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Part 4: 1997 Sega Jurassic Park The Lost World. Starting on the playfield!

Pinball Shenanigans·video·31m 45s·analyzed·Dec 19, 2025
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

Jurassic Park Lost World restoration with John Borg design insights.

Summary

Mike Dus continues restoration of a 1997 Sega Jurassic Park: The Lost World pinball machine, featuring embedded interview clips with designer John Borg discussing the game's development and mechanical features. Dus documents playfield disassembly, cleaning, and begins lower-third restoration including flipper service, rubber replacement, and LED upgrades.

Key Claims

  • John Borg was disappointed with The Lost World movie and felt the snagger/truck mechanic was underutilized compared to early script descriptions

    high confidence · Direct quote from John Borg interview embedded in video discussing how the truck feature was only a 3-4 second flash in the actual film versus more prominent in early script

  • The snagger mechanism (motorized truck that picks up ball) was built differently than originally planned due to movie's special effects limitations

    high confidence · Borg interview: 'it ended up not being as big a part of the movie as it was, you know, in the early script that I had read'

  • Robert Herado designed the egg mechanism with animatronic dinosaur inside that opens/closes above the ball scoop

    high confidence · John Borg interview crediting Herado for the egg design element

  • Batman Forever marked the transition point where Sega/Data East switched to new flipper rebuild kit design that Stern has used for 25+ years

    high confidence · Dus examining flipper parts documentation showing early kit compatibility ended at Batman Forever (1995), new kit compatible with Stern 1999-present and all Sega post-Batman Forever

  • This Lost World machine appears to have never received a professional shop job in its 27-year lifespan

    high confidence · Dus observation: 'every washer, nut, screw, bolt is present. There's no sign that anyone's been in here mucking around with anything'

  • John Borg's signature appears on the playfield apron as an Easter egg on this machine

    high confidence · Visual discovery: 'John Borg Jurassic Park Lost World' written on underside of apron

Notable Quotes

  • “I wasn't as excited about the movie after I saw it... That wasn't one of my most favorite games of all time.”

    John Borg @ ~2:30-3:00 — Designer admits disappointment with both film and resulting game, providing context for design compromises

  • “The truck was chasing through the weeds after this dinosaur and this great big thing came out in front and shocked the dinosaur... it was like a three four second flash in the movie... I was pretty upset about it.”

    John Borg @ ~3:15 — Reveals extent of disconnect between early script expectations and actual film execution that impacted mechanical design decisions

  • “Right at Batman Forever, they switched to the new flipper kit design. And this is what Stern has been using for the last 25 years.”

    Mike Dus @ ~9:45 — Documents historical shift in Sega/Stern flipper hardware standardization

  • “Every washer, nut, screw, bolt is present. There's no sign that anyone's been in here mucking around with anything. Lost World's first shop job.”

    Mike Dus @ ~28:30 — Confirms machine's original condition and provides restoration baseline

  • “I eat Papa Dukes for breakfast.”

    Python Angelo (interview excerpt) @ ~20:15 — Humorous quote from industry personality, provides character flavor in embedded interview

  • “John Borg Jurassic Park Lost World. Isn't that cute?”

    Mike Dus @ ~30:45 — Discovery of designer signature Easter egg on machine

Entities

Mike DuspersonJohn BorgpersonJurassic Park: The Lost WorldgameRobert HeradopersonSegacompanyData EastcompanyStern PinballcompanyClay HarrellpersonPython AngelopersonCoryperson

Signals

  • ?

