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Episode 438 - Multi-Races Continues, Robo-Frenzy Testing, 1957 Gottlieb Ace High

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·27m 40s·analyzed·Jan 2, 2019
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

EM restoration updates and Texas Pinball Festival announcement with detailed Ace High analysis.

Summary

Nicholas Baldridge discusses ongoing restoration and homebrew projects including RoboFrenzy (electromechanical pinball restoration with 30V power circuit troubleshooting), Multi-Races (a multi-game compilation based on 1950s Bally horse racing games with custom code and graphics), and announces his attendance at Texas Pinball Festival in March with Multi-Bingo. He provides detailed analysis of 1957 Gottlieb Ace High, covering its bullseye target mechanics, replay features, and artwork.

Key Claims

  • RoboFrenzy has all circuits working except the 30-volt logic line, which requires debugging wiring connections

    high confidence · Nicholas Baldridge, describing current project status

  • Multi-Races is being built on a 1950 Bally Turf King base machine and will include games from 1950-1952, working backwards chronologically

    high confidence · Nicholas Baldridge, describing Multi-Races development approach

  • Don Hooker's design influence appeared around the 1940s, marked by a shift to reflex unit payout systems versus earlier 400-to-1 gear units

    medium confidence · Nicholas Baldridge, analyzing historical game design patterns

  • Victory Derby and Victory Special featured a 'daily double' mechanic tied to a 50-position disk that could award up to 20 replays multiplied by coins played (up to 80 replays total)

    medium confidence · Nicholas Baldridge, explaining specific game mechanics from original machines

  • Multi-Bingo menu system will be optimized for Texas Pinball Festival to load instantaneously instead of current 30-second load time

    high confidence · Nicholas Baldridge, announcing upcoming improvements

  • Ace High bullseye targets award different replay values: one ace = 1 replay, three queens = 1 replay, three kings = 3 replays, three aces = 8 replays

    high confidence · Nicholas Baldridge, detailing game mechanics of featured title

  • Proximity sensors can be installed under playfield to detect ball position as switch closures, using PNP-type transistor sensors

    medium confidence · Nicholas Baldridge, discussing homebrew community advice on sensor installation

  • Ace High was included in Pinball Hall of Fame Gottlieb collection on consoles and PC during GameCube era

    medium confidence · Nicholas Baldridge, noting game's appearance in digital collections

Notable Quotes

  • “I have a feeling that there will be a couple of logic errors that I need to address, but we shall see.”

    Nicholas Baldridge @ Early RoboFrenzy section — Realistic assessment of debugging challenges ahead

  • “I've always admired this unit because it's very simple in concept but very very complex in execution.”

    Nicholas Baldridge @ Discussing reflex units vs 400-to-1 gear systems — Shows appreciation for clever historical engineering solutions

  • “Victory Derby and Victory Special were the first games that were built post-war by Bally.”

    Nicholas Baldridge @ Multi-Races research section — Historical context for game selection and rules complexity

  • “I'm headed to Texas Pinball Festival in Christian March... come on out and play the Multibingo and see if you can win a prize.”

    Nicholas Baldridge @ Announcement section — Major community event announcement with tangible call-to-action

  • “This is one of the more salacious, I suppose, art packages for the time. 1957. The concept is a harem and you've got the Sultan who is playing cards with the harem girls and they are relatively scantily clad especially for the time period.”

    Nicholas Baldridge @ Ace High artwork section — Detailed observation of period-appropriate art design and cultural context

  • “If you have all three aces lit and you can land in the lit hole, then you will earn 8 replays in one go. That's a sweet deal, but very difficult to do.”

    Nicholas Baldridge @ Ace High gameplay mechanics — Highlights risk-reward dynamics in game design

Entities

Nicholas BaldridgepersonRoboFrenzyproductMulti-RacesproductMulti-BingoproductTexas Pinball FestivaleventAce HighgameTurf KinggameVictory DerbygameVictory Specialgame

Signals

  • ?

    product_concern: RoboFrenzy 30-volt logic circuit not functioning; speaker believes wiring error but has not yet identified root cause

    high · Everything works except for the 30 volt line. Of course, the main one that powers the logic in the game. So I haven't been able to test those and haven't had a chance to figure out where my wiring job has gone wrong. I believe I'm connecting it wrong.

