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Dick Hamill - Recoding Vintage Williams Games

Pintastic Pinball & Game Room Expo·video·50m 30s·analyzed·Feb 2, 2026
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.027

TL;DR

Dick Hamill showcases recoded Black Knight with custom hardware, new rules, and open-source philosophy.

Summary

Dick Hamill demonstrates a ground-up recoded version of Steve Ritchie's Black Knight for Williams, featuring custom hardware (Arduino interposer board), digital audio via Wave Trigger, expanded rulesets with combat modes and King's Challenges, and innovative operator menus that don't interrupt gameplay. The presentation emphasizes open-source philosophy, hardware accessibility, and how rule tuning affects perceived difficulty in vintage games.

Key Claims

  • Everything Dick Hamill does is free and open source, published on GitHub under GPL3 license with schematics and Gerber files available for others to create board sets

    high confidence · Dick Hamill directly stated during presentation

  • The recoded Black Knight uses an interposer board with Arduino that can be rebooted to original Steve Ritchie code by holding the credit reset button

    high confidence · Dick Hamill explained hardware configuration during demo

  • Rule difficulty in vintage games is more heavily influenced by software settings (ball saves, grace periods, timers) than playfield layout

    high confidence · Ryan McQuade and Dick Hamill discussed during Q&A segment

  • The recoded Black Knight features operator menus that don't interrupt gameplay, unlike original Williams/Bally/Stern machines where hitting operator menu ended the game

    high confidence · Dick Hamill demonstrated menu access during live gameplay

  • Progressive presets feature allows different difficulty levels for different players in multiplayer: 2-player is easy/hard, 3-player is easy/medium/hard, 4-player is easy/medium/medium/hard

    high confidence · Dick Hamill explained during second game setup with Scott

  • All music used is by Casey White of Whitebat Audio, published copyright-free on YouTube with proper credit

    high confidence · Dick Hamill credited during gameplay commentary

  • The tilt warning timer feature was inspired by watching tournament players place phones on machine glass to track 30-second tilt warning windows

    high confidence · Dick Hamill explained innovation during setup

Notable Quotes

  • “I only do this stuff because I enjoy doing it. Uh, and I want, you know, to kind of spread around and nothing tickles me more than to like get somebody else's code written against my board sets and then like plug them in.”

    Dick Hamill@ 1:50 — Defines Hamill's open-source ethos and motivation

  • “There's only so much I can do on the playfield, though, cuz you only have certain adjustments that the designer provides with you... but if you have access to the software, ball saver length, um, grace periods, like that, that stuff can make a game feel incredibly approachable.”

    Ryan McQuade@ 35:54 — Core insight on difficulty tuning via software vs. hardware

  • “I literally woke up hearing this in my sleep last night.”

    Dick Hamill@ 20:54 — Humorous comment on extensive playtesting and sound design immersion

  • “Progressive presets means Scott you're going first... Player one in pre in progressive rules is going to be easy easy mode. Player two is going to be hard mode.”

    Dick Hamill@ 29:52 — Demonstrates handicap system innovation

  • “Innovation do not always happen on the play field. There's a lot of rule stuff that we still need to work on.”

    Dick Hamill@ 32:50 — Reflects philosophy that software innovation is as important as mechanical design

Entities

Dick HamillpersonSteve RitchiepersonRyan McQuadepersonChippersonCasey WhitepersonScottpersonJoe LeamirpersonMikeperson

Signals

  • ?

    design_innovation: Dick Hamill implemented operator menus that allow real-time rule adjustments without interrupting gameplay, breaking from original Williams/Bally/Stern convention where entering operator menu ended the game

    high · Hamill demonstrated accessing menus mid-game and explained he abandoned attempt to faithfully reproduce old operator menu behavior, deciding to 'make them so they don't interrupt gameplay'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Progressive presets feature allows automatic difficulty scaling for multiplayer games: 2-player easy/hard, 3-player easy/medium/hard, 4-player easy/medium/medium/hard, functioning as handicap system

    high · Hamill implemented and demonstrated feature during second game setup; credited to friend Mike's request

  • ?

    design_innovation: Automated tilt warning timer displayed on machine during gameplay, eliminating need for players to use phones to track 30-second windows between tilt warnings in tournaments

    high · Hamill explained inspiration from watching tournament players place phones on glass, implemented timer that updates real-time

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Rule difficulty heavily influenced by software settings (ball saves, grace periods, timers, drop target reset times) rather than playfield layout alone

    high · Ryan McQuade stated 'the difficulty is very heavily linked to the rules' and 'the settings are probably even more important' than playfield design

  • ?

    community_signal: Dick Hamill promotes GPL3 open-source ecosystem for pinball software/hardware, publishing schematics, Gerber files, and code on GitHub and Pinball Refresh website; community members creating aftermarket board sets and alternative code

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

0:06
Good morning everybody. This morning the topic of recoding game software is likely to generate a lot of questions. I know the last time we had Dick here it did that and to kind of co- comment with him about this new game design being revealed here for the first time. Uh we have Ryan Mcuade who of course is well known here as a a graduate of our school of homebrew gaming. Um when you have questions we ask that you use the microphone on the side. Uh that will help us record both the question and the answer for the future edification of more homebrew game designers. So now I'll turn it over to Dick Hamill to introduce what he did to Steve Richie's Black Knight game.
0:57
What did you do? So, first, thanks so much to Ryan for uh first, thanks so much to Ryan for uh being the player on this game so we can get a demo. When I talk about these machines, I could show you a video and we can talk about rules, but nothing like hits as hard as like seeing it in person. So, that's why I wanted to bring a machine here uh and and Chip brings me these machines. I reprogram them just for fun. Um just a quick preamble, everything I do is free and open source. Uh, I've got a website, uh, Pinball Refresh, uh, where I post all the schematics, all of the Gerber files, so you can create your own board sets. Um, and all of my code's published on, uh, GitHub. It's all GPL3, so you can use it. You can even, uh, you know, people are out there selling board sets for people who want plugandplay. So, it's all, you know, wild west. Do whatever you want. I only do this stuff because I enjoy doing it. Uh, and I want, you know, to kind of spread around and nothing tickles me more than to like get somebody else's code written against my board sets and then like plug them in. That's what I'm here for. Uh, and I wanted to show you this Black Knight in person so everybody can kind of get a sense of it. So, this is from the ground rewrite um with a what I what's called an interposer board. So, there's a board plugged into the original MPU of this machine uh and then an Arduino plugged into that. So, it's the simplest micro, one of the cheapest microprocessors you can get out there that's plugged into it that just takes over the bus and plays it in custom. You can reboot this with the credit reset button held in and it will boot to the original Steve Richie code on original Steve Richie chips, everything original. Uh, but if you reboot it without the credit reset button, you get this version. I've added a couple things to it. There's speakers. There's a wave trigger card to do uh digital sounds and music and uh modes and combat modes and combos and all kinds of stuff that we're going to show you right now. Go ahead. Start a game. Go ahead. Start a game. Wait. Oh, we're just diving right into Wait. Oh, we're just diving right into this. Let's dive right in. So, we're going to Let's dive right in. So, we're going to start with the demo because that's the fun part and then we'll do uh questions and we can talk about hardware after and um so but let's let's dive in. Let's look at code. All right.
Black Knight
game
Pinball Refreshproduct
Pintastic Pinball & Game Room Expoevent
Arduinoproduct
Wave Trigger cardproduct
Williamscompany
GitHubproduct/platform

