Episode 441 - Multi-Races Wiring, 1959 Gottlieb Straight Shooter

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·23m 34s·analyzed·Feb 14, 2019

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.025

TL;DR

Multi-Races wiring progress and 1959 Gottlieb Straight Shooter review.

Summary

Nick Baldridge details the extensive wiring work on his Multi-Races homebrew electromechanical pinball machine, discussing technical challenges with lamp drivers, voltage requirements, and modular design compromises. He also reviews the 1959 Gottlieb Straight Shooter, highlighting its four-flipper wood rail design, unique sideways-mounted upper flippers, Roy Parker artwork, and rating system back glass.

Key Claims

All switches in Multi-Races are now wired, including the knockoff switch
high confidence · Nick Baldridge discussing his current progress on Multi-Races
Victory Derby could be put in either replay mode or payoff mode, and appears to be Victory Special with a new glass and payout mechanism added
high confidence · Nick Baldridge analyzing the Victory Derby configuration during Multi-Races wiring
Multi-Races uses a PDA-16 driver board split into two banks of eight drivers each, with 5 volts DC on one bank for lamp control
high confidence · Nick Baldridge explaining technical lamp driver setup for Multi-Races
Multi-Races uses a 400-to-1 unit for authentic sound with ratcheting action and no contact points on stepper steps
high confidence · Nick Baldridge describing coil choices for Multi-Races authenticity
Multi-Races should be playable very soon, possibly this weekend, pending available working time
medium confidence · Nick Baldridge discussing timeline for Multi-Races power-up testing
RoboFrenzy has functional circuits that are 'incredibly satisfying' and needs stepper drilling and contact wiring before next phase
high confidence · Nick Baldridge discussing RoboFrenzy troubleshooting progress
Straight Shooter was designed by Wayne Neyens with artwork by Roy Parker
high confidence · Nick Baldridge crediting designers for 1959 Gottlieb Straight Shooter
Straight Shooter is one of only a few Gottlieb games produced with a rating system (fair, good, excellent, super, ingenious) built into the back glass
medium confidence · Nick Baldridge discussing Straight Shooter's rating system feature

Notable Quotes

“All of the switches are wired, including the knockoff switch.”
Nick Baldridge @ ~1:00 — Marks major progress milestone on Multi-Races project
“I am going to use the 400 to 1 unit, which is a single coil, but it has a very unique sound because of the ratcheting action of the gearing.”
Nick Baldridge @ ~6:30 — Describes design choice for authentic sound in Multi-Races
“The circuits that I do have working in RoboFrenzy have been incredibly satisfying.”
Nick Baldridge @ ~12:00 — Reflects positive sentiment on concurrent restoration project
“Multi races is close enough that it should be playable here before long”
Nick Baldridge @ ~16:30 — Timeline expectation for major project milestone
“I'm a replay kind of guy. And so I know if I'm doing well, if I'm making that machine fire off like a machine gun with all the knockers going off.”
Nick Baldridge @ ~35:00 — Reveals personal gameplay preference and evaluation style

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonMulti-RacesproductRoboFrenzyproductMulti-BingoproductTexas Pinball Festivalevent1959 Gottlieb Straight ShootergameRoy ParkerpersonWayne Neyensperson Gottliebcompany

Signals

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product_launch: Multi-Races approaching playable stage with all switches wired; power-up testing expected within days/weeks
high · Nick states 'Multi races is close enough that it should be playable here before long' and 'maybe this weekend' for power-up testing
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design_innovation: Multi-Races uses period-authentic 400-to-1 ratcheting coil unit and PDA-16 driver board configuration for authentic sound and electrical behavior
high · Nick describes choosing 400-to-1 unit for 'unique sound because of the ratcheting action' and explains multi-bank driver configuration for voltage flexibility
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restoration_signal: Multi-Races designed for modularity using Jones plugs to enable disassembly, requiring compromise on wiring efficiency
high · Nick explains: 'I have to make certain compromises... I'm wiring the Jones plugs... I didn't have one that's the correct size'
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restoration_signal: RoboFrenzy restoration in parallel troubleshooting phase; functional circuits confirmed, stepper contact work and lamp circuit short-finding remaining
high · Nick states circuits 'have been incredibly satisfying' and details remaining stepper drilling and lamp circuit debugging needed
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event_signal: Nick Baldridge attending Texas Pinball Festival March 22-24, 2019 in Frisco with Multi-Bingo and new unannounced project
high · Nick announces: 'I'll be heading to the Texas Pinball Festival in Frisco, Texas, March 22nd through the 24th of 2019'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.071

