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Episode 64 - Son of Search Disc

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·27m 5s·analyzed·May 14, 2015
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.022

TL;DR

Nick Baldridge details persistent Ticker Tape search disc scoring problems and correction efforts.

Summary

Nick Baldridge continues troubleshooting a Ticker Tape bingo machine's search disc scoring issues, documenting his diagnostic process and technical adjustments over multiple sessions. He addresses wiper contact wear, slip ring tension, and relay timing while also correcting an instruction card error. He also mentions an upcoming EM World Championships at a VFW location and a local Richmond pinball tournament.

Key Claims

  • The first wiper finger on the search disc is too worn to properly score on cards 4 and 6

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge describing his diagnostic findings after disassembling the Ticker Tape machine multiple times

  • A search disc can have up to three separate discs depending on the number of cards and features

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge explaining search disc architecture on six-card bingo games

  • The Ticker Tape machine shows only 50,000 plays but 70,000+ replays paid out, suggesting either exceptional player skill or poor maintenance/exploitation

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge analyzing the play and replay meters on his machine

  • Slip ring rider tension is critical for proper voltage transmission and contact integrity

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge explaining slip ring mechanics and his adjustment attempts

  • The instruction card in the Ticker Tape game had incorrect replay information for card number one, which should allow 416 replays for four/five in a row

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge discovering a footnote in the game manual and correcting his adjustments accordingly

Notable Quotes

  • “I've given up on Ticker Tape search this for now... cards 1 through 3 score perfectly appropriately, and cards four through six kind of sometimes sort of score if it's card number four or six. Maybe.”

    Nick Baldridge @ opening — Establishes the core problem and frustration level early in the episode

  • “That's the nice thing about having a lot of games, is that the problems when they are minor and don't impact playability are easy to breeze past.”

    Nick Baldridge @ early segment — Reveals a collector's perspective on managing multiple machines with minor issues

  • “There are fewer things that are more frustrating than a bingo that pays out improperly”

    Nick Baldridge @ mid-episode — Articulates the unique frustration of bingo machine reliability issues affecting player experience

  • “The slip rings are made of copper, and these riders are made of some other kind of metal. I assume it's steel? Aluminum? I'm not sure. It's some kind of silvery-ish metal. I actually have no clue what they're made of.”

    Nick Baldridge @ technical section — Honest admission of material uncertainty despite extensive hands-on experience, humanizes the restoration process

  • “I'm stupid and hadn't noticed that... I feel pretty foolish, but that's what happens when you can't and won't read.”

    Nick Baldridge @ late episode — Self-deprecating admission of missing instruction card footnote containing critical adjustment information

  • “It's possible, but highly unlikely, that I have a cold solder joint on one or more of those contacts. I have never seen that on a bingo.”

    Nick Baldridge @ technical troubleshooting — Demonstrates deep experience with bingo construction and reliability of solder work

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonTicker TapegameDouble UpgameNatepersonClay HarrellpersonClarkpersonEvapersonFor Amusement OnlyorganizationI-Sley Brewing CompanyvenueEM World ChampionshipseventVFWvenue

Signals

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Detailed troubleshooting of search disc wiper contacts, slip rings, and relay timing on Ticker Tape bingo machine; documentation of wear patterns and adjustment techniques

    high · Multiple detailed descriptions of diagnostic process, wiper contact wear analysis, slip ring tension adjustments, and documentation of testing methodology

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Nick planning to source replacement wiper assembly from parts machine rather than individual contact replacement due to wear patterns

    high · Direct statement: 'I'll need to either replace that contact or replace the whole wiper assembly. And I'm leaning towards that because it's a free-floating assembly, and I can get that from a parts game most likely.'

  • ?

    event_signal: EM World Championships upcoming at VFW location (Clay Harrell's venue); separate Richmond pinball tournament at I-Sley Brewing with all slots filled

    high · Nick mentions tournament this Sunday at I-Sley, all slots filled; separate mention of EM World Championships at VFW with Nate competing

  • ?

    operational_signal: Nick managing multiple machines with various issues (Ticker Tape search disc, Double Up switch flakiness, solid state board diode failures) prior to guest visit

    high · Multiple references to resolving 'most glaring' solid state problems, Double Up switch adjustment issues, and prioritizing fixes before Friday visit

  • ?

    community_signal: For Amusement Only podcast establishing social media presence (new Twitter account @bingopodcast) alongside existing distribution channels