high · Hamill stated 'everything I do is free and open source' and expressed delight at others writing code for his board sets; 'It's all, you know, wild west'

  • ?

    manufacturing_signal: Arduino microprocessors used as interposer boards in vintage machine recoding, described as 'one of the cheapest microprocessors you can get out there'

    high · Hamill described hardware setup: 'an Arduino plugged into that. So, it's the simplest micro, one of the cheapest microprocessors'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Recoded Black Knight features named combos (Latin-named relics) that can be chained for scoring multipliers; includes 9 different named combos, church bell audio feedback for combo progression

    high · Hamill demonstrated combo mechanics throughout gameplay; explained 'combos um can be chained together' with Latin names for relics collected

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Custom magnet save implementation inspired by later Williams games (Pharaoh, Jungle Lord) using intermittent magnet rather than original Black Knight's continuous 5-second save; featherable like electronic nudge

    high · Hamill explained 'I didn't do the 5-second magnet on like Black Knight I had originally. Uh later they did games like Pharaoh and Jungle Lord where it was intermittent'

  • ?

    product_concern: Background music dropout when accessing operator menus mid-gameplay; Hamill noted as bug requiring fix but gameplay continues with sound effects

    medium · Hamill acknowledged 'We do lose the background music right now. That's a bug I got to fix' followed by audience 'Unacceptable' response

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Custom addressable LED strips integrated under ramps and on playfield rails, controlled by game code for mode-specific color feedback during gameplay

    high · Hamill explained laser-cut ramps have addressable LEDs allowing code control; 'during combat modes, they're all color-coded'; playfield rails 'also do game code stuff'

