Quoted from Darcy:How exactly does it play? Right side ball plunge. Gets to the wire form on the right. Then those balls are launched to the shooter on the lower left, only by landing a ball in 1 of 3 top ball holes?
The first object of Rapid Transit is to obtain a high score by landing in the "elevated" top center hole. Doing so kicks a ball into the upper left ramp, which scores 2000 per elevated ball. Eight or nine balls are lined up, when the game begins, in a row which feed into the center right kicker. That kicker, when activated by the top center hole, kicks one ball leftward and up the elevated ramp. That ball remains atop the elevated ramp. The next ball in line is now ready to be likewise kicked up onto the elevated ramp. When the game restarts, these elevated balls are dropped back to the playfield's lane, which feeds that kicker. When a ball drops into any of the 3 top holes, that ball is recycled to the ball lift.
The second scoring objective is to land balls into trough which feeds loop ramp at the top right. Thereafter, the player will seek to land a ball into the "loop starter" holes at the top, which flank the center hole. Doing so activates the top right kicker which kicks a ball to the right "loop" ramp. There, the ball travels up to the upper right ramp and rolls down to the lower left kicker, at which point a pressure sensor kicks the ball into the lower playfield.
The lower playfield features some high-scoring holes, including one for 3,000, one for 2,500 and one for 2,000. The singular light (covered by a red housing) illuminates when the ball lands in the "elevated" hole in the top center, which activates the "elevated ramp." There's the sound of the kicker, the sound of the rolling ball on the habitrail, and the elegant light all working in unison to entertain the player. In its day, Rapid Transit must have been like Bally's Twilight Zone, with its innovation and execution.
The concept is nothing more than a standard bagatelle game. Nevertheless, the design of this game is somewhat unique insofar as shooting for the upper playfield holes is a function of skill whereas the lower playfield gameplay is purely a product of chance.
This Rapid Transit is almost completely restored, both functionally and cosmetically. The power supply works well. The ramps required tweaking. Fortunately, I have 1 ball which is the proper size, enabling me to test the ramps. Online, I recently purchased correctly-sized glass marbles, which I'll utilize until I find ceramic equivalents. The game is working. I will definitely post a video soon, when the game is completely restored and when I have a full panoply of balls. The blue and yellow balls depicted in the photo below are correctly sized; however, they are rubber and don't work in this game.
This game's design requires proper alignment so that the ball travels correctly along the guides to the ramps and clears the kick-up rounded end to the upper habitrails and, in the case of the loop, travels down to the bottom left kicker, without falling off. The top of each ramp touches the glass, so there's little room for error in adjusting the rails. I've installed new playfield pins and I've modified the ball lift and shooter assembly to fit the game. The photo below shows that progress. Since taking this photo, I've sanded and stained the patch on the cabinet's face. The only remaining tasks are to finish my lockdown bar modification (I cut down a longer one, belonging to an Exhibit woodrail) and to repaint the legs (which were solid but which required some filler here and there on the edges). I have fabricated a temporary tilt pedestal, until I find a replacement.
20160228_001712_(resized).jpg
