Saw a prototype long long ago and if I recall, it had a standard size 128x32 DMD then when it went into production they used the 192x64 DMD.
Cool piece of history? You wouldn’t happen to have a pre-proto DE Tommy with the 6 pops stashed away?

A Tommy with six pops?

That is the last prototype on my want list, been close on one a few times but still on the hunt! A complete game would be awesome but could build one if I had a playfield!

Stay tuned to pinball basement in that front....

Sweet bud haven't seen one of them before

I haven’t seen a photo of the built wide body proto but IPDB has some info

Main changes are the captive ball under the boat is a scoop/hole, and the left hand side had some sort of device that wasn’t very clearly explained. Maybe it’s where the scoop hole would lead to?

scoop would have been so much better than the captive ball. it is a hard shot either way.

so is there a actual widebody maverick out there somewhere? that would be a awesome find.

that needs an rom dump

I would also love to know if one exists. My guess would be no, but it would be super cool to see one.

It is a great game as is, but I think it would have been even better as a wide body.

In regards to Tommy, I know rom version 1.02 was dumped. Not sure if thats the prototype but sounds like it. I have the rom and its available. Too bad my game doesn't have the 6 pops and shaker. I always wanted to add a shaker to my Tommy. Sorry to deviate from the thread

agree. I was playing mine the other night and was thinking it should be a widebody.

may need an dump of all Display + cpu + sound.

Agreed. It’s an underrated game. It just needs some scoring balances. The poker concept is a lot of fun, especially if you get a really high win streak going.

But it’s really obvious it was designed as a wide body and then crammed into a standard. The captive ball shot is easier with the lower flippers. Maybe if they had put a magnet to catch and release the ball above the upper flipper, but as it stands the upper flipper is pointless.

yep, the 1.02 rom dump includes cpu, display and sound, so at least there is an archive for those rare games.

I have an early production Maverick that’s 100% done by Data East before they sold to SEGA. There’s a few differences than the regular production machines made by SEGA, but for the most part it’s the same as the finished game. The early ones have a hand painted Lauren Bell (boat) just like the one pictured on the original flyer and a different board set. The machine has different board revisions that only work with version 1.0 code (Data East Code) and won’t update or function if you put the newer SEGA rom versions in it.
Figured this out when I tried to put a color DMD in it and only certain files would transfer to color. Went to update the ROMS and it just bricks the game. Installed the original ROMS back in it and it works fine.
Code is pretty complete, but it doesn’t have the SEGA logo or the Sonic the Hedgehog on the display.

This is really cool, especially with it signed by Tim Seckel. If you ever decide to part with it please let me know. I'd love to add it to my collection of prototype stuff.

Yes would like too see some pics of the early production ,I have two Mavericks with the big dmds

It’s a standard body with large DMD.
I can post some pics of it later tonight.
I’ve been meaning to take some good quality photos of it for IPDB anyway.
The machine I have is mentioned in a few other threads, but it’s the one that was won on The Price is Right back in the 90s.

Wow didn't know that ,is there any wide body Mavericks

dump the roms and upload them as well.

I don’t know.
I’ve only seen pictures of the prototype playfield for the wide body like the one the OP posted and the one posted on the IPDB.
https://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=1561&picno=51770

Version 1.0 has already been dumped.
There’s a link on IPDB.

Yea same here thanks

I was wondering if there were any more of the Maverick widebody playfields out there! I believe I have the Maverick widebody playfield that Orin Day of Data East / Sega saved from the dump when they destroyed a (the?) location test prototype. I think the prototype art is definitely a little cooler and especially James Garner with his pistol as the "Shoot Again" art rather than him being larger at the poker table. James Garner's head and body just don't look quite right on the production playfield. I also have a production Maverick and I've been meaning to check if it would be feasible to somehow use a production ramp on the prototype (obviously, a lot of plastics and ball guides would have to be modified or fabricated new).

Mine was definitely populated at one point (including several extra holes where it appeared they moved components around a little). I have never been able to find any pictures of the full prototype game or even just the populated playfield. Below is part of a usenet rec.games.pinball thread from 2001 where Orin Day discusses the widebody prototype (I'm not sure how long this link will work: https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.pinball/c/PiIEuhDUCHw/m/xoSzcPYWwRgJ ). I think Mr. Day is a member here on Pinside so maybe he'll chime in at some point:

>Now, I know the story on the widebody Maverick game -- there was a
>last-minute decree that the game be changed to standard width, so the
>original widebody playfield was "squished" down in an amazingly short
>period of time.

Actually it wasn't nearly as last minute as some other major changes that
happened during my DE/Sega days. The game went out on test with a
standard sized display and a widebody playfield even after we had a
narrow-body whitewood up and shooting. Why? To confuse the competition
(sorry WMS, Premier, & Capcom alums out there). There was definitely an
element of surprise when the narrow-body Maverick games with 192x64
display came to the show even as the widebody was still on test in a black
cabinet, IIRC it moved from Dennis' Place to Gala a week before the show
and stayed there even throughout the show. Too bad I missed that show, I
was in Japan at the JAMMA show.

