I'm Mike Dus and this is Pinball Shenanigans. [Music] All right, I swear it's been like a month since I've been working on Batman Dark Knight, but I was on hold cuz I ordered some art blades and I finally just got them tonight. Uh, also like maybe a week ago or two weeks ago, I've got this um little kit here. Um, Joker plastic fix kit. So, that is the little kit that they issued after the fact. And the one that's installed on mine is broken, but it's like a service bulletin type thing. Uh, I'm guessing because maybe the ball was flying off the ramp or something. Maybe there's maybe it tells us why this exists. But my bottom one's broken. So for $9.99 USD, I went ahead and ordered the full kit and I only just need the one piece. But, you know, my buddy Corey was doing an order, so why not? I jumped on board. And the last thing I remember like thinking when I came down there was three things I wanted to do. What was the third thing? And I'm looking at my list, rampant plastic, art blades, and apron cards is the other thing. So, I um did order a set of apron cards and uh I guess I just messaged Greg Benz 2 minutes ago. I said, "Hey, dude. I forgot that I ordered the apron cards off of you." And maybe you did, too. Just following up. And as I'm recording this right now, I just saw that he texted me and I think he says that they are printed and they're at his gallery and I can probably go pick them up tomorrow. So, what I will probably do is install this, install this maybe tonight, and then tomorrow I'll pick up the apron cards, install them, and then Batman Dark Knight will basically be finished. So, let's open this up just to see what that's all about. Doesn't really say why it exists. It's just the directions for installation. So, is it to prevent air balls? Is it to keep the ball on the ramp for a smooth entrance? Oh, wait. It's not. Oh, yeah. It's not a ramp thing. I forgot. Man, it's been forever. It goes in front of the drop target. So, guaranteed it is an airball protector. The ball would hit the drop target and then jump into the air. So, that's what this is for. Maybe the original um didn't have anything or maybe it just had one piece and this is like a two-tiered system here for some extra protection. Uh okay. Anyway, I should probably start with that. Oh, here's the other thing. Just yesterday, I moved Batman out of here because I got a new project incoming. And if you've been paying attention, you might know what it is. If not, then you might have to pay attention. So, if I hadn't moved Batman last night, then I could have just lifted the playfield and popped them on. Easy breezy. But since I moved it over into the other room, it's kind of a necessary evil. Anyway, I'm going to have to actually throw it up on the pump cart, the hydraulic cart, take off the legs, lower it so that I have enough height to lift up the playfield, and then I can hook the playfield up here, make sure it's nice and perfectly perpendicular, and then I'll have access to install the air blades. Then because I've got all this duct work here, I really do need to like just wheel the machine into this place into this spot here and then use the hydraulic cart to pump it into place. So it just fits ever so perfectly into my floor joists. And uh yeah, so you can't just like put the machine on legs there and then lift the head cuz the head will run into the duct work. So that's what I mean by it was a necessary evil for me to haul the machine out of there and put it on the pump cart which will enable me to install the art blades and wheel it into its new home. So I will u probably throw you on the tripod and you can watch me struggle to get this all set up. Yay. All right. Are you ready? Let's go. pretty precariously perched in a pretty vertical position here hanging by a thread. So, I don't know that I trust that. So, maybe I'm going to add some reinforcement. But, this will give me the access I need right down that little groove right there. It's about a I don't know 3/4 of a centimeter. Couple couple eighs worth of space there. See, that should be enough to just nestle the art blades down in there. What's this? Is that an insect? Is this an old dead insect? It is. Or was a little millipede. Okay, it's long gone. It's no dust. Is that another one? What the f? I already vacuumed out this cabinet, so I'm like, how is there any new insect? Anyway, so I think I'll maybe add another wire there just to secure. Oh, I guess Ellie's gone missing. I got to go hunting for Ellie. I'll be right back. Ellie, you really put a kaibos into the old system last night. 