Confirm the metal post in the upper lanes, between S and P, does not have a rubber ring on it.

I added a washer under where the shooter wireform releases the ball in the upper lanes. The wireform connects to a post on the shooter lane to the left of S. I added a washer under the nut.

Does your ball rest far enough back on the shooter tip and does it sit squarely?

What is the pitch of the playfield? I just checked mine and it's at 7 degrees according to my app.

I took this slo-mo video a few minutes ago. Was curious to see for myself what the ball actually does when coming out of the shooter wireform. You can see how that metal post in the middle should not have a rubber.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/q2vqfZv8vNp6CJdK7

The game is at 6.5, so maybe I'll pitch it up a little bit more to 7.

Will try adding a washer or two as well to the end of the launch ball guide to slow the ball a little more.

Gate is functioning fine. I wish there was a way to actually remove the coil that controls it from the bottom to clean the coil sleeve for smoother operation without having to remove the entire top of the playfield. There's a bracket that is accessible on the underside of the playfield that it's attached to, but I don't think it will fit through with the actuator arm attached.

Maybe this Saturday, it's finally time for a full shop out/re-rubbering/deep clean...I'm guessing it will take close to 8 hours or so. not like I really have anywhere to go.

Grandnational007
My game came to me working properly with Chad H code. However when I did a tear down on the game recently, I noticed there was no rubber ring on top half of the rightmost "F" lane guide. It's the one that the gate anchors to. I assume that this ring was probably removed to address this issue. I tried adding the ring back to the guide and it's been working fine. It's something you could try, I suppose.

Mine didn't have a rubber ring there either when I got it and I never added it. The ring map in the manual shows that there should be one there, but it wouldn't be the first ring map to be wrong. My guess is these games came out of the factory with no rubber ring on that post. It seems like it would only exacerbate the problem of having a clear path through the gate.

I agree, should not have a rubber (there's not even a groove on that post to install one). The video is very choppy and hard to really see any detail when I play it - is there a particular kind of software you are using to play it?

Edit: It actually looks to me like the ball bounces off the post rubber of the lane guide between "P" and "F" before it goes through the gate in your video unless I'm seeing things.

Yes, the ball appears to skip across by bouncing off the bare metal post, then the rubber between P & F and then thru the open gate.

There isn't a rubber on the "f" post on mine either.

Anybody know of a way to pull the actuated gate coil from the underside with the actuator arm attached? I want to clean the sleeve...Longshot I know, haha.

Another peculiarity I noticed; what's everyone's plastic behind the earthquake vuk, that sits between the end of the ball launch habitrail, look like? I have a clear plastic there, bent at the same angle as the downward slope of the ball launch habitrail (I'm guessing to prevent a stuck ball there), that is attached by a screw and a metal post on one side, but has a post and screw on the other side, not actually fastened to anything, as the metal post literally just sits on top of another plastic...I got this game borked and have brought it back to life, but it seems there's something new everyday I discover that I have to put back to "factory".

I'll post pics later if it helps...

I'm not sure the ball should be contacting the metal post at all during the ball launch. Like I said a few posts ago, that's exactly what was making mine fail to get through the gate. I could be wrong but I always thought the purpose of that post was to prevent a ball that is shot around the left orbit from bouncing off the gate (when it's closed of course) and returning right back down the orbit every time.

Bouncing off the metal post, then off another post's rubber, and then into the gate seems like a tortuous path to take to get into the gate reliably. Does yours ever fail to make it through the gate and how often?

First time I watched what was happening in slo-mo. Certainly could be a smoother route - but at least no playfield wear up there if the ball never touches the playfield. Rarely fails....I'm surprised if it doesn't make it. I don't often go for the lane skill shot and typically go for the 2nd or 3rd most of the time when playing.

That is surprising to me, but like they say, don't fix it if it ain't broke!

Yup! It took adjusting and tweaking and I'm not changing anything now. My wife wants me to re-arrange the line-up and move Baywatch to another spot.

Nope! Ain't messin' with the skill shot.

Really curious to see your slo-mo video for comparison with PoMC's.

