The Pinball Diaries (what did you do today?)

[brewmanager]

Seriously bummed that I missed out on both the GTG and the dim sum last night (who would have thought pinball and shrimp dumplings would go together so well?), I wound up spending most of the day flaking, trying to fight off this cold that hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday evening. I dropped the price on my Funhouse, which proved to be the magic elixir that got it sold. Not two hours after that I was contacted by spiroagnew (not the VP), who wanted to come see it.

Good guy - we'd met once before, but this was under much better circumstances, and after he played the machine a few times we were able to come to an agreement quickly and painlessly for both I think. I'm always impressed when someone coming to buy a machine actually shows up when he says he will, although unfortunately for him it was also the exact same time the pizza for my family arrived too.

I've never quite forgotten last February's ski day with my daughter that I cut short to rush home to meet somebody who was interested in Orbitor 1. It was a beautiful day, but I had this appt, he was driving home from up north and would be passing right by, and it was the ONLY time, etc, etc.

So I get home, and wait, and wait, and wait some more....and he never showed up at all. When he finally replied to my emails days later, he told me that it was such a nice day that he decided to go snowmobiling, and forgot. Needless to say, I don't think I would have sold to that guy...not even for double the money.

At any rate, like I said, great guy, spiroagnew, and I hope he enjoys Rudy taunting him. I'm going to miss it, but I'm looking forward to my new arrival in the very near future. Hmmmmm.....donuts!

 

[Vengeance]

Spent the day and tore down WPT.

Finally got the parts I was missing for the game to make it playable. New right ramp, new mini PF and new U optos for the lower left bank of drop targets.

I figured since I was taking of the mini pf I would go ahead and give it a mini shop job at the same time, so I gave it a decent cleaning removing all the surface dirt and replace all the rubbers on the machine.

Finished fixing up the drop targets, not ALL of them pop up the on the first time every time. Simple little fix and something I'd like to try on other drop targets that don't want to stay up. All I had to do was put washers behind the lip and that has got the drop targets staying up every time.

Once I finally assembled it and started to put a few games on it the ball got stuck, at that moment I smacked my fore head realizing I had forgotten on rubber and and to get at it I would have to un do all my work. I said F that and at the sacrifice of my hands, (they are all torn up now) I forced a rubber in place and got it fixed.

Now finally I have a fully working and in good shape WPT. This game is actually pretty cool once you get into the nuts and bolts of the gameplay. Also I'm amazed at everything Stern has put into this game. To look at it, it doesn't look like much but one you start to tear it apart, it really in a mechanical marvel. Stern seemed to put allot of effort into this game, which I don't get since the theme is so terrible. But there is ALLOT to this game and I feel like I'm just starting to scratch the surface of it.

Also check the total play audits for my ACDC, I've only had the game for 3 weeks and I have over 100 plays on that game, and that is without league visiting. ACDC is also awesome, but that is for another post.

 

[DRANO]

Dim sum last night and the GTG was cool and it was great to put another face to a name. Big thanks to Warlock for hosting and sorry we missed you Brewmanager.

After rolling in the door at 4:00am I was pretty pinned-out and spent most of the day catching up on Christmas shopping.
I did have a few minutes tonight to help debug the Tron pro fiber-optic ramp mod that Ecurtz on Pinside has been working on and I finally cleared out the perpetual pile of junk that lived under my pins while I was working on that TAF playfield restoration. It's too easy to just slide everything under there.
The game rooms looks a lot cleaner today... just in time for the hoards of holiday guests over the next few weeks.

 

[EJB]

Ya great time at warlocks the other night and great to see some faces I hadn't seen in awhile! Thanks for hosting Scott and for giving a great tour of the warehouse. Dim sum was also awesome and found myself really enjoying everyone's company even until 4am but best part I still think was mwong's t-shirt. Mike, you have a pic of that shirt to post?

 

[DRANO]

Dim sum was also awesome and found myself really enjoying everyone's company even until 4am but best part I still think was mwong's t-shirt. Mike, you have a pic of that shirt to post?

I snapped a pic.
Only Mike would wear this to a chinese restaraunt

 

[mwong168]

It's not only funny because it is a fortune cookie but more the fortune inside it. The shirt has been washed of all MSG we consumed that night and ready to go again this Friday :lol:

 

[Aerostarz]

I spent the night fixing the TZ switch error #26 proximity Trough.

I reflowed the solder connections and twised the cable a few times and she is back up and working.

Now i have to fix the F1 Right flipper error. may be the EOS switch?
I will reseat the connections to the fliptronic board first then swap out the EOS switch.

My magnets on the mini PF also dont work.. not sure why...

 

[jooky]

I just went to Playdium after getting the kids to bed, wife was chilling at home. Haven't been in a long while and finally got to try out some games I've never gotten around to playing before! Their Sterns were actually all in very good playing condition, except maybe IM's playfield was quite worn in places.

