deeproot Pinball thread

Still used by most modern slots.. and in heavy common usage in redemption machines now too. You dismissed as not even of this earth... yet it's common place in the industries where innovation really is happening. Slots and redemptions.

You don't have to have the entire PF glass or the cabinet to make use of these kinds of things. (for instance, look at how the ghost effects were done in GB... localized effects).

Interesting article and Tour! I'd love to get behind this company if it weren't for Papadouchebag!

I have a recent pachinko machine and it has a 3D LCD that doesn't require glasses.

Discussion has previously been about replacing or augmenting pf glass with it.

A 1.5" screen operating a 'hologram' isn't innovative or in any way game changing.

It's not really feasible or desirable to do much more than that in pinball.

Brand new pachinko machines cost around 5000$ but the annual income is in hundred of billions and game rooms in Japan are required to change all of them every 1 or 3 years (can't remember the exact time but it's short), so second hand machines can be bought for close to nothing. Some machine sell in million units, that industry is on a whole different scale than pinball

In any case I wouldn't put a 3D screen on a pinball machine, I don't think it brings anything to the table and it takes time to the eyes to focus on a 3D image which would make it terribly annoying in game.

You are probably arguing with people I have on ignore... and this would be why

Point being.. technology is out there and in common use depending on how people want to use it.

Yet we hardly see any of those machines make it over here, and when they do the sellers want $1k and up. But yes you are right, pachinko is still huge in japan, so are claw machines. People sometimes go to these places as almost like a shopping center. Some take advantage:
https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=3SOu_1536002094

Don't buy from US importers, it's robbery. Pachinko and Pachislo can be found on Yahoo auctions Japan, and you can use Buyee.jp who can handle pick up, shipping, customs etc... for a small fee.

This beauty is at 130 dollars currently : https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/h274417737

Anybody know the status of the offer deeproot was going to make to victims of the Heighway and Dutch disasters?

-Doug

Be interesting to see if deeproot does use new technologies.

Was at this interesting dinner at a Silicon Valley BBQ with Tanio and Jeri Ellsworth about 8 years ago. Pinball of course came up. One of the other people said "Oh I toured Stern once. They were still using wires. It was cute"

I would imagine wire harnesses are still simpler to design for a game than doing PCB traces (as archaic as it seems to see giant 4'x8' boards with nails in it). But seeing how good even free pcb programs have gotten, I do wonder if it's equal work up front.

benheck have you ever calculated pcb cost (for GI and coils) vs equivalent wiring? Are they comparable without calculating the labor cost savings?

Article says cabinet looks conventional, but the head does not.
Some type of Pin2k-ish setup?

That would be so awesome w new technology.

(Replying to rubberducks) Yes we buy them for $280 for 25” ones. Costs an arm and a leg?

Not sure If you are replying to me, but IMO we need to think more creatively. 2 (or ideally 3) levels of transparent screens will allow to “float” things above a playfield, yes. But what if the screen IS the playfield? You can create depth with a flat layer at bottom, a middle layer for plastics and lane guides, and a top layer for big toys, mechs, and ramps. There, 3D without goggles because it actually IS in 3 dimensions. 3D printer slicer software does this x 10,000 right now.

Thinking creatively won't do anything. Pinball companies don't have R&D budgets that run into the billions.

Per prior posts, neither current transparent LCDs nor OLEDs have fantastic light transmissions properties. Layering them would make it worse. Pixel responsiveness is bad on the LCDs. Low life time, expense and non-availability in large sizes of OLEDs rules them out.

Also, can you imagine how bad it'd be if you developed a fault with or suffered damage to one of the layers?

Deeproot (or anyone else) are right to look for savings and efficiencies where ever they can to reduce build costs and complication, but chasing unicorns is extremely unwise.

"More wires than a Ford Taurus"

A big roadblock in the advancement of pinball are the customers.

"I hate surface mount!" they un-ironically type into their phones, which would be the size of IBM typewriters were it not for surface mount.

No doubt!

You've got a bunch of people that think Back to the Future and Goonies are still a thing.