    event_signal: Fork River pinball tournament achieved record turnout of 34 players

    high · Dus reporting: 'we had a record turnout. There was 34 players'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: John Borg credits Robert Herado with designing the egg mechanism feature as a collaborative design element

    high · Borg interview: 'Robert Herado ended up laying out that little egg in the middle that was above the ball scoop... that opened and closed and there was a little dinosaur inside of it'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: John Borg deliberately chose not to replicate giant ball-eating dinosaur from original Jurassic Park, intentionally seeking different mechanical approach for Lost World

    high · Borg quote: 'We wanted to do something a little different than the original Jurassic Park. So, you know, hence there was no giant ball eating dinosaur... it wasn't one of my favorite games.'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Movie script expectations did not align with final film execution; truck/snagger mechanic was more prominent in early script but only 3-4 second appearance in final film, forcing design compromise

    high · Borg interview detailing how special effects limitations reduced mechanical significance compared to early script version

  • ?

    community_signal: Machine shows signs of never having received professional service in 27-year lifespan; all original hardware and fasteners intact

    high · Dus observation: 'every washer, nut, screw, bolt is present. There's no sign that anyone's been in here mucking around'

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

0:03
8 seconds left. Come on. I'm going to call baby T-Rex Chewy. I'm Mike Dus [music] and this is Pinball Shenanigans.
0:19
All right, time for another episode of The Lost World. Okay, so I accidentally stumbled across this interview with John Borg on Clay Harrell's top casts and uh he's talking about Lost World. So, uh, check this out. All right. So, then it looks like you All right. So, then it looks like you did the the Lost World, you know, the second Jurassic Park game, right? Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Tell me a little bit about that one. Tell me a little bit about that one. I was pretty excited about it. Um, I I was pretty excited about it. Um, I wasn't as excited about the movie after I saw it. Um, but, uh, you know, I was glad to, you know, I was glad to get the title, you know, and go back and, you know, work with the work with dinosaurs again, right? right? So, and then, um, the, uh, the So, and then, um, the, uh, the mechanical feature, the little truck that unfolded and picked up the ball and dumped it in the back, right? right? That was uh, that was built up a little That was uh, that was built up a little bit more in the script than was in the movie. I guess they had problems filming that or, you know, the special effects weren't really there yet. And um so it ended up not being as big a part of the movie as it was, you know, in the early script that I had read, you know, otherwise I probably would have had a different mechanical unit there. Huh. Huh. And uh we wanted to do something a And uh we wanted to do something a little different than the original Jurassic Park. So, you know, hence there was no giant ball eating dinosaur, right? um wasn't one of my favorite right? um wasn't one of my favorite games. So your your guesstimation of what So your your guesstimation of what things how things were going to turn out were pretty accurate then? Um, yeah, you know, everything except for the uh the snagger or the, you know, the truck that uh the way they described it in the the early script that I read when I started to lay out the game was, you know, this truck was chasing through the, you know, through the weeds after this dinosaur and this great big thing came out in front and and shocked the dinosaur and then they picked it up with this clamp and they, you know, lifted it up and put it in the back of the truck. It was like a a three four second flash in the movie, you know, when we actually saw the film, right? right? And I was pretty pretty uh I was pretty And I was pretty pretty uh I was pretty upset about it. But, you know, at that point, we were finished with the game and we were building samples already, so it wasn't like we could go back and change it, but uh but it was a neat little but uh but it was a neat little mechanism. You know, it was definitely different. Yeah. Yeah. So, and uh uh Robert Herado ended up laying out that little egg in the middle that was above the ball scoop, right? right? That opened and closed and there was a That opened and closed and there was a little dinosaur inside of it. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. So, but that wasn't one of my most So, but that wasn't one of my most favorite games of all time. That wasn't one of my most favorite That wasn't one of my most favorite games of all time. Straight from John Borg in an interview from 2008. So, I guess he was just a little bit disappointed with the movie and the fact that uh the movie I guess only showed this whole thing for like 5 seconds. I haven't seen the movie. I haven't seen any movie as all of my friends know and give me for because you know I've got all these machines and I don't get any of the references cuz I don't watch any movies. Although, I did see Congo. Anyway, time to get to work on this guy. I'm going to go search around and see if I actually have a flipper rebuild kit in stock. Here's my flipper parts stash.
Kevin Grazleyperson
Jayperson
Fork Riverevent
Batman Forevergame
Jurassic Park (original)game
  • ?