  • ?

    design_innovation: Integration of PNP-type proximity sensors to replace mechanical spring contacts on vintage games, enabling detection under playfield without direct ball contact

    medium · I purchased some proximity sensors. These are going to be installed under the playfield and for a game like Futurity, for example, where various springs are used as contacts, I will place a proximity sensor under the playfield... you have a normally open side and a common side and when the ball gets near it automatically closes that switch.

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Detailed analysis of evolution from 400-to-1 gear-based payout systems to reflex unit-based systems in post-war Bally games, crediting Don Hooker's design influence

    medium · Don Hooker came on around sometime in the 40s... There was a marked difference when he came on... These older games though use something called the 400 to 1 unit and what this is is it's exactly what it sounds like a gear with the ratio of 400 to 1.

  • ?

    product_launch: Multi-Races multi-game compilation in active development; base machine sourced, circuit boards tested, playfield prepared; targeting public debut at Texas Pinball Festival

    high · I've got everything laid out on top of the game, ready to install. I have the circuit boards in place. I've tested their position... I've got the playfield pulled out. I just have to do some cleaning of that and a little bit of tweaking

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.083

0:00
What's that sound? It's 4 Amusement Only, the EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast. Welcome back to 4 Amusement Only. This is Nick Baldridge. In the past couple of weeks, I've been working on a couple different projects and I have a small announcement to make. So
0:23
stay tuned for that. As far as the projects I've been working on, RoboFrenzy is coming I have tested and fused or rather placed fuses in the fuse holders for each of the main lines and tested them. Everything works except for the 30 volt line. Of course, the main one that powers the logic in the game. So I haven't been able to test those and haven't had a chance to figure out where my wiring job has gone wrong. I believe I'm connecting itan
1:28
Last episode, but I added diodes to the octopus tentacles because those lamps required either dozens of switches for each position or diodes in order to prevent backflow through the other lamps and it works, works well. So I'm very excited about that. All the appropriate relays light the appropriate lamps. Unlike the appropriate lamps, do what they're supposed to do. So I've been through the game as far as that goes and verified function. Now it's just a matter of fine tuning, doing a couple of switch adjustments and of course seeing what happens with the 30 volt section once that starts working. I have a feeling that there will be a couple of logic errors that I need to address, but we shall see. So let's talk about About multi races. I've been working on that fairly diligently because with friends, family, etc. that's been going on around Christmas and New Year's I really haven't had a chance to get down and get my hands burned up and all that kind of stuff with soldering. So instead, what I've been doing is working on multi races I've been learning the portioning for each of the games and working backwards chronologically. I started with 1950's Bally Turf King and went up to the games that were built in 51 and then finally Sunshine Park in 1952 which is Bally's last one ball and then I started moving backwards in time. One thing that's interesting is that the portioning for Turf King is very similar to the bingos from about 1953 on, but the earlier games used a completely different style of portioning. Don Hooker came on around sometime in the 40s, from what I can tell based on the designs of these games. There was a marked difference when he came on as Antonio zodd microbbola, Video Franchi milliseptive time a certain number of times and if you are losing, every time you insert a coin the unit will step down a certain number of times. So, it's a very ingenious way of ensuring that the game doesn't give you too many features or too many special favors as you're playing and instead keeps a relatively level playing field especially if you're a very good player. I've always admired this unit because it's very simple in concept but very very complex in execution. So these older games though use something called the 400 to 1 unit and what this is is it's exactly what it sounds like a gear with the ratio of 400 to 1. So there are certain posts which are set up at intervals on the backside of this unit Knapp Arcade, Kaneda's Pinball Podcast. Many of these games, kind of in the middle years here, in the late 40s, have guaranteed advancing odds, but also something called feature points. And these feature points are really kind of cool. And again, this is one of those once every 400 coins things, that feature number will advance. And say you complete the sequence of A, B, C, D with the He Zohkeli 68 conservativist années in five years and 3 years in Martille, Andrewってる in Haydon Peng and Sitio определ realm maps at Nikkei for participation is garlic, respectively in the Knapp Arcade Kaneda Pinball Podcast You get you to put in those extra coins when you have A B and C lit already So the interesting thing though is that the portioning is so very simplistic when compared to the games with the reflex units There's really no nuance there. It is all based on the position of that one unit. So, I'm back to Victory Derby and Victory Special. I just finished writing the rules for Victory Special and I'm about to work on Victory Derby The version of victory special
Gottliebcompany
Ballycompany
Don Hookerperson
Pinball Hall of Fameorganization
For Amusement Onlyorganization
  • ?

    event_signal: Nicholas Baldridge confirmed attendance at Texas Pinball Festival in March with both Multi-Bingo and Multi-Races projects; Multi-Bingo menu being optimized for instant loading

    high · I'm headed to Texas Pinball Festival in Christian March. So, if you plan to be there, look forward to playing the Multibingo... I'm going to change the way the menu functions so that it should load instantaneously almost.

