The edit beat me. Pyramids have the same shape because pyramid is a shape. Sphere's all have the same shape, as do cubes.

Why don't boobies conform then ?

LTG : )

Why are owning pinball machines like eating potato chips? Betcha can't have just one?

I told myself in 2008, I will only buy and only need one. Now in 2020, I have 39.

Whatever happened to Punny Factory?

Boobies are objects rather than shapes?

ButEveryoneLikesBoobiesPunkin

For the very same reason my balls don't
Buteveryonelikesmyballs ; )

How many you got? Asking for a friend, he claims to have three.

Sounds like your buddy has multiballs

I'm not at all keen on your balls.

'OrribleScratchedUpDulllookingThingsPunkin

I think one of them don't really register, hes only trying to be a big shot.. Heh

Yes, it's called humor. And squares are actually triangles, they just have an extra side.

Yeah, mimes are called humour by some too.

"He could have had everything that comes with being a world-class pantomime. The money, the fame...the women."

Did this Surf Champ playfield have any clear coat issues?

510347C2-C671-45D7-A648-7EC593C83CE9.jpeg

... and he is credited as "The Pinball Wizard"! Now there's a mystery!

Good one

Then to have no price reduction after removing play field mechs. Totally stupid to not expect backlash.

And I guess this waitress quit her job on the Night Rider bg to travel back in time to Al's Restaurant?

Brain Scratcher: What EM backglass may have someone asking:
What song is it that you can both fast and slow dance to?

How did this get approved?

20200720_175941 (resized).jpg

By the same people who let the seated man getting head in the ring around the circus on the playfield.

LTG : )

Haha! Im glad it did.

For those of us NOT in on the joke, what game is that you're talking about? Let me guess, art by Python?

Pinball Magic

Unsolved mysteries is streaming on Amazon prime. Still asv scary as it was when the episodes originally ran

Is this and Pinball Magic responses to:

If so, it's an EM backglass that may make someone scratch their head thinking
what song could possibly be playing that you can both slow and fast dance to..
If not, sorry. Disregard..

I remember Katherine Korzilius' incident. Seems no matter what theory you lean toward,
you still have questions, but I have my idea what most likely happened..

I sometimes wonder about the games I’ve sold over the years, if the folks who bought them have sold them off and where they are now. When I see a title on the Marketplace that I used to own, I’ll check out the photos to see if it was one of my machines.

Quoted from Chuck_Sherman:
What does the album and Game title Capt. Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy have to do with pinball and a scene from Tommy?

yeah, I know, but the question was about the game title

Several years ago I read a theory that cast Funhouse in a much nastier light.

***************** WARNING *****************

While I don’t (and can’t) imagine that this is anywhere near the real story - if there even is one beyond it just being an actual funhouse with a creepy, magically ambulatory ventriloquist’s figure - once you read this, it’s very hard not to think about it when you think about/play the pin.

***** FINAL WARNING: LAST CHANCE TO BAIL *****
:
:
:

The theory I heard was that Rudy is kidnapping children. He lures them into the Funhouse, starting off by being fun and friendly. But as his inner hatred of actual living children rises up within him minutes after he starts interacting with one (because he was never accepted as one and knows he’ll never be one) he eventually leads them to the cleverly-disguised trap door and pushes them into the cellar. (This also is a potential explanation of the red button Rudy’s holding.) Then one day an exceptionally bright child comes along (the player) who figures out how to put Rudy to sleep and open the trapdoor (“Stop running around! You don’t want to go in there.”) But the bright kid (in the form of a sufficiently-skilled player), jumps through the open trapdoor and releases the captive kids, resulting in Rudy’s scream of terror at having his very dark secret revealed and all the kids able to report what he’s really been doing.

Whew!

Like I said, I simply cannot believe this is anywhere close to reality to begin with. But I certainly can’t not think of it whenever I think about/play the game.

There are a number of things in the game that contradict the theory as well. As I’m fading fast tonight, I’ll just mention one direct example and one tangential example:

First, if this story is true, then why does Rudy himself open the trapdoor periodically and tell you (the smart kid) that it’s open? (One person I told this to proffered that the trapdoor on the game plays the role of several different trap doors in the funhouse as the player advances through the game - a couple of actual fun ones first that allow Rudy lull the victim into a false sense of security about every trapdoor that opens while they’re in the funhouse.)

Second, the red button in Rudy’s hand being the trapdoor trigger makes sense in this theory for Funhouse, but that doesn’t carry over to its appearance on other Lawlor pins. (The same guy theorized that the button merely represents a trigger for one prominent feature of any game it appears on. I’ve never pursued that any further.)

That’s it for now.
Good night all!

This is neither unsolved nor unsolvable, I just don't know the reason - why the switch from fabric-covered wires in EM machines to plastic-covered wires in solid state machines? And was there any overlap?

In a word: distributors. Bally had about 18-20 distributors that they owned in this era, and those distribs were under heavy pressure to push the Bally and Midway products. Some of the Bally factory-owned distribs also represented Stern, but you can imagine which pinball line got the priority.

Similarly in other territories, the Stern distrib may also have held the Williams or Gottlieb franchise. This could lead to Stern getting less of a push.
.................David Marston

Not a mystery, more of a conspiracy but the GnR “Not in this lifetime” pinball is named as such to leave an opening for more re-branded LE’s. “Slash edition” etc. Maybe not a surprise to some but just my theory

Yes, later EMs by Bally (all early-late 70s bingos, for example) are EM but use plastic coated wires.

Earlier games used plastic coated only for 110-120V circuits (back into the 50s. In the 40s and before, it was exceedingly rare to see any plastic coated - since plastic was pretty new), which was a handy way to know not to stick your hand in that area unless you wanted a quick jolt.

I suspect (but don't know) that at some point the plastic coated became cheaper. Another potential is that it was a move to help service techs. In a heavy smoking area, cloth wires discolor relatively quickly and service in a dark and dingy environment becomes more difficult. If I had to guess, it would be more the former and sold as the latter.

But again, I don't know for sure.

Or the art on the center of Hurricane (guy painting a naked lady, guy mooning people)

Or how did Capt Fantastic get some stuff censored, but the Hitler wasn't

Here's another one, why do so many boards I see in 80's / 90's solid state and DMD machines have White Out on them?

Captain Fantastic art was made by Dave Christensen, and he also had a few "nazi references" in other games, for instance Mata Hari. I dont know if you are aware of it, but listen to the awesome "Silverball Chronicles" pinball podcast for more information about him.

RandomTask Can I get a free tshirt now?

Why does Bally Lost World activate both the left and right saucer coils to eject the ball from either saucer? Is it because both saucer switches are the same to the MPU? No, they are separate switches in the matrix. Is it because the coils are wired together? No, they are separate coils with different driver transistors and numbers in solenoid test. They always fire one after the other, because as you may know, firing two momentary solenoids simultaneously on an early Bally SS is impossible, by design. Is the ROM filled to capacity, unable to accommodate separate routines for the left and right saucers? I haven't checked but I doubt it.

What do all of the proprietary audit values correspond to?

Who composed the music for the Gottlieb System 80B games like TX-Sector, Robo-War, and Night Moves? I seem to recall interviews saying there was one guy in charge of music during this era at Gottlieb, but who was it? It's fantastic stuff, and it would be great to have a name to credit it to.

who is MARK KIM on the Swords of Fury Playfield?

Just noticed this well placed mystery face on the Bride of Pinbot cabinet decal artwork!
John Youssi maybe, any ideas?

1 BOP face (resized).JPG

2 BOP face closeup (resized).jpg