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Episode 436 - Robo-Frenzy Wiring, Multi-Races progress, Chicago Coin Soundstage Unboxing, 1948 Gottlieb Alice in Wonderland

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·13m 43s·analyzed·Dec 7, 2018
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.018

TL;DR

EM restoration progress, homebrew game updates, and deep dive into 1948 Gottlieb Alice in Wonderland mechanics.

Summary

Nick Baldrige discusses his ongoing RoboFrenzy restoration project (70% wiring complete), updates on the Multi-Races homebrew game project, a Chicago Coin Soundstage unboxing, and provides a detailed technical and artistic analysis of the 1948 Gottlieb Alice in Wonderland pinball machine, covering its playfield mechanics, artwork, and gameplay complexity.

Key Claims

  • RoboFrenzy restoration is approximately 70% complete on wiring, with two major units and eight trip relays remaining to wire.

    high confidence · Nick Baldrige, host, describing his current project status

  • During transformer testing, Nick discovered he had mistakenly installed two Bally 50-volt transformers instead of the required 24-volt transformer, which could have burned out coils and the score motor.

    high confidence · Nick Baldrige explaining a wiring error caught during pre-fuse testing

  • Multi-Races will eventually include all one-ball horse race games in both payout and replay versions, starting with Turf King.

    high confidence · Nick Baldrige announcing project scope for Multi-Races homebrew

  • The 1948 Gottlieb Alice in Wonderland is part of the six-game fairy tale series, all featuring six flippers.

    medium confidence · Nick Baldrige describing the game's historical context and design

  • Alice in Wonderland flippers articulate backwards compared to modern pinball machines and are arranged for tennis-style play down the playfield rather than traditional flipper shots.

    high confidence · Nick Baldrige discussing era-specific design mechanics of early EM pinball

Notable Quotes

  • “I had managed to put two Bally transformers in there instead at 50-volt output for the coils. So luckily I was doing my testing in that way rather than just trusting to fate here and hoping that I had it right because it would have burned up some coils pretty quickly and possibly the score Motor as well.”

    Nick Baldrige @ ~3:00-3:30 — Highlights the importance of careful testing and voltage verification during restoration to avoid catastrophic component failure.

  • “Seeing a brand new EM of any stripe being unboxed is just amazing.”

    Nick Baldrige @ ~5:15 — Expresses community enthusiasm for preservation and discovery of unplayed vintage EM machines.

  • “It looks like it's a lot more challenging than it seems like it would be at first glance. As with many of these fairy tale series of games, it's important to remember them in the context of their time.”

    Nick Baldrige @ ~14:45-15:00 — Emphasizes the importance of understanding historical design context when evaluating early EM games.

Entities

Nick BaldrigepersonRoboFrenzygameMulti-RacesgameChicago Coin SoundstagegameAlice in WonderlandgameGottliebcompanyTurf KinggameRoy ParkerpersonBallycompany

Signals

  • ?

    restoration_signal: RoboFrenzy restoration has reached 70% completion on wiring; critical voltage verification discovered incorrect transformer configuration that could have caused catastrophic failure.

    high · Nick Baldrige's detailed account of transformer testing and error discovery during pre-fuse circuit validation

  • ?

    design_innovation: Multi-Races project planned as comprehensive compilation of all one-ball horse race pinball games with both payout and replay versions.

    high · Nick Baldrige's announcement that he will 'eventually have all of the one ball horse race games available for play' with something special planned for payout versions

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Sourcing correct replacement transformers from different manufacturers (Williams 24V to replace incorrect Bally 50V units) is a critical part of restoration workflow.

    high · Nick Baldrige pulling a Williams 24-volt transformer to replace incorrectly installed Bally transformers

  • ?

    historical_signal: Early EM pinball flippers articulate backwards from modern machines and are arranged for tennis-style play rather than traditional up-the-playfield shots.

    high · Nick Baldrige's explanation that flippers 'articulate backwards' and are 'arrayed in such a fashion that you're basically playing tennis all the way down the playfield'

  • ?

    content_signal: For Amusement Only podcast distributed across iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, RSS, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and personal website.