>But I do wonder: Did any of the original widebody Maverick games
>survive in complete, working condition?

IIRC there was only one playfield that was built up, it's the stripped one
in my basement. The tech who stripped it was kind enough to save it for
me rather than put it in the dumpster. The ramps for that game were built
from wood forms and IIRC they were redone for the standard body version.
If it was ever rebuilt it would take a custom ramp as well as a custom
undertrough - the shot under the boat was really a shot rather than just a
captive ball! I don't recall exactly where it fed, I think there was some
sort of kicker lane at the bottom left, I'd have to look at the PF. I
don't know if the current software still has hooks for that kicker
position or not, but it would be a real pain to have to refabricate the
proper flatrails for the orbit shot. There'd also need to be a donor
widebody cabinet - WWF perhaps? It would be a lot of work for not a lot
of return IMO. The only real change was in the Lauren Belle area, the
angle of the drop targets to the player was less steep and of course the
hole under the boat. If somebody was ambitious they could remove the
captive ball, cut some sort of hole to an undertrough and feed it to the
blackjack hole which could be replaced with a Super-VUK, but there would
still be the issue of that switch scoring after the undertrough switch -
it would basically change the rules. The angle would still be wrong to
shoot the hole, and you'd need to leave enough wood that the drops would
still be supported from behind. It would be really tight, too tight for
us to do it that way for production anyway, that boat area was already a
focal point for other problems anyway.

>I always thought the released game was quite good, especially
>considering its bizarre history -- so naturally, I'd like to play the
>original game someday.

Maybe someday I'll post a webpage with side-by-side pictures (the
widebody also had different artwork that was changed or deleted from the
production version at the request of Warner Bros) but I wouldn't count
on that board being playable unless I recieve some sort of endowment.

OD

Here’s a couple pictures of the hand painted boat (Lauren Bell) on my machine.
At first I wasn’t quite sure this was factory as there’s a lot of people out there into moding and modeling, however it’s basically painted the same as the one in the original DE flyer if you zoom in on the picture where it’s painted rather than decals.
I was discussing this with Jay from IPDB and he said the first batch of machines went out like this as they were waiting on the decals. They needed to get the machines done, so they hand painted some in the meantime while they waited for the decals.
There’s a few other differences in the machine as well, mostly in labeling etc as compared to a machine sold via the SEGA branding. Everything on the machine that is labeled with a manufacturer is labeled DE and no mention of SEGA at all, including the DMD display which as I mentioned earlier has the Data East branding and no Sonic the Hedgehog or SEGA.

I_P_D_B I’ll try to get you photos this weekend. Sorry for lagging on that.
B4518E06-A938-40CC-9A85-3074965AF884 (resized).jpegE48A0628-EA61-4B83-8580-AC64F664615A (resized).jpegB722E287-61C5-4CE5-B7B0-405175059417 (resized).jpeg

I've been seriously considering the possibility of populating my playfield and it's definitely a huge challenge. I've studied the area where the ball VUK / left kicker lane was and even with the holes where the parts were mounted I still can't picture how it all went together.

If anyone does have any pictures of a populated widebody I'd love to see them!

Thanks for posting those pictures! Very cool!

Also, thanks for posting about the 1.00 ROM. I just checked it out and it's dated October 5, 1994 -- which is more than a month before the 1994 Pinball Expo started on November 10th 1994 -- so that ROM version was released while the widebody prototype was still on location "testing" for several more weeks according to Orin Day. (Although as Orin stated in his RGP post it would not be compatible with the widebody features.)

UPDATE: I assumed Orin was referring to Pinball Expo, but maybe he was talking about the AMOA or some other show so maybe I'm off on the dates the Maverick widebody was on test.

Here’s a few more images of the various parts of the early production game that show branding (everything marked DE, not SEGA).
Unfortunately there’s no real marking on the cabinet that state an actual production date other than one tag inside the head labeled September 1st 1994. I.E. just before they sold it to SEGA.
6138DBE5-B1BA-4A1B-81DF-476AEFEC3E36 (resized).jpeg60BF52D8-53C6-40B6-9EF6-0A9A2059F962 (resized).jpeg93E50D6E-F1B4-41F8-8C67-E1F1609B88CC (resized).jpeg204361C5-22F8-4B6A-A9B8-3D798FF08D6F (resized).jpeg6C180995-5C62-49C4-90F1-9EE276EE630B (resized).jpegDE34A64E-01D4-4F4A-B5E3-7401BF042797 (resized).jpegC0B474F1-33CF-4DD9-BF89-29D5D83E4CE0 (resized).jpegA95AF759-9972-47DA-9E92-6E8A8E1CC93C (resized).jpeg

Hmmmm, interesting.
I guess I should probably dump my ROMS and make sure they are in fact the same thing. As I mentioned in the previous post there really is no date of manufacture on my machine (just a tag in the head box dated September 1st 1994). Not saying this is when my machine was made, just saying that’s the only date on the machine anywhere.
That date pre dates the October 5th 1994 rom version 1.0 date by about a month.
I just assumed they were the same version 1.0 that’s already been dumped (and maybe they are). The EPROMS have a sticker on them that’s says Maverick 1.0.
I guess I should check and see if there are any differences.
They do have a handwritten prefix letter A before the printed 1.0 (for alpha?).

