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Episode 445 - Service Calls, Coin-Op Carnival Shipping, Universal 5-Star, 1952 Gottlieb Coronation

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·23m 28s·analyzed·Apr 11, 2019
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.027

TL;DR

Service updates, Coin-Op Carnival shipping delays, Universal 5-Star repair education, and deep dive into 1952 Gottlieb Coronation gameplay and art.

Summary

Nick Baldrige discusses recent service calls on EM and solid-state machines, shipping updates for Coin-Op Carnival Volume 2, teaching Sophie machine repair on a Universal 5-Star proto-bingo game, highlights of an upcoming Coin-Op Carnival tour stop at Michigan State University featuring Wayne Neyens machines, and an in-depth review of the 1952 Gottlieb Coronation featuring its unique chevron-based gameplay, scoring mechanics, and classic Roy Parker artwork.

Key Claims

  • A shipment of 100 autographed Coin-Op Carnival books was lost or destroyed in the mail before reaching Nick Baldrige

    high confidence · Nick Baldrige stated the box was lost in transit and could not be claimed; Ryan Clayton is sending another 100 signed copies expected early the following week

  • The EM and solid-state versions of Evil Knievel have nearly identical gameplay

    high confidence · Nick Baldrige compared the two versions after repairing and playing an EM Evil Knievel, noting the gameplay is 'almost indistinguishable'

  • Universal was the gambling division of United, which manufactured flipper games and shuffle alleys

    medium confidence · Nick Baldrige states this as background context for Universal 5-Star

  • Coin-Op Carnival Volume 2 tour will include 16 stops across 10 states

    high confidence · Nick Baldrige announces the second tour stop at Abrams Planetarium on April 14, 2019, and references the 16-stop, 10-state tour structure

  • The Coronation playfield has no shield between flippers, allowing balls to drain behind them

    high confidence · Nick Baldrige explicitly states the game 'does not have a shield for the flippers' and that 'balls can actually drain on this game'

Notable Quotes

  • “The reception continues to be just overwhelming. I'm so very pleased and humbled by the reaction to the book.”

    Nick Baldrige @ ~04:40 — Indicates strong market reception and demand for Coin-Op Carnival Volume 2

  • “It's one thing to visualize what the door looks like when it's closed after you've worked on a game and it's another thing to see it... seeing one open like this through the acrylic casing is going to be even better.”

    Nick Baldrige @ ~18:45 — Enthusiasm for the Clearly Insane 2 acrylic bingo project and its educational value

  • “The art package on this game is considered a classic. It is one of those games that people think of when they think of wood rails is Coronation.”

    Nick Baldrige @ ~28:20 — Establishes Coronation as iconic in the EM pinball canon

  • “I'm more of a troubleshoot kind of guy versus a complete and total tear down and rebuild.”

    Nick Baldrige @ ~14:00 — Describes his repair philosophy and approach to EM machine maintenance

  • “The plastics have been reproduced by Ryan Claytor, whom you might know as the co-author of Coin-Op Carnival. And he did a phenomenal job.”

    Nick Baldrige @ ~37:30 — Connects Ryan Claytor's work on Coin-Op Carnival to his aftermarket pinball reproduction business

Entities

Nick BaldrigepersonRyan ClaytorpersonSophiepersonWayne NeyenspersonSeanpersonRoy ParkerpersonCoin-Op CarnivalproductFor Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball PodcastorganizationGottlieb CoronationgameUniversal 5-Stargame

Signals

  • ?

    product_launch: Coin-Op Carnival Volume 2 shipment experienced logistics delays: initial 100 signed copies lost in mail, replacement 100 copies in transit expected early following week. High order volume reported.

    high · Nick states 'the box got lost or destroyed in the mail' and 'he ended up signing another 100 copies, and they're on the way to me now'

  • ?

    event_signal: Coin-Op Carnival 16-stop, 10-state tour is underway. Second stop at Abrams Planetarium (Michigan State University) on April 14, 2019 will feature 360-degree video with Wayne Neyens and playable classic machines.

    high · Nick announces 'Ryan is hosting the second tour stop on our 16-stop 10-state tour at the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University this Sunday, April 14, 2019, at 6 p.m.'