    high · Nick Baldrige's distribution channel listing at episode conclusion

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.041

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 Baldrige. Well, things have been very busy. I know I say that every episode, but it gets no less true. In fact, things have been so busy that I forgot to record yesterday. Normally I am way on top of that, but I apologize, This is a day late if you're hearing it the day of release, but hey, life gets in the way sometimes. So here's what I've been doing. I wired RoboFrenzy like crazy. I'm probably 70% of the way done with wiring. I have two major units left to wire and then eight trip relays. Aside from The game is pretty much complete. As I was going through and testing everything, I got to the coils, measured the input voltage and output voltage on the transformers before I fused them, of course. Or rather, before a fuse was in the circuit, so there was no chance of damage to any of the coils or lamps or anything. Um, and my input voltage was great, nice and strong. My output voltage, however, was not correct. So, as it turned out, I had used my 24-volt transformer in fixing a different game and had completely, completely forgotten about it. Um, so I had managed to put two Bally transformers in there instead at 50-volt output for the coils. So luckily I was doing my testing in that way rather than just trusting to fate here and hoping that I had it right because it would have burned up some coils pretty quickly and possibly the score Motor as well. So, with the appropriate transformer in hand now, all I have to do is unhook one of the ballet transformers. I get to pick now, either one. And then hook in the correct 24 volt transformer. I pulled one from a Williams and that should be that. You know, I should be able to go through and start testing my coil circuits. I'm looking forward to that and seeing what errors lie in the wiring. I found one error already. I had dived through one of the circuits that I needed to do through the Jones plug instead of... Basically, I went around one of the circuits that I needed rather than through. So, I've got to kind of cut that wiring out and put a different wire in and run it through a trip relay, but not the end of the world.
2:59
Aside from that, you know, things have been relatively quiet. I've also been working behind the scenes on multi races, which I announced here some time ago. I going to start with Turf King because it going to be easy to document I will eventually have all of the one ball horse race games available for play in there including payout versions and replay versions and I have something special to announce on the payout side once I figure out what I going to do there Well I know what I going to do It just a matter of getting it done So tonight I going to be heading down in a moment to either continue wiring RoboFrenzy or to wire up my So what else is going on? Let's see. Contest winners, you should have received your prize by now and if not, it will be in the next couple of days. Look for that. In EM news, there was a Chicago coin soundstage that was recently unboxed. This is similar to the Silver Sales except quite a bit newer. And, uh, but still, no less incredible. I mean, seeing a brand new EM of any stripe being unboxed is just amazing. Um, so that one, uh, didn't fare as well, but I will say that the box was in much worse condition than the box for the silver sails. The video is available on Facebook. Uh, unfortunately, if you don't have an account, that's the only place that it is at the moment. I will link to the Facebook page in the show notes. So you can check that out if you would like to.
Williams
company
  • ?

    community_signal: Excitement within EM community around discovery and unboxing of unplayed vintage machines; Chicago Coin Soundstage recently unboxed and documented.

    high · Nick Baldrige stating 'Seeing a brand new EM of any stripe being unboxed is just amazing' regarding Chicago Coin Soundstage

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Early EM games like 1948 Alice in Wonderland require understanding their historical design constraints and conventions to properly evaluate gameplay complexity and artwork.

    high · Nick Baldrige emphasizing importance of remembering games 'in the context of their time' with backward flippers and unconventional layout

  • ?

    venue_signal: Chicago Coin Soundstage unboxing video available on Facebook only, requiring account for access; show notes will link to Facebook page.

    high · Nick Baldrige noting video is 'available on Facebook' and 'unfortunately, if you don't have an account, that's the only place that it is at the moment'