9:30 at night. Jamie says that we got to go find you. And normally when we go look for you, we find you in like five minutes. Where the hell did you go last night? Huh? Ellie disappeared for like 4 hours. We didn't find her till 1:00 a.m. in the morning. She just, you know, spawned in the backyard. just magically reappeared, which when we go looking for her, that's usually how it happens. We turn around and she's right there. But not last night. She went on some hiatus for 4 hours and scared the poop out of us. So, needless to say, nothing else got done last night. But at least Ellie is safe. Jamie and I were very worried about you, and you are grounded. No more going outside ever. She usually will just stay in the backyard and then we got to every once in a while rain her in if she starts drifting out to the neighbors yards. But last night she went on some crazy adventure. Anyway, I'm back at it and I paid Greg Benz a visit at the Ben's Gallery in London, Ontario. If you want to buy some amazing art, go check out Bins. If you want some apron cards for 20 bucks, all glossy and printed to fit perfectly and beautiful, cool designs, then also go to Benzy. But he I tried to give him money, he refused. So, thank you, Benzy. Much appreciated. I have all three components now to basically finish this machine. I got my new plastic, my apron cards, and side art blades, which this cool Gotham Citycape here. Is there any anything that's actually bat? Here we go. There is the bat signal. Hey, that reminds me. I have a Batman over here. Should put him right by the machine. And check this out. No, I hit this button first, then hit that. He lights up. And uh how cool is that? Bat signal. All right, let's turn you back off. So, okay, I'm going to install another like playfield support here so that I feel comfortable. I'm not going to smash anything into bits. And then we're going to try and install some art blades. And Ellie is going to stay inside all night long. Okay, I didn't add a playfield support. So, please remind me that that is the case so I don't crash the playfield. Got to be very, very gentle. So, this is about the third or fourth time maybe installing art blades. Haven't done that many. Let's see. I did demolition man, theater of magic. Um, what else did I do? I know I've done at least one or two more. So maybe this is a fifth set. Maybe Ghostbusters, but not a pro, but I'm going to take you along for the ride. Oh, I got to remove this probably. That is for mirror blades. I got a couple alcohol wipes courtesy of Shiny Boy. I'm going to just give it a little bit of a wipe down just to make sure there's no gunk and then peel and stick and align. Probably should do the align part of the equation before the stick part. So, this will probably be where I hit the time lapse button. So, wish me luck. Okay. So, you know, there's a lot of different methods. Dry method, wet method, tape it on, align it method. Mine is more just like wing it method. I kind of had to readjust a couple times, but honestly, I got to say I got pretty lucky on this one. It looks almost perfect and no wrinkles. So, that went smooth. All right, let's do the other side. Okay. So, the playfield wants to lean to the left cuz my support is on the right. So, the whole thing wants to squeeze that way. So, I got a solution for that. Not a whole lot of space there, right? Well, I can just slightly push it over, but it wants to wants to come back. But oh, might need a might need a third hand for this or a foot. Let's see if I can get a foot in the equation here. Oh, this is where the playfield's going to come crashing. Uh, anyway, that's my solution. I'm going to get myself hopefully a lot more gapage than that, but I'm going to need both hands for that. So, that hopefully will work. Think I got enough gap. This is kind of sticking out a little bit, but I should be able to work with that. So, here goes nothing. All right, that actually went on pretty well. I feel like there's a a little bit of luck involved in this equation cuz that's pretty damn good. Look at this gap here. It's like 1/8 almost perfectly all the way across the top. Now, let's actually look at the art blade itself. he's turned me on to Art Blades. And now pretty much everything I do has Art Blades on it now. because uh you know he buys directly from Mario who supplies retro reverbs. I believe that's how that all works and Kevin buys so much crap off him. I think he might get a little bit of a discount. So for me I paid $100 Canadian. So how can you go wrong? 100 bucks to add that. And very good quality decals, too. They're nice and thick vinyl or whatever. Um, I know that there's thin decals out there that are a royal pain and I don't think I've ever had to try install any of those and I don't want to. If I was going with the thin ones, I probably would try the wet method because I wouldn't be able to peel off as easily if I made a mistake. Anyway, uh should we do uh to replace this plastic next? Oh, where did that go? Oh, here it is. Well, looks like uh it was definitely needed. So, good purchase. Hey fellow shenaniganders, if you are enjoying what you are seeing, why don't you click on these three dots at the bottom of any video and then find this heart. Click on that and hey, look at this. You can buy me a beer. You can use the slider to buy me 500 beers if you really like. But this is a way you can uh send thanks and I very much appreciate your support. If you do so, your comment will be highlighted and also I will give you a shout out. So, thank you for all your support.