Hi, my Gi connector J5 is getting very hot. In my machine it is a red one? Also burned a bit and gi is out. Is a new connector going to fix this?

Sounds like a strong possibility.

Anyone working on a Pinsound Mix. I tried to get some new music in. Works ok, but wondering what number theme the Tidal Wave theme is. No mather what I change it stays the same, while the sharks theme and CPR was easy to change, also tourist season, plunger theme and main and end theme.

I think Tourist Season is the first thing I would change, pretty awful tune.

Got a Baywatch 6 weeks ago great game lots of shots

That awful tune has more significance than you might think - Here's a video of Hasslehoff singing at the Brandenburg Gate as the Berlin Wall is being torn down.

Wow. That is pretty interesting. Also, the Hoff almost got clocked with a firework!

I try to replace tidal wave but I can't get it fixed. It stays the same old tune?

Indeed . I once plotted the possible shots from all flippers on it and I'm pretty sure it beats almost any other machine ! I've said it before if this layout came out now on a Stern machine - people would be losing their minds

Thisssss....

I agree, it's a great shooting game. The shark hole from the shark flipper is brutal. I maybe hit it 5% of the time.
I'm still having some trouble with the shark hole switch. I replaced it with the big Y shaped one, but it still fails to sense a ball occasionally. That's about the only thing that keeps me from rating this game higher. I wouldn't mind too much normally, but it always seems to happen when you are in a mode with a countdown, forcing you to waste time while the game flips to a ball search.

Shark Hole switch is a common issue with Baywatch. The modern replacements don't seem to be that reliable either. Would be great if someone could come up with a rock solid replacement switch.

I had good luck with bending both the sharkhole and the earthquake "wire loop" switches way up off of their trigger buttons on the switch itself; basically so there is a ton of space between the wire itself, and the little button trigger; when a ball falls onto the wire loop, it really FALLS on it now, if that makes sense.

As frustrating as this game can be to keep running "perfect", it is absolutely a great game.

I thought about grabbing a spare assembly, drilling out some holes, installing some optos and making a little LM339 board, but that seems like a lot of work for one switch.
The solution I'm considering right now is to spot weld two little tabs on the Y shape actuator and bending them upwards. It will make a lot more contact with the ball while staying out of the way of the launcher.

I bet i have my timing finally down for the shark flipper / scoop to like 20+% easily. I have also owned mine for a few years. Can be rewarding to keep hitting it

Hi there,
I’m close to join the club.
Just wanted to know how I can get the Chad’s rom?
What are the known issues on this game?
What are the must have adds on for this game?
Thanks

For the ROM, look at the ads at bottom of this thread.
No known problems that are bigger than funky switch or anything. Buy a color dmd.

thanks buddy.
The game I will buy has a pin2dmd with led panels, it is like a kit if I have well understood. I don’t know what is the difference in quality term with dmdcolor, all my games has a dmdcolor

Anyone running the pin2dmd color DMD on this machine, by any chance?

No but I did the majority of the colorization (for Pin2DMD). Its not complete, and video mode is just a palette. ColorDMD is pretty much perfect for this game.

Hey all. I just picked up a semi-working Baywatch. Pretty excited b/c this game was on my wishlist for a few years. Wondering... would anyone happen to have an "extra ball" button they would consider selling me? This is the rectangle button underneath the start button. Or if you have a link to a retailer that has one, that would be great. I've been searching the internet for quite some time and coming up empty. The plastic tabs on my button are broken off so it won't engage the switch. Thank you!

Found mine on eBay, was shipped from China. Works perfect.

Use e.g. "button arcade rectangle" for search on ebay.

I beleive I have an extra button

So is this Pinside's version of . . . button, button, who's got the button?

TL;DR: Baywatch is a way better game than TV show.

After getting over my initial distaste for such a "cheesy" theme, I've been a proud Baywatch owner for about two years now. But recently, I've started to wonder who those people are on the playfield - I'd never seen an episode of the show and started to think that maybe my enjoyment would be enhanced with a little context. Noticing that the whole series is on Hulu, I started watching from the beginning all the way through Season 5, which is when Sega released the pin. Here's what I've discovered.

