Quoted from kruzman:In fact I would like to remind everyone that the angle of this thread is pfs. I put my work in there to fill time gaps, and also so folks what pfs are like out of the games. I realized thats what I should look for stuff to photograph, rather than just a pic of the whole pf.
Honestly, like I've personally said before, I love any and all PF pictures. I find them all gorgeous how the wood, paint, and light makes the 'art'.
Quoted from kruzman:Will you please share your knowledge on how they did proto's and samples, about how many were made. You said before that the arcade you worked had one of the samples. Do they call you and ask how its going or did they come in and look at it? I know it takes a lot of time to write, and i know you told your story once all ready on this thread, but I would like to know more about samples/protos in general. also does the seril number mean anything to your project? So when you have time, I think it would add to this thread a lot.
Certainly - and I can keep it in a spoiler tag to not distract from the PF pictures. My knowledge is from the early/mid-90's, and with WMS/Midway, so other mfgrs and times, things may have been different. But this is long. Only unhide if you want to read. I get really chatty talking about this crap.
This is general rambling about samples and test games..
« Spoiler! Click to reveal.
Game's being designed, whitewoods are made, things are laid out. Yay. Whitewoods were two or three usually, as far as I know.
Then once things were laid out, prototype games were made. usually a handful of these were made - usually under ten, and they were set up for the folks to mess with and work on - like Pat would get one set up in his office, Ted would get one and so on. One or two MAY be shipped out to larger distributors, for display. (Apparently this was a thing with a couple German distributors, from what I've heard.) These prototype machines did NOT usually have serial numbers assigned to them. As far as playfields go, maybe a handful of playfields are printed up - maybe one or two extras (discvout for larger quantites, and 'undoing' some changes during development, etc.)
Then early samples are made - between 50 and 150, and they are given to test locations (via local distributors). Test locations get these for a few months as production starts to ramp up (parts ordered and manufactured, first run of playfields ordered, wiring harnesses made, cabinets made, etc..). As a test location, we had to do a couple things:
1. Record game earnings each week. Used the Printer interface to print out all reports and forward to a fax number.
2. Report ANY ball hangs or tech issues, including stuck/jammed coin mechs, etc..
3. Report other 'similar games' earnings (pinballs, in this case), and their gains/losses compared to when this test machine was brought in.
We would get the game 'for free', and in return once the 'test' period was over, we could purchase the game at a discount.
Changes are made back at the factory, feedback is taken and final tweaks are made, and the game goes into production.
As far as serial numbers go, back then AFAIK, except for prototypes, game numbers were semi-random, or apparent-random and didn't mean anything. (i.e. if your number ended in 0234, you didn't necessarily have game #234 from the factory. The best way for that is to look at the game's Mfg Date on the FCC label, really. Samples may/sometimes had a different game prefix number (first 5 digits of the S/N), but this number would change depending on the order specs. (i.e DBV ready vs 3-coin door, 220v, etc..)
As far as serial number on the PFs.. I can't answer that. I never asked, and never ever ran into why. I know the UV-printer serial numbers (visible under UV light) were for tracking games to make sure one distributor wasn't selling outside their area, but am not sure about the barcode decal in the lower left of the playfield.
And some details about how T. Zone playfields fit into that..
As Ted stated in one of his interviews, back when the game was in very early stages, they had to get a mock playfield set up for the marketing photos. So they threw together some basic ideas for the playfield, and sent it out to get it produced. This specific design of the playfield was used in the flyer, as well as other marketing pics. You can easily tell it from others as it has a door panel insert labeled "PLAYER PIANO". Other differences include a red Camera insert with 'JACKPOT' on it, and a red 'DEAD END' insert. (There are a LOT of other differences; these are the easiest to spot from a distance.) I do NOT know how many of these were made, OR, if these specific playfields were used in beta games - I've heard varying reports, and pictures of one prototype game I saw had properly-named Door Panel inserts. There's stories of Pat taking a drill to his prototype game to make a "Clock Millions" target. (And, in fact, is in place on the flyer - you will notice on the flyer that the clear insert has no text.)
Then the samples were made. The first run of samples have the third magnet hole (like all samples), but has alternate coloring at the entrance to the main ramp. Early samples have the right spiral insert labeled as "GUM BALL" (and nod 'SPIRAL'). Our test game was shipped with it saying 'GUM BALL', and at one point a tech from the distributor came in with a knife, and scraped it off - he was supposed to replace it with a decal that says 'SPIRAL', but.. he lost it, and never installed it on our game. (This game is now the one in my possession.. when I had THIS playfield clearcoated, I specifically told them NOT to put the decal on it - to keep it's uniqueness.)
Sample fields were updated - the third magnet was kept, but the colors changed at the main ramp entrance, and the spiral insert was corrected. LOCK ws still green. This is the most common type of 'Sample' playfield out there.
And then production fields happened. LOCK was changed to the orange color. The autofire ramp was changed, and a few other small things were changed. There's reports of the pup-bumper posts, getting changed in and out during production. My take on it is that they were removed back during the Sample phase, but one PF manufacturer didn't remove the drills from their CNC setup, so I believe that playfields from one PF maker always had them, while the otherwas sent new drill files and they were removed. No basis behind this, but that's my belief.
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Okay, I ramble far, far too much. And apparently, 'spoiler' tags don't work well. Sorry 'bout that.
The field you're doing for me is a very early sample - it has the wrong colors in front of the Main Ramp, 'GUM BALL' on the Spiral insert. Other difference include T-Nut countersinks on the underside for ALMOST all posts. A couple moved posts around the metal autofire ramp..
Once I get that field from you, I'm shipping back one of the VERY FIRST playfields - one that was printed with the wrong Door Panels, red inserts in DEAD END and CAMERA, and more. I'm actually very, very curious, when you do this one, what you'll find that *I* missed. This one can't easily be put into a game, as this one NEVER HAD the 'Clock Millions' target drilled in, and the Rocket Kicker posts are wrong. It's COMPLETELY uncoated - there is NO clearcoat on it at all - you can FEEL the layers of ink on the wood. My desire is to get it touched up (storage causes a few tiny little scrapes in the ink), and clearcoated to protect it.