    • 3:07
    dive right in. I am Ryan McQuade and I have read the pin tips for Black Knight, so that makes me super qualified to be so that makes me super qualified to be here, but I am glad to be here. So, thank you for asking me. Yeah. Oh, thanks for coming. So, Yeah. Oh, thanks for coming. So, you're going to watch me miss a bunch of you're going to watch me miss a bunch of shots for about 40 minutes. That's the actual That's the show. That's what we're doing. So, check out the skill shot in the uh So, check out the skill shot in the uh on the upper left drop target. Uh you'll see the top blue arrow is flashing. Do you see it? Oh, yeah. Right up there. Oh, yeah. Right up there. So, there's your skill shot. So, there's your skill shot. This is definitely going to happen on FIRST TRY. OH, BUT I hit the pop first. Doesn't count, does it? Uh, pop is okay. I think one of the Uh, pop is okay. I think one of the other side drop targets is what knocked him out of the skill shot. So, the goal right now is to collect coins, which he just did by finishing one of the drop target banks. And we know that he's collected coins because uh the arrows are flashing on the little turnaround shot. When you hit that, that opens the port cullis and also happened to go down the left fin lane which started a combo. Both magnet buttons for single combat. Both magnet buttons for single combat. So he has the opportunity to start So he has the opportunity to start single combat. Hit maget buttons. This is single combat. Complete target. Complete target. This is awesome. This is awesome. Any target bank now is going to Any target bank now is going to qualify qualify death bug. The crowd doesn't like that death bug. The crowd doesn't like that when you go back in the lock. So this is a combat mode. There are three different combat modes and broken into four parts. So, he's finished a target bank, which So, he's finished a target bank, which is enough to qualify single combat. So, now Ryan, you're going to want to So, now Ryan, you're going to want to try to hit the lower saucer. That blinking one right there. That blinking one right there. Lincoln one right there.
    4:50
    This is why he's playing the game cuz that would have taken me the whole This will not last. This will not last. I would have took I would have took beginner's luck beginner's luck four times before getting that. four times before getting that. Okay, so we finished single combat part Okay, so we finished single combat part one and this brings in now now he's got a jackpot value. So you could go you could qualify three locks and go right to triple combat if you wanted to, but you'd have almost no jackpot when you went to triple combat. The goal is to kind of build your jackpot through the lower combat modes. So, if we can, what I'd like to do now is talk about um the uh king's challenges. And a king's challenge is qualified by finishing any drop target bank three times in a row or not in a row, but three times total. Um you'll see on uh the arrows here include the uppers, Ryan. Yeah. So, you've got Ryan. Yeah. So, you've got So, I got one on the top right. Yeah. So, I got one on the top right. Yeah. All right. Let's try to go for that one. All right. Let's try to go for that one. If you can go back up top or die immediately. or die immediately. There we go. There's a more typical There we go. There's a more typical experience of my play. It's all good. It's on free. It's all good. It's on free. All right. So, All right. So, skill shot in the middle. skill shot in the middle. Skill shot again. Nope. Skill shot again. Nope. Now you can backhand it if you can catch Now you can backhand it if you can catch it. Tried to be fancy. Did not work. Oh, Tried to be fancy. Did not work. Oh, wait. There's a ball saber. I can try. Actually, I haven't qualified platefield Actually, I haven't qualified platefield yet. So, you're still good. Not amused. Not amused. Okay, so there's two. One more and you Okay, so there's two. One more and you qualify. King's challenge. Oh, come on. Thank you for that rebound. Oh, come on. Thank you for that rebound. That was just polite. That was just polite. King's challenge one. Perfection. Hit King's challenge one. Perfection. Hit only the lit back. So, the lit bank is the upper left right So, the lit bank is the upper left right now. See those blue flashing arrows? Every time you hit a King's Challenge Every time you hit a King's Challenge target, you're going to hear an anvil sound. And this is adding to his King Challenge uh jackpot right now. So, King's Challenge also comes with double playfield scoring. and it takes 30 seconds. You're going to see a timer pop up and then King's Challenge is over. He won 60k and this playfield is going to go back to regular now. So, the thing about King's Challenges is you can stack those with your combat mode. So, if you have two Kings challenges, now you got triple play field and you can stack that with your combat mode and then all of a sudden you've got uh triple play field on all your jackpots, etc. So, let's go for another combat mode. Uh, you want to take that single or actually if you can lock a ball and let's not take the combat mode this time. Let's just let it die and get up there Let's just let it die and get up there for free. That works. That works. Big brain moves. Big brain moves. So, you can loop around to get that So, you can loop around to get that lock. Perfect. So, don't hit any buttons.
    7:31
    It gives you 7 seconds to choose it or not. zero one and then locks the ball. So now we go through the process again. Uh we want to plunge uh finish drop target bank do the loop turnaround. Actually you've already got loop turnaround qualified so you can just go ahead and do that.
    7:56
    nope. Oh magnet. Oh magnet. Ah I whipped it back in there. So, a big Ah I whipped it back in there. So, a big difference with the magnet is I didn't do the 5-second magnet on like Black Knight I had originally. Uh later they did games like Pharaoh and Jungle Lord where it was intermittent. So, I did that. So, um you can build up to 5 seconds of Magnus save uh by completing drop target banks and then it's you can feather that magnet and use it just like a like a fancy electronic nudge. And you may remember the magnet on Black Knight is so powerful that you can almost dig it right out of the the the switch area. Um, it's got some serious juice to it. So, we're back. Um, we got a lock qualified. Um, so go ahead and lock that if you can. Um, after skill shot both magnet buttons for single combat. So, we're going to defer single combat So, we're going to defer single combat again and try to get to double combat this time in the game. It's Hope it's not your Hope it's not your Okay, never mind. I did nothing and Okay, never mind. I did nothing and locked the ball. You did? Yeah. You did? Yeah. Okay. Okay. So, you got coins. You can do the port So, you got coins. You can do the port cullis which is the turnaround.
    9:18
    Perfect. Absolutely perfect. So that lock will carry over into future balls. So after you get your coins and you qualify a lock, um that sticks with you. Oh, and the the tilt is generous, so feel free. Oh, shouldn't have told me that. Oh, shouldn't have told me that. You're going to regret those words.
    9:42
    The chip put the legs on pretty tight, so I think it's safe. Nice. Go ahead and take this one. Go ahead and take this one. So, double combat is a different So, double combat is a different uh it said build uh jackpot with uh it said build uh jackpot with targets, maybe. So, this is a two ball multiball. It's going to be an upper and lower uh drop to qualify jackpots. The difference here is no ball save. Oh, good.
    10:17
    And it's over. No, it's not over because you have a grace period. You still have this, right? 24 seconds left on your grace period. 24 seconds left on your grace period. So, if you finish a lower drop now, your jackpots are ready on the upper lock.
