Message #58036

[FirePower]

1. Earliest pinball memory?

No childhood family trips, no up on tiptoes standing on milk crate to see the play field for me. I was doing my HSC in 1980 when the Space Invaders landed. Me and a mate used to head up on bicycles to the Hornsby Billiards Hall, a seedy smoke filled den of eniquity full of characters of ill repute. It was pretty close to the library, and this was probably where we told our parents we were heading, so we referred to the HBH as the centre for wisdom, learning and excellence. From the street you dropped down a flight of stairs to enter, the lighting level was always the same, low so it seemed like it was night time, the windows were all blacked out. Heaps of pools tables, arcade machines, a seriously loud juke and heaps of pins. We used to go up to play Space Invaders, Galaga / Galaxian and Packman. When these were unavailable we'd play pin - this is where I got hooked on Firepower - no photos exist, but mate and I both reckon the machine we played had drops rather than stand up targets - this would make it an early production model. As we'd play we'd recite the phrases as the machine said them and laugh like hyenas - the same mate still comes around now to play and we behave in exactly the same way, thirty years have passed and we haven't changed a bit.

It was a good size arcade, must have had 30 machines - I remember Firepower, Timewarp, Playboy, Rocky, Six Million Dollar Man, Stellarwars, Black Knight, Kiss, Gorgar and quite a few EMs which seemed to be largely ignored.

I also recall playing at the laundromat at Hornsby and having to watch carefully for any signs of someone putting money in the soap dispensing machine as this would cause a line spike and reset the Spacies machine - a big loss of investment in those days.

I continued to play whilst at uni, probably should have paid more attention to study, but the pin and pub memories are better and stronger; the uni results and course knowledge long since forgotten. Although I did a few microprocessor hardware design and programming courses which are now proving handy for pin fault finding and understanding. The Motorola 6800 family was the machine of the time and we had little boards where you had to wire it all up and then download the code you'd written.

As arcades died over the next few years I pretty much stopped. The discovery of Mame reawkened my interest and I started noticing and attending auctions and looking on the web for info.


2. All time favorite pin? Why?

Got to be Firepower - machine of my youth, plenty happening, good flow, some nice shots - love the right flipper up through the lit spinner - great sound - to the top lock, fast enough and different strategies to play for like just building up the X times bonus, multiball, going for the Firepower bonus. The rule set is simple and consistent, but difficult to achieve. Appropriate and cool sound, speech and light shows, all it really lacks is busty babes.


3. Favorite pinball manufacture?

Williams - revolutionary for the time when my interest formed - lane change, speech, flashes, multiball. Also have now spent enough time studying schematics and wiring diagrams to be familiar and confident in fault finding and repairing them.


4. Favorite game in your collection? Why?

I don't really think I have to answer this, shouldn't be hard to guess it's Firepower.


5. How long have you been collecting?

Less than a year, but it's addictive and the collection grows.  I probably need to be more discriminating or to turn over a few machines, space restrictions may dictate this.


6. First game and how did you find it?

Firepower from the Sydney expo in 2009. Over the years I'd been going to auction but always thought the prices were too high, maybe the downturn in the economy and the number of machines on offer helped keep the prices down a bit, most at the expo seemed pretty fair to me. I had to wait until the last sale in the auction for Firepower and I was a bit nervous about ending up with nothing. I'm glad I did not go for the WMS EM Grandprix which was cheap and I was tempted as it looks cool. I think the first game being an EM may have been too much to bite off, at the time I didn't really know what an EM was!


7. Do you still have it?

Yep, it's a keeper, and one that I would like to bring up to a bit better condition.


8. What are you currently working on?

Gorgar, I have a thread in the resto section - progress is stalled as I don't want to stuff it up. Can't get all the mylar off and not sure if it will wreck it by putting mylar on top of the existing layer.  I might try some contact with the thought that if it goes wrong I can pull it off easier and without further damage.  To me you've got to make sure your repairs don't make things worse.

Disco, also a thread in the resto section - a Stern EM with a few small things to finish off, but mostly playable.

WMS World Cup (1978) a play field recondition and install to a machine for some variety. 

An ongoing (very) background project to design and build a pin controller, every now and then I add to my collection of beer coasters that serve as my design.  Who knows if this will ever see the light of day, but the basics of solenoid drive, lamp (led) drive and pf scoring are reasonably thought through, both in hardware and software terms.  Scoring displays are not yet contemplated.


9. Most wanted game to add to your collection?

Nothing screams out at me. I don't have any other holy grail games.  One day I'll get a DMD to see what the fuss is about.


10. Best all time bargain game added to your collection?

No give away bargains, but fairish prices for all. I think sometimes we can get a bit carried away over price discussions / arguments. The amount of time I spend, the cost of bits etc all add up, but how do you value the enjoyment, in fixing, playing, owning and sharing?


11. Worst ever miss – tell us about the one that got away!

Not that bad and who knows really but a funny story, at least to me.  A while ago I was watching an ebay machine that I thought would go cheap. I'd asked a few questions which were not satisfactorily answered, it was hard to tell if the seller was a charlotteon giving misleading answers or just a goose who didn't know what he was talking about or could not communicate. so I set up a bodgy ebay account to be able to do a runner if it was not accurately and fairly described. I put in a last second bid which Ebay blocked because they rightly thought the account was a fake and the machine went cheap. But as I never saw it who really knows, but it didn't reappear ...


12. Worst ever purchase – tell us about the game you wished you never bought

It's a bit strong to say I wish I'd never bought it, but I reckon I could have bought much better. It was a Timewarp that is yet to be brought back to life. Classic case of "casual" descr1ption on ebay. I wanted a TW - used to play this up at Hornsby - and hadn't seen that many, now I see one about every ten minutes off course. Paid too much for the condition - filthy, needs PF repairs and touchups, circuit board work, total strip down and the rest only in average condition.  Stay tuned for a resto thread. I guess you live and learn.


13. Describe your collection

EM's: GTB 72 Wild Life - fun game for just a single bumper
        Stern 76 Disco - has been good fun to clean up, learn about EMs and get working

SS's: Firepower, Gorgar, Timewarp, Fireball Classic

DMSD's:  None yet, I hovered with intent over the Newcastle Getaway HS2 that was mentioned on this forum.


14. Describe your gamesroom

Hah, gamesroom I wish - literally scattered through the house. Home is an inner city terrace, not room to swing a kitten let alone a cat. A few in the hallway - the EM hallway, a few in the kitchen and a few in the lounge. I'd like to get them together for the visual presentation.  I really want to see Timewarp, Gorgar and Firepower lined up side by side.


15. Do you have other games other than pinball?

Yep a full size stand up Taito Space Invaders, not working but one day I'll have a go at repairing it, I feel much more confident now with the knowledge I've gained on pins. Also a self built Mame cocktail cab, pictured here;  http://picasaweb.google.com/shawvale/Project_Mame#


16. Where can you see the hobby in 10 years

No problems in 10 years, still going strong for home collectors, sadly I reckon public arcade days are gone. Guys of my generation can remember pins from arcades in our youth. Now we have families, careers and finances under control and seek to relive our youth.  Same for the next 20 years I'd say, when arcades ceased - say about early / mid 90s, blokes who were 20's then will like that style of machine, so should be ok until about 2060 or so.

There is tons of info about, Clay's plus other web guides, TOP dvds, forums like this, which really turn into little communities.  Ebay means machines get passed on rather than tipped, that they aren't being made now in significant quantities means they are worth preserving. Parts about and diy techniques and repos on the increase, so it's all good.

Sterns and the new machines - who knows. Probaly too pricey for someone who does not have a history and interest. so a very small market.