    • 4:52
    Today's featured game is 1948's Alice in Wonderland by Gottlieb. And this is one of the fairy tale series, one of the six games that Gottlieb produced that contains six flippers, Alice in Wonderland being one of them.
    5:09
    At first glance, this machine looks incredibly simple. If you look at the playfield layout, Good luck to my internet friends and iknowmoreboyfriends. Martins, kangano or Mitneek and Andrea, hel.com karamna acompa glejs, roäm Autobible 정말 at the legally ganarhe, pensoka preference, almost've So now, if you have some questions here I can make it to an actual video I'll see you in a minute. Click Add. Playfield is laid out with bumpers arrayed at the top and posts above those. The bumpers spell LIC and oddly I don't see anything in the playfield artwork that has the A or E for Alice, but normally in this era at least the bumper caps would read left to right so around the playfield starting with A at the bottom and ending with E on the bottom right. In this case it just says LIC. Down below that is a rollover and below the I bumper, the one in the center, in the upper third there, there's a rollover and every time you rollover it, it will increment a stepper which will change the value of the red bumpers. The red bumpers start at 10,000 and with the next switch hit, they go to 20,000. 30,000, 40,000, 50,000 and then special for each red bumper hit. There are four red bumpers arrayed around the playfield two directly beneath the first set of flippers two beneath the second set So you have a very good chance of hitting one or more of these red bumpers as your ball travels down the playfield In the center of the playfield there's a diamond bumper that when lit gives you 50,000 points and I assume when it's unlit it gives you 10,000. On the left and right side of the middle set of flippers is a rollover that increments the bonus. Now the bonus value is below towards the center of the playfield underneath the diamond bumper there's a kick out and below this kick out is the bonus counter and for each lit value in the bonus counter your bonus increments by 100,000 points. Pretty big deal. So if you can get that bonus incremented high enough Just by clicking here, then you can collect up to 1 million in bonus straight out. There's also a way to collect double bonus, so you can get up to 2 million points just from this one mechanic. Now, there's a kick out hole I mentioned up above, that kick out hole above gives you double bonus, and hitting it requires a rebound basically off of one of the red bumpers after The lower set of flippers uh... very tricky looking that kick out will kick down into a bonus collect saucer and then below that there is a rollover which increments your bonus at the bottom left and right in place of the A and the E in the word alice there are two bumpers with caps that say special when lit To light special, you have to spell Alice. And I just found where A and E are. It's a little hard to see on these photos from my PDB because of some fading on these inserts, but there are two inserts on those rollover lanes that add to your bonus, and they will unlight when you hit them. The left is A and the right is E, so again, you go around the playfield Alice. So, once you spell Alice, it will light that double bonus kick out hole for Special. It will also light those purple bumpers in the bottom left and bottom right for a replay apiece every time you hit them. Pretty good deal. You can also win, as I mentioned, by hitting the top rollover multiple times until you advance the value to Special. Then every red bumper hit is an extra replay. Winner's way to win is on score. So depending on how much score you've accrued, you may earn a replay or two.
    9:42
    The Backglass and Playfield artwork are very typical, I would say, of Roy Parker artwork. There are ladies on the Backglass. One is the titular Alice in Wonderland, and she's The she's admiring her figure in the looking glass and there is he lady pay either a foot person or retainer of some kind and she holding a box I don recall this character from but I certain it come to me as soon as I finish recording Arrayed around the outside of the scene is your score and it in these just beautiful mirrored bean type sections They just look great, very colorful, and I think they're set off very well by the mirroring. And down in the bottom center, there's the Mad Hatter peeking up from behind the 40,000 indicator.
    10:48
    Alice is standing in front of a large staircase and there is a statue of a lady holding a lantern aloft
    10:59
    near the center of the back glass. Both Alice and the statue lady are illuminated by default. There are multiple women on the playfield and each one is slightly different and representative of a portion of the story in some way, shape or form. At the bottom of the playfield you have Alice talking to the mock turtle. Up at the middle of the playfield you have the Queen of Hearts on either side holding up a special windlit sign. Which is pointing to A and E. Up at the top, you have that same retainer that I can't place holding the same box and walking towards what appears to be Alice or perhaps that's supposed to be the White Rabbit holding the fan.
    11:52
    Very interesting artwork and I'm sure there is nuance and detail here which I am not I'm not understanding at this particular time, but it's a game that I'm really interested in playing sometime and I hope to run across one in my travels one day. It looks like it's a lot more challenging than it seems like it would be at first glance. As with many of these fairy tale series of games, it's important to remember them in the context of their time. So the flippers articulate backwards from the way that we're used to and they also are arrayed in such a fashion that you're basically playing tennis all the way down the playfield. So if you use the flipper you're trying to flip to the other side. You're generally not flipping back up the playfield. In that way you can bounce off of various playfield mechanics and hopefully earn quite a bit of points. 置 designed,採Ha,T� 246-4671. You can listen to me on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, via RSS, on Facebook, on Twitter at Bingo Podcast. You can follow me on Instagram also at Bingo Podcast or you can listen to me on my website which is forumusementonly.libsyn.com. Thank you very much for listening and I'll talk to you next time.