    10:33
    You got 10 seconds. Oh, come on. Oh, come on. So, there's your 10-second warning and So, there's your 10-second warning and then you get a countdown.
    10:44
    Oh, last second. Ah. Ah, I have failed you. I am sorry, my king. That was super close, though. And you That was super close, though. And you showed the Oh, so uh the topper is um something I put I was redoing my kitchen, so I put that together from some scraps of plywood. It makes a good place to house the speakers. Uh and I also threw some uh lights in Uh and I also threw some uh lights in there. Um there's uh some uh accessory LEDs. Oh, nice. Nice magnet hit. The accessory LEDs are all controlled by the game code. Um, you'll see that during the combat modes, they're all colorcoded. So, challenge and saucer or upper lock. challenge and saucer or upper lock. Excellent. Here's another option lock. Excellent. Here's another option lock. Whoops. So, I would uh stay away from the saucer So, I would uh stay away from the saucer and upper lock if you can. And let's qualify another another lock and bring a king's challenge into a combat mode. All right. So, I need a drop set plus a All right. So, I need a drop set plus a turnaround. You got a turnaround lit right now. Y You got a turnaround lit right now. Y just pick that. just pick that. Just meander through that. Just meander through that. That was perfect.
    11:57
    So Ryan, you've also got There you go. Yeah, that was intentional.
    12:06
    Hit only the All right, it's upper left bank is upper left. Oh, come on. And if you manage to get into the lock right now, you can bring this king challenge into your single combo. Oh yeah, let's try that.
    12:19
    10 seconds. I found that the timers make me at least I found that the timers make me at least 50% worth hitting shots, you know, as soon as that timer starts going off.
    12:31
    Super skill. Cool. Nice job. Nice job. And I'm back down here. And I'm back down here. But I have a ball save. Give that to me. But I have a ball save. Give that to me. Tons of ball. So, I got the ball tapes Tons of ball. So, I got the ball tapes turned up. Uh, all the rules are like, uh, individually modifiable. There's tons of different settings in the operator menus now. Uh, and I've also got them broken out into sets of like easy, medium, hard, but you can customize after that. So, that's what I did today is I put them on medium rules, but I turned up some of the, uh, ball saves so that um, we could see more of the game. No offense.
    13:05
    Let's keep going. Let's see if we can get the triple. So, we're just going to defer this. You see single combat represented by purple lights, but we're going to keep going. Uh, so you plunge again and let's get that turn around for qualified second lock. We're on ball three, though. So, We're on ball three, though. So, I'm on ball three. All right. So, don't I'm on ball three. All right. So, don't die. Do it all over again. Do it all over again. Turn that up to a nice magnet. Turn that up to a nice magnet. I like your magnet saves. I like your magnet saves. Yeah. I mean, I had very little to do Yeah. I mean, I had very little to do with it aside from letting the button use. I don't know if that was something that they intentionally changed in Williams from magnet buttons for combat. magnet buttons for combat. So, let's defer this just just yeah, So, let's defer this just just yeah, wait it out. So, that combat ad is um yellow. And then we're going to do it one more time if we can. You know what? Um trap up when you get a sec. Nope. Did I jinx you? Okay, let's see if we Did I jinx you? Okay, let's see if we can show something fancy. Um, you guys may remember that this is fancy enough. You guys may remember that in Williams, You guys may remember that in Williams, as soon as you hit your um operator menu, that's the end of uh that game. I don't even know how this key works, honestly. Last time this happened to me, it was Last time this happened to me, it was Joe Leamir and he slam tilted it. Oh, that was the plan.
    14:34
    To position your car here. I haven't seen him yet. Oh, I haven't seen him yet. Oh, all right. I haven't tried it on this all right. I haven't tried it on this machine, so let's see if this works. Operator menu. Press start button to Operator menu. Press start button to return to game. Test menu, audits menu, basic adjustments. So, we're going to do basic adjustments. So, we're going to do basic adjustments. Free play, ball save seconds, tilt Free play, ball save seconds, tilt warnings, music volume, sound effects, call outs, volume, balls per game. Awesome. So, let's do this. Let's see as much of the game as we can. I'm going to need you to say extra ball seven times, please. As a group, rules, preset, groups. rules, preset, groups. So, here's the rules preset group. So, here's the rules preset group. Rules adjustments. Rules adjustments. And then here's all the different rules And then here's all the different rules adjustments I have. Drop target reset time single sync Drop target reset time single sync require operator menu. Press start button to return to game or Press start button to return to game or operator button. So, we're back in the game. We do lose So, we're back in the game. We do lose the background music right now. That's a bug I got to fix. Unacceptable. Unacceptable. Unacceptable. Unacceptable. Unacceptable. Unacceptable. Tim for me. Tim for me. As soon as we do something um you know As soon as we do something um you know that starts a new mode or whatever, we'll get the background music back, but we're going to have sound effects. So now we got tons of tons of balls to So now we got tons of tons of balls to uh work through. Where we at? Um you've got two locks engaged. You need another drop target set to qualify your turnaround. And then we can get the third lock.
    16:01
    What could go wrong? Oh, come on. And it reset. Of course. You know what? So, for the first few games that I reprogrammed, actually, until very recently, I was trying to faithfully reproduce the operator menus from B Valley Stern Williams. And then it finally occurred to me last year. I was like, uh, you know, everybody else is doing better operator menus. Why am I doing the, you know, the old kind? So, that's why I decided to make them so that they don't interrupt gameplay. You can go change stuff on the fly. Um, and uh, it was it was just a an adjustment of my thinking of how to do it. For this game, I use the magnet buttons to There we go. Yeah. Going wrong way is death. So Yeah. Going wrong way is death. So hopefully this all four. Yeah. Yeah. Lock's still lit. Lock's still lit. Lock still lit. Skill shot a little Lock still lit. Skill shot a little lower. Whoa. Whoa. I hit the glass. I hit the glass. Well, that was fun.
    17:07
    Oh, wait. No. Easy mode. Just die. Yeah, why not? Yeah, why not? Shoot again. Shoot again. Ball save abuse is fun. Ball save abuse is fun. So, if you can uh before you go in So, if you can uh before you go in there, see if you can hit drop targets. um and get a king's challenge qualified cuz we could bring that in and then you could at least double your jackpot. Actually, we got a decent jackpot value already. I think
    17:34
    the music is back and therefore so is my power. Okay, so one more. Uh you don't need to Okay, so one more. Uh you don't need to do the turnaround cuz you've already got your lock qualified. I'm not down here on purpose. I'm just I'm not down here on purpose. I'm just bad.
    17:49
    Come on. [ __ ] That's right. We got 10 balls to work That's right. We got 10 balls to work with. What if it's not enough?
    18:01