    product_concern: Sega/Data East flipper mechanism design evolved mid-production; machines before Batman Forever require different rebuild kit than post-Batman Forever machines

    high · Dus documentation comparing two different flipper rebuild kits with different part numbers and compatibility ranges

    • 3:49
    And I've got a few kits near. I'm almost certain I have stern one. I don't know if it's data east or what, but this is Williams Comet or similar. Oh, is this it here? It's looking good. Rebuild kit for Data East Sega. All right, cool. That's awesome. How long have I had that in my stash? I swear I just bought it knowing that I would use it one day. And that was probably like precoid. So I'll just [snorts] double check that part number, but I think we're in business. So 5006306-20 says on this label, Data East Sega. Data East Sega. But there's the part number. This is a pinball life. It just says data east. So why
    5:02
    is that true? Look at those coil stops. Those black ones. These are not those. And then look at this. Let's go back to says Marco. This also has that same part number, but it's got those black coil stops and it doesn't say Sega, just says Data East. So, what is going on here? Okay, same part number, but this one from Little Shop of Games says Data East and Sega for games from '0587 to0989. Oh no, this is 97. This is probably not going to work. I think I remember why I bought this. I think it was for my Robocop, which I still have yet to get to. So, sadly, I don't think this kit is going to work. Okay. Yep. So, it turns out that um there are two different rebuild kits for Sega games. Here is the early version and uh it is good for these games here.
    6:22
    The first Jurassic Park Data East and then um this other kit here.
    6:34
    It's compatible with all Stern pinball machines 1999 to present. compatible with all Sega machines. After Batman Forever, early Batman Forever machines use the early kit. So, right at Batman Forever, they switched to the new flipper kit design. And this is what Stern has been using for the last 25 years. So, I will see if I can track one of these down locally. If not, I will uh put it on my order. All right. I think uh what I'm going to do is start tearing this thing down. But before I do that, let's have a little bit of fun before we get our hands dirty. I did message Cory of London pinball to see if he has a Stern Flipper rebuild kit in stock, which he probably does. So, if so, I can uh get me one of those locally soon and not have to wait a couple weeks or whatever. So, let's have one game before we start uh tearing into this.
    7:42
    Do you know what world you've come to? All right, let's crush some humans. See, it says don't crush the dinosaur. Boom. So, we're playing as the T-Rex, I guess. We're trying to hatch our little baby. [music] We're trying to um avoid getting caught by the truck,
    8:23
    both things now actually will work during our little play test here. That is, of course, if I can actually hit anything. I have yet to hit a ramp or a There we go. Oh, I broke the drop target even more. Hold on. Let me go get my my shrapnel.
    8:46
    I want to get that. Okay, I'm coming. Okay, I'm coming. I'm coming here. I'll hit a target. There you go. I want to get my drop target uh replaced before I take too many more wax at that uh snagger mech. Looks like it's uh taking a couple hits to the front of it. It kind of looks like the front plate on that stagger mech on the bottom right is broken off, but
    9:18
    you know, another photo I saw on the internet showed that it had that piece there. So, I thought for sure it's broken. But I inspected it closely and doesn't actually look broken. Like right here.
    9:35
    Unless it's a super clean [music] break anyway. Still have yet to do something. Oh, I did a little ouchie and got heart points. I literally I'm trying this whole game to hit one of two shots and I haven't yet. Hallelujah.
    10:07
    So, my new code should be uh on the way from Davis still. Oh, come on. The drop targets a little harder to hit.
    10:21
    So, hopefully I get the new code soon. Well, I guess it doesn't really matter now cuz I won't be done tearing apart the playfield and reassembling it before the code comes. I'm going to have to uh cheat at some point here cuz I literally can't hit that truck.
    10:47