0:00

What's that sound? It's 4 Amusement Only, the EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast. Welcome back to 4 Amusement Only. This is Nick Baldridge. Before I get in to talk about multi-races, I wanted to remind everybody that I'll be heading to the Texas Pinball Festival in Frisco, Texas, March 22nd through the 24th of 2019. I'll be bringing the multi-bingo I'm going to be talking about a new project, so I'm very excited for that. Well, I've been working on multi-races for the past couple weeks, and I've been wiring. All of the switches are wired, including the knockoff switch. Interestingly, Victory Derby could be put in either replay mode or payoff mode. I find this intriguing because Victory Derby is known as the payout version of Victory The end of the day, I'm going to be playing a game called Victory Special, which was the replay version. But it appears that what they did is they took Victory Special, pushed a new glass into it, and put in the payout mechanism and associated hardware on the front door. Other than that, it's the same game, including the knockoff and the projection credit unit. It's pretty fascinating and surprising. So every switch in the game is now wired, and I began wiring the cord. I'm going to show you how to use the PDA-16 driver board. There are just enough lamps that I can't wire them on one bank of a PDA-16 driver board. The driver board that I use is split up into 16 drivers, eight of which are on one bank and can be one voltage. The other eight are on a second bank and are a second voltage. So I push through 5 volts on one of the banks and that lights the lamps. Because the drivers have to be DC, my choices are either put in a relay for each lamp and then run it at 6 volts AC, run a bunch of them as GI or run them at 5 volts which is what I've done. I could also get a 6 volt DC power supply but why would I want to do that? So I have nine lamps total. There's five that run straight up the middle of the playfield and then one for each bumper. And the bumper lights light when the appropriate bumper is hit in sequence. So A lights and if A is lit and you hit B, then B will light. But if A is lit and not B and you hit C, C doesn't light, for example. The playfield lamps, the ones that run straight up the middle, on Why are these microphones firmly attached?

3:15

I'm a fan of the switch handlers that I can wire in for the proximity sensors and anything else extra which I might need. I remember with the multibingo I thought I was done several times and ended up extending my switch handling quite a bit after I began actually wiring the playfield. So we'll see if that is the case this time. You know, adding things like the drawer, for example, added a whole bunch of switches into the game. I believe at this time I will be pretty well served by the three switch handlers that I have right now. But because there's one additional lamp that I can't wire in to a bank of eight, I need to get a second driver board. I have the same problem with coils. Now coils, I had mentioned that there's only a very few of them, but I decided to make this as authentic sounding as possible. So here's what I've done. I am going to use I'm going to use the 400 to 1 unit, which is a single coil, but it has a very unique sound because of the ratcheting action of the gearing. It's like a multi-phase stepper. And all of the steps, there are no points. There are no contact points on the steps themselves. So instead of a spider that's turning and making contact with multiple rivets, instead there are arms which are sticking Tear the top haight off simply by pricking양ardi gonghtrainhak, and we take teard су I'm going to show you how to wire up the AC circuits. And even though the game is DC driven, it's computer controlled, I have to wire up AC for certain things. For example, motors. Motors in the game, I'm using the original motors and they're AC. You can't run them with DC because DC won't allow the motor to turn. It'll just buzz and then, you know, eventually melt. Catch fire, that kind of thing. Blow a fuse, probably. So I have to run AC for those and I was assuming naively that the control unit was going to be a hundred and twenty volts so i be able to run uh the control unit and the shutter you know utilizing the same hundred and twenty volt line but as it turns out the shutter motor is a hundred and twenty volts which in the bingos they switched to fifty volts for the shutter motor But the control unit is 50 volts. And they switched to 120 volts later on in the One Balls Lives and for the bingos, they're all 120 volts, so just can't win. So I had to install a transformer in order to create the 50 volts AC that I need and I'm driving it with a 50 volt DC relay. Things are just insane. So I'm having to run wires back and forth through the game in order to make this happen. Now luckily under the playfield there is a ball return shelf. It's very similar to the bingos in that way. The bingos are a little more engineered, I would say. They added a metal bracket at the back of the playfield that prevents the ball from flying out of the back of the game, Uh, especially if someone were to lift the game as, uh, the ball is being returned.