    You've demonstrated no skill. Now, see, that's untrue. Now, see, that's untrue. True or a True or a There we go. Okay. So, here's Triple There we go. Okay. So, here's Triple Combat. Complete any target jackpots. Complete any target jackpots. So, any target bank's going to start the So, any target bank's going to start the jackpots. And the thing with triple combat is Jackpots are every shot shot for a jackpot. So you got spinner, for a jackpot. So you got spinner, turnar around, saucer, jackpot, jackpot, jackpot, jackpot. jackpot, jackpot. And now we're in grace period. We got 10 And now we're in grace period. We got 10 seconds.
    18:36
    Nope. Ah, you got Okay, so before you plunge Ah, you got Okay, so before you plunge this time, hit one of the magnet buttons. Current jackpot. In the player display, Current jackpot. In the player display, you see a flickering number. That's the current jackpot. That's what he's built up to right now. 420. 420. Yeah. If you Nice. Yeah. So, if you Yeah. If you Nice. Yeah. So, if you finished a single combat, you get a 100k jackpot. If you finish a double, you get 125. But you get bonuses along the way. Like drop targets will add to your jackpot during the combat modes. Single, you only get the jackpot increase at the end of the mode, but with double, just by starting it, you're going to get the jackpot increase. So, it really makes sense to have started with a single or a double before you go into triple because when you go into triple, if you hadn't done anything before that, your jackpots are 25k. It's almost nothing. But now he's bringing if you were to go back into triple, it seemed reasonable on ball six. Yeah, why not? Yeah, why not? Yeah, why not? If you go back into Yeah, why not? If you go back into triple, now you're at half a mill per jackpot. So, strategy is everything. Riskreward is everything. If you play your cards right, you can build up a really good score, but it requires a certain amount of, you know, like forethought and and you you know, like forethought and and you know, risking everything for another ball lock.
    20:21
    So, I should mention the uh all the music on this game is um by uh Casey White of Whitebat Audio. Uh Casey publishes music to YouTube uh copyright free as long as you uh credit Casey whenever you you know so I don't sell anything. So I always credit Casey. Um but I'm not you know doing this for Um but I'm not you know doing this for commercial reasons. But this awesome music that you're hearing is all you know uh copyright free and open source in a way as well. Um, and kudos to that because I probably heard these songs maybe more than any other human on the planet because I mean I literally woke up hearing this in my sleep last night. Uh, I did I do Nah, I'm not going to Uh, I did I do Nah, I'm not going to talk about that.
    21:05
    So, we got one one lock done. No dead bounce No dead bounce ball seven. Um, you got King's Challenge ball seven. Um, you got King's Challenge ready. Is that true? Baby, I have one lock. And I think if I finish I have one lock. And I think if I finish that drop up there, I'll get a uh you've got one ready. So, you see how uh you've got one ready. So, you see how the the green lights up top? Yeah. Yeah. And then solid. So, that means one lock And then solid. So, that means one lock plus a king's challenge ready. The other way you can tell is on the topper, you see an orange glow. That's a king's challenge ready. So, any saucer or upper lock right now is going to start a king's challenge. Kings challenge one. Joust, when the Kings challenge one. Joust, when the playfield is calm, hit the center target. So this one, it said, when the So this one, it said, when the playfield's calm, hit a center target. So the center targets only lit for a reward after you trap up for 5 seconds or hit no switches for 5 seconds. So then you'll see the center target flash. And if it's already down, it's already down. So you might have to Oh, you only got 10 seconds. U but anyway, each center target he hits now is worth 50k of King's Challenge. So there's one. And then at the end of the period, he got the payout into his score. Uh and then the playfield multiplier goes away. So again, um King's challenges, you can stack. So there's four Kings challenges on the board. Uh upper right is perfection, upper left is joust. Uh lower right is um melee, and lower left is levitate. Uh if you can um try to finish this lower left drop target bank three times uh to get that king challenge qualify. No skill No skill or we can defer it to next game. We're or we can defer it to next game. We're on ball nine. Either way, that's a kind of a tricky drop target bank to shoot for intentionally. Sometimes you bank it off the lower right, you know, go into it. There's a good shot. You know, I'm talking at my skill level. I think I think you got it covered.
    23:02
    You know, the lean on the machine right now is actually helping. That saucer kick. It is helping. The left lean is It is helping. The left lean is definitely helping. Yeah, that saucer kick out on a flat floor is that saucer kick out on a flat floor is it's challenging.
    23:17
    That some high quality magnet action right there. So, you'll hear that little uh distorted sound every time uh the magnet goes off. And that lets you know that um you know you're using the magnetic. So the game also has on the playfield uh two little 10-in playfield rails that you may see reflected. Um and those are addressable LEDs as well. So they also do game code stuff. Um during the warm-ups for combat modes, you'll see them change different colors. Uh and when uh Ryan uses the Magnusave, u they'll flash uh purple. So it almost looks like the GI is flashing a little bit. The king's challenge is saucer or upper lock. So either saucer or upper lock, whatever So either saucer or upper lock, whatever you're comfortable with. This king's challenge is called levitate.
    24:17
    It would be fine. No pressure. Get a myar. Should have gone for the bong. Should have gone for the bong. Yeah.
    24:48
    King's challenge one. Levitate. survive the lower left bank. So, this uh King's Challenge Levitate is So, this uh King's Challenge Levitate is just the lower left bank. And you hear that fuzzy sound? That's the game pulsing the magnet on the lower left. So, that every time he's hitting the lower left bank, he's risking getting the ball ripped down the out lane by the magnet. Actually, it helped him that time. I think
    25:20
    there you survived. Perfect. Uh you got a combat mode ready up top. Bonus multiplier at saucer. Bonus multiplier at saucer. Okay. So the spinner uh if you rip the Okay. So the spinner uh if you rip the spinner 25 times, you qualify your 2x bonus multiplier, but you have to collect it on the saucer. So you can't get 2x or 3x until he gets 2x, etc. Got another king's challenge. Every time you hear a Latin like that, Every time you hear a Latin like that, it's a combo. Um, there's, I think, nine named combos in the game. Challenge one, melee. Survive a fight Challenge one, melee. Survive a fight with the jet. So, if you go lock again, you can bring So, if you go lock again, you can bring that into a that king's challenge into your combat mode.
    26:28
    perfect. Press both magnets. Press both magnets. Let's go ahead and do it. Let's go ahead and do it. Awesome. Awesome. These targets qualify jackpot. So this is again this is any drop target So this is again this is any drop target bank or I'm sorry this is upper and lower qualifies your jackpot on the turnaround.
    26:55
    Lock them back up. One more for fun. So as soon as the drop targets uh you're done up upstairs, right? Yeah. So, the drop targets stay down in these combat modes. So, if you get a uh lower bank, then you'll qualify your jackpots up top. Okay. Okay. And as long as you keep in two ball And as long as you keep in two ball multiball, uh you can keep qualifying and getting jackpots again and again.
    27:35
    All right, perfect. So now jackpot's ready on the perfect. So now jackpot's ready on the upper turnaround.
    27:53
    Oh, come on. Okay, we got grace period though. Okay, we got grace period though. Jackpot's still ready.