Baywatch started as an NBC action drama, similar in tone to Knight Rider or The A-Team, where an elite team works together to save lives. After the first season, they seem to have realized a). that there's only so many ways to rescue people on the beach and b). that wasn't the real reason people were tuning in. The focus of Season 2 shifted from high-speed rescues to slow-motion running, mostly by the female cast. They also started including serious messages in the plot, like the plight of endangered sea mammals, homeless white people, and straight people with AIDS. NBC ended Baywatch after two seasons, but it moved to syndication, which brought a higher budget and a wider audience. By Season 5 it was the world's most popular TV show.

The thing I found most interesting is that the pinball machine focuses so heavily on the cast, even though the cast changes dramatically from season to season. There are always major changes between seasons - one senior lifeguard who was killed off in the pilot was even brought back to life in the second year. So it turns out that the cast featured in the game is specific only to Season 5. Here's a quick run-down:

Mitch1 (resized).jpg Mitch2 (resized).jpg

LT. MITCH BUCHANON (David Hallelhoff): The face of Baywatch is a selfless hero, a wise mentor and a caring single dad (whose son, Hobie, conveniently disappears wherever Mitch gets a romantic story line). During Season 6, Mitch will do double duty on Baywatch Nights, a short-lived spinoff series where he and best friend Garner Elerbee solve crimes and later, investigate paranormal phenomena. Mitch may be unlucky at love but he has a heart of gold.

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LT. STEPHANIE HOLDEN (Alexandra Paul): Mitch's boss is also his ex-fianceé. She left him before Season 1 started but returned to take a big promotion as head of Baywatch in Season 3. There's a lot of romantic and professional tension between the two but their on-and-off relationship seldom interferes with their work. On the playfield and backglass, Stephanie is shown with long hair, which she chopped into a more manageable pixie cut in Season 5.

CAROLINE HOLDEN (Yasmine Bleeth): Caroline is featured in the gameplay, but isn't depicted on the playfield or backglass. She's Stephanie's younger sister, who had a one-episode guest role in Season 4 before showing up at Stephanie's door in Season 5, looking for a place to go after leaving her husband. She joins the team for a job and to get back to the former glory of her high school days. Caroline briefly had a crush on Matt before dating Australian bad-boy Logan Fowler.

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CJ PARKER (Pamela Denise Anderson-Lee*): CJ also joined the cast in Season 3 as a former lifeguard returning to duty. Easily the smartest character on the show, she studies philosophy and speaks fluent Japanese. The beach-goers might drool over her, but her colleagues treat her with nothing but respect and professionalism. CJ shares an apartment with Stephanie and Caroline. (*Anderson was originally credited as Pamela Denise Anderson, later Pamela Anderson and, starting in Season 6, Pamela Lee).

Matt2 (resized).jpegMatt1 (resized).jpeg

MATT BRODY (David Charvet): Matt was a high school rookie in Season 3, along with his girlfriend Summer Quinn, but when Summer moved back home to Pittsburgh, Matt started dating CJ. He's the youngest lifeguard, and most in need of guidance from the senior members of the team. Matt's father (Dirk Benedict in one episode, before being re-cast!) is American and his mother is French - except in one Season 5 episode where his mother is American and his father is French. Consistency is not the show's strong suit. Matt would leave the show after Season 5 after being wrongfully accused of sexual harassment by evil alcoholic lifeguard Neely Capshaw.

Hobie (resized).jpeg

HOBIE BUCHANON (Jeremy Jackson): Mitch's son, an avid surfer, Junior Lifeguard and aspiring keyboard player. Jackson is actually the 2nd Hobie - the role was re-cast after Season 1.

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SHAUNI MCCLAIN (Erika Eleniak): Shauni left the show after 2 seasons, which makes one wonder why she gets such a prominent spot on the backglass, which otherwise concentrates on the Season 5 cast.

Summer (resized).jpeg

SUMMER QUINN: (Nicole Eggert): Summer joined Baywatch in Season 3 (replacing Shauni on the roster) and left after Season 4. She was Matt's girlfriend and her relentless, jealous whining will not be missed.