7:18

So, in this there's just, there's just a board that it runs down. There's nothing to stop it. I mean, it can fly down that board and hit something at full strength, but there's only one ball. So there's less chance of collision. There's less chance of other things breaking. Um, it's a design that works and some of the early bingos used a very similar design to this. So, uh, underneath that return board, there's just empty space. So thankfully, I've been able to mount things like, uh, the big power switch inside the game and, uh, variety of cabling can run through there. There's a lot of cabling in here. Um, and I can run my 120-volt circuits, um, back to the power strip that's inside and, uh, get everything to run that way. So, one of the challenges I've had is trying to make everything modular because of course I want to be able to disassemble the game so that I can move it easily. But in making it modular, I have to make certain compromises. For example, I'm ending up having to use more wire than I would if I wasn't making it modular because I'm wiring the Jones plugs. And the Jones plugs themselves are also a compromise because I didn't have one that's the correct size I'm going to show you how to use a pinball that's a little bit smaller than the size that was intact for the size Jones plug that I was planning to use which is 10 by 2 or 20 positions. So I ended up having to use one of the older style Jones plugs with a newer style top. You might ask why I did that and didn't use the older style top. Part of it is the solder that was used. It is very old and very hard and it's very difficult to heat. So I feel like I've almost toasted my soldering gun doing the desoldering that's needed for this project. But on the newer bingo style Jones plugs it's much easier to desolder the male plugs. So again, I'm very close. I just have a bit of wiring left to do, mostly coil related. I have the relays that I'm planning to use wired up for commons. I just have to do the switch part and then run a few extra wires to handle my switched 120 volts and my switched 50 volt AC. And then I should be ready to check all the connections and then turn it on and hope everything doesn't explode. We'll see. I already have a computer that's imaged and it's ready to go. And I will be able to update the code instantly and see what the heck happens. Hopefully something good. I don't have any graphics in place so I'm going to need to kind of trick the graphical routine into loading. It shouldn't be too hard and I'll be able to test my work with the switches and the coils at least this way. Um, so I'm looking forward to that day, which should be soon, maybe this weekend, depending on if I get time to work on it, uh, between now and then, but I'll be happy to get that rolling. Uh, once I have that going, I'm going to switch back to RoboFrenzy and continue troubleshooting that. I don't think I mentioned in the past couple episodes, but the circuits that I do have working in RoboFrenzy have been incredibly satisfying. Knapp Arcade, Kaneda's Pinball Podcast.

