1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:05,520 How do you suppose up to four players can compete with  each other on this old pinball machine 2 00:00:05,520 --> 00:00:08,993 filled with nothing but wires and relays? 3 00:00:08,993 --> 00:00:12,996 Well, with wacky contraptions like this one here. 4 00:00:12,996 --> 00:00:18,366 This is the player unit, and with the help of two other mechanisms inside this machine 5 00:00:18,366 --> 00:00:25,153 it will alter the machine’s programming to allow competing players take turns as the game progresses. 6 00:00:25,153 --> 00:00:30,193 Welcome to part three of a deep dive  into this electromechanical pinball machine. 7 00:00:30,193 --> 00:00:36,074 If you haven’t seen the earlier videos,  be warned parts of this might be hard to follow. 8 00:00:36,074 --> 00:00:43,852 Linky-dinks are available to find part one and two, but I’ll do my best here to lightly recap important concepts where necessary. 9 00:00:43,852 --> 00:00:46,940 First, though, let’s talk about something simple. 10 00:00:46,940 --> 00:00:47,975 That. 11 00:00:47,975 --> 00:00:52,189 This machine has several anti-cheating measures built into it. 12 00:00:52,189 --> 00:00:57,944 They’re designed to detect a player moving the machine and penalize them if they do so. 13 00:00:57,944 --> 00:01:05,333 Skilled players are able to physically push the game cabinet around to keep the ball from draining, a technique called nudging. 14 00:01:05,333 --> 00:01:07,839 And for the record I suck at that! 15 00:01:07,839 --> 00:01:15,115 But if you’re good at it you can become much more likely to get a high score and win a replay. 16 00:01:15,115 --> 00:01:20,606 Operators don’t love those - they want your quarters, not your satisfaction! 17 00:01:20,606 --> 00:01:24,813 So if you get too rough, the machine will register a tilt. 18 00:01:24,813 --> 00:01:27,732 The tilt light comes on, the flippers shut off, 19 00:01:27,732 --> 00:01:29,920 and you’re forced to lose that ball. 20 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:35,279 Now, if tilt seems like a weird word to describe this penalty, 21 00:01:35,279 --> 00:01:42,163 tilting is a very old pinball term dating back to the flipperless ball-shooting machines of the 1930’s. 22 00:01:42,163 --> 00:01:47,468 As those became popular, before long they started becoming used as gambling devices. 23 00:01:47,468 --> 00:01:54,513 Initially this was just the players making bets on each other but later the manufacturers started leaning into it. 24 00:01:54,513 --> 00:02:00,720 The written rules of the games they sold would  soon award “credits” for certain high scores, 25 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:07,400 and the proprietor of the establishment which  hosted the games would pay those credits out to winners. 26 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:11,346 As this practice spread, cheating became a serious problem. 27 00:02:11,346 --> 00:02:19,780 Especially since these early games were small and light enough that you could easily pick them up and manipulate how the balls would roll around. 28 00:02:19,780 --> 00:02:27,459 So they needed a way to warn the proprietor of the establishment that the game cabinet had been tilted during the game. 29 00:02:27,459 --> 00:02:33,216 In the early days there were many clever ways this was done which to save time I won’t get into 30 00:02:33,216 --> 00:02:40,216 but it usually involved a simple mechanism with a precariously perched object that reset with the coin slide. 31 00:02:40,713 --> 00:02:45,737 At the start of the game something like a ball would find itself on top of a stick, 32 00:02:45,737 --> 00:02:55,000 and if it fell off that perch, that meant the game was tilted during play and that would void the score and thus prevent any payouts. 33 00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:03,282 The early and problematic relationship between gambling and pinball led to it being outlawed in some locales for many years. 34 00:03:03,282 --> 00:03:05,713 And, uh, by the way - Williams? 35 00:03:05,713 --> 00:03:07,378 They still exist. 