Well, this could end up being a short video cuz I'm almost done. Unless I string you along for the enthralling footage of replacing a piece of clear plastic. You know, you should really read the instructions because there was a lot of them for this. But I kid, how hard can it be? Uhoh. Famous last words. Something Something this simple often comes with its own troubles. Can John Youssi what I'm doing? All right. Look at that. See? Oh, see there's a lot of spacers, a lot of layers to this. The spacers actually stuck to the bottom. So, I almost lost those. And if I set them on the playfield, I'm sure to lose them cuz they blend right in. I'm going to go set them over on the chair. Hold this stuff. Okay, now for the deep surgery. Oh, there's another broken piece. So, question is, what was original and what was an add-on? Or was this always there just like this from day one and they just added a replacement kit for when it breaks? You know, this looks all very original. Unless this is a a later run and they, you know, included the improved version in the later runs. Hold on.
So, yeah. Why does this exist? Is it an upgrade kit? What was original? It's not really all that important to know why. But uh you know it's fun. It's fun to ponder. Come on. Have you ever removed plastics like all this protective film from a full set of plastics before? It honestly can be a pain in the buttocks, especially when it's on both sides. There we go. Not good for your uh fingernails. Okay, how does this go? Was it like that? Probably should have paid attention. We got Probably could line up some holes. No. No. Yes. There we go. It reminds me of the uh the meme where to stick in a USB plug. It's like correct. No, incorrect, correct, incorrect. Wait, no, I did that backwards. Anyway, if you know the meme, Rob Rob Noel knows what I'm talking about. At least one person does, and that's all that matters. Now, I've done what, like 11 freaking 100 videos now. Can you believe that? Like, I still am perplexed that uh I've done that since CO started and I started hitting the record button. One moment. I still find it pretty incredible that the shenanigans are still going on cuz this is in the wrong spot after uh thousand effing videos. So, does this go here? And then like here. Yeah, I think that's what we want. So, if you ever are like, "Oh, I haven't seen a video in like post a video in 3 days. I got the urge. I get the itch." Then, uh, first go see a doctor and then secondly, just go back. I've got freaking thousand videos, man. That'll keep you entertained for a long time. No. Okay. This is trial and error. Also, why I highly recommend reading instructions. They do come in handy, but eventually you find the right hole. You just keep screwing until you get it right. Third time should be a charm here. Now we need a spacer. And another spacer. And then u plastic. Is this it? Is this going to be right? That's looking better. I've been hunched over for a little while. My back is already loving it. I should have propped up the old uh hydraulic cart like a solid foot. Okay, things are coming together. Can't believe I'm recording this whole freaking plastic install installation installation. If you haven't been watching any of the previous Batman videos, this thing came to me with 300 under 300 plays on it. This is a 17-year-old game. Is that right? I think so, cuz this is uh I'll double check. Uh I can't see anything. October. Anyway, I'm pretty sure this is 2008. It's now 2025. So, you do the math. So, for all need to have 300 plays on it, but Oh, do you trust the audits? Well, not typically, but gauging by the condition of the playfield. I believed the audits and then I completely wiped them cuz I changed the batteries. There's the old piece. So, that was like pretty much the only So, we need to do some apron cards next. Yeah. Have a look at this shooter lane. Can you believe how beautiful that is? Oh, it also has a probably day one myar on it. So, whoever bought it was probably a pinball guy and they're they knew and they knew what to do. You protect your shooter lane peoples. Okay, I am going to grab my uh Greg Benzy apron cards now. All right, here we go. We'll save the originals. Put them in the manual. Instructions on the left, You know what I might do? They're kind of bowed up a little. I may kind of possibly bend in the corners a tad. I don't know that I want to do that if I crease them. You can't unccrease them. Maybe gravity they'll they'll settle down after some time. But there we go. Oh, and um Oh, one moment. I was about to say that basically done. Batman is finished, but did find this screw in the cabinet last night along with the uh millipede skeleton. So, this is the last thing that needs to be done. I got to locate where this screw goes and then uh then mission is accomplished. I'll let you know if I find it and