Star Wars Trilogy Pinball (Owner / Overview and Repair Tale)

Star Wars Trilogy Pinball Resurrection

"Hey I found this pinball machine on Craigslist.  It looks like a great deal! Should I buy it?"

Here's a cautionary tale. :)

About 10 months ago, I talked to this guy about 100 miles away that had a Star Wars Trilogy Pinball.   I never saw the machine but had his description and a third party account of the condition.

 We couldn't get together on price, so I walked away.

Last month, perusing Craigslist, I found the machine available for sale. The price listed was considerably less than my last offer, it was for sale by the same guy. 

I called and he didn't recognize me at first.   His situation had changed, and he was hard up for the cash to pay some unexpected bills.  Hey, we've all been there.  

I told him I was interested and pressed for details about the condition of the machine.

"Man, this machine is wrapped up in plastic, that's how it has been for 2 years but let me tell you it is Not Junk!   All it needs is a $2 part and you are off to the races."

I agreed to buy it, arranged to have it brought to me and wrote down on a post-it note $600 in repairs.   :)

Fast forward to today.    
The CPU board was in need of extensive repair,
As was the Power IO Driver board
ROMS were mis-matched
Playfield toys where broken.  
Two bad coils
6 playfield wiring snafus
A broken reed switch
1 Broken Drop Target
Dirt.. Oh My God.. The Dirt and Grime ..
Missing a Starter (Fluorescent)
Bad Ballast (Fluorescent)
The Coin Door Was wrong / Didn't Engage the Interlock 
The Coin Door Had a Huge Hole from some card-based validator
1 Pop Bumper was out
2/3 of the Playfield GI bulbs were out
Stupid Hacks on the Playfield, like Wood Screws used as Stand-Offs

The total invested...

$30 Fluorescent Rebuild Kit
$100 Cointaker LED's 
$15 X-Wing Replacement
$24 TIE Interceptor Spare
$40 2 Coils
$14 New Ball Set
$455 New White Star MPU w/ New ROMS
$95 Repair of Old White Star MPU w/ New ROMS
$399 New Sega/Stern White Star Power Driver
$95 Repair of Old Sega Power Driver 
$12 Reed Switch
$220 New Coin Door and Wiring Harness
.. So we are at $1469 in repairs

minus $320 for selling the Repaired Boards 
..  $1159

So the moral of the story is..   Be sure to be able to test drive a pinball before buying it.   B/c that $2 part the guy mentions it needs, may  just be a load o' crap.

Am I sorry?   Nah.  I had fun fixing the machine, even more fun fixing the machine & ended up trading towards a Tron Legacy Pro. :)

Arcade Collecting: About 3 Years In

I found us in the rare occasion of not having those wreck-it-ralph out of order signs in play, so.. I snapped a few pictures while all of the machines were operational.

It was about 3 years ago that I endeavored on this project to build an arcadegame room. The house had this unfinished space beneath an addition that was sizable enough to accommodate some machines but typically damp enough (and with low ceilings) as to not justify a formal space. 

A mini split solved the dampness issue, there will be no raising of the ceiling, so the machines wheelin' and dealin' began. 

At first, I found this guy, in Florida: http://www.2waynesworld.com/
He delivered and helped me to get started. Since I ordered a couple machines, he discounted them pretty significantly and we started strong with:

Arcade Gameroom V1:

Cocktail Table Multicade 60-n-1
Mortal Kombat 1
309-in-1 Horizontal Multicade
Dartboard
Air Hockey
Foosball
Projector (projecting onto a sheet) for TV and Console Games

Quickly, I learned to fix the machines, the Mortal Kombat 1 - specifically had plenty of problems, as old machines typically do and I learned the dude had plenty of mark up in his prices.

The Air Hockey took up too much room (and was kinda cheesily-made), the 309 n 1 didn't really resonate with the games I played as a kid and had a poor control panel layout and the foosball table didn't get played as much as I'd hoped.

Mortal Kombat 1, the 309, the Air hockey and Foosball all found new homes via Craigslist (for a hobby-supporting-profit even!) and I added some games, all via Craigslist and by way of repair.

Arcade Gameroom v2:

Cocktail Table Multicade 60-n-1
Mortal Kombat 4
Virtua Fighter 2
Offroad Thunder
Star Wars Trilogy Arcade
Mario Kart GP
Silent Scope 
Soul Calibur
Dartboard

A 46" LED w/ Touch Overlay
.. I also housed a friend's Tron at this time.