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.081

0:00
what's that sound it's for amusement only the em and bingo pinball podcast welcome back to for amusement only this is nick baldridge well i think i've given up on ticker tape search this for now i've got cards number four and six scoring intermittently, and after taking the unit apart yet again, and examining the wiper fingers, and examining them in action again for the 900th time, once the game is assembled, I realized that the first wiper finger is a bit too worn to actually score.
1:02
Aside from that, there's some interesting stuff going on with the slip rings. So, regardless, for now, cards 1 through 3 score perfectly appropriately, and cards four through six kind of sometimes sort of score if it's card number four or six.
1:24
Maybe. That's a frustrating thing, but I'll come back to it another night. For now, I have to move on from that game because I have a friend coming over that I've been trying to have over for a while on Friday.
1:47
And tomorrow, my many times guest, Eva, has a school function. So tonight is pretty much the night for me to fix any outstanding issues. Now, thankfully, I've been working diligently against some solid state problems and have resolved the most glaring one.
2:12
I've also resolved a minor issue with Double Up that developed. There are several switches on Double Up that are so flaky that they really should be replaced.
Coast to Coast Pinball
organization
Magic Screengame
Vic Campperson

high · Direct statement: 'I also wanted to note that I created a Twitter account for all you Twitter people out there... I am at bingopodcast there.'

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Nick discovers instruction card error regarding replay values and locates correct information in game manual; corrects adjustments accordingly

    high · Nick finds footnote indicating adjustment plugs for replay values on cards 1 and 6, realizes instruction card had blacked-out information, modifies adjustments to match actual game configuration

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Detailed explanation of how search disc system handles multiple scoring lines, relay detection, and automated winner identification on six-card bingo games

    high · Comprehensive technical description of search disc design with 45 positions, seven rows of rivets, multiple search relays with different switch configurations, and index coil locking mechanism

  • ?

    product_concern: Ticker Tape machine shows unusually high wiper wear for reported play count (50k+ plays), suggesting either meter replacement, play count inaccuracy, or unusual exploitation of machine

    high · Nick notes: 'It's unusual for a game that has only been played this little to have that kind of wear on the wiper contacts. So I almost wonder if the meters had been replaced at some point'