51BF11CA-047A-447D-8A21-AB1D9613776D (resized).jpeg9606991C-EB9B-4DB1-9C34-7E2F7D15CD08 (resized).jpeg

sega sound roms or DE sound roms?

The 1.0 set in pinmame seems to have saga voice / sound roms? Says sega some times on coin drop

sega sound roms or DE sound roms?

The 1.0 set in pinmame seems to have saga voice / sound roms? Says sega some times on coin drop

just display + cpu and not old DE sound roms.

Coindork post pic's of the sound board roms

I just took mine off free play and SEGA is one of the five different call outs when you drop a quarter. So looks like it has the SEGA sound roms in it as well.

In the tests screen when you exit audits it says:
SYSTEM VERSION USA/0.00
RELEASE A1.00
OCTOBER 5, 1994

The next screen says:
MAVERICK
OCTOBER 5, 1994
USA CPU 1.0

Sounds like I have the ones that are already dumped.

6291ABE5-2C42-4EAC-AA59-DC9CEC58ACBA (resized).jpeg

29443301-EB0D-482C-9F98-25E75A15BC66 (resized).jpeg

E56FAC1D-F6E9-41B1-98EC-B9D234AD1E1A (resized).jpeg

Good catch. It also looks like the CPU checksum written on the CPU chip matches the CPU 1.00 from IPDB: C4FF. Thanks again for posting the pics and checking your ROM version.

Both of my Mavericks have the same decals on inside of cab and cab speaker with the DE sign maybe they used up all the parts they had on most machines not sure

I’ll bet that’s true.
It only makes sense that if two companies merged that you would use up all the remaining parts stock before rebranding and manufacturing new parts.

The funny thing about this is I never really paid any attention to what rom version I was running until I ordered a color DMD.
The Chroma files for Maverick only support colorization for the newest versions of the game code (I.E. the Sega code).
Most of my game was colorized when I installed it, but a few things like the Data East logo and a few other random frames were not.
Kind of threw me for a loop at first.
I went to put the most current roms in to see if I could update it and my machine won’t function with the newer version.
That’s when I found out that I had an earlier machine.
I toyed around with the idea of swapping out the boards so I could run the most current code, but in the end settled on leaving it original.
It plays fine with version 1.0 anyway.

Yeah I'd leave it as is, that is a cool piece of pinball history. Thanks for sharing the pictures and whatnot, it is really interesting to see the difference between the proto/ early and later model.

The Lauren Bell in particular looks great, I'd love to have one closer to that on our Maverick.

yes that's so right they would ,I really like your hand paint boat on your Maverick that's cool

Sega bought out Data East and yes all parts were used up. My MSFrankenstein has a Data East backbox.

Orin

There are no surviving roms for the Maverick widebody, which was put on test at Dennis Place the week before AMOA. It had the standard size DMD along with the widebody playfield, which was the opposite of the narrow body large DMD pre-production games that went to Dallas for it. The software was awful - no modes no features and it said “multiball ready” every time you hit a target. It was a just misdirection to the competition before the trade show, nothing more, as for cost and sales reasons we had dumped the wide body trend of WWF and GnR.

The widebody playfield from that very test game was stripped and sat in my office for years. A friend got it from me in 2002(?) along with the wider paddle wheel assembly. There are no production plastic ramps for the widebody, the ones on the prototype were made from wood forms which no longer exist, and the wireforms were very much hacked up.

Modern software would not support the widebody playfield unless the Ace in the Hole was plugged and replaced with a captive ball or targeted shot.

Orin

You can add a shaker to Tommy - the code is there for Japanese games which shipped with them - there was an arcane importing law that required us to have a certain number of motors in all games for a model year.

However 1.02 is a production rom which will not work with the six pop bumper prototypes at all.

The prototype code is different, can be found on the net, and should never be used in a production game under any circumstances! That’s because the coil mappings changed, you’d burn things up. Vice versa is also true.

Orin

Thanks Orin!

It was released with the Sega name, but the machine was built/created using Data East resources. I got to talk to one of the creators of the game at the last Pinburgh, and asked him if it was a DE or Sega. He said DE, so that's fine for me.

So under DE all parts for the Game