    Oh man, another fail. How do I start moves? Oh, shaker motors going a little bit here. I spell raptor. Shoot any raptor target. Oh, okay. That's a baby T-Rex. That's a baby T-Rex. Shoot. Scoop for hurry up store. Hey, Shoot. Scoop for hurry up store. Hey, there it is. It worked. That was cool. Oh, he's got a LED in his head or a flasher. Anyway, how cute. I want him to come out again.
    11:25
    We got 20 seconds. Lots of time. Here we go. Shoot the egg. This is it. Oh, not with that sloppy This is it. Oh, not with that sloppy flipper.
    11:37
    8 seconds left. Come on. I'm going to call baby T-Rex Chewy. Hey, there he is.
    11:50
    All right. Oh, he like teases sometimes. He's like pretending to come out. That's cool. Oh, I don't know what happened. I Oh, I don't know what happened. I started two bowl multi-pole.
    12:04
    I don't even know what that insert says there. There's a red one flashing right there. It says, What does it say?
    12:16
    Uh, Raptor. It Raptor. It says Raptor. Hey, where's my other ball? Okay, now let's see the um snagger mech in action here. Or
    12:37
    can I I don't think I can lock balls until I hit that drop target. I don't really know. Don't know the rules. rules are probably pretty minimal being the [music] first code. There we go. I hit the drop target, but that didn't do anything. Oh, I guess I need to hit the B. Hey, get down to spell. What am I spelling? S I T. Oh, site B. Okay. See the other movie reference that. Okay, come on now. Oh, that was just in time. Hit it. Now, does that like lock?
    13:30
    Oh, there it is. Lock. Hit it. There we go. This better work. Yeah. All right. All right, finally we got it. One more lock for multi button. Okay, I just need to hit the inner orbit then.
    14:03
    Here we go. Bounce pass. Maybe I'm going to break my freaking snagger if I keep this up. Okay, I was a little late. There we go. That should do it. Oh, okay. So, we don't snag again. We just got one snag. Ooh, four ball multiball. Shaker motors going. Got a jackpot.
    14:30
    These ramps are about as tight as my X files. Get up there. Nice. Couple jackpots. Oh, left orbit. Right orbit. Both orbits are lit now. Spinners. Was it a double? I didn't see it. Double jack. Still have four balls. Miraculously. 3 2 1.
    15:00
    No super jackpot for me. Oh, okay. Site B. Total 100,000. really bonus multiplier. Something survived. Shoot again. Something survived. Shoot again. Okay, I don't want to do like a hourong Okay, I don't want to do like a hourong gameplay video here. That was a nice little teaser. I'll play off maybe the last couple balls off camera and then get to work. On a quick side note, um we were playing at Fork River last night in the pinball tournament. By the way, we had a record turnout. There was 34 players. So, if you can find me in the photo, I left you a little Easter egg. That was pretty sweet. And uh for the That was pretty sweet. And uh for the first time, strange twist of fate, the first time in the history of pinball, I actually had to wait for Jay the neighbor. He advanced past me into the finals. I got blown out in the semi-finals on um Magic. I was playing against Jay at that time and I literally did not get to flip one of my three balls. Jay advanced to the final four. He ended up fourth and uh he won these as a prize. These rubber feet which he gave to me for Jurassic Park. They're green. It's perfect. So that was cool. I also went with my uh buddy Amir. We call them gold balls. and he's, you know, he's not great at pinball, but he had a good time. And he won the last place prize, which says, "LOL, you suck. Bad at pinball." I'm surprised I could actually somewhat read that. Anyway, so he also gave me his prize. So, I was a real winner here. I got all the prizes. So, I'm going to hang that somewhere in the basement. And uh yeah, so that was cool. Yeah. So, I think this thing is actually a bottle opener. And it is also a magnet. It is also a magnet which will go on the fridge. Okay, I half cleared this table. Got my other table out. Quarters are getting a little bit tight in here. But that is uh the pinball work/ laundry shop. So here it is. One last look. And this also could be a helpful video for me when I tear this all completely apart and I want to remember how to put it back together again cuz there is a lot of these spacers on the playfield. Different spots for wires to go. Got to remember that this wire goes down here. Okay, there's a little notch there. That makes sense. Little notch there. These guys both go under here. And oh, you know what I