updates

Who doesn't love reviewing updated posts with me?

• Final huge update to the Tamakorogashi post.  Over 20 new articles and photos added, lots cleaned up, a simple index outlining the sections, and a whole Japanese Roll-Down section was put in.  I am pretty much done!!  There might be some things I find for it in the future, but Sugiyama's book is off to the editor and I've moved on to another big project.
• Added to exploring pachinko in Japanese cinema...
  1968 - (秘)トルコ風呂 / Maruhi toruko buro (Secret Turkish Bath)
  1976 - やくざの墓場　くちなしの花 / Yakuza no Hakaba: Kuchinashi no Hana (Yakuza Graveyard)
  1987 - マルサの女 / Marusa no onna (A Taxing Woman)
• Many photo descriptions add to arcade photographs from the collection of James R. Smith.
• More photos added to exploring the arcade in 愛欲の罠 / Aiyoku no wana aka Trapped in Lust (1973): found Jumbo, Derby, Desert Fox, Rich-Ball, better shots of the mystery gun game, more analysis on the unknown pinball machine...

new scan: Wico 1964 parts catalog

Gifted to me by pindude152 a few years ago and then sent off to Hubz @ Gaming Alexandria to get chopped and scanned, the 1964 catalog for Wico is now online for all at the Internet Archive.  Go browse it online or download the PDF. If you work on arcade machines, vending, or jukebox devices from that era, a detailed catalogue of components can be quite useful.

Wico 1964 parts catalog

Wico Coin Machine Parts And Supplies Catalog No. 400 (1964)

 

Canadian Coinbox archival project

Working with the fine folks at Gaming Alexandria, I am looking to compile and digitize as many issues of Canadian Coinbiox as I can.

The goal is that they will eventually all be scanned and shared on the Internet Archive.  Can you assist in this project?  If you have any copies I would love to hear from you at thetastates@gmail.com or reply to this post.  I'll put a list of what I've acquired so far at the bottom.

If you can scan your copies?  Amazing, yes.  If you have copies to donate?  PLEASE!  If you want to sell issues?  Contact me anyways.  

Do you have issues from 1946-1972?  Definitely contact me ASAP.

Huge shout out to Retro Dave who scanned his 1984-03 issue and sent me the images.  I prepped and compiled them in to a PDF and you can now go read and download it over at IA.

Canadian Coin Box 1984-03 (March 1984)

My earlier scans are all now up on IA too:

• Canadian Coin Box 1974-04 (April 1974)
• Canadian Coin Box 1974-08 (August 1974)
• Canadian Coin Box 1974-12 (December 1974)

Shout out to Arie who provided me the first batch of magazines, and then to Jean-Marc who donated 3 huge boxes worth.  This list covers a few different magazines, and all are going off to be scanned.

 

 

the current magazine list has moved here

learning pinball tech fundamentals

There are many great places to learn about pinball online, but instead of taking a pinball machine and then braeking it down in to its basic parts, how about we start with the fundamentals and build towards a pinball machine?  That's certainly an approach that jives even better with my own learning style.

I want to point out Mark's Fun With Pinball Simple Devices page, where he has an EM pinball machine broken down in to fundamental components, so you can see how every part operates in isolation.  From pop bumpers, to drop targets, to score motors and even the playfield magnets that give Twilight Zone The Power, there are many diagrams and videos to explore.

one example would be this stepper demonstration:

you can go to the site to view the video

 

There are also the education pages which "include short lessons that use pinball machine parts to explain scientific principles".

Click the above link to go to his Learning page, but also here is a paste of those main lessons:

Switches and electric current	Switches and electric current
Solenoids, relays and electromagnetism	Solenoids, relays and electromagnetism
Flippers, coils and power	Flippers, coils and power
Electromagnets and acceleration	Electromagnets and acceleration
Chimes, vibrations and pitches	Chimes, vibrations and pitches
Testing Solenoid Strength	Solenoid strength test

An incredibly useful visualization he has put together is the  Animated Schematics Diagrams for EM machines.  Perhaps you've seen the long-scroll that is an EM pinball schematic?  A lot of that can be readily explained with methodical patience, but it is definitely intimidating at first glance.  And even if you can trace some of the basic functionality like how your drop targets are scoring (or failing to score,) the introduction of the "Score Motor" can be a challenge to wrap one's head around.

This site has animations reviewing the score motor operation for numerous functions, from the context of schematics and I highly recommend checking it out: emSim: Animated Schematic Diagrams for EM Pinball Machines.  You can pause the videos and see what pulses are active from a score motor at any time.  Remember, a Score Motor is just a set of stacks of switches that are either on or off, depending on what part of the motor rotation we are at.

still from animated schematic diagrams

There is a lot more to explore on his site, including online EM classes, 

Once you have the fundamentals of operations and want to fix specific problems?  The best place to go is still Clay's pinrepair site: Pinball & Coin Operated Games to 1978.

Working on a more modern game than 1978?  Get started diving in to your system via pinwiki.

Niche Mechanisms 004: rotation

You turn a knob and the whole world rotates.  OK not the whole world, but the whole world under glass.  The platform shifts.  The playfield tilts with your delicate wrist movements.

Rotation is one of the fundamental mechanisms used in game design, going back to the skill games of the 1900s.  As with our other Niche Mechanism examinations, rotation is mechanism embedded throughout arcade history across the globe.  While it might not give the same kind of thrills in the 21st century, the inherent simplicity has helped it be resurrected endlessly for over a century.

Within the topic of "rotation" we are going to be breaking things down in to a few sub-categories:

1. Coin guidance
2. Ball guidance
1. Tilting labyrinths
2. Fire Escape style
3. Hill climbers
4. other ball guidance games

For all of these we are letting gravity do the work, and just adding a bit of rotation into the mix.

Let's get nerdy about arcade games.  We begin in Germany, thanks to the amazing work over at Alte-Spielautomaten.

section 1: Rotation - Coin Guidance

1909 Schlaumatz (smartass) by Athenia GmbH

Guide the coin down to the slot at the bottom of the wheel.  If the coin enters the slot it falls out at the bottom right, advances the ratchet wheel, which dispenses your winnings.  If you fall off the track, your coin is added to the payout coin stack.

exploring the arcade in 愛欲の罠 / Aiyoku no wana aka Trapped in Lust (1973)

Let's go visit another arcade!  This time we're looking at 1973's 愛欲の罠 aka Trapped In Lust

愛欲の罠 / Aiyoku no wana aka Trapped in Lust (1973)

This is a big one, so buckle up!  We are going to go cut-by-cut, but when possible I will try and use screen caps with the best view of any machine to identify it.  That will mean a handful of machines seen in broad shots will come up later in this post.  Some machines are only barely visible, and have to be included even when they're not readily visible.   

We dive right in to the scene with a stone-cold classic...

1971 Untouchable - アンタッチャブル by 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki - Kasco)

new scan: Popeye - Magazine for City Boys 1978-10-25

 I bought this issue of Popeye and Ethan was able to scan it upload it to the Internet Archive

1978-10-25 Popeye Magazine

download it from the internet archive!

Japanese publications go from right to left, so the page ordering might seem funny...