What seems to have happed is that the power somehow cycled to the game. 
This would explain losing the ball while trapped on the flipper.  When the
machine came back to life, it gave you the 'Adjust Replay' stuff.  All
recent DE games seem to do this IF you cycle power AND the replay
percentage is too high or low.  I remember hearing that Williams has the
'patent' on self-percentaging games, and DE now requires a no-brainer hit
on the credit button to make the adjustment.  Very odd that it is
programmed to do it on a power cycle and when the coin door is opened. 
Seems to me that it should only do it when the door is opened.  Otherwise,
it could be a strategy to power cycle a game before playing it, in hopes of
lowering the replay value.
 

-- Via DLG Pro v0.995

If responding by EMAIL, please use the address below:
 
Rob_Rosenhouse@hq-bbs.wisdom.bubble.org
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