That's a good point about the ramp. Like the previous poster mentioned most of the employees don't care too much and would let you look inside. It seems a digital camera would be helpful if you find such an individual to let you peek. I would seriously look for a used machine for $100 or so and just copy everything if you built a new machine. Also you would be suprised what bondo (the automotive repair product) and paint can do to an old cabinet. Just because a used one looks bad doesn't mean you can't spruce it up easily.
This is correct from my experience with skeeball repair. (See my other post.) I forgot to mention the selonoid to contorl the ball release. Usually a game will operate with less than nine balls installed, it will release what it has and then count until 9 have been played and then close the selonoid. Skeeball balls available at Happ controls
I was employed as a video game technician for about a year until I was laid
off. Prior to that I had been employed repairing standard consumer electronics
for about 10 years. When I wanted to get up to speed on how most
video games operated I found Randy Fromm's
videos and Big Book very helpfull. Skeeball games in particular are very
simple. I'm not sure that Randy has a video dealing with them directly.
Essentially they are just switches, either mechanical or optical behind
each hole and a board that tallies the score and send signals to the ticket
dispenser to give the appripriate amount of tickets. You can buy ticket
dispensers, coin accepters, or just about any arcade related device from Happ
Controls. They don't have the lowest prics, but they carry just about
everything. Amusement Warehouse was where we bought most of our stuff,
but they will only deal with businesses. I am not sure of their web site,
as I recall they only operated from a small catalog, but that was 3 years ago.
The company I worked for owned about 30 Skeeball machines total and we
were always willing to part with them for much less than you could build one.
Of course they were hammered, but functional. Check with the operators
in your area, many will be willing to sell. Even if it's really hammered
you could pull all the electronics and build a nice new cabinet for it. You
could very easily build a skeeball game using a Basic
Stamp and some easily available switches. If you wanted to make it
authentic with ticket dispenser they can be easily interfaced with theStamp.
I think they hardest thing to recreate would be the scrolling display,
if you want one of those I would consider buying a used machine. In my
opinion you could have a working skeeball machine using a Basic Stamp and parts
from Happ in a weekend. Hope this helps.
One of the games I have had most success getting other non-gamer
types to play is Naval War
by Avalon Hill. Although technically it's a card game.It's rated
a 1 on AH's skill level so anyone can learn it in about 5 minutes, even kids.I
had some trouble buying it a few years back at local shops when a friend wanted
a copy, but he found one on ebay immediately. I bought the Lord
of the Rings game for our last family New Years eve party and it was a big
success. I was debating between it and Settlers
of Catan, but chose LOTR since 5 people could play without expansion packs.
This year I'm taking Settlers since I have aquired the expansion pack.
The people at this gathering are never hard core gamers, and this may
be the only time all year they get to play what I would consider to be a real
board game. We have also been playing Puerto
Rico lately which is very fun, especially because of the huge number of
ways to win. I have to put in a plug for one of my all time favorites
Axis and Allies. Although
you need to be somewhat hard core to play this, but not as much as a serious
wargame. The person who described it as Risk plus is about right, although
it may be slightly more comples than that implies. I hear Carccassone
is great, and that will be my next purchase.
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That's a good point about the ramp. Like the previous poster mentioned most of the employees don't care too much and would let you look inside. It seems a digital camera would be helpful if you find such an individual to let you peek. I would seriously look for a used machine for $100 or so and just copy everything if you built a new machine. Also you would be suprised what bondo (the automotive repair product) and paint can do to an old cabinet. Just because a used one looks bad doesn't mean you can't spruce it up easily.
This is correct from my experience with skeeball repair. (See my other post.) I forgot to mention the selonoid to contorl the ball release. Usually a game will operate with less than nine balls installed, it will release what it has and then count until 9 have been played and then close the selonoid. Skeeball balls available at Happ controls
I was employed as a video game technician for about a year until I was laid off. Prior to that I had been employed repairing standard consumer electronics for about 10 years. When I wanted to get up to speed on how most video games operated I found Randy Fromm's videos and Big Book very helpfull. Skeeball games in particular are very simple. I'm not sure that Randy has a video dealing with them directly. Essentially they are just switches, either mechanical or optical behind each hole and a board that tallies the score and send signals to the ticket dispenser to give the appripriate amount of tickets. You can buy ticket dispensers, coin accepters, or just about any arcade related device from Happ Controls. They don't have the lowest prics, but they carry just about everything. Amusement Warehouse was where we bought most of our stuff, but they will only deal with businesses. I am not sure of their web site, as I recall they only operated from a small catalog, but that was 3 years ago. The company I worked for owned about 30 Skeeball machines total and we were always willing to part with them for much less than you could build one. Of course they were hammered, but functional. Check with the operators in your area, many will be willing to sell. Even if it's really hammered you could pull all the electronics and build a nice new cabinet for it. You could very easily build a skeeball game using a Basic Stamp and some easily available switches. If you wanted to make it authentic with ticket dispenser they can be easily interfaced with theStamp. I think they hardest thing to recreate would be the scrolling display, if you want one of those I would consider buying a used machine. In my opinion you could have a working skeeball machine using a Basic Stamp and parts from Happ in a weekend. Hope this helps.
One of the games I have had most success getting other non-gamer types to play is Naval War by Avalon Hill. Although technically it's a card game.It's rated a 1 on AH's skill level so anyone can learn it in about 5 minutes, even kids.I had some trouble buying it a few years back at local shops when a friend wanted a copy, but he found one on ebay immediately. I bought the Lord of the Rings game for our last family New Years eve party and it was a big success. I was debating between it and Settlers of Catan, but chose LOTR since 5 people could play without expansion packs. This year I'm taking Settlers since I have aquired the expansion pack. The people at this gathering are never hard core gamers, and this may be the only time all year they get to play what I would consider to be a real board game. We have also been playing Puerto Rico lately which is very fun, especially because of the huge number of ways to win. I have to put in a plug for one of my all time favorites Axis and Allies. Although you need to be somewhat hard core to play this, but not as much as a serious wargame. The person who described it as Risk plus is about right, although it may be slightly more comples than that implies. I hear Carccassone is great, and that will be my next purchase.