During this iteration, I started to feel compelled to change up collecting philosophy, somewhat. Instead of looking for original machines, I started the embrace the idea of MultiCades a bit more. The sense that, having a few Multicades that can play virtually any game you can think of, would be a better use of the space and would better target the room for 'playability' over 'collectibility'. After all, the whole point here was to have a place the big and little kids would both enjoy that would possibly tap those memories of those poolside arcades you find on vacation.

As we enter into Year 3, I've added some pinball machines to the mix, which required us to sacrifice some games but I'm seeing has a broader appeal to adults and teens. (Although, the 9-year-old crowd can't seem to commit to playing 3 full rounds of pinball, they do seem to enjoy it.)

So, in V3 of the Gameroom, as it sits today:

Arcade Gameroom v3

Cocktail Table MultiCade 60-n-1
Mortal Kombat 4
3149 in 1 MultiCade
A Nintendo/Sega Genesis Hyperspin MultiCade
Star Wars Trilogy Arcade
House of the Dead 1
Mario Kart GP
1992 Data East Star Wars Pinball
1992 Williams Star Trek The Next Generation Pinball
1997 Sega Star Wars Trilogy Pinball
2008 Stern Indiana Jones Pinball
A Claw Machine
Dartboard
A 46" LED w/ Touch Overlay

Which didn't leave me much room, so two addl' machines in storage (and for sale): Silent Scope EX Deluxe & Offroad Thunder

In our current iteration, I'm liking the balance between Video Game Arcades and Pinballs. 

If I could leave some advice to someone else just starting to collect, my advice would be to get a Pinball early, the right pin can have a great replay-ability and are universally appreciated. Also, don't be afraid to buy some broken machines and fix them yourself. It is reasonably simple work, isn't all that dangerous (well, the monitor can zap you but that's about it) and you will save a small fortune.

Star Wars Trilogy Pinball Resurrection

"Hey I found this pinball machine on Craigslist.  It looks like a great deal! Should I buy it?"

Here's a cautionary tale. :)

About 9 months ago, I talked to this guy about 100 miles away that had a Star Wars Trilogy Pinball.   I never saw the machine but had his description and a third party account of the condition.

 We couldn't get together on price, so I walked away.

Last month, perusing Craigslist, I found the machine available for sale. The price listed was considerably less than my last offer, it was for sale by the same guy. I called and he didn't recognize me at first.   His situation had changed, and he was hard up for the cash to pay some unexpected bills.  Hey, we've all been there.  

I told him I was interested and pressed for details about the condition of the machine.

"Man, this machine is wrapped up in plastic, that's how it has been for 2 years but let me tell you it is Not Junk!   All it needs is a $2 part and you are off to the races."

I agreed to buy it, arranged to have it brought to me and wrote down on a post-it note $600 in repairs.   :)

Fast forward to today.    

The CPU board was in need of extensive repair,

As was the Power IO Driver board

ROMS were mis-matched

Playfield toys where broken.  

Two bad coils

6 playfield wiring snafus

A broken reed switch

1 Broken Drop Target

Dirt.. Oh My God.. The Dirt and Grime ..

Missing a Starter (Fluorescent)

Bad Ballast (Fluorescent)

The Coin Door Was wrong / Didn't Engage the Interlock 

The Coin Door Had a Huge Hole from some card-based validator

1 Pop Bumper was out

2/3 of the Playfield GI bulbs were out

Stupid Hacks on the Playfield, like Wood Screws used as Stand-Offs

..Needless to say his estimate of a $2 dollar part was off by a multiplier of 500 :)

So the moral of the story is..   Be sure to be able to test drive a pinball before buying it.   B/c that $2 part the guy mentions it needs, may  just be a load o' crap.

Am I sorry?   Nah.  I have the Star Wars Trilogy Arcade machine and wanted to make the matching pair.   At some point I had to weigh location / proximity into the "should I buy" decision matrix.   The odds of finding another one within driving distance here in Southern Alabama, isn't real great. :)

Mario Kart GP Arcade Owner Review

About Arcades (and Console Video Gaming)

Last summer, I set out to complete a project that has been on my TODO list for quite some time.    To construct a game room in the unfinished storage space beneath our house. (Kinda like a basement but not exactly- not-technically a basement since it on ground level)

Pictured above is the result as of today, though the room is constantly changing with different games trading / coming and going.  

