I like to repair games and share what I've learned and experienced with others. This is a "low-tech", unedited array videos - I know it could be fancier if it was edited, but my goal is to bring you "reality pinball repair" - single shot, continuous takes of what I'm doing. This is my video blog of my work on pinball machines and everything pinball and arcade related. I hope you enjoy it. Please visit my site at: PinballHelp.com/ for more or on Facebook at Facebook.com/Pinballhelp
I feel like the 90s to late 2000s were the absolute pinnacle of pinball design. They had rulesets that were deep without being obtuse, and they nailed the concept of "easy to learn, hard to master." With more modern games, it feels like pin designers have abandoned that philosophy because they feel they have to "give collectors their money's worth", and to them, that means adding so many layers to the rules that it takes literal _months_ to learn every nuance of just a single game. Now that's nice and all for casual play, but when it comes to competitive, that's where I fear this design philosophy is starting to add a "buy to win" aspect. After all, someone who owns a modern game is far more likely to put up a monster score than someone who's only played that game on location a few times, simply by virtue of knowing all of the little hidden rules and mechanics that a casual player isn't likely to find by chance, and that even RU-vid tutorials aren't likely to cover. For instance, as someone who owns zero games, it was months before I learned that the Impostor Battle on Godzilla even _existed,_ much less how to activate it, even after watching several RU-vid tutorials on the game. Now imagine me going up against someone who owns their own Godzilla, and as such likely knows all about the Impostor Battle, along with all of the other features I might _still_ lack the slightest clue about. Assuming equal skill levels, who do you think is going to have the better game? Contrast that with a typical game from the late 2000s back, where the rules are usually simple enough that a decent player can learn nearly everything there is to know about the game after just a handful of plays, At that point, the competitive advantage of rules knowledge goes out the window. Then, luck notwithstanding (because, as much as some may try to deny it, luck has always been, and will always continue to be, a non-trivial factor in _any_ game of pinball), victory comes down to which player has the most effective strategy, makes the most accurate shots, and recovers from mistakes the most effectively - as competitive pinball _should_ be. At the end of the day pinball should be a game of _skill,_ not a game of who can memorize the 50+-page rulebooks of dozens of tables and then spend virtually unlimited time putting that knowledge into practice.
@PinballHelp --- Hello, I'm interested in setting up a cabinet-free arcade system in my living room for playing from the couch. I want the monitor to be in a shell like a TV, and if possible a remote for turning power on/off and menu (settings/diagnostics) navigation. On a swivel that allows horizontal and vertical orientation mounted on a stand (table/ bench/cart) that allows moving it around the room when not being used, as I will have other displays and don't want to keep moving the couch and speakers, moving just the screens is easiest. I want the stand to also be able to hold consolized arcade boards that can be interchangeably connected to the monitor, speakers, and to the controls (joysticks and buttons, gun, etc.), like using consoles with a TV. I have no skill or experience with wood, metal, etc. or electronics, do the things I want sound like something I could pay for and how feasible does it sound? I live in southern New Jersey if it matters. Are there individuals or companies that do this kind of work? Also, how hard is it to find people that can consolize arcade boards, with nice cases, for quality of life and ease of use? I'm a casual guy and don't want a bunch of exposed wires and complicated stuff, just simple like using a console. Also, guys that can modify the boards (and monitor/speakers if necessary) for best audio and video quality?
I would love to see a clever slow motion video that shows all the rules. I think the issue is not the complexity, but the lack of good visual tutorials
Having an issue I just cant figure out, game is auto plunging balls, for multiball its spitting 5 balls instead of 3. After a game it will randomly spit out all the balls into the playfield. Also dont understand the "diode on terminal strip" replacing the shooter lane switch because the last person to work on it hacked it together. There should be no diode directly on the switch correct?
Hello i have a problem, when i try to drop catch the ball it get stuck in the top part of the flipper (the part nearest the central hole) instead of sliding towards the bottom of the flipper, and another little problem is that i struggle to microtapping the flippers, it will not catch se signal, can you please help me with this problems? at least the first is the most annoyng, sorry for my bad english, Salute from Italy.
The right flipper on my 1978 Williams Phoenix recently started to have issues. When the flipper button is hit there is a brief delay before the flipper goes up and it also only goes up slowly once it goes up. I haven’t seen anyone troubleshoot a similar looking flipper issue and I’m not sure if I need to replace the coil. I haven’t replaced anything yet but am inclined to just do a whole new assembly to cover everything so I don’t have to keep reworking it.
I am considering getting a virtual pinball machine such as an "UltraPin." I like the idea of having multiple tables in one cabinet, and it's all solid state, because the playfield and backglass are all emulated with computer graphics.