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Multi-stage RoboFrenzy restoration including fuse testing, diode installation for lamp switching, relay verification, switch adjustments, and bakelite disc drilling for completion of logic flow testing

    high · I have tested and placed fuses in the fuse holders for each of the main lines... I added diodes to the octopus tentacles because those lamps required either dozens of switches for each position or diodes in order to prevent backflow... All the appropriate relays light the appropriate lamps.

  • ?

    community_signal: Nicholas Baldridge received technical guidance from homebrew pinball community on proximity sensor selection and installation best practices

    medium · Thankfully these things with the help of the homebrew community – I asked the question about proximity sensors and somebody there gave me some very good advice on those.

  • ?

    historical_signal: Analysis of Victory Derby/Victory Special daily double mechanic as early example of complex come-on features in post-war Bally games; speaker notes limited availability of original documentation for older games

    medium · Victory Derby and Victory Special were the first games that were built post-war by Bally... figuring out what happens in some of these older games is going to be very tricky indeed... The other games, you know, we're getting older now, so the paperwork for them is going to be non-existent.

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: 1957 Ace High analyzed as complex game with multiple rule layers: bullseye sequences, replay multipliers, roller-activated bumpers, gobble hole scoring, stand-up switches, and out-hole special mechanic

    high · If you have all three aces lit and you can land in the lit hole, then you will earn 8 replays in one go... There are rollovers on the playfield as well, and if you hit the spade, heart, diamond, and club rollovers, it'll light the out-hole for special.

  • ?

    product_strategy: Multi-Races development strategy involves remaking rules and graphics for each included game; speaker notes graphics are most labor-intensive phase; rules completion allows parallel work on other project aspects

    high · Now what I'm doing as far as coding is remaking the rules. I'm going back and remaking the graphics. The graphics are extremely labor intensive... That was the thing that took the most time on the Multibingo was doing the graphics for each individual game.