36 00:03:07,378 --> 00:03:08,924 They make slot machines. 37 00:03:08,924 --> 00:03:10,539 And Bally? 38 00:03:10,539 --> 00:03:13,029 That name’s on some casinos, isn’t it? 39 00:03:13,029 --> 00:03:15,519 Though that lineage is much murkier. 40 00:03:15,519 --> 00:03:19,100 The Bally name and logo also ended up on fitness centers. 41 00:03:19,526 --> 00:03:20,987 And theme parks. 42 00:03:21,413 --> 00:03:23,171 And sports networks. 43 00:03:23,171 --> 00:03:29,282 Anyway, pinball machines with flippers were usually earnestly meant for amusement only. 44 00:03:29,282 --> 00:03:30,374 Like this one! 45 00:03:30,374 --> 00:03:33,934 You can tell because it says "for amusement only." 46 00:03:33,934 --> 00:03:37,017 But since you can score free games 47 00:03:37,017 --> 00:03:40,945 (usually - there’s a fun legal loophole I’ll cover later) 48 00:03:40,945 --> 00:03:47,191 and free games hurt the operator’s bottom line, anti-cheating measures are still in-place. 49 00:03:47,191 --> 00:03:50,581 And this machine has several anti-cheating devices! 50 00:03:50,581 --> 00:03:58,487 This one here is the most common - pretty much every pinball machine from the 1940’s through today has a mechanism just like this, 51 00:03:58,487 --> 00:04:00,325 called the tilt bob. 52 00:04:00,325 --> 00:04:04,909 You might also call it a plumb bob because that’s technically what it is. 53 00:04:04,909 --> 00:04:08,648 A conical weight is suspended on a rod much like a pendulum, 54 00:04:08,648 --> 00:04:14,165 and the weight rests in the center of a ring  which surrounds it but doesn’t touch it. 55 00:04:14,165 --> 00:04:18,594 24 volts AC is applied across the weight and that ring, 56 00:04:18,594 --> 00:04:23,250 meaning together they are really just a strange pair of switch contacts. 57 00:04:23,250 --> 00:04:29,751 If someone were to start shaking the machine, the weight will start to swing and get close to the ring. 58 00:04:29,751 --> 00:04:32,550 Shake it too hard and they’ll touch. 59 00:04:32,550 --> 00:04:34,321 And guess what that does? 60 00:04:34,321 --> 00:04:37,776 It sends voltage to the tilt relay! 61 00:04:37,776 --> 00:04:41,027 If the tilt relay energizes, it locks on, 62 00:04:41,027 --> 00:04:42,948 illuminates the tilt indicator, 63 00:04:42,948 --> 00:04:44,924 and opens this switch. 64 00:04:44,924 --> 00:04:50,263 That disables practically everything in the game  so you will instantly stop scoring points, 65 00:04:50,263 --> 00:04:55,004 and most importantly the flippers are disabled  so you will lose the ball. 66 00:04:55,004 --> 00:05:02,140 The tilt penalty is only the ball-in-play so unless you tilted on your last ball the game isn’t over. 67 00:05:02,140 --> 00:05:06,730 But you also lose any bonus points you  might have accumulated during that ball 68 00:05:06,730 --> 00:05:10,057 and even an extra ball if you managed to score one. 69 00:05:10,057 --> 00:05:17,341 To pour salt in the wound, the machine still executes the bonus sequence  as normal once the ball lands in the outhole, 70 00:05:17,341 --> 00:05:20,560 but the tilt relay prevents it from awarding any points 71 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:27,050 so it becomes a sadistic countdown where you watch it deny every point you had previously built up. 72 00:05:27,050 --> 00:05:34,980 Once that’s complete, though, the outhole relay energizes as normal which un-trips the tilt relay and the game continues. 73 00:05:34,980 --> 00:05:42,653 As you may have guessed, the weight can be moved up and down on the rod to increase or decrease the sensitivity of the tilt switch. 74 00:05:42,653 --> 00:05:50,279 Stingy operators would move the weight very far up so the wider diameter of the cone almost entirely filled the ring. 75 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:57,631 But those with more forgiving temperaments might  lower it so more violent shaking is needed for the machine to register a tilt. 76 00:05:57,631 --> 00:06:02,236 And right above the tilt bob it is a second tilt switch in this machine. 