then we'll go for one last tour. Okay, this is a total needle in a hay stack operation. But I am amazing and I managed to find it in like 10 seconds of looking. And it was not easy. It wouldn't have been easy. I mean, I got super lucky. I noticed similar style screw. Guess where it's missing from though. You got to raise this guy up to see that it is right there. See that? Under the playfield. So, I'm proud of myself. I'll add a little Loctite to this guy and then uh then we're done. Okay. That was awkward AF because you think you can get a screwdriver in that spot. Now I just use the bit. And um don't rest on the uh flasher domes cuz you pop them off. Anyway, I got it on and we're done. We're done. So, I think before we go for a final tour of the game, probably should put it in its new home. But, uh, it's going to be a little bit of finagling before uh this happens. So, I got to just fold the head down, wheel it over in place, crank it up, throw in the legs, center it, level it, and I'm probably going to move Adam's family out of there because my buddy JC is buying that soon, and I don't want to block it in behind there. So, I think I'll bring that out first, throw it over here, move this into place, and then just stick the Adams family back here out of the way. And then my lineup will be complete. It'll be a full rack, even with one machine at the bottom of the stairs, which I don't typically love cuz that's annoying for getting machines up and down the stairs. Uh, and Gamatron's got to come home fairly soon. That'll be my next project. Spoiler alert. And I probably should actually do an updated tour of my collection since the last one was like 3 years ago. And there's almost none of the same games. Lord of the Rings and uh like Night Moves might be the only two same games from 3 years ago. So I'm due for an updated tour. So, I'm going to do all that and uh that might take me an hour. So, I'll be back. All right, Adam's family is out and Batman is somewhat in. Just wanted to show you the freaking shenanigans I have to deal with in order to get the machines a into this basement and b especially into this spot with the duct work in the way. So, I've got it cranked up to darn near the ceiling so that I can put on the legs and then lower it into position. So, that's what I'm dealing with. So much fun. What we do for pinball, right? We're all nuts. All right, the games room is somewhat back in order. Just do a little sweep around for fun. Like I said, at some point I got to turn on all the machines, then do a proper uh game room update. I'm always adding stuff in the rafters and ceiling and floor joists. But there's Batman's new home. Might as well complete the tour while we're here because it's rare. See, I just added my Manitoba plaque to the wall there. Seventh place, baby. Don't mess. And um Batman Dark Knight is finished. I don't love that you got duct work in the face, but you know, you just got to take what you can get. The fact that I can nestle three machines in this spot, it's pretty uh fortunate. So, I did put the glass on thinking, why did I do that? Because now there's going to be a dumb glare, but oh well. Let's go comb over this one last time. This is a short episode because when you buy something that is practically new, doesn't require as much as like a 50-year-old machine does, but you know, some custom apron cards, art blades, LEDs, missing tilt bob, a new battery, a new plastic. That's about all it took. to finish this guy up. And I am excited to own this. Happy to own it. Just one of those, you know, I buy so many machines over the years. Sometimes you get hosed, sometimes you win some, sometimes you lose some, and sometimes the machine falls apart in your hand, like my upcoming Gamatron project. But this one turned out to be a uh a good one. So, I think it's only fair to have one quick little farewell game cuz I don't think we did a gameplay video after I installed the newest code. Oh, yeah. That was another thing I did. Oh, and one other thing. Here's the budget. Oh, we had to provide an Allen wrench. That was missing. LEDs 133 bucks. Flipper rubbers. battery five bucks. Tilt bob 18 bucks. Uh new balls 10 bucks. Coil stop screws two bucks. Art blades 100 bucks. Apron cards zero bucks. So that is what it cost me to uh you know bring this machine up to speed. So what are we talking one two like you know maybe 260 bucks or something like that. That ain't so bad, right? Maybe under 300 for sure. Uh I just hope that nothing really messes up because uh if I need to lift the playfield on this, I don't have a whole lot of room to work with. I don't have a whole lot of room to work with in normal circumstances. With the duct work here, it's even worse. So, I'm putting some trust in Batman by sticking it here in this spot. So, let's play one game and call it a wrap. All right, shall we?
