Ask Uncle Willy #4: July 14, 1995
Here's another installment of the Ask Uncle Willy question/answer feature.
Please keep in mind that some of the questions take a bit of research, so
that answers to some questions may not show up right away. Also, with all
the questions in his mailbox, Uncle Willy gets a bit overwhelmed sometimes.
He does his best to answer all questions of general interest to the group
on rec.games.pinball.
Send all questions and comments to:
uncle_willy@wms.com
Uncle Willy enjoys hearing from you!
Question: I'm a big fan of Barry Oursler games. What games did he
do before Space Shuttle?
Answer: Here's the list of Barry Oursler games, in order. Uncle
Willy decided to include the complete list to avoid the
inevitable question about games AFTER Space Shuttle.
Phoenix, Time Warp, Lazer Ball, Gorgar, Scorpion, Cosmic
Gunfight, Jungle Lord, Solar Fire, Spellbinder (a followup
to Hyperball that was never produced), Time Fantasy,
Defender pinball, 4 in 1 (a countertop novelty that was
not produced), Joust pinball, Rat Race (a tilting playfield
novelty that was not produced), Starlight, Space Shuttle,
Comet, Grand Lizard, Pinbot, Fire!, Space Station, Cyclone,
Jokerz!, Bad Cats, Police Force (co-designed with Mark
Ritchie), Harley Davidson, Hurricane, Dr. Who, Dracula,
Popeye, Dirty Harry, Whodunnit?, Junkyard
Question: I have heard about a "Champagne Edition" of the 1987
game Fire!. How did this differ from the original Fire!?
Answer: The Champagne Edition of Fire! featured a hand-finished
wood grain cabinet, brass finished trim, a fancy bell
on top of the backbox, and flickering lamp effects behind
the backglass. (These were similar to the flickering lamp
effect beneath the playfield. They were removed from the
original Fire! as a cost cutting measure.) Only a few
hundred Champagne Edition games were produced.
Question: I have an early F-14 Tomcat pinball that has some wires
taped off under the playfield. What were those wires
originally used for?
Answer: Early in production, a problem surfaced that did not show
up with the prototype F-14 Tomcats: Some screws from the
top of the playfield would touch some of those from the
bottom, causing an electrical short associated with the
flash lamps behind the TOM-CAT targets.
The flash lamps were located very close to the targets, and
the targets would eventually deform from being hit by the
ball. The circuit was then completed through the switch
bracket and the two screws mentioned above. The flash lamps
were removed to prevent the problem.
Uncle Willy does not recommend trying to reconnect the
missing flash lamps on your game without using extreme care.
You do not want to be blowing up some circuitry on your game.
Question: Is there a possibility of putting some of that great music
from your games available for purchase, such as on a CD?
Answer: Uncle Willy thinks this is a great idea. Now if he could
just convince the appropriate people of the worthiness of
the idea, maybe we could get somewhere. (No, please do not
fill Uncle Willy's mailbox showing your support of this.)
Question: I have an old Williams pinball game and I am looking for
parts and manuals for it. Does Williams Electronics have
these items for sale? If not, does Uncle Willy know where
to obtain these items?
Answer: Uncle Willy sympathizes with your plight. He has done a bit
of older game restoration in his time. Williams Electronics
typically keeps parts around for 3-5 years after a game is
produced. These parts should be ordered through your local
Williams/Bally distributor. Distributors sometimes have
parts in stock for older games, so it doesn't hurt to ask
about those, too.
While Uncle Willy cannot recommend any particular source,
he suggests you look at the rec.games.pinball FAQ. It has
the names of vendors who cater to the collector market.
These vendors are usually very helpful in tracking down old
parts and documentation.
Question: Does Williams Electronics plan to put a larger dot matrix
display on its pinballs?
Answer: Uncle Willy cannot comment on any future plans of this
nature (might tip off the competition, you know). Of course,
Williams Electronics pinball division is always investigating
new technologies, devices and improvements to use in its
games.
Question: How many pinball design teams does Williams Electronics have?
How long does it take to produce a new pinball design?
Answer: Williams Electronics employs eight pinball design teams.
It typically takes from nine to twelve months to bring a new
pinball design to production.
Question: I have an older Williams Electronics pinball, and I have
some great ideas on how to change the rules to really
improve the game. Any chance of a new ROM being released
with these rules?
Answer: The chance of this happening is very slight. While Uncle
Willy enjoys the thought of making an older game that much
more fun, the resources for that activity are not available.
As a side note, it is a policy of the Pinball Software
Department NOT to significantly change rules for a game after
version 1.0 has been released. This is to avoid frustrating
players by having a game play differently. (It is
frustrating enough to have to put up with varying levels of
maintainence and setup.)
Question: I have been enjoying the Jack*Bot pinball and I want to know
if the "Bomb Diffusers" carry over from one Casino Run to
the next.
Answer: Simple answer here: no. (Uncle Willy can't figure out why
they should. If you've got a diffuser, why not just use
it? Unless you're out of time, of course, but that's just
the breaks.)
Question: On the Jack*Bot I play, the ball tends not to go into the
lockup holes under the visor with a fast shot of the ball.
Is anything being done to keep the ball from bouncing out
of the holes?
Answer: This symptom was noticed after the sample run of Jack*Bot
was started. The lockup behavior was marginal on the
original Pinbot game, and was exacerbated by the beefed-up
flippers on Jack*Bot. (While the stronger flippers make the
ramp shot easier, the extra strength of the shots to the
lockups causes some shots to bounce out.)
The lockup holes have been redesigned and all production
Jack*Bots will have the new holes. The games on test in
the Chicago area have already been updated with the new hole
design.
Uncle Willy agrees with your frustration with this behavior,
and was himself one of the loudest protesters when games
with this symptom started appearing. If you gently mention
this behavior to your Jack*Bot operator, he/she can improve
the game by carefully adjusting the brackets that deflect the
ball into the lockup holes.
All text and images © 1995 Williams Electronics Games, Inc.
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