77 00:06:02,236 --> 00:06:08,461 A ball is placed in this track which, like the tilt bob, is energized at 24V. 78 00:06:08,461 --> 00:06:17,623 The track is a little knackered as the original ball is missing and this second pinball is just a little too big - but it does work. 79 00:06:17,623 --> 00:06:21,321 If the ball rolls forward and touches this contact, 80 00:06:21,321 --> 00:06:25,907 since the ball is energized by the track, the tilt relay will trip. 81 00:06:25,907 --> 00:06:34,153 This is designed to detect that someone is lifting the front of the machine to make the playfield level and keep the ball from draining. 82 00:06:34,153 --> 00:06:37,962 These electromechanical games have fairly shallow playfields 83 00:06:37,962 --> 00:06:45,172 so the normal tilt switch wouldn’t necessarily swing enough to trip in that case, at least if set more liberally. 84 00:06:45,172 --> 00:06:52,293 Now these aren’t the only two kinds of tilt switches out there, in fact this machine has a third one hanging on the playfield. 85 00:06:52,293 --> 00:06:55,316 And there were other varieties in use throughout the years. 86 00:06:55,316 --> 00:07:01,436 But before I move on, if you spied the anti-cheat switch in the schematic earlier - 87 00:07:01,436 --> 00:07:05,665 that’s actually something else entirely unrelated to tilting. 88 00:07:05,665 --> 00:07:11,025 That switch is normally closed and in series with the coin switches. 89 00:07:11,025 --> 00:07:16,894 It lives on the coin door and you’ll notice that here it’s labeled "anti-slam switch." 90 00:07:16,894 --> 00:07:24,752 This switch is there because someone banging on the coin door could cause the leaf switches of the coin mechanisms to close 91 00:07:24,752 --> 00:07:28,906 and start the game without actually paying for a game. 92 00:07:28,906 --> 00:07:35,104 If they try that the anti-slam switch will open to prevent a false purchase. 93 00:07:35,104 --> 00:07:42,981 Later machines in the solid state era would use this switch  to trigger a slam tilt - which is a much more severe penalty. 94 00:07:42,981 --> 00:07:51,936 Slam tilts end the game entirely as a punishment for someone bashing on the coin door or perhaps violently kicking the machine. 95 00:07:51,936 --> 00:07:55,238 This game, though, has no ability to do that. 96 00:07:55,238 --> 00:08:00,645 With the cheating out of the way, let’s talk about how this machine handles multiplayer games. 97 00:08:00,645 --> 00:08:07,263 As a quick refresher, this is just a huge mess of wires we’re asking to do stuff for us. 98 00:08:07,263 --> 00:08:16,648 To perform specific tasks, the machine uses the score motor which is a contraption that rhythmically actuates a whole bunch of switches in stacks. 99 00:08:16,648 --> 00:08:22,849 When combined with the various relays throughout the machine  which connect those switches to other devices, 100 00:08:22,849 --> 00:08:25,858 the machine can execute automated sequences. 101 00:08:25,858 --> 00:08:32,181 It might perform some action multiple times, which is how targets like this award 5,000 points. 102 00:08:32,181 --> 00:08:37,872 Or the switches might activate several different mechanisms in a logical sequence. 103 00:08:37,872 --> 00:08:40,935 You might call that a program. 104 00:08:40,935 --> 00:08:46,903 Relays aren’t the only thing which determines  what all those switches in the score motor do, though. 105 00:08:46,903 --> 00:08:50,534 The game is also filled with several stepper units. 106 00:08:50,534 --> 00:08:58,619 These contraptions rewire the machine based on their physical position, which will change as other actions take place. 107 00:08:58,619 --> 00:09:03,995 These can be used as a simple kind of memory, such as in the ball count unit and the bonus unit, 108 00:09:03,995 --> 00:09:10,879 or they might alter specific steps in the machine’s program depending on their position. 109 00:09:10,879 --> 00:09:17,135 And this stepper, called the coin unit, is what determines how many players can play the game. 110 00:09:17,135 --> 00:09:19,100 How does it do that? 111 00:09:19,100 --> 00:09:21,204 Well, when you deposit a quarter, 112 00:09:21,204 --> 00:09:23,927 the coin switches trip the coin relay 113 00:09:23,927 --> 00:09:28,381 which causes the machine to reset everything including the coin unit. 114 00:09:28,381 --> 00:09:34,407 Once reset, its main program loop begins and it serves the first ball to you. 115 00:09:34,407 --> 00:09:36,792 And now you have a choice. 