(Topic ID: 78982)

Operating pins on location..grab the Novus & soldering iron

By mikedetroit

10 years ago


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  • 518 posts
  • 102 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 4 years ago by hocuslocus
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    15
    #1 10 years ago

    I want to start an area where Pinsiders who operate games on location can talk shop and give advice to one another. This area could discuss how to approach potential locations, how to maintain change machines, what machines are performing well and other tips of the trade.

    #14 10 years ago

    >>So $200 per machine = $100 after the split with the location right.

    Well that can be something you negotiate with the owner. If you really break down the costs associated with operating games at their location to them, you may be able to change that spilt. You may want to explain how they will sell extra drinks or food during the time and make it worth their wild. You may want to try to do a promotion such as a league nights. They may see the cost savings of not hiring out entertainment services such as trivia nights or a karaoke. If you replace it with league nights, they may be able to see the same return without the fee associated with hiring these events. It’s a win-win for both the bar and the operator.

    #17 10 years ago

    Make sure you check into the license fees. They change from city to city. Some cities don't even have a fee and some are like $120 per game per year. Some base it off a yearly amount like a $240 fee for the first game and like $20 per additional games. It might be good to look in your area and call to see what surrounding cities charge.

    2 weeks later
    #43 10 years ago

    Does anyone do a free play day for your location? If so, do you give the location keys to put credits on or do you personally put the games on free play?

    17
    #69 10 years ago

    Here are two photos of the locations I operate. The first one is Rosie O'Gradys in Chesterfield and the other is One Eyed Betty's beer bar in Ferndale.

    Please share your location photos, it would be great for ideas.

    20140209_184711.jpg20140209_184711.jpg
    20140209_163841.jpg20140209_163841.jpg

    #140 10 years ago

    I had a few games where it was hard to pull up the playfield since the Playfield Slide Assembly was either bent or broken. I would actually avoid repairing these games since it was so difficult. It seems to be a pattern with early DMD games like Getaway since it looks like an improvement was made to the assembly. I just replaced mine after being scared it wouldn't fit since it’s a different part number, but it went on very easy (4 screws) and works like a charm. It sure makes repairs at the location much easier and was worth the $60 investment per game. I just wanted to pass it along.

    Pinball Life seems to have them the cheapest:

    http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=3161

    http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=3163

    3 months later
    #218 9 years ago

    Do any of you guys have headaches with change machines like I do? I have a ROWE BC1200 and it has been giving me troubles since the day I bought it. Also, do you guys find yourself buying quarters from the bank or having to roll quarters since you get more back in the machines then can fit in the change machine? I bought a quarter counting machine second hand from a vending company getting out of the business and it was the best money I ever spent. It looks kind of like these http://www.kardwell.com/coin-counter-wrapper-baggers.htm

    2 weeks later
    #222 9 years ago

    If your ROWE change machine is having a issue and giving the error of "Bucket did not open", buy a replacement transformer. You can get them on eBay pretty cheap (used) and I think it hopefully resolved the issue I was having for over a year. (knocks on wood) I wanted to pass that along.

    1 month later
    #245 9 years ago

    I opened a third location for pinball a few weeks ago at Premier Lanes in Chesterfield, Michigan. I opened it one mile from one of my other locations, Rosie O’Grady’s. Rosie’s is already to capacity with pinball machines and I figured the two locations can build synergy and become a mini pinball destination. This brings the total of 23 pinball machines within a one mile radius. Rosie’s has mostly Williams/Bally WPC games and Premier Lanes primarily has Williams/Bally System 11 games. This is a list of the games that are currently at each location.

    One-Eyed Betty’s, Ferndale

    1.) Medieval Madness
    2.) Road Show
    3.) The Addams Family
    4.) Scared Stiff
    5.) Hurricane
    Non-Pinball (Tapper and Ice Cold Beer)

    Rosie O’Grady’s, Chesterfield

    6.) Ripley’s BION
    7.) The Getaway
    8.) Diner
    9.) Doctor Who
    10.) Fun House
    11.) World Cup Soccer ‘94
    12.) Fish Tales
    13.) Terminator 2
    Non-Pinball (Ms Pacman Cocktail, The Simpsons, TRON, Donkey Kong Junior, Donkey Kong 3)

    Premier Lanes, Chesterfield

    14.) Space Shuttle
    15.) Monday Night Football
    16.) Whirlwind
    17.) Earthshaker!
    18.) Taxi
    19.) Fire!
    20.) Party Zone
    21.) White Water
    22.) The Machine: Bride of Pinbot
    23.) Pool Sharks
    24.) Cue Ball Wizard
    25.) Cyclone
    26.) Bad Cats (coming soon)
    27.) Mousin’ Around (coming soon)

    If you’re ever in the Detroit area, there are a lot of great pinball/arcade locations all lining I-94 and I-696, which includes Premier Lanes, Rosie O’Grady’s, Terry’s Terrace, M-Brew, One-Eyed Betty’s, Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum and The Arcade in Brighton. From start to finish, all these locations are within a one hour driving distance. I am hoping to start a marketing campaign to help promote all of them collectively and call it “The Arcade Trail.”