    • 7:44
    Victory Derby and victory special Well first off that's what the base game is that I'm taking and making into this multi races is a victory derby
    7:56
    but victory Derby and victory special have this interesting feature called the daily double and that feature based on the position of the
    8:06
    401 unit and also the Spottin' disk, for lack of a better term. They didn't really have standardized nomenclature for that disk. Some of the later games called a horseshoe disk, but that's not really descriptive. It's just a 50 position disk with many multiple rows of rivets in it. And depending on the position that the wipers land on, you'll be awarded something or your odds are going to change or your selection is I'm going to change the horses that you have to hit. Well, the daily double lights at random and when it lights you have to get one of two horses in the light underneath the selection. And whichever the first horse you get has to be in the first two sections of the playfield. So the four sections of the playfield are purse, show, place, and win if you're descending The first horse you have to get in purse or place. And if you don't, then the daily double feature goes away. But if you do, then the next ball has to land in win for whatever horse you didn't hit the first time. Very difficult to do. If you do, you get 20 replays multiplied by the number of coins you played. So again, you can get up to 80 replays depending on how many coins you played. Pretty good deal, but very difficult to do. On the actual game, I have done that exactly zero times, but I haven't had a huge amount of time to play that game yet, so it's hard to say just how frequently that happens. Um, the other games, you know, we're getting older now, so the paperwork for them is going to be non-existent. Uh, Victory Derby and Victory Special were the first games that were built post-war, uh, by Bally. So, uh, figuring out what happens in some of these older games is going to be very tricky indeed, but I'll see what I can do. Most of them are far more simplistic than Victory Derby and Victory Special. It really wasn't until postwar that they started adding a lot of come on features, things like the daily double that would allow the player to really get a feel for what makes this game special. So I'm hopeful that these earlier games will fall rather quickly, but we'll see. Now what I'm doing as far as coding is writing the rules for I'm going back and writing the graphics. The graphics are extremely labor intensive. That was the thing that took the most time on the multi bingo was doing the graphics for each individual game. So I will be doing that again for the multi races, but what this allows me to do, this particular approach, is that I can finish the rules and therefore There you are
    11:39
    Y'all are figured while and i'm also changing you know the way that everything functions within game It's actually been very difficult and I kind of wish I had done it the other way around, but oh well. You know, I'm already committed to this method and we'll see if it gets any easier as I go. Hopefully so.
    12:13
    So that's Multiraces. I've got everything laid out on top of the game, ready to install. I have the circuit boards in place. I've tested their position. I have to order some connectors so that I can, you know, start doing the wiring. I've got the playfield pulled out. I just have to do some cleaning of that and a little bit of tweaking, make sure it fits within the game and I should be good to go. Now, another thing that I've done is I purchased some proximity sensors. These are going to be installed under the playfield and for a game like Futurity, for example, where various springs are used as contacts, I will place a proximity sensor under the playfield as long as there's enough room and that proximity sensor will sense when the ball is very near and therefore close the switch basically. So thankfully these things with the help of the homebrew community I asked the question about proximity sensors and somebody there gave me some very good advice on those uh... a particular type has to be used uh... i believe it's pnp but don't quote me on that the two different types there their transistor types so it's n p n or pnp and i believe it pnp and you you wire them up as a standard switch so you have a normally open side and and then a common side and when the ball gets near it automatically closes that switch pretty cool so I looking forward to experimenting with that installing brackets underneath that will protect these switches and making sure that they actually fit all that Those are the early results for 2019 that are going on. Thank you, all of you, for making it. Hope you all have a greatentlichar and a great wonderful forgettable in�켄Y, I hope so. Before I cut through a few a week of content that I wrote and published discuss football边 I'm going to do some things. I need to drill the Bakelite discs which I talked about I believe last episode for the player units and the player position units. Once that's done, I can wire them fully into the game and of course test everything where I mentioned before the 30 volts wasn't working. So once I have that, everything should function and I can test the entire logic flow even without the hand wheels installed. I hope to see you again soon. In other news, and this is the big news I mentioned, I'm headed to Texas Pinball Festival in March. So, if you plan to be there, look forward to playing the multi-bingo because that's coming with me as well. And it will be available for play. And I will have made a tweak to the menu system. At the moment it takes approximately 30 seconds to start a game or to get back to the menu rather. Startinging a game is very quick. But I'm going to change the way the menu functions so that it should load instantaneously almost. You know, we'll see how that translates in real world but at the moment I think it's going to work great. So I will keep you apprised as we get closer to the date but mark your calendars, come I'm out and play the multi bingo and see if you can win a prize. I should have a couple of prizes with me. Well, today's featured game is Gottlieb's 1957 Ace High. Now, some of you may be familiar with this game if you've spent any time with the Pinball Hall of Fame Gottlieb collection on consoles and I believe it was on PC back in the GameCube era. This game is a very interesting game from a rules perspective. It utilizes three bullseye targets and these targets that Godly made would award points or something for hitting on the edges and it would either award a higher point value or add to a sequence if you hit it directly dead on in the center. So on ace high, the sides of the targets, the bullseye targets award 50,000 points. But if you hit them in the center, they add to a sequence and there's three independent sequences. These sequences are very simple. There are only three positions in the sequence. You have queen, king and ace. And you can like queen, king and ace and all three of these bullseye targets. And if you do, then landing in the appropriate The appropriate gobble hole will award you a certain number of replays and it can be quite exciting indeed. If you have even one ace lit, then you get one replay automatically. If you have, and for each ace that you add, by the way, you get another replay. If you have three queens lit, you get one replay. If you have three kings lit, you get three replays. And if you have all three aces hit and You can land in the lit hole, then you will earn 8 replays in one go. That's pretty sweet. Now, there are rollovers on the playfield as well, and if you hit the spade, heart, diamond, and club rollovers, it'll light the out-hole for special.