116 00:09:36,792 --> 00:09:40,706 You can either plunge that ball and commit to a single player game, 117 00:09:40,706 --> 00:09:45,679 or you can give it another quarter to add a second player. 118 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:50,569 If you deposit another quarter, the machine doesn’t reset this time. 119 00:09:50,569 --> 00:09:58,709 Since the game was powered on by the first quarter, the now latched game over relay locks out the reset relay. 120 00:09:58,709 --> 00:10:06,717 That prevents the coin relay and the score motor from resetting the game a second time and instead causes it to do only one thing: 121 00:10:06,717 --> 00:10:09,611 step the coin unit up. 122 00:10:09,611 --> 00:10:16,189 With the coin unit now in its second position,  the backglass indicates that two can play. 123 00:10:16,189 --> 00:10:22,989 These lights are controlled with this wiper arm here, with each of those contacts wired to one of the four light sockets. 124 00:10:22,989 --> 00:10:27,300 But the other wipers in the coin unit are doing something more interesting. 125 00:10:27,300 --> 00:10:32,553 Through their new position, they have altered the end-of-ball sequence. 126 00:10:32,553 --> 00:10:38,673 That sequence occurs at the end of a ball via the outhole relay and it has four discrete steps: 127 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:45,331 First, the score motor will pulse the ball count unit step up coil to move the game from ball 1 to ball 2. 128 00:10:45,331 --> 00:10:51,535 Next it pulses the player unit reset coil which resets the player unit. 129 00:10:51,535 --> 00:10:58,095 Then the bonus unit step up coil gets a pulse to  put it back on 5,000 points for the next ball. 130 00:10:58,095 --> 00:11:02,301 And finally the ball release coil is pulsed  to return the ball to the shooter lane. 131 00:11:04,043 --> 00:11:10,038 [rapid mechanical sounds as the sequence occurs repeatedly] 132 00:11:15,048 --> 00:11:23,221 That sequence works fine for single-player games  but it doesn’t work for the two-player game we have just paid for. 133 00:11:23,221 --> 00:11:26,879 After the first player has played their first ball and lost it, 134 00:11:26,879 --> 00:11:33,014 step one in that sequence - advancing the ball count unit - can’t happen. 135 00:11:33,014 --> 00:11:37,535 The game does need to return the ball so player two can play their turn, 136 00:11:37,535 --> 00:11:41,755 but the game should still be on ball one. 137 00:11:41,755 --> 00:11:45,722 To accomplish this, the coin unit serves as an interrupt. 138 00:11:45,722 --> 00:11:54,747 Although the end-of-ball sequence does still occur, the coin unit will not allow the ball count unit to advance in step one. 139 00:11:54,747 --> 00:11:58,564 Remember this convoluted circuit path in the schematic? 140 00:11:58,564 --> 00:12:04,145 In order for the ball count unit to receive the pulse of power coming from the outhole relay, 141 00:12:04,145 --> 00:12:07,594 that pulse has to make it through the coin unit. 142 00:12:07,594 --> 00:12:11,788 And with the coin unit in the second position for a two-player game, 143 00:12:11,788 --> 00:12:15,336 this link is moved down from here to here, 144 00:12:15,336 --> 00:12:21,216 thus the original circuit path is broken and the ball count unit cannot advance. 145 00:12:21,216 --> 00:12:23,429 Great, that makes sense. 146 00:12:23,429 --> 00:12:28,863 But the machine also has to switch from player 1 to player 2. 147 00:12:28,863 --> 00:12:30,715 How’s that happen? 148 00:12:30,715 --> 00:12:36,396 Well, remember how the second step in the end-of-ball sequence was to reset the player unit? 149 00:12:36,396 --> 00:12:39,035 You might have wondered what that does. 150 00:12:39,035 --> 00:12:41,964 The player unit is what we looked at in the opening. 