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Nick Baldrige is actively teaching Sophie EM machine repair fundamentals using Universal 5-Star as primary teaching machine, covering motor maintenance, switch troubleshooting, stepper cleaning, and playfield restoration.

    high · Nick states 'I'm teaching Sophie how to repair EM games, and we started with Universal's 5 Star' and details specific repair procedures undertaken

  • ?

    design_innovation: Clearly Insane 2 bingo project nearing completion: clear acrylic casing being built around a Bally Golden Gate to showcase the complex internal bingo control mechanisms. Project generating significant community enthusiasm.

    high · Nick states project is 'getting very close to completion now' and expresses enthusiasm about seeing the complex internal structures visible through acrylic

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.070

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. Always a lot happening the past couple weeks. No exception, of course. I feel like I say that every time. Maybe that's my new opening. I've been catching up on service calls that have been backlogged for the past month or so. shipping out copies of CoinOp Carnival and associated merchandise,
0:31
and teaching Sophie how to repair machines, starting with Universal's 5 Star, which we've been working on together. So let's talk a little bit about everything here. Service calls have been primarily solid state. However, I did repair an EM Evil Knievel, which is pretty fun. I've worked on two or three of the solid state version here very recently, and of course played the solid state version quite a bit, but the EM version I had never played before, and I'd never worked on one, so that was a treat, and got it rolling 100%, so that's always a lot of fun. the game had what seemed like one issue and turned out to be multiple it was stuck in a reset loop initially and then had a variety of other problems related to extra ball and ball count and bonus stepping and lighting the appropriate spitter lane there were a few different light issues most of them related to sockets but once I got it rolling it played through a few games quite reliably, so hopefully everything is A-OK with that for the foreseeable future, anyway. I will say that the EM gameplay is extremely similar to the Solid State gameplay, to the point where it's almost indistinguishable, actually. It's very impressive that they recreated the gameplay in Solid State so faithfully.
2:09
So, about the only advantages that the Solid State version has is the little tune that it plays on the chimes when you first coin up or start a player. And of course in the EM version, if the ball is traveling very quickly and hits several targets in a row that happen to rotate the score motor, you may be robbed of points, which is where the solid state has an advantage because, of course, the computer keeps track of all that. And as long as it is keeping up with the ball itself, then you'll get all your points. Of course, those early computers are not extremely fast, so even they can sometimes miss points depending on the switches, which is why early solid states have those capacitors on the switches to try and lengthen the pulse of the switch.
Evil Knievel
game
Bally Golden Gategame
Williams Aztecgame
Gottlieb Paul Bunyangame
Gottlieb Mystic Marvelgame
Williams Space Pilotgame
Gottlieb Around the Worldgame
Gottlieb Scoreboardgame
Abrams Planetariumevent
Clearly Insane 2product
Pinball Resourceorganization
Unitedcompany
PinSideorganization

gameplay_signal: EM and solid-state versions of Evil Knievel have nearly identical gameplay mechanics. Solid-state version has advantages in music playback and point tracking at high speeds; EM version offers authentic mechanical experience.

high · Nick compares versions: 'The EM gameplay is extremely similar to the Solid State gameplay, to the point where it's almost indistinguishable, actually'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Ryan Claytor producing high-quality reproduction plastic sets for classic machines (specifically Coronation), available through Pinball Resource. Quality noted as exceptional by community leaders.

    high · Nick states 'The plastics have been reproduced by Ryan Claytor... And he did a phenomenal job. You can see those plastics, which are available at Pinball Resource'

  • ?

    community_signal: Active knowledge transfer occurring in EM pinball community through formal apprenticeship model. Nick teaching Sophie foundational repair skills with plan to have Sophie appear on podcast once project complete.

    high · Nick states 'I'm teaching Sophie how to repair EM games' and 'hopefully I'll have the mechanic on to talk all about it once we're pretty close to done'

  • ?

    operational_signal: Nick managing backlog of service calls, combining repair work with content creation and educational apprenticeship. Service calls primarily on solid-state machines with occasional EM repair work.

    high · Nick opens episode stating 'I've been catching up on service calls that have been backlogged for the past month or so'

  • ?

    historical_signal: Gottlieb Coronation (1952) identified as iconic in EM pinball canon. Art package, playfield design, and Roy Parker back glass artwork establish game as design classic frequently referenced by enthusiasts.

    high · Nick states 'The art package on this game is considered a classic. It is one of those games that people think of when they think of wood rails is Coronation'

  • ?

