Episode 448 - Auto-Bell Super Circus, Robo-Frenzy progress, 5 Star Progress, 1939 Genco Bang

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·11m 59s·analyzed·May 23, 2019

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.020

TL;DR

EM restoration updates: Auto-Bell, Star Race progress, RoboFrenzy build, Genco Bang analysis.

Summary

Nick Baldridge discusses updates on his Auto-Bell Super Circus slot machine conversion, progress on Star Race (Data East pinball) restoration with Sophie, ongoing RoboFrenzy electromechanical build with custom player position units, and provides detailed gameplay analysis of a 1939 Genco Bang flipperless pinball machine. The episode covers restoration techniques, mechanical troubleshooting, and appreciation for classic game design.

Key Claims

Auto-Bell Super Circus was converted from replay to payout with an unusually large payout tube running floor-to-ceiling in the cabinet
high confidence · Nick Baldridge describing the conversion: 'They inserted the world's largest payout tube into the game. It basically goes from floor ceiling in the cabinet'
Star Race's original tilt bob was destroyed during transport and has been replaced
high confidence · Nick describing the tilt bob issue: 'The original tilt bob had basically exploded inside the game through transport... The new one's installed, ready to go'
Star Race has a ball lifter issue where the solenoid is not pulsing to free balls from under the playfield
high confidence · Nick explaining the mechanical problem: 'it didn't pulse the solenoid that allows the balls to be freed from under the playfield and return to the ball lifter mechanism'
RoboFrenzy uses match units (0 to 90 position units) from Williams games with snowshoe rivets, driven by reduction gearing rather than coils for player steering control
high confidence · Nick detailing the custom build: 'I took what are essentially match units, the 0 to 90 units from a couple of Williams games... they will actually be driven by a reduction gear that will allow for some fairly precise player control'
Genco's 1939 Bang features twelve bumpers in banks of four and three center trap holes that knock out bumper lights in groups of four
high confidence · Nick describing Bang gameplay: 'there are twelve bumpers arrayed on the playfield in banks of four... If you hit the trap hole at the top it knocks out the lights for 1 through 4'
Nick is experiencing reduced service call volume due to being in a busy work season
high confidence · Nick's personal update: 'service calls have slowed down, thankfully. This is kind of a busy season for me at work'
CoinOp Carnival tour will visit the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas on June 2nd from 11am to 1pm
high confidence · Opening announcement: 'another is coming up June 2nd at the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, Nevada from 11am to 1pm'

Notable Quotes

“They inserted the world's largest payout tube into the game. It basically goes from floor ceiling in the cabinet and at the bottom they wired up a solenoid to drive the payout shoe”
Nick Baldridge @ early segment — Describes an unusual and creative conversion approach for the Auto-Bell Super Circus slot machine
“The original tilt bob had basically exploded inside the game through transport. It looked like it banged around in such a way that it just crumbled into dust.”
Nick Baldridge @ Star Race segment — Highlights a shipping damage issue and the need for replacement parts in restoration work
“it didn't pulse the solenoid that allows the balls to be freed from under the playfield and return to the ball lifter mechanism. So there's some kind of issue there.”
Nick Baldridge @ Star Race segment — Identifies a specific mechanical problem requiring troubleshooting and diagnosis
“instead of coil driven, they will actually be driven by a reduction gear that will allow for some fairly precise player control”
Nick Baldridge @ RoboFrenzy segment — Explains the innovative custom engineering approach for player position control in the RoboFrenzy build
“The bumpers themselves are illuminated in that beautiful spring bumper way which I really like. I think it's very appealing.”
Nick Baldridge @ Genco Bang segment — Expresses appreciation for classic EM aesthetic and design elements

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonSophiepersonAvapersonRyanperson JoepersonDennis StoetlpersonSteve YoungpersonJohn PapadiukpersonCoinOp CarnivaleventPinball Hall of Famevenue

Signals

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restoration_signal: Star Race playfield restoration nearing completion; parts ordering and ball lifter troubleshooting underway
high · Nick and Sophie completing playfield work, ordering replacement balls and rubber components, diagnosing ball lifter solenoid issue
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design_innovation: RoboFrenzy project using modified Williams match units with reduction gearing for precise player steering control instead of traditional coil drive
high · Detailed explanation of taking 0-90 match units from Williams games and converting to reduction gear drive with custom wiper drilling
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restoration_signal: Star Race tilt bob completely destroyed during transport; replaced with new unit from Dennis Stoetl
high · Original tilt bob 'crumbled into dust' during transport; new one installed and ready
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product_concern: Star Race experiencing solenoid pulse issue with ball lifter mechanism preventing proper ball return
high · Nickel insertion adds card but doesn't pulse solenoid to free balls from under playfield
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event_signal: CoinOp Carnival 2019 tour continuing with Las Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame stop scheduled for June 2nd
high · Announced tour stop with specific date, time, and location; author will attend for book signings
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operational_signal: Nick experiencing slower service call volume due to busy work season affecting project timeline

Topics

EM restoration techniquesprimaryPlayfield repair and component sourcingprimaryCustom electromechanical engineering and modificationsprimaryClassic pinball game design and mechanicssecondaryCoinOp Carnival tour logisticssecondarySlot machine conversion and adaptationsecondaryVintage parts sourcing and inventory managementmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.78)— Nick expresses enthusiasm for his restoration projects and appreciation for classic game design. Positive tone regarding progress on multiple machines despite work-related time constraints. Some minor frustration with mechanical issues on Star Race, but framed as solvable troubleshooting challenges.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.036