    2 weeks later
    #262 9 years ago

    I printed out basic rules about playing pinball machines and have them sitting near the games. I googled and found some information and made my own and this is what I came up with. Now that I read it, I would take out some of the wording, but it might help you out and you could use it as a basic idea.

    HOW TO PLAY PINBALL LIKE A PRO

    •Watch and listen to the game. Machines today give the player lots of instructions, yet some beginner players don't realize this and this miss easy hints from the game. So while you are playing, look at and listen to the machine.

    o"Look at" mostly means watching the display. Most games from roughly 1990 onward will tell the player what they need to do next. Keep an eye also on the playfield lights: often if you don't know what you are doing, just hitting a target with a flashing light in front of it will do something.

    o"Listen to" Pinball machines have had speech since the late 70s, and will verbally tell the the player in certain ways. Start listening to the sounds games make in conjunction with the things they do and you'll start to get the connection. And this isn't trivial: often the sound is meant to tell you something like, "Hey, I'm about to kick the ball at you really hard: be ready!"

    •Master the basics of flipping. While there will always be an element of chaos in pinball, in truth, very few balls that come down the playing field are completely out of the player's control. This is the key area which determines a player's skill level: bringing the ball under control. There are many advanced tricks, but for now let's address the basics:

    oDon't flip both flippers. Flip only the flipper that you need to. Flipping both will actually sometimes cause the player to "drain" (lose the ball) when they didn't need to.

    oAfter you've flipped, drop the flipper back down immediately. Leaving it up leaves a nice big gap for the ball to fall between.

    oIn general, don't flip any more than you need to. And as you'll discover, that's way less than you might at first think. Once you've got that down, you'll notice that if you hold the flipper up at the right time, you can bring the ball to a dead stop. Great! You've learned how to "catch" the ball. This is a critical element of good play. Catching the ball lets you both stop and think of what shot you want to try to take next and aim carefully for it. And for all players, it lets you stop and take a quick drink or answer your cell phone if you're careful.

    oSome machines have more than two flippers. Before you start, be sure to look over the entire machine to find all of the flippers, so that you're ready when the ball is near any of them. Some machines have more than one plunger. Some have a gun or other type of auto-launch mechanism that, at times, will come into play for reasons other than just getting the ball onto the field.

    •Learn the skill shot. Most pinball machines have some sort of skill shot, which is basically a bonus earned by releasing the ball with a particular strength or shooting a specific target, ramp or loop immediately after releasing the ball.

    •Get good at aiming. You've now gotten to the point where you can bring the ball to a stop consistently and you're learning about what shots you want to try for. Excellent. Now you need to learn how to hit them consistently. The most important rule for aiming is simply that the closer to the tip the ball is, the more to the opposite side it will go. So, for example, let's say you're holding the ball on the left flipper. You drop the flipper and let the ball roll down. If you flip again quickly, you'll send the ball more to the left. If you let the boll roll down a little more towards the tip of the flipper, the more you'll send the ball to the right.

    •Nudge and tilt. Don't be shy: a certain amount of nudging is considered perfectly fair play, and done right, can often save a ball that might have otherwise been lost.

    o Even more than aiming, when and how to nudge is an art form. Even among the experts, no two players approach this with the same philosophy. Some are aggressive, some passive, some judicious, and some wild. What is important is simply to remember that machines do have tilt sensors, and if you tilt, not only does your ball end, but in most games you will lose any end-of-ball bonus points that you might have accumulated; in some cases, this bonus can be enormous.

    o Most modern games will also warn you that you are playing too hard. Take the warnings seriously. The way that tilt bobs work, sometimes the moment you get the first warning you are already doomed, since the tilt bob will keep bouncing back and forth and hitting its surrounding ring even if you stopped touching the machine entirely. More often, though, you'll get your warnings, which build up over the course of the ball. Two to three tilt warnings is usually the default.

    •Enjoy it. Mostly importantly, the object of pinball is ultimately to have fun. Pinball is awfully fun when you're playing well. When you're not, or when the game just isn't being nice to you, it can get highly frustrating. Learn early on when to chalk it up to a spat of bad luck and keep on trucking.

    1 month later
    #297 9 years ago

    We made a Halloween theme line up at One-Eyed Betty's.

    bettys.jpgbettys.jpg
    6 months later
    #390 8 years ago

    Credit dot reference for operators - I operate over 30 pinball machines and sometimes it’s confusing when trying to figure out where Switch 45 or 65 is on the playfield when you receive a switch error. A solution I did was I went online and printed out the Switch location (shows where each switch is on the playfield) and on the back I printed the switch matrix chart from each of the games operator manual. I printed them all out and put them into a single binder and leave it in my car. This should help when trying to figure out where that mystery switch is when you do a switch test when you see a credit dot at a location and help when trying to find problems with multiple switches in a row. It’s already become useful for me the first day I used it. I just wanted to pass it along.

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