    28:17
    Nope. Getting back up is not my not my strong point. That's it's not an easy thing. Um you That's it's not an easy thing. Um you just set the high score on 10 ball. on 10 ball. GC. GC. Yeah. Yeah. GC on 10 ball. That's the secret, GC on 10 ball. That's the secret, everybody. 10 balls. All right. Do we want to do one more All right. Do we want to do one more game or do you guys want to move in the Q&A? What do you think? I want to do one more game. I want to do one more game. Let's do one more game. Let's do this. Let's do one more game. Let's do this. Really fun. Bring someone up to play. Bring someone up to play. All right. Let's bring someone. You You All right. Let's bring someone. You You up for a challenge? Of course. Of course. Two-player game. You suggested Two-player game. You suggested Come on, man. Get up here. Get up here. Start a two-player. Let's go. Start a two-player. Let's go. All right. Let's go back to three ball. All right. Let's go back to three ball. Um, just a nice quick one. just a nice quick one. Oh, Scott. Hey, Scott. I'm Dick. Hey, Scott. I'm Dick. We're going to go back to three ball. No. Uh, I'm just going to restart. It's going to be easier. Oh, yeah. I You guys Oh, yeah. I You guys menu, audits, menu, basic adjustments, free play, all seconds. free play, all seconds. All right, that's an that's a great All right, that's an that's a great point. Tilt warnings. Tilt warnings. So, I don't have to do this because Chip So, I don't have to do this because Chip just suggested something really cool. Hold start button to install easy preset. Hold start button to inst button to install progressive presets. I don't know if anybody else does this. I don't know if anybody else does this. Progressive presets will be played Progressive presets will be played during game but this is something that a friend of but this is something that a friend of ours uh wanted on the game so we put it on the game. So progressive presets means Scott you're going first. you're going first. Rules adjustment operator menu. Rules adjustment operator menu. Who dares the black? Now, player one in Who dares the black? Now, player one in pre in progressive rules is going to be easy easy mode. Player two is going to be hard mode. No ball saves. You got no ball saves, no nothing. You got no ball saves, no nothing. Okay, Okay, but you got everything now. but you got everything now. I love that. That's an awesome mode to I love that. That's an awesome mode to have in a game. All right. All right. Thanks, man. So, oh, and one more thing. Thanks, man. So, oh, and one more thing. Uh, as long as I'm showing you stuff that I that I think I've innovated, uh, if you tilt warning during your, it's going to put a timer up and that's going to tell you how long since the last tilt warning. Oo. So, if you're playing in tournaments Oo. So, if you're playing in tournaments or whatever, I know nobody's going to play this in tournaments, but um it's telling him right now he's got 19 seconds uh to go since it's 30 seconds since the last tilt warning. So, it'll just give you an automatic 30 second timer. You don't have to pull out your phone and put it on the glass and figure out how long it's been. You can go anytime. You can go anytime. All right. All right. I'm going to steal that, but you're I'm going to steal that, but you're getting credit. It's a good one. So, the I'm trying to think, is there So, the I'm trying to think, is there one other thing? So, the progressive is something that, yeah, it came from our friend Mike. Um, the tilt warning was something that I kept watching uh tournaments where people would put their phone on the glass and I was like, well, it's a pinball machine. We can do that. So, the easy rules means just finishing a drop bank is going to qualify a lock. You don't need to do the port cullis. So, you could you don't it eliminates the need for going up and down on the playfield so much. Um, it also increases all the timers. So, one thing I haven't talked about is combos. Um, anytime you get a left or a right, did I talk about anytime you get a left or right in lane, it's going to start a combo and you'll hear a church bell ring. As you progress your combo, hitting different switches. Um, you'll see shots are lit up and each combo is named with like a Latin name. Um, and those are relics that you're collecting. And as your knight collects relics, the relics uh help you like one of them will hold over bonus multiplier, one of them will hold over bonus X, one of them will double all your time. Let's see how I do on three ball without Let's see how I do on three ball without ball tons of ball saves. So each each relic that you collect is So each each relic that you collect is is helping you in your battles. Uh there's nine different Go ahead. So if this was a fourplayer game, Yes. So if this was a fourplayer game, Yes. how would the progressive work? how would the progressive work? It would go easy, medium, medium, hard. It would go easy, medium, medium, hard. Okay. So, uh, three is easy, medium, Okay. So, uh, three is easy, medium, hard, and then four is easy, medium, medium. So, you can use that as kind of a So, you can use that as kind of a handicap system if you have someone in the house that's better or what it is. Or you can draw straws and just get Or you can draw straws and just get screwed over, right? But I mean, we do get the right? But I mean, we do get the advantage of having the hard player last so you know what you have to catch up to. And the other reason for that is, you know, when we play with somebody who's really good compared to the other people is that if if you're player four and you're really good, we make you walk away, you know, as soon as you beat the other score because nobody wants the the players who are new to the game don't want to sit around and watch you play 20 minute multiballs, you know. So that's why the hard player goes last So that's why the hard player goes last is as soon as you pass the score, walk away. I love it. I love it. Yeah, it's good stuff. Yeah, it's good stuff. Innovation do not always happen on the Innovation do not always happen on the play field. There's a lot of rule stuff that we still need to work on,
    32:57
    but we're not asking you to walk away from ball one. So, you can you can keep playing this one.
    33:18
    So, combos um can be chained together. Ah. can be chained together. Ah. Um, and every time you advance a combo, Um, and every time you advance a combo, you'll hear the church bell move down the sequence. It's like the standard, you know, church bell that you might hear. The dung dung dung dong. Uh, it'll keep going up to 24 uh rings. If you get uh 20 rings, um, nobody's going to ever get a 20 ring. You win everything. So, it'll give you all the relics and then you get all the advantages conferred in that. There are combos in the game like if you did uh right lane uh right lane magnet buttons for single combat. magnet buttons for single combat. So you can press the magnet buttons if So you can press the magnet buttons if you want to try this combat mode both at the same time. There you go. Um complete complete if you did right lane spinner ramp and if you did right lane spinner ramp and then around to the lock shot. That's like a million point combo right there. It's not super easy to get to, but if you preede that with going down the left in lane and then chassing over getting right in lane and then you advance your combo, that's going to double everything. So, just chaining together the combo shots while the combo timer is running uh is really going to get you a lot of points in easy mode. Uh I think you get like 5 seconds. I guess you're still alive I guess you're still alive between between I'll take that. I'll take that. That must have been uh Yeah, long long That must have been uh Yeah, long long ball saver on um combat mode. Single combat only has ball saves. So, that's a win. Single combat one.
