Episode 381 - Magic Screen searches, Unproduced Williams games, PPE, 1947 Williams Torchy

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·16m 58s·analyzed·Oct 20, 2016

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.020

TL;DR

EM/Bingo podcast covers Magic Screen restoration, unproduced Williams designs, and the rare 1947 Torchy game.

Summary

Nicholas Baldrige discusses his multibingo restoration project, focusing on Magic Screen bingo machines like Carnival Queen and the technical challenges of implementing them in software. He highlights Duncan Brown's work on unproduced Harry Williams designs, announces the Pacific Pinball Exposition, and features the 1947 Williams Torchy flipperless game with dual electromagnets.

Key Claims

Carnival Queen has been fully implemented in the multibingo software with working Magic Screen mechanism
high confidence · Nicholas Baldrige, host, describing his restoration work
Bally stopped documenting mixer specifications starting with Magic Screen games, making technical implementation difficult
high confidence · Nicholas Baldrige, based on his direct experience with undocumented technical specifications
Phil Hooper and contributors have documented most Magic Screen games on his website
high confidence · Nicholas Baldrige acknowledging the resource used for Carnival Queen documentation
Magic Screen games use two additional steppers (sequence unit and winner unit) to handle sectional scoring
high confidence · Nicholas Baldrige explaining Don Hooker's mechanical design approach
The 1947 Williams Torchy uses two electromagnets under the playfield that energize and de-energize to fling the ball unpredictably
high confidence · Nicholas Baldrige describing the game's unique mechanics
Only one person has rated the 1947 Torchy on Internet Pinball Database, which shows low ratings
medium confidence · Nicholas Baldrige commenting on the limited rating data

Notable Quotes

“I have a beautiful Gaiety playfield but no Magic Screen mechanism so I can't implement those yet.”
Nicholas Baldrige @ early in episode — Highlights parts availability challenges in restoration work
“The game was a bit of a pain in the ass to make, but I was able to get it to work.”
Nicholas Baldrige @ mid-episode — Reflects difficulty of implementing Magic Screen mechanics in software
“I foolishly decided that I could implement the sectional scoring in a different easier way than Don Hooker did”
Nicholas Baldrige @ mid-episode — Shows iterative problem-solving approach to technical implementation
“Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous artwork. I'm really interested to play it one day.”
Nicholas Baldrige @ near end of episode — Expresses enthusiasm about the rare Torchy machine

Entities

Nicholas BaldrigepersonCarnival QueengameTorchygameWilliamscompany BallycompanyPhil HooperpersonDon HookerpersonDuncan BrownpersonHarry Williamsperson

Signals

?
restoration_signal: Baldrige lacks Magic Screen mechanisms and Miss Universe playfield needed for complete multibingo implementation; waiting for parts to appear on eBay
high · Have a beautiful Gaiety playfield but no Magic Screen mechanism so I can't implement those yet. And I don't have a Miss Universe which is the only 18 hole bingo which also has some unique playfield mechanisms
?
restoration_signal: Bally documentation becomes sparse for Magic Screen-era games, particularly mixer specifications; relying on Phil Hooper's website documentation
high · Bally really kind of stopped documenting almost anything about the mixers...Luckily, most of the Magic Screen games have been documented, at least in part, by Phil Hooper and contributors to his wonderful website
?
design_innovation: Baldrige implemented sectional scoring for Magic Screen games using software function mapping instead of mechanical search disk approach, avoiding use of sequence and winner steppers
high · I decided that instead...I'll just map each position and then write a new function which checks all the sections at once...The search which only requires twelve positions now
?
event_signal: Pacific Pinball Exposition scheduled for November 10-13 in Alameda, California with significant bingo game presence
high · Pacific Pinball Exposition and that is November 10th through the 13th in Alameda, California...We've got bingos, one balls...tons of wood rails...tons of EMs to see and enjoy
?
historical_signal: Duncan Brown is creating one-off reproductions of unproduced Harry Williams playfield designs, converting historical designs into playable machines

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.051

0:00

What's that sound? It's 4 Amusement Only, the EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast. Welcome back to 4 Amusement Only. This is Nick Baldridge. I'm still working hard on the multi bingo since I got back from York. I've been working hard on the multi bingo since I got back from York. I have built up several playfields, installing the apron and wooden surrounds. calixtent trailsay lancer стать a space can you have the ability coming to the rap of the site Gaiety and Gaytime, I have a beautiful gaiety playfield but no magic pockets mechanism so I can't implement those yet. And I don't have a Miss Universe which is the only 18 hole bingo which also has some unique playfield mechanisms like a switch up near the rebound rubber and a couple other things like that. So, without those, I won't be able to finish everything, but I'll be keeping an eye out on eBay and so forth until one comes up. And one eventually will, I'm certain. But for now, I will be able to implement a huge number. And I went ahead and bit the bullet and started working on moving numbers games when I got back. I have two more fixed number games left from Bally to implement and then I've got all moving numbers games left aside from Shoot-a-Line which needs that alternate playfield I was mentioning. So I took a look at the moving numbers games and really thought about how I was going to 961-2 in here we have here out 1104221, each synergy and announced twenty seven, twenty nine,ıs1 taken,妹cą Salv position of that strip