got to do first is go underneath the playfield and disconnect all of these switches and whatever else so I can remove these ramps. These are two massive ramps. So, it's going to be the bulk of the disassembly process. But, all right, I'm going to get to it and I'll report back in a bit. Okay, here's another quick little excerpt for you from an interview with um Python Angelo. This guy is a character, and this is maybe one of my favorite quotes that I've heard from him of all time. Papa. Yeah, the guy doesn't even feel Papa. Yeah, the guy doesn't even feel about people. He will do anything. He is a chameleon of a lizard. Huh? Huh? And Python knows it because Python is And Python knows it because Python is the king of snakes. I don't throw her in the grass. But I eat Papa Dukes for breakfast. I eat Papa Dukes for breakfast. I love I eat Papa Dukes for breakfast. I love it. Okay, I think I got all of the connectors. Definitely a little awkward. Hey, if you happen to know how these um clips are supposed to work. It's one on each side. I saw it in the manual, but they don't lock in. So, I'm not really sure what the trick is if they're just broken or what. But in theory, I imagine they're supposed to just clip the playfield in place and I don't need my paint stick. But, [clears throat] excuse me. That was my Diet Coke. [sighs and gasps] [sighs and gasps] I got all of the wires hopefully I got all of the wires hopefully clipped a lot of zip ties while listening to the Python angel interview by Clay Harrell. I've listened to it multiple times, but it's, you know, I'm usually passing out to it, but it's always entertaining. Anyway, I think I am good. Well, I just answered my own question. I was pushing up the playfield just a little bit more to release my prop rod. And look, it actually latched into place. I don't trust this as far as I can throw it, but I don't know how to release it, so that'll be fun. But anyway, look at that. It's actually latched. Okay, this ramp is definitely putting up a good fight here. It's all this cluster of wires and zip ties. Everything's zip tied to each other and to the posts and it's like interwoven. I think I've got things to the point where they will free maybe if I can pop that through there. And these guys don't really want to quite come through there. So, I'm kind of free except that uh how the hell did they assemble this, man? Now you got to loosen all this just to like feed out these connectors. Like this is a nightmare. Okay, so I had to remove these two screws and two posts here to be able to pull up this plastic just enough to get out this wire. Now that I've done that, hallelujah, the first piece of the puzzle is removed. So that is one honk and ramp. And hopefully things go a little smoother now that that's done. Okay, this ramp was heck of a lot more straightforward thus far. Oh, there we go.
    22:01
    And got these guys removed. So, this should be free. Let's just be careful here. Watch my egg. This is bad idea here.
    22:15
    I highly recommend Don't leap things up like quite like this. But there we go. Look at that ramp. Pretty cool, actually. All right, piece number two. That's like a crisscross ramp. That's really cool. So, this is uh piece one, piece two, piece three, and then I'm just going to continue along like that. But that really is the bulk of it. It's all just small stuff from here on out. So, that's the easy stuff. Okay, I got to remove this egg before I break it and hope to not break it in the process of removing it. So, I did I don't know if you can see here. This is not a good angle. Let me get a better angle here. Probably this side here.
    23:14
    Come on, Chewy. All right. You see, I got the two nuts removed here and here, but the egg is on those threads real tight. So, been trying to just whittle it off, and I'm afraid I'm going to break the darn thing. And I very well may. They didn't make the holes very big for these screw posts.
    23:47
    Okay, just a little bit. One thread at a time. This thing is almost as fragile as a freaking real egg. That is so very flimsy. Can't believe that it is intact as much as it is. So, I'm going to have to figure out how to deal with this. be kind of nice to like have a sort of maybe almost like a real thin piece of lex sand going across the bottom super glued to it. Redrill some holes. That might actually do the trick. But anyway, I'm going to set that aside somewhere where I'm not going to break it. Okay, got some more parts removed. Definitely getting filthy. I think I'm going to do something a little different. Instead of stripping the whole thing down, this is kind of a Kevin Grazley strategy. Sort of does like sections at a time. So, I'm thinking what I'll do is this section right here from top to bottom. I'll clean the plate field, clean the posts, the slingshots. Here's my knuckle here. I just touch that and it's black. So, I got to clean this all up very thoroughly.