    34:55
    So Ryan, one thing I've noticed when I've reprogrammed these games is it changes the feel obviously, but it also seems to like change perceived difficulty of the game. Definitely. Definitely. Do you find that to be true? Yeah, the Do you find that to be true? Yeah, the rule I mean the difficulty is very heavily linked to the rules and the reason a lot of these old games are impossible is because there's no motive and if you put any modern game on the same exact settings, it feels suddenly just as hard. So, I mean, yes, the the the design and the the layout itself does contribute very heavily to obviously to the difficulty, but honestly, the settings are probably but honestly, the settings are probably even more important. Like, cuz there is all kinds of stuff Like, cuz there is all kinds of stuff you can do in settings to make a game easier or harder. There's only so much I can do on the playfield, though, cuz you only have certain adjustments that the designer provides with you. And a good designer will provide you with, you know, enough of those to make a big difference, but not all of them. So, but if you have access to the So, but if you have access to the software, ball saver length, um, grace periods, like that, that stuff can make a game feel incredibly approachable. It doesn't matter if a new player drains five times as long as you keep giving it back to them. So, especially in a game like this where So, especially in a game like this where every time I drain, I'm go I get rewarded and I get to go up back up top. Right. Right. Yeah. A lot of the stuff Right. Right. Yeah. A lot of the stuff you want to do, want to advance is going to be up top with that lock shot.
    36:22
    Cool. Oh crap. So you see that you saw that I failed to bong I failed to bong middle ramp was flashing purple. Um the middle ramp was flashing purple. Um the uh laser cut ramps are from the mod couple I think. Um I chip brought this machine that already had those in there. Um but while I was servicing it one time, one of the wires got pulled and like one of the LEDs could broke. So when I was putting the LEDs uh strips on the playfield, I was like, let's put new LEDs under there, make them addressable. So that means that um the code has control over that red ramp and the yellow ramp as well or orange ramp.
    37:50
    Nice bong. Okay, so that was um one of the relics Okay, so that was um one of the relics that knights used to be able to do that carry around was a a a toe of a saint. I carry around was a a a toe of a saint. I think that's what it just said. Dead o des Santo, which would be I've made them all. Oh, that was Oh, that was that was combat jackpot increased by that was combat jackpot increased by 50k. All right. All right. All right. All right. See what your combat jackpot is right See what your combat jackpot is right now, Ryan. With the either magnet button. Nothing. Nothing. Woo. That's a goose egg. That's hard. That's That's a goose egg. That's hard. That's hard rules for you. You going to take it? Both magnet buttons for single combat. Both magnet buttons for single combat. Do it. You're on both. Take it. Take it. Do it. You're on both. Take it. Take it. I can do this. I can do this. Quick points. Now, Quick points. Now, if you combo the saucer shot after you if you combo the saucer shot after you get this drop target bank, if you combo the saucer shot, you're going to double the double the reward. So, if you can get it on the right flipper if you can get it on the right flipper and then transfer it over. There's another way to increase the jackpot here and that's called um
    39:04
    Okay, see that gave you 50k towards your jackpot. Okay. If you I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm not dead. I'm not dead. That was it. Yeah, it's a it's a tight That was it. Yeah, it's a it's a tight timer on single combat in hard mode. So, you were a victim of the progressive rules. Nope. Nope. Oh, and there's Steve's voice. So, I Oh, and there's Steve's voice. So, I kept Steve's voice on the outlane stage. Did we not? Did we not? We're playing. We're playing. I forgot to change it back. I'm sorry. I forgot to change it back. I'm sorry. That's part of the basic adjustments. Playing 10 ball. Playing 10 ball. Yeah, let's go. I need back. Yeah, let's go. I need back. We're cutting it off. I forgot to switch We're cutting it off. I forgot to switch switch back to balls to game. But Scott, you're sleeping on your skills. That was great. But see how that evened it out? But see how that evened it out? That was a lot of way. That was a lot of way. Yeah. Yeah. just the timers and the ball Yeah. Yeah. just the timers and the ball saves and all that other kind of stuff. And that's a nice little thing. You can And that's a nice little thing. You can just easily go back in and just quickly set it right back to normal. No problem. During a game, if you want test, audits, During a game, if you want test, audits, basic adjustments, tilt warning, music, sound effect, call outs per game. I forgot to change this. So, the basic I forgot to change this. So, the basic adjustments I don't adjust in the rules settings except for ball save. That's the only basic adjustment that comes through. Mhm. Mhm. Rules preules adjust operator menu. Rules preules adjust operator menu. Okay, questions. Microphone. Microphone. Who else wants to fight me? Go Who else wants to fight me? Go ahead. Come down to the mic if you ahead. Come down to the mic if you would.
    40:31
    I'll be there. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, who did that voice? Uh, who did that voice? Which voice? Which voice? All the voices are me. All the voices are me. And so I had a bad cold one day. I And so I had a bad cold one day. I recorded all the I recorded all the um um Yeah, I you know, it's it's tough. um Yeah, I you know, it's it's tough. So, I did one game that where I had AI voice and people hate it. Um, so I just try to do my best. Now, every sample on the machine is on a little SD card plugged into the wave trigger. Uh, and people have done this for other codes that I've done in the past. Take out that card, put your own waves on there. Um, you can put your own voice in there. You can put whatever sound effects you want. Everything's configurable. Um, so, you know, if you don't like what I did, go ahead and change it. That's cool. It won't offend me whatsoever. Okay. I have a serious question.
    41:22
    Were you tempted or how tempted were you to change the insert to white so that you could have different color LEDs? I've done that. I did that on uh my I've done that. I did that on uh my Trident. My goal with these machines is to make it so that you can put this mod on uh in a in a pretty short period of time. Like if if you're decent at installing these, you're talking 20 minutes to install the whole thing, but also take it off and have done no no destruction to the machine. That topper that I've got on top of there is velcroed on. Uh I put a couple of holes in the wood rail, sorry. Uh to mount my little playfield things, but that's it. Everything else, like Okay, so the subwoofer inside is screwed in, but everything else is like you take that out and you would never know that I touched this machine because I review these machines, too. you know, I like to be able to play them on different code, but I still want to be able to boot up to, you know, Steve Richie and play it just like Steve Richie's code, uh, on the machine the way it was, um, with the exception of a little bit of additional lighting. So, this is the machine rebooted. There's Black Knight. There's Black Knight. So, it's an alternate way to play it. So, it's an alternate way to play it. It's not I'm not replacing anything. Good question.
    42:40
    Classic to uh Um, what do you use for electronics hardware?
    42:47