    content_signal: For Amusement Only EM podcast maintaining regular production schedule with detailed game analysis, community highlights, and audience engagement through multiple contact channels.

    high · Episode covers detailed Coronation analysis, highlights community projects like Clearly Insane 2, and provides multiple audience contact methods

  • ?

    product_concern: Universal 5-Star restoration identified wiring issue: broken wire in bundle leading to Jones plug, with connection currently wire-nutted between head and playfield. Requires tracing and soldering to complete repair.

    high · Nick states 'There is one wire in this game which goes to a Jones plug... it's broken off from the Jones plug and is just wire-nutted together... I'm going to have to find the dead wire and then solder this wire in its place'

    • 2:58
    So tomorrow I'll be working on a Williams Aztec, and I've worked on a couple of those in the past, so I should be able to make quick work of it, but we will see.
    3:11
    So I also mentioned Coin-Op Carnival. The reception continues to be just overwhelming. I'm so very pleased and humbled by the reaction to the book. And in fact, the orders have come in so fast and furious that I ran out of shipping supplies very quickly after TPF. And once I restocked on those, which had to be special ordered because they're bags and boards and things of various sizes, then I quickly ran out of books Ryan autographed and sent a box of 100 books to me very shortly before I ran out of my books here and unfortunately the box got lost or destroyed in the mail and there's no way for us to claim it I mean, hopefully they'll be able to forward its remnants on to me but I assume, and so does Ryan, that those books are just gone. So he ended up signing another 100 copies, and they're on the way to me now, and they should be here early next week. We'll see, but that's the hope. And at that point, I can continue fulfilling orders. Thanks to everybody who's been patiently waiting. I know it's been a couple weeks, but I want to make sure everybody gets the thing that they ordered, in the order that they ordered it, if that makes sense.
    4:42
    In other coin-op carnival news, Ryan is hosting the second tour stop on our 16-stop 10-state tour at the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University this Sunday, April 14, 2019, at 6 p.m.
    5:00
    And Ryan is doing something very special for this presentation. It is in the Abrams Planetarium, as I mentioned, and he has taken a 360-degree video with Wayne Nines in his home, and we'll be broadcasting that on the planetarium. It's quite something to see, and I was lucky enough to catch a sneak peek at our last co-family vacation this past year. So Ryan's been working very hard on this presentation And it will include information about Koinop Carnival as well as a signing afterwards And Ryan has arranged for multiple Games that either Wayne Nines has designed or were featured Within Koinop Carnival number one to be at the Abrams Planetarium after the presentation The games are Paul Bunyan by Gottlieb Mystic Marvel also by Gottlieb which was featured in issue number one William's Space Pilot, featured in issue number one, Gottlieb's Around the World, and Gottlieb's Scoreboard.
    6:11
    This is a very interesting collection of machines, and they're all fantastic players. So hopefully everybody gets to check this out, and I would encourage anybody who's within driving distance to head to the Abrams Planetarium this Sunday. There are no advance tickets, and it is first come, first serve.
    6:30
    Next up, I mentioned that I'm teaching Sophie how to repair EM games, and we started with Universal's 5 Star.
    6:38
    Universal was basically the gambling division of United. So United made flipper games and shuffle alleys and all kinds of different things. and they had this gambling division where their different gambling games would go. Five Star is kind of a proto-bingo. It's not exactly a bingo. There are bingo cards on the back glass, but the playfield layout is wholly unique and very interesting.
    7:05
    But hopefully I'll have the mechanic on to talk all about it once we're pretty close to done. At the moment, I've gone through basic maintenance with her, checking relay switches, making sure that she understands the difference between normally open and normally closed, things of that nature, as well as basic cleaning techniques for switches. Now, I'm the type that likes to wait to clean switches unless they're just absolutely filthy and you can tell that they need it until I see the game in operation. I am not one to completely disassemble all the switch stacks and make sure that every switch face is polished instead I trust that the game's self-cleaning action has done what it needs to do and then see what behaviors the game exhibits or doesn't exhibit and fix from there So I'm more of a troubleshoot kind of guy versus a complete and total tear down and rebuild. However, there are exceptions to that rule, and one of those is the motor. So this is a game that has something akin to a control unit. It's smaller than most of the bingo control units, but it is a control unit nonetheless. There are three distinct sections similar to the control unit, And each of these sections is actuated by a leather clutch washer and a clutch, very similar to the bingo control units.
    8:47