15:33

But now they're up on the wall, I got rid of some furniture, opened up the room a bit, and my daughter decided, you know, pinball, pretty awesome. So, she's been able to come down and play pretty much every night, and that's been wonderful. I mean, it's been great. We play together. She plays by herself. And I'm getting a lot of wiring done. I mean, it's very enjoyable. So I'm having a good time. And I hope she is too. Well, let's talk about this week's game. It's 1959's Gottlieb Straight Shooter. Straight Shooter is a wood rail and it has four flippers. It's a western themed game and the goal of the game is to of course get special by advancing different arrows on the playfield and depending on which one is selected based on the rollover that you hit you can advance the arrows all the way to the end which will light special. There's multiple ways to win on this game as with many wood rails especially this At antioxidantbuy.de, I'm talking about PC Pinball az near錢takingWelln nenhuma c怎么样 to record the pinball Wowєwyn,io sthasićla, The pops on the left and right and then up at the top center you have to pass a bumpers as the ball travels down it hits a circular arrangement of role under gates uh... there's three of them and their range just like they are in tropic aisle or moonshot if you a valley aficionado and down below you have a center bank of targets that are three stand each color coded to match the playfield insert or hat down below in each of the arrows And there five arrows Now two each are for each letter so you have two for a one for b one for e one for a for a If a single team gets to the end of the next game, used to pick 6 people to play with, call out the continue previouskee me for clicking 2stop at 9 o'clock, with the only being three little bags's score to get to the end of the game, or suggest Donal Siesta at the end of the game, so he forwards the rope, or moves the zombief lawyer to the north tower, even if players can't see him until the game kicks off on us, it still is the rule that goes between them in that loop, if 3 players win the game, we'll take the You get a replay. Now up at the top near those roll undergates are two very interesting flippers. They're mounted on the left and right side beside a rollover on either side. But these flippers are aligned sideways parallel to the side of the game. This is a pretty cool, I think. It's a very unique way to arrange these flippers and should allow some interesting action through those gates assuming that you've got reasonable aim. On the back of that target bank there are diagonal rubbers set up so with good nudging skills you can get it back onto the flipper And then flip it back through those roll under gates. I think it's very clever, this layout, and looks like a lot of fun. Now this is one, you've heard me say this quite a lot recently here, but this is a game that I haven't had the ability to play myself, but it's one that I would love to play. It was designed by Wayne Nines and the art was by Roy Parker. Aside from the other features I mentioned, down below the arrows you have two slingshots and two flippers and a rollover button between them that awards you 100,000 points every time you hit it. This game has the visible balls played in the apron, which I always thought was a very cool feature. As each ball drains, you can see it stack up at the bottom there and then when you start a new game, A game lives and the balls can go over to the lifter area. So you can see, you know, I played one ball, two balls, three balls in kind of track your progress through the game. Very fun. For the artwork, this is what I consider pretty classic Roy Parker. There is a woman dressed as a cow person, and she's riding on a horse, and she's holding a six-shooter, The same woman is on the playfield holding up her gun, getting ready to aim over towards the right of the playfield in the same direction that the arrows are pointing. Most of the playfield is blue like the sky. I think it's just a very attractive art package. And the slingshots have a little joke like Roy Parker likes to put in his artwork. There are bottles lined up on a fence and one of them is being smashed by a bullet and there's a bird that happens to be flying by with a very puzzled expression on its face and a question mark coming out of its head. This is one of only a few games that Godly produced with a rating system which is built into the back glass. It goes fair, good, excellent, super, ingenious. I can only name a couple other games off the top of my head that have that, but I know that only a very few ran with that experiment. That's something that I've enjoyed about games from the 30s especially. There can be a rating system on the scorecards, and if you hit a certain threshold, I'm sure you could turn that in for either payment or booze, depending on where you were and what the deal was. But anyway, I've always liked the rating System. I think it's kind of cool and a good way to track your progress. I like that the game actually tells you how well you've done because score is arbitrary. I think I've mentioned this before, but I'm a replay kind of guy. And so I know if I'm doing well, if I'm making that machine fire off like a machine gun with all the knockers going off. But getting The end. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel. I'll see you next time. Bye for now. Bye. Music on Spotify, on Facebook, on Twitter at Bingo Podcast. You can follow me on Instagram also at Bingo Podcast. And if you can't get enough of me, you can hear me talk about video games on the podcast GamingOn10. That's GamingOn10.com. Thank you very much for listening and I'll talk to you next time.