Along the way I learned a ton about "The Arcade Business" which really sheds light on those near and dear memories of loitering as a kid at the Aracde in Greentree Mall in Clarksville, IN after the movies or as a teenager hanging out at Alladin's Castle in Cordova Mall in Pensacola, Florida.

I got reminded of my lessons recently, visiting the Arcade at The Magic Kingdom at the exit of Space Mountain and the Arcade on the Cruise Ship; with my daughter.   I like to visit these arcades to shop for future machine purchases and take in the sights and sounds. (Central Florida auctions are the source from which alot of games come to me, through various delears.)

Jena - she's in it for the claw machines.   She loves those stupid things and the cheap chinese-made toys they miserly dispense.

Some facts on the arcade business you may not have known.

That Golden Tee or Mortal Kombat machine you fed quarters into at the gas station was most likely owned by "An Operator".   The Operator would strike a deal with the business owner to put a machine or two on-location in exchange for a split of the take from the machine.  

A side-note-to-this-side-note, this is one of the first businesses that Warren Buffet engaged in, though his were "weighing machines" (scales) in barber shops and filling stations around town.

Operators are seldom game enthusiasts.  It is a business.   Some are technically savvy while others employ the use of some very bright technicians for repairs / upgrades.  The engineers are usually soldering-iron wielding electro-mechanical experts.   They are soldering on boards, removing capacitors and transformers and replacing them (often on-site) .  They can diagnose and fix a motherboard, a monitor.   A dying art in our disposable culture.

The machines would come from one of a small handful of manufacturers.  (Midway, Konami, Namco, Data East, Bally to name a few)   The machines themselves are really basically very big PC's.  A monitor, a marquee flourescent light, a motherboard, some speakers and a control panel filled with buttons.  Because of their size it was very common for a single machine to have multiple lifes as different games.    For instance, that Mortal Kombat machine, may have been Mortal Kombat 1, 2, 3 or any number of other games made by Midway with a similar button layout or cabinet wiring.   Just swap a board, the marquee and some art.  Bang, new game.

Now, here is the big one that you may not realize, though it seems obvious.  These are vending machines with games in them, not games with quarter slots.  The difference is the entire machine is built for the sake of the operator, not the player.   Sure, they want a game the player will play but the game's purpose from birth was to make the operator money.

As such, the games give the operators controls over things that will influence the capability to sap players for quarters post-haste.     Some examples:

My Midway Offroad Thunder behind Mario Kart:    It has a menu option to pick the percentage in which a player is allowed to score first place (and thus a free game).    So, in addition to difficulty, if this percentage is set to 10% then no matter how good of a driver you are you will only place 1st 10% of the time over aggregate.   Racing games make it easy to cheat the player.    It's easy enough to have a car pass you on the last lap, right before the finish line, etc.

My Mario Kart: Has numerous difficulty settings as well as a "pay anyway" option.  So, even if you win 1st place, it expects additional credits to continue racing but at a discount (at the operator's perogative)

 Fighting games are desigend for head-to-head play so as to keep competitors feeding quarters into a machine.   They are also designed to emphasize streaks over score, win/loose streaks equate to more quarters dumped into the machine on a 1-to-1 ratio.

Shooting games are built to be impossibly hard if you intend to complete the game.   We had a House of the Dead 4 for awhile.  It would take two players around $9 in quarters (on .25c plays) to beat the game completely, regardless of your marksman skills.     

Skill cranes are evil.  Little Jena loves these things but they are truely built with the operator in mind.   In addition to "packing tightly" the toys, the claw itself is almost always configurable.  How many inches the claw will close and how many ounces of pressure the claw will hold closed.   Less tight claws drop toys and generally get more plays.   

(I'm annoyed because Jena spent $25 in The Disney Dream's Arcade to get a .50c toy.   Their operators should be more generous, it's Disney for Pete's sake.)

This profit-over-playability focus wasn't always the case.   In the early days of Pacman, Tron, Frogger, Centipede, you would certainly pay to play but the gameplay was foremost in the game creators goals.   These games were built by small companies (relative to today) by game designers and engineers who were most likely a little more like Flynn from The Tron Movie than Bill Gates from Pirates of Silicon Valley.    (And probably on enough cocaine to smother a polar bear.)  EDIT: LSD.

They hobbled code and hardware together as best they could do bring to life something that had never really before been done.    What do you compare Pac-Man to?