    So Sophie learned how to take those apart and clean every inch of those. So the motor shaft has been cleaned, and that was pretty filthy and rusty. Now, the reason it was taken apart was because I test each motor and stepper in every game, and if the motor is hard to turn by hand, then it's a sign that either the clutches need some form of repair or maintenance, or that the motor shaft is just covered in crud. And there was a little bit of both in this game. The clutch washers were covered in grease and not just oil, and that needed to be cleaned off, as well as the shaft was just covered in crud and rust.
    9:37
    So Sophie learned how to take apart each individual section while keeping the motor pieces lined up so that assembly was easy. and then learned how to clean the clutch washers, re-oil them, and reassemble everything again. Now, putting the motor back in was something that I had to do because it required an absolute ton of pressure on the counterspring in order to get the motor shaft to seat just right on the spindle coming out of the motor. but Sophia is doing very well. She's scrubbing all the steppers. Every stepper is clean now and everything moves quite freely. There were a few springs which were stretched but it appears that they may have been replacement springs which were not quite the right size so I'm not certain if they'll be fine with use or if they'll break down and need replacing but doing everything by hand, everything works properly in Snaps 2 and does what it's supposed to do. So, we'll see. Now, there is one wire in this game which goes to a Jones plug, ordinarily, I assume, but in this case, it's broken off from the Jones plug and is just wire-nutted together with a wire in the head, between the head and the playfield. So this particular wire runs to the ball count unit end of stroke switch. Now I'm guessing that there's a broken wire somewhere in the bundle leading up to the Jones plug, because on the Jones plug every single position is quite firm. So there's a broken wire somewhere in the bundle, which means that I going to have to find the dead wire and then solder this wire in its place So next up Sophia already knows how to clean playfields but I going to have her clean and re the playfield because there's something transformative about being able to clean up and re-rubber a playfield. It just brings that appealing look to the game, and it's something that is quite obvious that you've had a very vast impact, whereas this stuff is more theory-driven than reality. Now, I did show her the difference between spinning the motor by hand before doing the motor work and after, and showed her how to manipulate each of the series of cams so that the clutches would engage or disengage. And there's really no difference in driving the entire shaft and driving just one set of cams. so that's going well next up, it's been a little while since I've directed people to the acrylic bingo project and it's called Clearly Insane 2 bingo, and there's a pin side thread about it but it's getting very close to completion now and the pictures that he's posted in the thread recently just have me salivating it's so cool the game that he is putting into this clear casing is a Bally Golden Gate which happens to be an extremely complex bingo pinball machine so looking at the pictures on the pin side thread you can see the head and it's just slam packed with stuff it's one thing to visualize what the door looks like when it's closed after you've worked on a game and it's another thing to see it, and I bet it's going to be just amazing to see it in action because there's so many different components that have to work hand-in-hand and so very close together in a bingo pinball machine. It's truly a sight to behold, and seeing one open like this through the acrylic casing is going to be even better. So I was lucky enough to meet the mastermind behind this project. His name is Sean, and he was a super nice guy. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with this game, and hopefully it gets a great reception when it comes out,
    14:14
    because it's such a cool project and such a tremendous amount of work. But it is truly amazing. So today's game is 1952's Gottlieb Coronation, and Coronation was created to commemorate the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II in England and it has a variety of features and multiple ways to score replays and looks like an awesome game. Now I have not had the pleasure of playing this game yet but I do hope to one day soon and I know I say that frequently but this game looks really cool. So here's the basic setup. You have two chevrons, which are angling down towards the player. The first chevron is made up of bumpers, labeled 1 through 7.
    15:11
    And if you knock out all seven bumpers, then a button on the center of the playfield will light and award you special every single time that you roll over it. Now that button happens to be in a dangerous area because it is surrounded by the other chevron, which is comprised of seven trap holes arranged in that arrow. And the game will keep track of where the balls are in that chevron. And if you have four in a row, then you win a replay that way as well. And, of course, the inline scoring appeals to me. I don't know why.
    15:54
    But that's not all. You can win on score, and you can win on points on this game. Now, points are awarded by hitting the rollovers on the left and right side of the playfield. And once you hit the point threshold, you start winning replays there.
    16:09