2:45

for The game that I implemented the first moving number game or moving feature game I started with the first magic screen game. So this is carnival queen Carnival queen, uh the magic screen and there's a fixed layer of numbers Which are illuminated as you make your number then there is the screen itself The game is based on the game's default game mode, and the game has a default position where you play straight up bingo, three, four, or five in a row wins, or you can move the screen and reveal different colored sections which all score separately from each other, and you only need three, four, or five in a section to win. I tested out the movement by implementing the screen with various positions in the menu. The game was a bit of a pain in the ass to make, but I was able to get it to work. I went ahead and did it. So Carnival Queen is actually fully functional in the multibingo. One thing which is a little interesting is starting with the Magic Screen games and a little bit before with some of the MagicSquares games, Bally really kind of stopped documenting almost anything about the mixers. Connectapper WP wire colors and you can trace the wire colors from the mixer to the spotting disk or wherever you plan to go and the spotting disk is fully documented but the issue is those mixers aren so it great and all that you have the wire colors but you don know how many rivets that actually equates to Luckily, most of the MagicScreen games have been documented, at least in part, by Phil Hooper and contributors to his wonderful website. Carnival Queen, Mixer No. 1, and the Reflex unit were documented, and so I was able to get the main game portioning absolutely perfect. But, for other portioning that requires Mixer 2 through 4, I had to guess. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do this because it'll show me that there are five different rivets perhaps out of 23 which will connect to various places but I don't know how many times that rivet connects somewhere else too so it might be number five and it might be number 13 and it might be more you just don't know so that's gonna have to be something that I'm going to have to tweak very carefully I plan to speak I'm going to speak with a few folks who are much better technicians than I am and see what their suggestions are for that, if there's any tips or tricks or commonality between some of these undocumented units, and we'll go from there. But I've completed the artwork for the second Magic Screen game and I'll be implementing the code starting tonight, so I'm very excited to get that started. The one little tidbit about the development of the MagicScreenGames is that I foolishly decided that I could implement the sectional scoring in a different easier way than Don Hooker did because I don't have to worry about these mechanical units and various positions that they have to roam through In the MagicScreenGames only there are two additional units two steppers The game will be played with the following features. The game will be played with the followingfeatures. One is called the sequence unit and the other is called the winner unit. If you have section scoring enabled, meaning the magic screen in position A through G or H, depending on your game, or the OK orange sections available, The machine will actually look for winners in each of those sections and step up units rather than devoting several positions on the search disk to it. Because you can win in non-contiguous spots, having the search disk set up is actually pretty impractical. So the method that they came up with to handle this was to use the winner and sequence units. And so for each number that they find, it'll step up the winner Unit until there's three or more and then you got a winner. So I decided that instead, hey, I know the number layout, the number layout itself is fixed and it's just the magic screen which is different in each position. I'll just map each position and then write a new function which checks all the sections at once. The search which only requires twelve positions now for uh... your default magic screen position then for section scoring alcohol my uh... fine section winner function and uh... everything should be great this year and two is it's really not more efficient to do that luckily the magic screens don't change number layout between games uh... I'm not sure if I can get at least any that I have played or can recall off the top of my head. If they do, that's gonna get a little tricky. Additional sections which I need to add for example the orange section and the extra yellow section and the extra red section depending on the game are going to require me to extend that function to return appropriately But for now it working great in Carnival I am and i am also here in Bug to present the content of my viewers Mask of the day today at optimizing segment byальówsı Celsius Growk kickingitgwill in the 역시gairof device,odest Funny fazer ¡ 나는204972 tv découv Px in Teamskg Puskin Pred800 or! Alright, let's talk about Duncan Brown's amazing expo talk. He has actually converted the seminar into a webpage, which I'll be linking in the show notes, and it details his quest to gather unproduced playfield designs made by Harry Williams and actually produce games with them. He's making one-offs of these different designs that never actually The end of the show notes. Upcoming EM events. There is the Pacific Pinball Exposition and that is November 10th through the 13th in Alameda, California. And I would heavily encourage anybody who's in the area to go check that out. We've got bingos, one balls that I've seen from photos of games being set up, tons of wood rails including the featured game from today, and plenty, plenty of EMs to see and enjoy along with a wide variety of solid-state games as well. It's really a fantastically impressive collection as far as the diversity of games goes. So if you're in the area, go check it out. And I certainly wish that I was. So today's featured game is 1947's Williams Torchy. Torchy is a flipperless game. It was made in June of 1947. And it is unique in that it has two electromagnets under the The ball is always energized while you're playing and when a ball rolls over a button that's over the magnet, the magnet will suddenly stop and then start again as the ball leaves, flinging the ball in a wild and unpredictable direction. There are several posts which are shaped as 2-inch flippers, which give the appearance of there being flippers, but there's actually no flippers on this game, it's flipperless. So careful nudging is required and it looks like a blast to play. The playfield is pretty open because there has to be room for the magnet to do its thing. But carefully positioned posts look like they direct the action pretty well. You have a saucer at the top that's worth either 10 or 20 thousand when lit flanked by bumpers on either side. You have bumpers below that Behind rubber, which are worth 50,000 points, and in the center you have one of the electromagnets, which is worth 10,000 when you roll over it, and that is positioned in a really cool spot in between two of these flipper posts and a single small post underneath. So if the magnet takes it and flings it into those flipper posts, it's going to bat back and forth, potentially, Holy Grail – And below that you have the second electromagnet worth 10 points per rollover And again there are rubbers on either side In this case they stretched between two posts a one and a half or two rubber there and help cast in That it should open for honour quest creates two more kick out holes in the top half of the pinball DIRE bahabel PI1 IN For prompted 3 by boys to read these but only part 1-2 and 3-6...