...This is likely why the early classics remain nostalgic to most of us.   They were built for playability and creativity without the input of an army full of corporate psycologists trying to "get you hooked."  

As the 90's rolled on and arcades started to decline the games were more targeted at sapping your handful of quarters than insuring a pleasant experience.    That isn't to say they weren't fun but you shouldn't beat yourself up if you can't get to that 12th level boss on a single quarter.   You weren't supposed to be able to, by design.

Into the late 90's, a quarter no longer bought a postage stamp nor a single play of a premium game.   Operators engaged in a race-to-the-top in per-game charges. This problem originated at the manufacturers, who were struggling.    Consoles were eating their market share and machines started to get expensive.  The cost was passed to the arcade consumer.

A standard cabinet two player machine with a 25" monitor averaged about $2000
A standard sit-down driving machine with a 25" monitor averaged about $5000
    -- As did light gun games and other specialty machines, including Pinball

The prices you paid at an arcade jumped from .25 to as much as $2.50 per play.

People stopped coming.  Arcades went out of business or only thrived in touristy settings or as a side-attraction to something else. (Dave & Busters, Chuck-E-Cheese, Movie Theater Arcades)

Arcade gamnig went from a free spirited garage-startup developed cash cows in the 80s to huge conglomerate companies with millions of dollars in overhead swimming upstream against the rising tide of home-console ownership.   Cue the layoffs and supplier bankrupcies..

Contrast the 80's drug-fueled development to a more modern Bungie Studios (as of 5 years ago) working on Halo titles.     They actually measured capillary response of testers, ostensibly attached to some Doc Emmit Brown-inspired machine, as they played through Halo levels.   An attempt to measure the physiological responses to certain scenarios.

Halo, Call of Duty and other modern titles are engineered from the ground up to be addictive, especially in the multi-player modes.   They do this by withholding weapons, achievements and abilities until later levels with a good-bit of social interactive peer pressure added on top.  

Today, the console market leans you to online play, where sales become organic as friends need multiple copies to play versus one-another and Microsoft's X-Box Live charges a $50/year premium just to connect to their services.

Points and DLC, Leaderboards and In-game chat drive multiplayer experiences while game developers increasingly phone-in their campaign/single player experiences focusing on the more lucrative multiplayer audiences.

With the announcement of xBox One and PS4, I imagine we'll be in for more of the same in console gaming.   Bigger graphics, better sound(slightly), more online crap to accompany the game, more multiplayer.

(Which admittedly kind of annoys this 34 year old slow-fingered button masher who is tired of being matched with jobless agile-fingered smack-talking tweens who spend their summers perfecting their Kill to-Death ratios on casual gamers like me.)

And.. if you are really worried about the NSA reading your emails, don't think too hard on that Kinect sensor or Playstation Move Camera.   It's only a high-resolution infrared camera designed with the specific purpose to one day allow Microsoft or Sony to target ads based on the people in the room. (Oh, look, Dad's in the chair, Jr is on the floor playing, mom's in the corner reading and Spot is chewing on a bone near the couch, cue a Dog-bone ad..)    I'm sure the NSA wouldn't find any value at all in that military-grade infrared scan of your evening activities.

As for arcades?  The Verge wrote a great article here and essentially declares them as dead.  I'm not conviced but I see their point and I'm obviously a hold-out, being an enthusiast.

Today, just about any arcade game you can think of can be picked up from an Auction for  $300-$600, dealers selling to homeowners and collectors for $400-$800.  Pinballs are usually a bit more, coming in at $1800 to $3000 for something really collectible.   

Only one pinball manufacturer remains and most arcade mfgs are on death's doorstep, minimally staffed and only selling to one of a handful of suppliers left.

Those annoying redemption games (collect tickets for crappy chinese toys dipped in lead paint)  are king.

I think, we humans have a tendency to know when we are being rolled and that these too will fail over time.  

The unfettered nostalgia of sitting at a pizza parlor and playing pacman on a cocktail table or in a poorly lit arcade stacking your quarters up there, "I got next play" will likely live on in new ways.   Bar-cades, come-to-your-house birthday party in-a-covered-trailer bouncy castle/clown types or gimmicks like Dave-N-Busters will keep it up for another generation.

I know my four year old loves to grab his little Mario wallet full of quarters and run downstairs to play.    He doesn't quite understand "free play" but hey - neither did the Arcade Industry as a whole.  ;)