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Pinball Wizards on the Internet

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the there-has-to-be-a-twist dept.

cecil36 writes "Pinball wizards are now turning to the Internet for their needed support. With WMS Industries (Williams/Bally) no longer in existence, owners of Williams/Bally pinball games are turning to online communities (such as the news group rec.games.pinball) to find sources for parts to maintain their games. It could use a little more detail, as the article failed to mention Stern Pinball. Lots of useful links contained within if you are looking for those few parts to fix your games." I need to order new Rubber for my Jack Bot sometime too.

6 of 173 comments (clear)

  1. What about real pinball games? by ChanxOT5 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Whatever happened to the proliferance of pinball games for the computer? I used to love EPIC pinball for dos. I'm saddened that I haven't been able to find any good pinball games under X :(

  2. Profitable? by kenneth_martens · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I can understand how the popularity of pinball dropped in favor of video arcade games, but it is unfortunate that the manufacturers are no longer producing spare parts. I guess there just isn't any profit in it.

    Here's an idea: buy a couple old pinball machines that no longer work and strip them for the parts. Go online to http://www.xmission.com/daina/pinball.html, which (as the article mentioned) has "334 parts for sale ads, but more than 1200 parts wanted ads", and sell replacement parts. If you can get the broken pinball machines cheap, you can make some money and make a lot of people happy. I might do this myself if I had the money--but unfortunately, I spent everything on university tuition.

  3. Ahhhh... the joys of Pinball... by FatRatBastard · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I've got 10+ computers, four different video game systems and enough electronics to keep Enron from going under, but *nothing* gets played more than the pinball machine. There's just something about pinball that's better than any video game.

    {blatent plug}
    Major props to Coin-Op Warehouse where I bought my machine. All the machines in the showroom are set to free play, and you can stay after hours as long as you bring a six pack. Its a great way to kill a lunchhour if you're in NVa.

    1. Re:Ahhhh... the joys of Pinball... by phillymjs · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yeah, TNT Amusements near Phila, PA is the same way. They actually rent out their showroom for birthday parties and stuff, too.

      For a while I was trading in my cabinet games for others every couple of years. I'd always bring a few friends and spend a couple hours in their showroom playing "trying to decide" what I wanted (though it was already decided days before we got there). Heheheh.

      The first time I went, nobody was in the showroom and all the machines were powered down. The whole room's power was controlled by about 8 wall switches in a row. Using both forearms, the owner flipped them all on at once. The sound of all those classic machines firing up simultaneously damn near brought tears of nostalgia to my eyes.

      ~Philly

  4. Re:Pinball on PCs - Whither Williams - Shrunk Qtrs by achurch · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There was a pinball construction set, IIRC, for the C-64, maybe someone's done like for the PC? With the speed of processors this should be a piece of cake, these days.

    Pinball Construction Set was released for the PC, way back around 1985 or so. I think I still have it sitting around, but unfortunately it was designed back in the days when there was only one processor speed, and so it doesn't work on modern CPUs... well, it does, but you can't tell because by the time the next vertical blank comes around your game is over. ;) I had oh-so-much fun with PCS, though, and I'd love to see another program like it.

    As for what happened to WMS, they just dropped the pinball business, IIRC. I don't recall the exact reason, but I assume it was just that they weren't making money on it. It may just be that my experience is limited, but particularly since '97 or so I've rarely come across a machine that's even decently maintained, save privately owned ones, and that's obviously going to drive players away. I suppose the operators just got too spoiled by video games that just don't need maintenance...

  5. NYC Pinball by bbum · · Score: 4, Interesting

    www.nycpinball.org

    Or simply email me.

    I actually maintain a pinball machine at a local bar to ensure that our company has decent pinball at local bar-- a rarity. The machine is Creature from the Black Lagoon @ The Village Idiot, 9th Ave and 14th Street in Manhattan.

    Our company-- CodeFab-- has 7 pinball machines in house. Four currently working, three in restoration mode.

    Among the employees we have a bunch more. Personally, I own Dr. Who, Addams Family Gold, Gilligan's Island, Pinbot, and Game Show. A sys admin has a Twighlight Zone and Dracula [awesome game, that].

    Just got done rebuilding all four flippers on the Addams Family at the office. Including replacing all bridge rectifiers on the power driver board.

    Pinball is an excellent way to take a break from work. It is a digital system-- all machines after 1990 are computer controlled (including the flippers)-- but behaves in a very analog / real world fashion.

    BTW: The new Stern machine-- Monopoly-- was *designed* by the same guy who built Addams Family, Monster Bash, and numerous other Williams/Bally classics. Go play it. It is a worthy machine.

    Again, anyone in NYC-- check out www.nycpinball.org, sign up on the very low volume mailing list, and join us for the next PinBall BarCrawl!!

    b.bum