Quick thoughts:

• 
  1. IM still kicks my butt. Those outlanes must be doublewide. Or just felt like it.
  2. Spent the most amount of time on SM, XM, and Tron. Why do they not have ACDC?!
  3. Is SM supposed to have the drain post? I actually would rather it not be there.
  4. Got to try out the ticket redemption system on the Xmen. Lock the ball? "TICKET!", hit the skill shot? "TICKET!!" Got a little annoying but not a big deal. What the heck and I supposed to do with all these tickets?! I don't want no stinkin' prizes!
  4. Avatar does nothing for me. Same with the Stones.
  5. Big Buck Hunter is not nearly as bad as I thought it'd be, was actually quite fun!
  6. People do not play pinball enough, almost all the replays were all at 5 mill and easily gotten on all the machines.
  7. Out of all the games there, I think I like SM the most, then Tron, then Xmen. This may change over time and repeated plays.

 

[Chris Bardon]

Had everyone over to my place last night for TOPL, and managed to play OK. No major breakages, but had a minor issue with the upper flipper on X-Men that required a quick adjustment. Evidently these things can ship from the factory with too little play in them, which can cause the flipper to return really slowly. Worked great after a little tweak though. Also a little pissed off to find that there was a decal tear on one side of the game...

Next up-figure out why the player 3 joystick wasn't working on the MAME. It was fine the last time I tried it, but that was at least a year ago, so not sure where things are at now. Probably just a break int he ground chain, but it's strange that none of the player3 controls were working. Makes playing SmashTV or Total Carnage a little tougher for sure.

 

[DRANO]

Finally wired up WH2O yesterday after an 8 month long restoration.
Fired it up and ran into the few usual gremlins after putting a pin all back together. It plays but I'm getting a few random firing solenoids. Probably a switch issue. I will likley be trouble-shooting for the next few days
I hope to have it all dialed in by next week so I can start on the next project. Still have to dicide what that'll be.

 

[Grauwulf]

Worked on a client's TAF and CFTBL last night. Didn't get too far on Creech, came to see it with a 'Check F114/F115 error' which turned out to be a bad BR1, which I didn't have on hand. Installed a light up car mod while I had it open. Going to have to go back and complete this one, still a few minor repairs to do along with a hologram lamp upgrade.

TAF got a new rh sling plastic, new bookcase body, repaired one of the bookcase optos, installed a bookcase decal (base and bookcase), installed new socket for 'A' lamp, adjusted switch for one of the pop bumpers, re-soldered one of the pop bumper coil wires and installed a light up car mod. *whew* Now working 100% again and no more credit dot.

 

[REVOLUTION]

Picked up an Apollo 13! Thanks for the lead, Mike

 

[mwong168]

Picked up an Apollo 13! Thanks for the lead, Mike

Always a pleasure to enable and glad it didn't it make it to other people's hands to flip it for a profit.

 

[REVOLUTION]

Always a pleasure to enable and glad it didn't it make it to other people's hands to flip it for a profit.

Just let me know what your finders fee is when you get a chance, mmmm-kay?

 

[brewmanager]

Rushed home from work to meet spiroagnew, who was coming from Burlington to pick up FH. We got it wrapped, and it was as I was hauling it up the stairs that I really realized just how much I need to start hitting the gym for more than just squash. Once we got it loaded, I headed in to wait for my kids to come home and face more of the emotional turmoil in the wake of Rudy's departure.

So I was waiting for Warlock to pop by tonight, we were gonna set up TSPP and take down BK to go to his shop, but he cancelled, something about moving all his video games and even being too sore to go to his mostly hot chick yoga class. At that point I figured he was really hurting - I would never skip that, and I hate yoga.

So I got my nine yr old a wrench, and we put TSPP together, and before I knew it all thoughts of missing FH were gone - the whooping and hollering we're impressive. Indeed, the girls liked it so much that it was over an hour before I got to try a game.

F14 Dave came over later to borrow my saw, and he loved it too.

Thanks to Monkeybug - I don't see this game going anywhere anytime...but of course, most of us have said that before. At any rate, I love it!!!

 

[Grauwulf]

Replaced BR1 on the driver board for a client's CFTBL. Possibly the cleanest board I have ever worked on, ever. I think I'm the first person to ever touch it. Kind of nice.

In non-pinball, I have finally given up on repairing my Golden Tee. I'm totally done with vids. :evil:

 

[DRANO]

Sanded some playfields today... preparing to run some clearcoat next week.

Still troubleshooting a few bugs on my Wh2O after re-assembly. Almost there

 

[REVOLUTION]

I put a giant scratch in the side of my HUO Iron Man last night.. :x :x :x :x

 

[DRANO]

I put a giant scratch in the side of my HUO Iron Man last night.. :x :x :x :x

It's one thing to damage an old game, but HUO. That sucks Brock
I knicked the back of my newly restored WH2O cab and I was pissed... and you can hardly see it.

 

[REVOLUTION]

Yeah I'll touch it up.. it's not THAT bad really, but still pissed that it happened.

The sad thing is.. that's nothing compared to what would happen if it were on route lol

It's one thing to damage an old game, but HUO. That sucks Brock
I knicked the back of my newly restored WH2O cab and I was pissed... and you can hardly see it.