What's that sound? It's 4 Amusement Only, the EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast. Welcome back to 4 Amusement Only. This is Nicholas Baldridge. CoinOp Carnival is rolling along. Ryan has done another couple tour stops on our 2019 CoinOp Carnival tour, and another is coming up June 2nd at the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, Nevada from 11am to 1pm. So elo Sabrina 어� interesting things that the 20 per yoo you done is he will be there to autograph books not it's used so designer in a movie More on promo page by www.truecomlocks.weebies.com And this will probably cost you $620, too, by buying some stuck-up D&Rs. Or a governing to several of these cute Playt Whisper rams. The slot action happens through lamps on the back glass and if you get three in a row, depending on the symbol, then you win. Now this game had been converted from replay to payout and it's been converted in kind of an interesting manner. They inserted the world's largest payout tube into the game. It basically goes from Florida ceiling in the cabinet and at the bottom they wired up a solenoid to drive the payout shoe and kick out a couple nickels, but it's it's almost like they didn't quite finish the conversion because the nickels don't actually drop directly into the chute. I wonder if there used to be a piece there that kind of funneled the nickels into the appropriate spot and it is no longer there. and coin rejects actually drop down into the bottom of the cabinet. They don't return back to the player. I feel like that wasn't quite fully considered. But at any rate, the game looks like it's probably a lot of fun. I passed up on one of these a few years ago at York that was in the flea market and I'm excited to have one in the game room. New Game slot Machines Do Appeal to a Different Demographic Than Pinball so there will be people who will come and play this game that wouldn play the pinballs otherwise The cabinets been painted brown but I believe that the original artwork is still underneath So Ava has volunteered to help me restore this game. So that brings me to five star, which Sophie is helping me with. So Sophie and I managed to finish up the playfield. There were a couple parts that I needed to order. For example, the balls that needed to go inside the game. It takes one inch balls. I didn't have any spares. And there was a four inch playfield rubber that I needed and I used my last one on the left side, but I needed one for the right side. So those parts arrived and got them installed. Dennis Stoetl sent a new tilt bob. The original tilt bob had basically exploded inside the game through transport. It looked like it banged around in such a way that it just crumbled into dust. So the new one's installed, ready to go, and the game is having some issues. So Sophie and I turned it on for the first time the other day and dropped the nickel in. and it's not set to free play, although it says that there are six replays on the back glass. Dropping a nickel in added a card, which it looked like it was supposed to do, but it didn't pulse the solenoid that allows the balls to be freed from under the playfield and return to the ball lifter mechanism. So there's some kind of issue there. The ball lifter itself is nice and clean, so if you scrub the heck out of that thing, Video www.C Nee racistWillGen assimilate 07 slicingtintin.ggs.com www. DIEG convincedAr tym Knapp malfint 행ala 5 towelsposth thats ander Helge Nippel sichii. forward prolong Lucy five points to GM духов health or seating so I'm doing we have years lmaoguy 50 percent really because when you saw what happened What ess wrong should we over пап STEP over 750 lookin pain first okay use Willy I going to take a look at that and see if I can figure out what going on with those Luckily the steppers are of a nice variety where they can only be 180 degrees off They can be some other random amount of degrees off So that helps things as far as testing goes I been working on RoboFrenzy and I went over to my friend Joe's house and he helped me drill out some spots for new wipers on the player position units. These units will handle the player movement. As the player rotates the steering mechanism, It will allow the player to traverse up or down the hill on the back glass. However, in order to make this function, I took what are essentially match units, the 0 to 90 units from a couple of Williams games, and they use snowshoe rivets, and they will be freewheeling. So instead of coil driven, they will actually be driven by a reduction gear that will allow for some fairly precise player control. But in order to make this happen, I needed wipers that were 180 degrees apart from each other for both coils and lamps because it drives both from the player position units. So, uh, I had to drill into the Bakelite and then the next task is to see if I could possibly reuse some of the wipers, uh, because there are too many wipers on the match units, uh, or to see if perhaps Steve Young has some new old stock, uh, wipers and collars, uh, that can be installed into the Bakelite. Um, if not, then I'm gonna have to get real creative, uh, and we'll see how that goes. I'm looking forward to it and hopefully I'll have an update for you next episode. In other news, service calls have slowed down, thankfully. This is kind of a busy season for me at work and I've been spending a lot of time at work and not as much time working on games, but I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things here in the next couple weeks and then see if I can get some of these projects complete. But until And to call that time, let's talk about another game, and that is Genko's 1939 Bang. Bang is a flipperless game, and there are twelve bumpers arrayed on the playfield in banks of four, three sets of four going down the playfield. And they're arrayed left to right, or they're numbered left to right. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Down at the bottom there are rollovers and more on those in a moment The big come on feature for the game are three trap Holes which are arrayed in the center of the playfield If you hit the trap hole at the top it knocks out the lights for 1 through 4 the one in the middle knocks out 5 through 8 and the one at the bottom knocks out 9 through 12 Once you knock out all 12 A are Tickle it, roll over, finish off the ball with two additional replays, and fire off your last ball. importaствие Здесь is—in the show— a preview of the and the back glass also contains red, yellow, and green circles. So again, I think this is a attractive game and I think it's a fairly straightforward game, very easy to understand. The bumpers themselves are illuminated in that beautiful spring bumper way which I really like. I think it's very appealing. So this is a game I would love to play and it looks like one that's a lot of fun to play. Out Pinball Psaki Particular Simulation Pressure Post fleece Instagram FEE Instagram Rick vé external Subtitles in Vcore p I'm John Papadiuk, and I'll see you next time.