    25:31
    See if I can preserve these flipper bats with the original decals. And not a lot of rubbers on this game, so that's good. I've literally removed three so far. And then, well, I've got these post rubbers, too. So, not sure what I'm going to do for rubbers just yet. I don't have any fun colors in stock, but I think I want to at least do the slingshots and flippers. A cool color. And maybe the rest I'll just stick with black. If I had enough transparent, I might go that way. But you can't really see anything from here up anyway. Or even really like you can barely see that. So it would be a lot of effort for very little reward. Except for what's right at the curb appeal here. Even these posts could go cool. Like green, maybe green slingshot rubbers and green flipper rubbers. So, I'll remove the apron. And yeah, just as I'm taking this apart, I'm certain that this is the first time that this machine has ever been really even worked on. Well, I guess I couldn't say that, but definitely the first shop job in its life cuz every washer, nut, screw, bolt is present. There's no sign that anyone's been in here mucking around with anything. So, uh, yeah, Lost World's first shop job. I guess before I clean things, have a closer look here. It is 30 years of filth and it shows especially in the lighter colors. Uh little novous 2 should remedy that though. And that's all I ever use. I don't wax. That's what she said. Wait. I hope not. And I Yeah, I don't I don't do that. I just Novas, too. and I've gone through a lot of machines and I've never had any issues. So, that's my strategy and I'm sticking to it. All right, things are really starting to clean up. Removed all the posts. I just put those ones back, but these guys, I removed them so I could get in there and really clean. Just a lot of elbow grease and a lot of novice, but things are definitely looking pretty good. I just removed the apron and I discovered two things. One, lots of crud. And two, a neat little Easter egg. Check this out. John Borg Jurassic Park Lost World. Isn't that cute? So, I'm going to continue uh cleaning up here and uh I'll be back. All right, things are even cleaner. I did my dry cloth to get rid of the remnants of novice. Give it a nice polish. Really went through these areas pretty meticulously cuz a lot of carbon dust gets built up in there. And the flipper bats cleaned up very nice. So, very happy about that. Took off the uh trough lid and miraculously. Neither of these welds are broken. That's usually a standard for a Sega game. And cleaned up this area. Auto launcher.
    29:27
    trough. But yeah, that is uh looking good. So, I'm going to clean up the apron now and reinstall the trough lid. Start putting that back together. All right, it's time to decide on LEDs. Got warm on the right, natural on the left. Don't really think there's a wrong choice here.
    29:55
    But I'm kind of feeling the warm. So, I think that's how I'm going to go. Okay, got the apron cleaned up, some LEDs installed. I'm liking the warm choice, and just working on the lane guides here. Everything is in nice shape. They were a little dirty, but it cleaned up nicely. Okay, I got the overhead light off cuz
    30:26
    that, but my work here is done. Pretty much got the lower third finished. It's looking pretty awesome in my opinion. I managed to find two 2 and 1/2 in transparent slingshot rubbers. So, that was handy. Allowed me to put that back and reassemble all that stuff. And I found two little green post rubbers, two and only two. And then I went with uh I don't know, inch or yeah, that was probably an inch and a half rubber. for that spot there. So, I don't have flipper rubbers that I want. I want like a dark green. I don't have those in stock, but probably going to just stick with the black for the rest of the way. We'll see. I'm going to have to start ordering parts, though. I need a flipper rebuild kit. I need flipper rubbers and a bunch of other stuff. So anyway, that was a pretty good dent. Onethird of the playfield is done.