Quoted from I_P_D_B:Hi,
Someone showed this thread to me and I saw how well this Paragon modification was done. Yeah, too good for your average homebrew mod. I contacted Greg Kmiec, designer of Paragon, and showed him this thread and its pictures, pointing out several details to him and asking him to comment. With his permission, I am providing his detailed response below.
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Hi Jay,
That's a modification that added a free-ball-gate.
From the underside:
1) COIL WIRE: Bally would not have used plastic coated wiring: it's too tough to tell the "ground" side from the "hot" side on the fast-paced production line (correct wiring is required for the diode on the coil.) It looks like speaker wire. The free-ball-gate coil itself is probably "tapped" off of another feature somewhere in the game, meaning that either: 1)when the other feature coil is held in, the free-ball-gate coil is held in (this puts 2 coils on one circuit); or 2) an added relay (low powered) could be triggered by the Shoot Again light and this added relay could trigger the free-ball-gate.
2) SWITCH WIRE: It looks like the "hot" side of the light switch on the relay is tapped off of a general illumination (GI) light. It looks like the switch turns on the red and green lights alternately. If this is the case, since the feed (hot) part of the circuit is always hot (for a GI light,) one of the lights would remain on in the case of a tilt. A no-no.
From the topside:
1) LETTERING: It looks like the lettering is somewhat raised, as if done with pressed-on letters that we used to use on our whitewoods. The application of clear lacquer to prevent erosion from the ball can cause the individual letters to "pucker" somewhat, as can be seen in a close-up view of the letters.
2) INSERTS: The inserts do not seem to correctly fit into their holes. This would never happen on a production playfield because the entire playfield is sanded once all of the inserts are installed. It looks like some glue is missing around the inserts.
3) ARTWORK: The artwork doesn't seem to completely encircle the inserts. This would never happen in a production piece. Also, the artwork does not continue under the free-ball-gate wire. Whenever Bally used a free-ball-gate, the path of the ball was acknowledged as it was directed by the wire into the shooter alley. The artwork under this modification is consistent with the inner wood rail being cut and a free-ball-gate being added. Also, there is chipping where the "return" brad (nail) is installed. The free-ball-gate wire would rest against the brad in the closed position. Bally would predrill positioning holes for these types of brads for the specific purpose of preventing artwork chipping.
4) GAME PLAY: Most important, are the use of the colors red and green for the inserts. Bally always used red inserts to indicate a "Special." Specials were important (after all, you played a game to win a chance to play again.") Specials were always called out in the artwork. Maybe the red and green lights were added as gate-status indicators (green = open/ red = closed.)
Ergo, this is not a test prototype game nor an early Paragon release. It is a well done free-ball-gate modification ala the Bally style back then.
Hope this helps.
Greg Kmiec
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