On my Black Hole pinball I didn't add a ground wire to the MPU board, it's already being fed ground from the power supply board by two separate wires on the connector. And anyway after I found out about how you are supposed to add a second ground wire (and 5v wire) to the MPU-to-control board connector, I did that and then took out all my extra ground wires except the one to the control board.
This is exactly what i want to do with my Strikes and Spares (Bally) pinball machine. I'd like to have it play my Royalty free 70's vibe music. Then have some callouts when you get a strike, spare, etc. (Think Daphne from Dragon's Lair, "Ooooh! A Strike!"). Very interested to learn more and try it for my machine.
I watch a lot of these videos about the old Bally machines I remember them they were fun to play and also watch other people play them so many videos on Valley machines I wish somebody take the time and play one of the machines for about an hour or more commentate as they are being played now that would be a definitely a damn good RU-vid video I don't know why the hell someone never thought of that can't play them no more unless you privately owned one next best thing is watching somebody play them again make some damn videos of people playing them da da da
This is a great video as I am new to em machines. I have an oxo like the one in your video. I am partially restoring it and it would be great if you could send a video and as many pictures you can of it. Yours seems to be in great shape.
I've had the same problem with UV-cured clear resin used in a 3D printer. It never stopped beeing sticky, not even after extra curing in a UV-chamber. I put a layer of gloss varnish on the part and it helped.
Comment from a retired dentist - this is similar to the material dental “bonding” agents are made of. The long ago UV light cured materials have an oxygen inhibition layer on the surface that leaves the sticky feeling on the surface. I believe a little alcohol will remove this layer down to the cured layer.
I had the same thing happen with a modern game when another operator had opened my game and left me something… right against the tilt bob 😂 Thankfully the clues were a lot more clear!
Actually, if you know the Haunted House sounds by heart, you immediately recognise the tilt tune ! These games can be demanding at times. I once had a dead flipper eventhough the end of stroke had been cleaned and tuned up. Despite shiny contacts and correct adjustments, the power was not passing through ! Unbelievable. But we love these machines don't we?
Good riddance to mine. I loved the lightning on the back glass. I hated this old as dirt machine and ALL the boards and solenoids and FIRE and wear and glitchy crud. Buh buy
Hey there! My dad purchased this machine for me and my family about 15 years ago, and a few years ago it stopped working. It turns on, with a few lights, and make a couple loud noises when switching on. I know you can’t give me a straight answer obviously, but do you have any ideas to point me in the right direction? I’d like to get it fixed for him. Thanks so much!
Hello. Im new to your channel and am enjoying your content. Bought my first pinball machine in January of this year. My Right flippers were not working and I cleaned the contacts on the EOS switch. Now, the right flipper is double flipping and sometimes flipping on its own? Is there a certain distance the EOS switches have to be apart from each other? It's not like I mangled them...any thoughts? Thank you.
Check all the switches and make sure they're properly gapped... also make sure when you hit the flipper buttons you're doing it softly.. I've seen flippers "double flip" when people slap the buttons due to the swich stacks bouncing.
Will this also work on cabinets? Currently working on a Capcom Breakshot and both the cabinet and playfield have really stubborn spots. Unfortunately on the playfield most of the bottom half has mylar so I'm not sure if I can clean those areas.
I played Roller Derby a lot I'm the early 80s. If you got over 100 games, the barkeeper paid you 10 dollars but you had to turn the machine of and on that reset the game counter.
I'm not sure if a memory cap is ideal for WPC games - it might have a slightly higher power draw. I usually just put a remote battery pack on those. Another thing you can do on WPC games is replace the RAM with non-volatile ram and you won't need batteries, but the clock won't work - that doesn't really affect anything except for certain games that may have a secret "midnight madness" mode.
Hi PinballHelp! Great video!! Is it possible you can post pictures of the papers that are attached to the inside box of this machine? I would like to print them and attach them inside mine. They are missing inside mine. Thank you!
I had a friend modify the ROM and burn me an EPROM. It gives me free play (which can be accomplished by a double switch). With DIP switch settings, I can change the horseshoe to only score the outlanes. It changes the game completely. It is great. I also put plastic posts on the inside of the horseshoe to make the shot harder to make. Your setup is certainly much easier to modify than getting someone to much around with the masked ROM code. Your addition of the skill shot is great. And the ball save is cool. Hurry-up is neat as is the timed ball save after the horseshoe.
Great explanation, I’ve been scratching my head wondering what the capacitors are there for. I have a target that fires constantly or not at all, will replace the capacitor and see if it repairs the fault.
Thank you. I appreciate your content. Im a new pinball owner and want to fix things myself. So far I've watched two of your videos and have fixed two of my problems.