    I know. I didn't get here at the beginning, so I'm guessing. Yeah, no worries. Um, so I built my own Yeah, no worries. Um, so I built my own my own PCB. This is this is a slot for an Arduino uh Mega 2560. Uh, the Arduino um is not the best microcontroller out in the world, but it's cheap. Well, I was going to say would like
    43:08
    a Pi will work. Yeah, at the time when I was when I was doing at the time when I was when I was doing this, there was a big shortage. So, I just went with what was cheap and available. There are better architectures in the world like ESP would be better if you put line shifters up to 5 volts. Uh, you know, the uh library is uh hardware ambivalent. So, I've written the library to work with a number of different like I've I've done it with um mostly Arduinos, but it would be super simple to write it for a different microcontroller if you wanted more capabilities or more speed. This has plenty enough to do everything I want to do. So, I just stuck with that. Um, and honestly, I was going to put the Arduino, the 18 mega chip right on here. The AT mega chip is more expensive to buy as a component than it is to buy as a full breakout board. So, I just put a slap for the breakout board. So, all these plans, schematics, everything are on Pinball Refresh. Um, these boards when I get them done, I get them done like 20 at a time because I'm doing a lot of machines. Maybe a buck 50 a piece. I mean, they're cheap cheap to make. Uh, this machine also has in it um a board that I call the accessory lamp board. And this drives all my LEDs. It communicates with the other board via I2C. That takes all of the LED processing off of the main chip. So I can do all my program all my animations for the topper, for the rails, for the ramps, for the speakers. All that stuff is done by this board. And this board is really cheap to make. I mean, like makes that other board look like a Cadillac. So it's all custom parts sort of. it's all custom parts sort of. Yeah, custom. Um, and you know, made Yeah, custom. Um, and you know, made from uh easily obtainable offtheshelf stuff. Um, surface mount or what? surface mount or what? So I do have some surface mount parts on So I do have some surface mount parts on this Rev. If you're doing a ballet stern, it doesn't need anything. Um, this rev needs surface mount because on the Williams architecture, I have to isolate the 682 or the 688 from the bus when I boot. So, I had to put um, you know, isolation uh, circuits on there. Uh, and that's all surface mount. There is a through hole version uh, I call the Rev 101. I don't use that one anymore because honestly I don't like to solder that much. So, I just surface mount yourself. No, no. I get them I get them built that way. That that board cost me two bucks. Did I turn off or No, that board cost me two bucks with the parts on it. Like with the resistors and surface and all this stuff on it. It's all G I'm sorry. Uh I'll repeat the question. Um do I surface do I solder surface mount myself? No. I order these to be at least I have in the past. I haven't checked prices lately. I order these to be shipped with the surface mount components on them. And if you do it, as long as you do it like in batches of, you know, more than 10 or 20, like I'll I'll probably spend I mean, at the most I've spent like 50 bucks shipped to me. You know what I mean? It's cheap. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, minus the Arduino. So, you Well, I mean, minus the Arduino. So, you got to put the Arduino on there or any connectors you want on there. But yeah, But yeah, show us some hardware. show us some hardware. Oh, yeah. If you want to um if it's easy Oh, yeah. If you want to um if it's easy to get the back glass out of there without the rig. Can we move the That shouldn't be a problem. That shouldn't be a problem. Want me to sneak in back here? Want me to sneak in back here? I don't want to run over. Oh, we got I don't want to run over. Oh, we got love the magnets. love the magnets. Okay. Um yeah, if we want to if Okay. Um yeah, if we want to if anybody's got any more questions, I'll I'll take those now. You sell that? You sell that? I don't sell anything. So, um I you I don't sell anything. So, um I you know, I'm in this for the love of it, right? I publish everything open source. It's all available on pinbell refresh. You can build your own. So the bombs on there and everything So the bombs on there and everything out, you know,
    46:56
    yeah, I so I've been using JLC uh PCB um as of last year. I haven't looked around lately. Uh but I had a whole bunch made last year so I haven't looked around. See what the Sorry. Oh no, it's open. Should be open. Yeah. When you when you write the code, what When you when you write the code, what do you have to baseline? Oh, the code. Oh, the code. Yes. Yes. Nothing. So, it's the Arduino, the the Nothing. So, it's the Arduino, the the compiler for Arduino will run on, you know, Linux, Windows, Mac, anything. I usually do it on a laptop. Um, and you can literally do it on a laptop that's 20 years old. I do it on a laptop so I can bring it to the machine instead of bringing the the board to my laptop to my computer. So, um, this is all from from the distance. This is all going to look like regular old Williams stuff. This is, uh, the regular Williams MPU. This board here is an older version of, uh, what I call retrop pin upgrade. Uh, and it's just plugged into the processor socket of this MPU. Right here is the original uh, 6808 that came with it. I you just pop that out of the MPU, pop it into my board. Uh, and then so my board acts as an interposer. If if this is all through hole, you can see if if you choose to boot to original code, it's just going to let this chip boot as if it was everything was normal. If you boot to new code, it's going to the Arduino is going to take over, isolate the 682 off the bus. So, you can even like read a ROM from the original uh chipset or read the RAM conditions from the original chipset. everything. That all works just as it did. Uh on the side here, you'll see that I mounted my little lamp board. And that's my latest Yep. That's my latest um uh ALB accessory lamp board is the thing I just came out with last year. And that's always on. I've got that running off of an independent power supply so I don't stress out the pinball machine. And from that, you can do a couple hundred uh LEDs. Um you know, these strip lights like I've got on top of the top or all that kind of stuff. Hey, just a quick question. Is this the first system you've done? And
    49:11
    uh maybe maybe the first system seven. Um before this, I've done Stellar Wars, I did Scorpion, I did system six, uh Flash, which can be four or six. I guess Stella Wars can be four or six. This may be the first system 7. This board works on anything up to 11C. Um, and I think you can even do like data east on it as well. I had a Robocop. I didn't try it, but I think you can run it on that. And that's the 103. And that's the 103. This is the 102. This is the 102. 102. 102. So 103 I haven't put out yet. I had a So 103 I haven't put out yet. I had a request for like from myself to put something in the 10. I can't remember what it is. Once I figure that out, I'll put out a 103. Other questions? Oh, this is the wave trigger board. This little red guy. Um, whatever. That's the most expensive component right now. It's 50 or 60 bucks for a wave trigger and that does all the audio. Uh I'm working on a Raspberry Pi uh replacement for the wave trigger because um you can get like a Pi Zero that's got plenty of capability for it. I think you can get that for less than 20 bucks. And um the only thing I'm working on is trying to get the boot time low enough so that because I like to have the machine come on. I don't like to wait for a boot sequence. Anyway, all right. Okay. Well, thanks very much, all right. Okay. Well, thanks very much, Dick, and thanks Ryan and Ryan and Ryan and Scott for the awesome game. and Scott for the awesome game. Test player, Scott.