Great work. I will restore Gotham City and expel its merman.
So many more call outs with the updated code. Pretty much a whole new game. [Music] So, the 300 games that were played on this before the code was updated.
You can't get away from
they were uh missing out. I can get the hurry up the middle now, but you had to hit the right orbit before. So, Ed Boon. Got my Batmobile. Oh, yeah. There's glass there. Now, let's work on some Joker. Whoa. I called him the I have the outlane rubbers removed so as to make it a little more challenging.
It's going.
We don't need half an hour games every time. I should have like a uh
like wizard mode challenge on this game. just keep playing until I finally get it. I kind of did that with um Pirates of the Caribbean stern when I had that. Finally did get the wizard mode. I think it was called four winds multiball or something. an annoyance. Then I sold that game to Mike Schmidt, who currently is renting my Stranger Things. Oh, yeah. There's a super skill shot, too, in the new code. Thank you, freebie. Take the edge off.
Uh, I got to hold down the left flipper,
I believe, for the super skill shot. Oh, Gordon tried to screw me. Oh, and then the crane freaking deaks at the last second. So, I need two hits on the crane. Uh-oh. Anywhere near that out lane is trouble. If I get this last hit on the crane. You Why did you remove the outlanes, you idiot? Put that rubber back on. Okay, let's go. Super skill shot into the crane. That wasn't even a skill shot. No. Okay, I better just hit this joker shot while it's available. Oh, I'll take that. I need
have the tumbler fueled and ready. the ball on the left flipper. Jeez, that's three times into the scoop. Okay, let's just take our time then. Thank you. Now get out of my way. Now I need two shots. One to lock the ball. Actually, three shots. One to lock the ball. There we go. Oh, did it? Yeah. Now I want to hit the drop target and then one more to lock the ball. Oh, did John Youssi that? That was cute. I should slow-mo replay that. I hope you saw that. It's a little bit of glare up there with the reflection of the back glass LEDs. But I basically banked my one ball into the lock with the other ball. Now I've got all my three missions achieved there. Whoa. At the bottom got my scarecrow, Joker, and Batman. Hey, I'm trying to like point things out there. Balls.
Oh, okay. So, if I want to get the Joker insert lit, I think I need a super jackpot. I must have got a scarecrow super because it's solid. Alfred is lit on the right for an add ball. Oh, I thought I hit that. Alfred. Oh, so fail there. So fail. All right, let's start the uh beginning of the wizard mode here. Oh, and a mode impostors. Okay, so bat signal challenge. Hit each shot once. Let's go. Batmobile right up the middle. Oh, impostor shot too for a mill. Get my Joker and imposters in a decent uh mode to stack in to this challenge. Uh-oh. sensitive slings. [Music] We're going to go a little bit later or just fluke it in. Okay, now left orbit for bat signal multiball. It better be, isn't it? Yeah. Here we go. Now I just need to actually get some jackpots this time. Forgot how to light Alfred. Although he is lit now. So Oh yeah. So, I just remembered you got to hit all three shots again and then hit the left orbit to collect the jackpot. So, I think I just got it. Did I not? That was a very forgiving ball save. Okay, this should be super [Music] Okay, maybe cuz I was playing a mode. I don't know. Things are weird. I need a scarecrow shot here. Shoot flashing shots. I've been doing that. Oh, I almost backhanded the right orbit. That's crazy. Orbit, not orbit. Early again. Fluke it in. Bank it in. Come on. Oh, I should hit uh Alfred at a ball. [Music] Why is Scarecrow so hard to hit? No, I backhanded the right orbit. Can you believe that? [Music]
Oh, start a mission. Okay, whatever. So,
what exactly we off to today?