    Now, I mentioned the four in the line on the second chevron, but there's actually a way to crown that chevron. There's a trap hole at the very top of the playfield, which is surrounded by posts. you have to very skillfully nudge the ball into that hole. But if you manage to land in there, that's the crown hole, and you get four in a row, then you win two replays. So the skillful player has several opportunities for infinite replays and the ability to end the game by trapping five balls on the playfield and earn two replays that way as well. Of course, like most games, this is easier said than done. This game does not have a shield for the flippers or having the flippers close to touching each other so that balls cannot drain behind them. The balls can actually drain on this game, so the player has to keep on their toes in more ways than one. There are no outlanes on this game. Instead, there are two very large slingshots, which are angled up towards the playfield. Now, unfortunately, if you hit one of those, you're very likely to go into one of the trap holes that you don want So nudging in this game is of course required as it is with most of the wood rails The art package on this game is considered a classic It is one of those games that people think of when they think of wood rails is Coronation So the art package on the cabinet is the traditional geometric shapes. It's very interesting compared to some of Gottlieb's other cabinets of the time. In this case, there are lightning bolts, which are in a small band, which goes from the head all the way around the front of the cabinet and then back up the other side of the head. There are spoon shapes or comet shapes, which go from the sides of the cabinets around the front, and those have stars on them. And then you have kind of the more traditional flat colors on the head and these semi-circles with straight lines coming out and down on the back of the cab.
    18:34
    But the back glass is Roy Parker artwork. It features a blonde queen in a bathing suit and purple cape. and she's holding a stylized version of the Sovereign Scepter with cross.
    18:50
    Now she is sitting in the extreme foreground and in the background there are other people at the beach which I assume is on the banks of the Thames and there are other people there for the coronation. I guess they decided to do it at the beach that day instead of at Westminster Abbey. the playfield artwork is a continuation of the back glass theme, the queen in a new bathing suit outfit is with her subjects on the beach and her subjects are primarily female as pictured on the playfield here with a castle in the background and a herald blowing a horn with a G tapestry hanging from it the trap hole chevrons have stylized scepters running through them, one side red and one side yellow, and the special windlet button in the center has a crown arrayed around it. Up at the top, the crown hole itself has the crown displayed on the playfield. The playfield hole at the top also serves triple duty, aside from giving you that nice bonus on the completed scepter, it also will spot the number one in the chevron, which is pretty difficult to hit, being down near the trap holes, the one closest to the trap holes, in fact. And it lights the point rollovers on the side, so by default those rollovers award one point each, and there's two rollovers arranged right in front of each other. But if you have a ball in the crown hole, then those rollovers are worth two points each, which is huge. And the hole itself awards one million in score, so it's the highest scoring pocket on the play field. Each pocket on the scepter score a half million, and the stand-up rebounds on the right and left award 100,000 points when lit, as do the stand-ups near the slings. they're arranged right above them these switches including the slings I assume award 10,000 points unless they are lit and lighting them is a task that I'm not sure how to complete so if anybody happens to know I would love to know that now the other thing I would like to note about this game are the plastics and this is one of the most beautiful plastic sets I think I've ever laid eyes on the right hand sling plastic is an image of a crown with that stylized scepter that the queen is holding on the back glass and the sling on the left are heralds and flag bearers arrayed on either side of the now crowned queen riding a horse through the castle just beautiful So right above the slings, there are two plastics which contain flags, which are flying in honor of the coronation. And above that, there is a polearm on the plastics, covering those 100,000 switches I mentioned near bumpers. And those polearms also have a ribbon wrapped around them to show that it is a celebration. And I just think it is gorgeous. Just an amazing group of artwork on this game. Now, the plastics have been reproduced by Ryan Claytor, whom you might know as the co-author of Coin-Op Carnival. And he did a phenomenal job. You can see those plastics, which are available at Pinball Resource. And they're incredible, incredible.
    22:50
    They're so nice that I'm thinking about picking up a set, and I don't even have the game. Well, that's all for tonight. Thank you very much for listening. My name again is Nick Baldrige. You can reach me at 4amusementonlypodcast at gmail.com or you can call me on the bingos line. That's 724-BINGOS1, 724-246-4671. You can listen to me on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Cast, via RSS, on Facebook, on Twitter, at bingopodcast. You can follow me on Instagram, also at bingopodcast, or you can listen to me on my website, which is 4amusementonly.libsyn.com. thank you very much for listening and I'll talk to you next time