    18:15
    Now, normally I don't like out-hole special games. They feel like you're being rewarded to drain in a different way,
    18:26
    The final part of the video is a few comments from the audience. I will now hand over to the one with him who will be the first to It's okay. So, let's talk about the playfield layout in general and where those rollovers are because this makes a difference for that consolation prize as well. The rollovers are actually the outlanes and there's two sets on either side. Starting from the left you have a spade, then a heart, then a diamond, then a club, and Each rollover will also light the associated pop bumper. There's four different colors. So the spade is green, the heart is red, the diamond is yellow, and the club is white. And there are pop bumpers which match those colors up above. So for each rollover that you hit, you not only light the pop bumpers, you also turn off the light for that particular And I'm going to give you a little course on how you can to basically teach yourself how to throw with the right hand and how you address panning comes from goal out gains a lot similar but follow 이� Taj lado ER h pi th toxins nossos rawd bewit disk wood ranchustr r m mencionu pi eternaltyord n maps and hit the slings which are directly below which score 100 points or they come down and hit the slings right above the flippers which are very dangerous So it a game that filled with a lot of action and danger a lot of drama So these are things that I enjoy in games Now the lit hole that I mentioned The holes are actually between the pop bumpers. So the pop bumpers are arrayed kind of in a semicircle up at the top of the playfield. And there are three passive bumpers which have a logo of a crown on them. However, I don't know what those award. The gobble holes, however, are right in the center above that center bullseye target and there's two of The If they are not lit and you land in them you get a half million points if they are lit you get a million points now when they're lit they may also be lit for special and
    21:56
    When they're lit and you hit them That's when you're in the replays from the bullseye targets. So as you can tell this is a very difficult game If you're interested in playing this game, you don't have to. The game is a very fun game. It's one that I enjoy playing very much. I played it virtually quite a bit, but did play it in real life at the York Show. I think back in 2012 there was one there. There were quite a few really great games that year. But this is one of them. I very much enjoy it. Arrayed around the pop bumpers, there are The So you can get some good action between the pops and the stand-up switches. I don't know how much those score But I'm going to assume it's 10,000 points Could very well be very wrong
    22:52
    So let's talk about artwork, this is one of the more Salacious I suppose art packages for the time 1957
    23:02
    the The concept is a harem and you've got the Sultan who is playing cards with the harem girls and they are relatively scantily clad especially for the time period. A lot of transparent gauze type stuff that they're wearing. Beautiful scenery on the back glass. They're sitting kind of in the foreground on a blanket and playing cards and In the background is the palace with this huge pool leading up to a balcony that one of the ladies is standing upon. And the credit unit is right in the center of the back glass. Kind of unusual, but very cool. The million points are arrayed in a ribbon up near the top. And it comes down in a semi-circle down into the frame with the palace. And then arrayed around the entire opening to the balcony is a purple ribbon which contains your 100,000 points. So 100,000 to 900,000 are arrayed through there. And down at the bottom you have Gottlieb's famous motto or one of their famous mottos anyway. It says amusement pinballs as American as baseball and hot dogs. The playfield is equally beautiful. You have essentially the same scene and there's the Sultan, but in this case he is shuffling a deck of cards in front of the ladies from the harem. They're watching with amused and loving expressions On their faces. There's the familiar opening to the courtyard and balcony from the back glass, but the positions of everybody are a little different. So it's as if he's suggesting that they play some cards on the playfield and then on the back glass they actually have started the game. Very appealing, very attractive artwork on both the back glass and the playfield. A lot of green, which is a little unusual. And I find this game to be a winner. I mean, it's a lot of fun to play. I enjoy it very much. Now, the cabinet artwork is incongruous, I guess you'd say, as is most of the cabinet artwork from the time period. You have red circles on a white background with green rectangles. And up near the flipper buttons and proceeding along through the top of the cabinet and up near the head, you have alternating red and white rectangles with a border of green. On the side of the head, you have the same red and white rectangles as I mentioned they go up and a red background with white circles and then two semi circles that are red cut through with a green line that's coming off of that green border that's surrounding the red and white rectangles. So again, not exactly what you'd imagine if I came up to you and said, the game's name is Ace High, develop an art package for it. And a lot of that is because the art for the cabinets was done by the cabinet making company. And so they were provided with these complete cabinets and then they put the appropriate game in them, you know, as they saw fit. At least that's the story I've been told. Marin a is in fact someone matching first You can listen to me on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Cast, Google Play Music, on Spotify, and you can listen to me on my website which is foramusementonly.libsyn.com. Thank you very much for listening and I'll talk to you next time.