I don't know. I didn't think I got a super there. Although, I swear I hit the freaking all three shots. Might as well cash in my extra ball. I'm on my second bat mission. Extricate Lao. Got to play all four bat missions to get uh I think it's Lucius Fox, which is this guy here on the left. Uh okay, what am I trying to do now? I don't Oh, you know what I should do is hit the right orbit and show you that uh multiball cuz I don't think that was in the original code or the early code. So, I need maybe two more right orbits. What's happening? Oh, Lao is still happening. Let's go up the middle then. The spinner. I never go for that spinner. Oh, that got you Rachel. Looks like that's another reason this game is reminds me of Lord of the Rings. You're going around collecting different people by doing various different things. [Music] Okay, right orbit. That was a little late. Oh, that mission is lit. Okay, that's all the Batman targets on the left. Okay, let's try super skill shot. Well, accidentally started a mission. Rescue Rachel. Just one more to go. If I could get that multiball clothes dirty.
That was dirty.
Then that would help my cause. Oh, you are hostage.
All right, let's make this shot. I went late last time and this time I go early. Oh, scarecrow level two.
Am I in your way?
Looks like a Alfred assist to the crane there.
What's the matter? Are you afraid they hit me? Rescue Rachel shot. I don't I guess I could try and hit the crane. I mean, that's kind of death sentence potential, but Whoa, that was crazy. Get up there. Okay, I think I need two more right orbits. I really moved the machine there. Going to change the angle of everything.
You cannot hope to stop me this time.
Okay, technically two shots to the crane. Let's just do that. Slipped right through there. Then during the crane, I'll try and whail on Batman targets.
Where is the Joker?
Start that last mode. One more. One more. Got it. [Music]
Another joker lock. I think I just hit the Alfred out of ball. Thank you very much. And I believe that left orbit. One more hit on that. We'll light the multiball. Wonder if I can stack it. [Music] I'm on two joker locks. Might have to end up going back to a bat signal challenge. Oh, was that Joker? It was too. I just need Batmobile. How do I get Batmobile? need up the middle. It's amazing how I can never hit the right orbit.
Oh, I need my Joker super jackpot.
I guess this is turning out to be a wizard mode uh challenge after all. Okay, my uh Joker super is lit. Crane, f off. Trump card.
Got it. Nope.
Yeah, I got it. Is it lit or was that it?
My joker light is not solid. [Music] Well, go for another Joker super then. This would have been a good video to have with the proper freaking orientation. Got to had to go all horizontal on you. Can I bring in the Batmobile into this? I wonder. [Music] Joker.
What? How many times do I get hit that guy?
I don't get it. Locate the Joker. Oh, the last uh Bat mission here. So, I guess I just got to hit one shot and find him. Might as well do a Batmobile cuz I need my Batmobile insert still. [Music] Oh no. [Music] Oh no. That sucks. Wow. That was a good game though. All in all, I just had three more dudes to beat.
How do you work this remote? One more bat mission, the Joker super and then I needed to spam the uh Batmobile shot about 50 times and that would have gave me the last thing I needed and I don't know what would have happened there. But new factory scores are up there and uh I did not make the board, but I'm pretty happy with that overall. Anyway, that was uh a fun little minieries on uh Batman Dark Knight. I hope you enjoyed. Stay tuned for Gamatron.