Jolt Country

I got replacement glass for $54 + tax. I took it home and put it on.

Annnd... the game did not fire up.

Power SEEMED to be making it from the wall to the machine. I did some research and I believe what I experienced was a bad power driver board.

Well, I went to take the backglass off so I could look at the power driver board and that fixed the problem. Nnngh. It's played perfectly here tonight.

I have about half the LEDs installed. It looks like a completely different game. It looks fresher, more modern and more eye-catching. God, the places where the blue LEDs are just melts your face off in a puddle of joy. Always get the LED kit, friends.

One other thing I learned: pinballs come soaked in oil. Take the oil off before putting them in your machine. I did that, I DID take the oil off, but only because the plastic baggie said so. That was the right move.

Oh, I almost forgot. My dolly is downstairs, because I ... well, I hadn't moved it back to the garage yet after using it to bring the machine indoors.

I set the new glass on my couch. Perfect. I won't back into it.

When I went to put it back on tonight, I swear I turned around and whacked the glass against the dolly. I was that stupid. I was that stupid a person.

It didn't break or anything, but Christ. Where on earth do people put pinball glass so they aren't breaking it during maintenance. I must know!

The switch to the "T" for S-T-E-Ps was out. I opened up the game, expecting it to be some christing motherfuck of effort.

As it turns out, over the years, the wires carrying some signal somewhere had just become unsoldered from the switch itself. A tiny bit of solder, and then a tiny bit of me holding the iron against the hot metal and we're all set. I'd like to note every tiny repair in this thread, especially since Snorkle Captain Postsalot ain't ruining this thread any longer. (11 paragraphs and a Youtube video.)

I suspect that as I continue to learn the game and try to make specific shots I will become aware of what isn't working.

Also. ALSO. I had my best game yet. The default high score is 15 million. I got something like 14,967,500 or whatever. So goddamn close! I choked as I always do when I come close to getting a high score on something. I am not good at video games.

Annnnnnnnnd first dead flipper. Awesome.

It's actually very slow, not dead, totally. I guess I now find out how people fix pinball flippers!

All I had to do was re-solder a wire to the bottom of the flipper. Crisis averted.

Thusfar which would you say you enjoy more: Ownership and maintenance of vidya games, or ownership and maintenance of A PIN.

OWnership and maintenance of a PIN.

So far, with the pinball table, everything I have had to replace has been an easy fix and I haven't been worried about either electrocuting myself or dropping a monitor that would implode.

TWICE I have had a problem with the pinball table and had only needed to bring out the soldering gun and re-attach a wire. Twice. Twice! That's.... that's just "I drink your milkshake"-levels of easy fixes.

Meanwhile, the shit I had to do to try to get that Qix game going was a mess.

I don't know. Maybe the pinball table will break in a way that requires more time and energy. But even the worst thing I did (break the glass) was a relatively easy fix: one phone call and $60 later and I had glass again.

You know, though, Pinner: I won't be satisfied just owning one. I feel the need already to create one. To create one someday.

Before I turn 50, I would like to have created a single pinball table from nothing.

And the thing about a PIN is, you can play it forever.

Zookeeper, you know you're not getting past the 11th board unless you spend your whole life on it, and if you do that, you gotta play boards 1-10 over and over again, which you can do in your sleep.

Same with like Crystal Castles. You might beat the high score, but you're so bored of the first 25 waves or whatever it is, that what's the point?

But a PIN. A PIN is a new adventure every time! There are no PIXELS on the playing field! The ball never moves the same way twice!

And the only KILL SCREEN is when... well, I'm too tired to make a joke or an analogy here, but you get my point.

Yes. A PIN. Now I wish I had one too.

There is something about the random nature of the PIN that has made me re-assess my feelings about randomness in video games.

Well, arcade-style games.

We're supposed to hate any random nature in games, right? Games aren't supposed to be about that. I can't be on the second level of Pac-Man and, randomly, fucking Godzilla appears and eats half the maze on me. That wouldn't be fair.

But I will put up 8 million points in Funhouse and then drain the three balls in my next game almost right away.

How is that cool? How is that fun? That is supposed to not be fun, according to everything I've ever read about fun in games.

But I guess because it's physical, and therefore within the domain of physics (instead of software written by men) ... it's OK. A ball drains right away? Well, if I had better timing with my first flipper and then had nudged the table correctly.... kind of my fault there. Even if it was a random "loss of life."

I have a number of arcade machines that I don't play much any more, and it's for exactly the reason you describe: you gotta get through the first 10-11 levels to where the new challenge is. Maybe it's because I am new to playing pinball seriously, but the fact that anything can happen on that playfield is intriguing to me and I do not wish for it to be over.

I've had the thing for a couple months now, I think. I've played it every night except one since owning it that I have spent the night here. That's certainly not true for the arcade machines.

How soon before another table joins the household? They say pinball tables are like cats, they are better with two or more.


THE
BIGGER LITTER BOX
AARDVARK

But don't get four or more, because then they are like dogs, and you're gonna have to hire someone to come in and shoot them.

Before I turn 50, I would like to have created a single pinball table from nothing.

[youtube][/youtube]

I played Funhouse so hard tonight that I broke the right flipper.

I tried to super glue it. Why can I INSTANTLY super glue my hands, but not anything else? (Especially made of plastic?) So fuck that shit. I bought a new flipper and ring from Marco Pinball.

(I also needed a rubber top for the left ball shooter, so it was fine.)

I have now made three orders from this man. It's gonna be four when I order the backglass from him.

They are gonna love you at Marco Specialties. Any thoughts on the playfield paint repair?


THE
REGULAR CUSTOMER
AARDVARK

I didn't know how to answer that. I was waffling.

The guy I buy a lot of my arcade stuff from asked if I wanted to sell Funhouse, as he wanted to do a proper restore on one. I decided to cash out.

I loved owning a pinball table. Very much! Ben is right: it really is a new game every time.

I think I am going to take the money I get from Funhouse and save up for a Twilight Zone pinball table. That might take a while, but that's OK. I'm also contemplating selling some of the games I really don't play much, like Marble Madness.

make sure you get a Twilight Zone in really good condition cause the playfield never gets better than it the day you buy it.

I was thinking that if I ever get Bon Voyage back ( which I could with a simple phone call) I would totally mod the playfied. Bon Voyage is not a really popular table so I would have no guilt in doing this. This is not a good idea for a great game like T-Z.


THE
ROD SERLING WOULD
GET MAD
AARDVARK

What kind of mods are you thinking of doing?

I'd redo all the table drop targets and spinners. Possibly change the lighted letters to a word (or words) that say something more meaningful or obscene. Stuff like that.


THE
TOTALLY RAD
AARDVARK

Funhouse update:

http://denver.craigslist.org/for/3715943332.html