Numie (resized).jpegMV5BMjI3MDQ2ODMzNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNjI0MTY1MTE@._V1_UY317_CR11,0,214,317_AL_ (resized).jpg

MICHAEL "NEWMIE" NEWMAN (Michael "Newmie" Newman): Hired as a consultant and an extra in the action sequences, Newman was an actual LA County Lifeguard. Eventually, they gave him a few lines and he became a regular fixture on the show. This drawing of him on the playfield doesn't do him justice at all - he's way hotter than this.

Unknown (resized).jpeg

UNKNOWN: I have no idea who this is supposed to be. Maybe it's Caroline with blond hair. Or maybe it's Neely Capshaw, who would join full-time in Season 6.

OTHER STUFF: For the most part, the rescue modes in the game aren't specific to the plot - there are lots of instances on the show of lifeguards rescuing divers or performing CPR - but there are a few exceptions. There is an episode featuring a giant squid. The Season 5 premiere featured an earthquake and led to this scene:

Earthquake (resized).jpg

Summer Quinn's mom, aspiring nightclub singer Jackie (Susan Anton) is trapped in the camper. When I got a ColorDMD for Baywatch I wondered why they made the car brown - such a dull color when they could have picked anything! Well, here's the answer.

In summary, the show is really cheesy and sometimes so bad that it's hard to watch. The best action episode is Season 3, episode 11, where CJ is knocked unconscious on a speedboat zooming towards a pier where the governor is giving a speech. The best acting of the series is in Season 4, episode 16, where Carrie-Ann Moss (5 years before The Matrix!) plays a woman with a split personality who kidnaps and nearly drowns Mitch. The worst episode is probably Season 2, Episode 16, where Matt dreams he's on Gilligan's Island (Bob Denver and Dawn Wells guest star). So was my enjoyment of the game enhanced by the context? Yes, probably. Will I continue watching seasons 6 through 11? Yes, definitely.

Holy shit that’s an in depth summary! Thx.

I enjoyed reading the summary thanks. However you do have a couple of the pictures wrong (The playfield picture of them all in the boat) The one you marked as CJ is actually Shauni and the one you have marked as Summer is actually CJ. I believe the one you have as unknown is CJ as well.

I agree, it's hard to tell them apart - we'd have to ask Marcus Rothkrantz to be sure. But Shauni's hair was never that long and it's unlikely that CJ would appear twice in the same illustration.

Looks like I missed one - this plastic is in the upper left of the playfield.

20200530_132109_resized (resized).jpg

It appears to be marine ecologist Riley Ferguson (played by Blake Gibbons), who was Stephanie's boyfriend in Seasons 4 and 5. Either he's on this plastic twice for some reason, or the guy on the bottom is someone I can't identify. Beards aren't very common on the beach, so there aren't many people that this could be. Maybe it's someone on the Sega production team? Not unheard of, because a few DE team members appear on the Rocky & Bullwinkle plastics.

I’m pretty sure this is the Shauni inspiration on the playfield. Hair looks long enough to me lol

23F19F44-87D5-4AB1-B338-313E17E1D584 (resized).jpeg

Just joined the club and couldn’t be happier! Picked up a really nice one today. Any adjustments to be on the lookout for? or things needed to commonly be attended to? (I don’t fully understand the shark flipper adjustments). I already ordered a colordmd and latest Roms . Any advice on where to get good sideblades?

Happy to finally be in the club!

Chads code!

Made some custom art mirror blades. Can't show installed as my playfield is being clear coated at the moment.

IMG_20200530_111557 (resized).jpg

IMG_20200530_111552 (resized).jpg

Neat idea. Is the artwork made from adhesive vinyl? That's going to look awesome in the machine.

Yes it's a vinyl decal. It is virtually impossible to ship the blades but I can post the decals if anybody is interested. They are $38.50.

Hi there,
If someone is willing to sell a NOS playfield that you finally don’t use, please contact me.
Thanks

I also would like to know how many MB there were in this game?thx