I hear ya, but I'm not sure where you're getting costs from. We buy panels of roughly the same size as a pin for about $1K each. So that's a cost per machine of $3,000 or so. Even if the final MSRP is 8K you're still in a good spot.

here's an example of an existing game that uses what I'm talking about. I don't know what this game is exactly, but the screen can be *entirely* full-color (which you don't really see in this video too well), or transparent. There's a little haze where it's not quite as clear as a window, and yes the colors aren't super bright (backlighting or angled sidelighting would help w/ this) :

That is a strawman logical fallacy. No one objects specifically to surface mount, they object to being forced to spend $350 for a new board instead of 30 cents for the failed component. If surface mount becomes as easy or cheap to repair as through hole is now customer objection will disappear.

With all due respect to Ben, who certainly does know what he is talking about; pinball machines do not need to be squeezed into tiny enclosures that fit in one’s pocket. But I doubt the surface mount thing is about selling $350 replacement boards - it’s probably just cheaper to have them made in the first place.

Some of you just don't want to support the growth of this hobby, now do you?

That's Stern using replacement parts as a profit center.

Why can't node boards be repaired?

But isn't this really more about the lack of schematics and troubleshooting steps, theory of operation, etc. than about SMD versus through-hole? I'm sure there aren't parts on that board that couldn't be replaced by someone with the right skills and tools but if you don't know WHAT to replace it doesn't matter if it's through-hole or not.

If only one could get the benefits of SM and the ease and cheapness of TH. Hmmmmm...

A Stern LE's entire BoM is probably well under the $3k mark ...

Through-mount components! I mean surface-hole! Wait what

Sounds glorious ...

it mainly because the skill set and tools needed to repair surface mount are a little more specialized. I'm pretty new to surface mount, not against the tech at all.

I've found that getting part numbers to these tiny parts is a lot more difficult then the larger components (with the part number usually written on it). It's like pulling teeth trying to get information sometimes. There are ways to find out what the part number is by form factor, measurements and how it looks, but it'd make it so much easier if they listed it on a sheet or something. Maybe there is an easier way to fine out part numbers, but I don't know it.

With spike it seems like there is a veil of secrecy, so your forced to buy replacement parts when needed.

Yah, simple modularity where it makes sense would be nice.

Anyway - looking forward to seeing the first D/R machine go for sale. BTTF and Magic girl are both exciting machines for sure. Maybe next summer will be the real deal we can buy.

The benefits of surface mount are plentiful:

1) Can get actual, modern parts (a lot of through hole is now obsolete or gone)
2) Can be placed by robot
3) Smaller
4) Won't tilt under vibrations and cause a "fix it" kit to be sent out which is basically a zip tie.

Through hole only has 1 plus - it's easy for noobs.

All we need now are the robots that can fix this shit.

tallman_05 (resized).jpg

Wow someone made a vid1900 action figure!

Okay, this is a good hire. Steve is awesome. Now you just need to shed that Zidware

+ 10. Priceless.

Haha.. and Munsters.
Holy crap.

Next up- Leave it to Beaver or Father Knows Best pinball game.

Donna Reed is a stone cold FOX !

From the article:
"I asked Robert how many Zidware customers had reached out to deeproot to file claims. He shared there weren’t as many as he would’ve liked, but he hoped more would be filing claims this month. (Note: The deadline to file claims is at the end of October – visit https://zidware.deeproottech.com to file a claim.)"

Spread the word. No Zidware customer should be left out.

I hear that the rights to the Beaver are harder to come by.

Exactly. And you don’t want to mess with the Beaver without a license agreement. Not in this day and age.

I think a Heckle and Jeckle would just kick ass.

ED408E81-9764-402F-AF1F-BC37201B0182 (resized).jpeg

so many cool 80's movies that could be amazing pinball machines

any one of these would be awesome !

bl r (resized).jpeg

btilc (resized).jpg

esc (resized).jpg

mm2 (resized).jpg

John Carpenters greatest hits

0014133103_10 (resized).jpg

Since we are getting silly...

pasted_image (resized).png

I love Blade Runner but how the hell can you do a pinball (Action) out of this?!

Why not?

It's obviously..............

Golden_child_movie (resized).jpg

No love for Buckaroo Banzai?