    • 2:28
    I just haven't done so yet. So every once in a while, the adjustment on them is so fine that they will get fouled or come out of adjustment, and I'd have to take a real close look at them.
    2:43
    In my solid states, I have an issue with a board. About half of the diodes on it tested completely bad, so I'm just going to let that go for now as well.
    3:05
    That's the nice thing about having a lot of games, is that the problems when they are minor and don't impact playability are easy to breeze past.
    3:20
    So in the solid state game that I'm talking about, the impact is very minor. so that brings me to other EM news and local happenings so there is a pinball tournament that's going to happen this Sunday in Richmond it's at the I. Lee Brewing Company. It's I-S-L-E-Y. All the tournament slots are filled up, but I'm planning to go there and cheer on and maybe help my friend Clark move a machine into there. I'm not sure what's happening yet, but I hope to be able to attend and say hi to everybody. This is being put on by a couple of guys in one of the Richmond pinball leagues, and I think it's great and I hope to see some EM representation there and if not, I'll be stepping up next time there's a tournament and bring one of mine.
    4:36
    So, that brings me to the EM World Championships and Nate from Coast to Coast Pinball is going to be playing in those and I certainly wish him luck. the EM World Championships are being put on at the VFW which is Clay Harrell's location and he's got some really nice games so I'm curious to see what ends up in the tournament and how that all goes down so I'm looking forward to hearing about that from Nate so in other EM news I thought I'd take one more crack at the search disc since I've only been talking about it for two days straight here I've had my head in it for the same amount of time if it makes you feel any better so when you have a scoring problem on a bingo So the search disk is the first place to go if you've verified that all of the balls are lighting up the card in the back glass or cards.
    5:59
    If you have a ball or a position that's not lighting up, then you need to check your Jones plugs. That's basically all the information those Jones plugs carry. and if it's not lighting up in the back glass, either you have a burned bulb or you've got a Jones plug problem. And if you have the Jones plug problem, then the game will never know that there's anything there.
    6:23
    The same plug that carries the lamp data also carries the informational data to the search disk. So, on your search disk, I mentioned before that the wiper fingers travel over that and depending on the position and the number of adjacent contacts it going to light up but I kind of breezed past it after that So, picture, if you will, a disc, which is square. It's comprised of an entire circle of seven different rows of rivets. and there's about 45 different positions that those wipers can go in. So there are many, many things that it looks for in a single revolution.
    7:20
    Now, 45 different positions allows you many scoring options. Scoring in a section on a Magic Screen game happens through the use of the search disk plus a couple of clever steppers that allow it to kind of cheat and look for more than 45 things. On a six-card bingo, it's got to look for, let's see,
    7:51
    10 different lines worth of data, and in those, three, four, or five in a row per card. So, some six-card games, I've learned, have three different search disks.
    8:10
    My game only has two, and some games only have one, depending on the number of cards and the features.
    8:22
    So, the search is triggered, at least on my machine, by pushing the C button. This is different than on a Magic Screen game where you push the R button. R meaning register replays, and C meaning collect replays.
    8:41
    When you push the C button, it disengages a latched relay that holds the disc in place. So the control unit motor is constantly turning while the game is on. When you push the C button, if the game has timed out, it will reset and start spinning again.
    9:07
    So when it pulls in this plate and starts spinning, the machine will register hot on each rivet in the circle that matches the various balls that you have locked in the playfield. So ball number 8, for example, will show up as hot in multiple positions on the disc. And this is all governed by the manual for that particular game. So you'll want to read that and be familiar if you're having scoring problems. Otherwise, leave it alone, because it's really quite tricky to adjust. as the search disk spins around, you'll hear clatter, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, but very rapid from the numbered search relays. So I'd mentioned search relay number three was having a particular problem yesterday.
    10:16
    That's one of five. And each of those search relays has different switches. So search relay number three happens to have just one switch pair, but one, two, four, and five have multiple switch pairs, and they're looking for different things and apply power to different circuits.
    10:40
    So I had mentioned that the timing of those relays is critical, and that is so. Also critical is the timing of the spinning of the search disk. So, as the search disk spins and the wipers register the hot, you know, the voltage for a particular ball that's locked in the play field, it passes that voltage up through the slip rings. The slip rings are those circular rings I was mentioning that their only purpose is to carry that data for seven different positions to the rest of the machine. So the way that it does this is that it is directly connected. So there's a solder point and a wire that jumpers between the wiper arm and the slip ring.
    11:45
    And from there, there's a tension arm, which is just a little piece of metal that sticks out from the bracket that holds the search disc in place. This rides on the sliprings on the search disk and will pass that voltage along to other circuits.
    12:12
    Now, when it detects a winner, so those slipring riders pass the info over to those search relays, the numbered 1 through 5. And when it detects a winner with three relays engaged at the same time with data, then the game will engage something called the search index coil. What the search index coil does is it pushes up a little metal platform and latches it in between teeth in a gear that rides beside the search disc.
    12:57
    And what this gear does is it will prevent those wiper arms from moving off the position. So in my game, the problem that I'm having, and that I'm trying desperately to correct without going to the trouble of replacing the search wipers, is that it will detect a winner. So it gets voltage in each of the appropriate rivets and I confirmed this with my wonderful voltmeter but the problem is that because the contact faces are so worn on the wipers it won stop appropriately
    13:43
    And because of this, I've tried to adjust the wiper arms. you rarely ever want to do that but this is one of the cases where it's necessary to try and that has not helped.
    14:06
    So other things that I've tried just to ensure that the contact is held in place firmly in the wiper arm I've put a drop of solder on the backside of that riveted contact just to help conduct a little better up the rest of the wiper arm into the slip rings.
    14:33
    I don't think that's helped at all. The other thing that I've tried is adjusting the tension of those slip ring riders. Now this makes a big difference. Depending on how tense they are is how well they get contact. The slip rings are made of copper, and these riders are made of some other kind of metal. I assume it's steel? Aluminum? I'm not sure. It's some kind of silvery-ish metal.
    15:09
    I actually have no clue what they're made of. But, whatever it is, it rides on that copper, and they get tarnished, they get old, they get dirty, so I've polished them.
    15:26
    And I've also ensured that the slip rings themselves are clean. And the way that you do that is you take a string or a piece of twine and you run it back and forth around the entire circle for each of the seven slip rings.
    15:45
    So that's all been done. The copper is nice and shiny. The slip ring riders are nice and shiny. and the adjustment on those is via a bracket as well as a riveted bolt that goes through.
    16:05
    The bolt can be loosened at a nut at the top and then the slip rings tweak their firmness. If you tweak it too much, then the slip ring is going to allow the rider to slide out and it will hang out behind it, you know, not scoring anything. So you've got to keep an eye on that and make sure that's not happening.
    16:32
    Aside from that, you know, I've been through and seen where the system is attempting to latch. You know, it's pulling in that search index coil, but it is not fully engaging. And that's because one of the most worn wiper fingers happens to be the first one, if you're looking at it dead on. And that first one will be over the rivet just a hair more than the rest of them. so it's just barely hanging on if the game does latch a little shake might dislodge it that's not where I want to be that's no good so again I've tried adjusting the wiper fingers which is rarely if ever a good idea and that hasn't made a difference So at this point, I'll need to either replace that contact or replace the whole wiper assembly. And I'm leaning towards that because it's a free-floating assembly, and I can get that from a parts game most likely.
    18:05
    So the problem is, this game only has about 110,000 plays on it. and it's a little tricky with a bingo because you're not sure looking at the meters if it's 110,000 plays or if it's 110,000 replays.
    18:25
    There are two separate meters that keep track of this. However, if I go by the play count or the money in, then I see that it's at 50-some thousand. the replays paid out are at 70 some thousand and either some very skilled people were playing this game or it was not maintained very well and someone found some kind of loophole like in the Vic Camp episode that he talks about so I'm not sure what the case is however it's unusual for a game that has only been played this little to have that kind of wear on the wiper contacts. So I almost wonder if the meters had been replaced at some point in this game's service life.
    19:23
    Now, the condition of the game itself is unusual. You can see all the wire colors, as I've mentioned before. So something's not adding up here. I'm not sure what's going on. But I'll get it fixed eventually, and I'll be excited when that day comes, because at the moment it's only half a game, but before then it was only 5-6 of a game.
    19:52
    When I first got it, card number 5 was working. At least I think so. and Steve came over and I think he got a four in the line on card number five and couldn't collect it. So there's there are fewer things that are more frustrating than a bingo that pays out improperly
    20:24
    As far as the search disk goes, it is attached to the game via a couple of brackets. The search disk itself has several solder tabs sticking out of it. The number depends on your game, I believe, and each pair of tabs does something different. In ticker tape, for example, the first two on the left, which are facing the maintainer as you look in the back door at the top on search disk 456,
    21:13
    send over the signal for a winner on card number six. The next two beside that, five, and so forth. there are a variety of signals that get passed back and forth depending on your interaction as a player with the game.
    21:31
    It's pretty neat the way that they did it and thought of how this would work and how the system mechanically latches is also pretty fascinating. I've mentioned before that that adjustment on that switch is very fine and it is indeed. However, that's adjusted to perfection in my game, and it's still not doing the right thing. So I'm left with few alternatives, but to try that. The only thing I can think that may improve matters is if I reflow the solder on each of those tabs. It's possible, but highly unlikely, that I have a cold solder joint on one or more of those contacts. I have never seen that on a bingo. And they used an awful lot of solder when attaching those switches. so you know it's unlikely but it's still something to check so next time I pull the game out from the wall I'll take a look. Aside from that the game is operating very well so one thing this is also embarrassing but I'm getting older and I need glasses I just found out. I've suspected as much for a few months, but I finally confirmed that suspicion.
    23:16
    So, I looked again at the score and instruction cards, because throughout various points of manipulating this search disk, I've had to test the scoring to make sure that I'm not messing the machine up worse.
    23:32
    And I'm getting an odd number of replays. And so I go back and look at the score and instruction card, and blow it up a bit bigger. And I'm looking, and there's a little footnote that says that there's an adjustment plug on a couple of the replay discs. Well, I'm stupid and hadn't noticed that. And I normally look at the schematic, as I mentioned, for which switches are connected where so that I can troubleshoot. On top of that, it's a bingo, and I've fixed up a good number of those now, and I don't have to reference the schematic every five seconds or look at the manual very often. Well, I cracked open the manual and flipped to the page that described the unit and looked at it, and sure enough, there's an adjustment plug on card number one and card number six that set the number of replays that you earned for four in a row and five in a row. And it felt pretty foolish because card number one, you can in fact set 416 replays. So they just had the wrong instruction card cut out and put in the game. So I modified my adjustments so that it matches exactly what is shown on the game already. so the only thing I need to replace is the instruction card that has the blacked out piece. I feel pretty foolish, but that's what happens when you can't and won't read.
    25:19
    So that's pretty much my folly with ticker tape right now, and I'll have it fixed eventually, but at this point I'm leaning towards replacing a part that is unique to the bingo, so we'll see if I can dig one of those up.
    25:42
    In the meantime, I've got a couple more tweaks to make before Friday, and tomorrow I won't have time to do any work on the game, so I better sign off for now. thank you again for joining me my name again is Nick Baldrige you can reach me at foramusementonlypodcast at gmail.com you can listen to us on iTunes, Stitcher Pocket Cast via RSS on Facebook or on our website is foramusementonly.libsyn.com I also wanted to note that I created a Twitter account for all you Twitter people out there. I'm not really one of them, so I'm not sure how often I'll tweet, but it's there. And I am at bingopodcast there.
    26:38
    I'm going to rejoin the players series here shortly, but I wanted to diverge for the next couple days and talk about a couple of EM oddities. So we'll get there.
    26:59
    Thanks again, and I'll talk to you next time.