151 00:12:41,964 --> 00:12:47,700 It’s another stepper unit that lives in the backbox and it’s arguably the most complicated of them all. 152 00:12:47,700 --> 00:12:52,707 It’s got a TON of wires attached to it, and rather than wiper arms 153 00:12:52,707 --> 00:13:01,868 it’s got a fiberglass disc with 24 spring-loaded contacts sliding over a sea of brass rivets almost like snowshoes. 154 00:13:01,868 --> 00:13:06,079 Those contacts on the moving disc are simply linked together in pairs 155 00:13:06,079 --> 00:13:13,749 so what they actually do is bridge together a different set of wires connected to the rivet board depending on the mechanism’s position. 156 00:13:13,749 --> 00:13:19,115 Despite its apparent complexity, the bulk of this unit’s job is actually pretty simple: 157 00:13:19,115 --> 00:13:22,066 there are four score displays in this machine, 158 00:13:22,066 --> 00:13:27,218 but only one of those displays should have points added to it as the ball hits targets. 159 00:13:27,218 --> 00:13:30,142 This device is what controls that: 160 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:36,840 the player unit connects the points relays in the  backbox to only one set of score reels at a time,   161 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:44,382 and it illuminates the player-up light to show which set of score reels is active (and thus which player is up). 162 00:13:44,382 --> 00:13:48,893 Of course, then, it has four positions - one position for each player. 163 00:13:48,893 --> 00:13:56,214 Its reset position is for player one and it will  always return there when the reset coil is fired. 164 00:13:56,214 --> 00:14:01,364 That was step two in the end-of-ball sequence - reset the player unit. 165 00:14:01,364 --> 00:14:06,986 But at the end of the first player’s first ball, we need the opposite to occur! 166 00:14:06,986 --> 00:14:10,076 We need it to step up to player two. 167 00:14:10,076 --> 00:14:16,381 And sure enough, that’s what happens after the first ball is lost - with a nice and distinct clack. 168 00:14:16,892 --> 00:14:21,008 [bell ringing as points are added, then several distinct clacks] 169 00:14:21,576 --> 00:14:23,357 Why did that happen? 170 00:14:23,357 --> 00:14:30,348 If you guessed the coin unit had something to do with it, you’d be guessing correctly but only indirectly. 171 00:14:30,348 --> 00:14:34,418 Let’s find the player unit step up coil on the schematic. 172 00:14:34,418 --> 00:14:35,855 Here it is. 173 00:14:35,855 --> 00:14:41,878 Now, it gets its pulse from the outhole relay  and switch 2-B in the score motor but looky here, 174 00:14:41,878 --> 00:14:47,350 it’s gotta go through a make/break switch in the player reset relay. 175 00:14:48,132 --> 00:14:50,489 There’s always another relay. 176 00:14:50,489 --> 00:14:56,547 If that relay is energized, then the player unit will reset in the end-of-ball sequence. 177 00:14:56,547 --> 00:15:01,365 But if it's not energized, the player unit will step up. 178 00:15:01,365 --> 00:15:05,498 So it must not have been energized during the first end-of-ball sequence. 179 00:15:05,498 --> 00:15:11,361 Why not? Because the ball count unit didn’t step up. 180 00:15:11,361 --> 00:15:18,757 The coil for that player reset relay gets energized by an end-of-stroke switch in the ball-count unit. 181 00:15:18,757 --> 00:15:25,998 That means the ball count unit has to physically move in order for the player reset relay to energize 182 00:15:25,998 --> 00:15:29,163 and cause the player unit to reset. 183 00:15:29,163 --> 00:15:31,757 So do you see what just happened? 184 00:15:31,757 --> 00:15:40,458 Since the coin unit just prevented the ball count unit from stepping up to ball two, the ball count stayed on ball one. 185 00:15:40,458 --> 00:15:45,184 And because of that, the player reset relay could not energize 186 00:15:45,184 --> 00:15:54,295 and thus the next pulse coming from switch 2-B via the outhole relay stepped the player unit up instead of resetting it. 187 00:15:54,295 --> 00:15:57,909 And now that the player unit has moved to its second position? 188 00:15:57,909 --> 00:15:59,825 Player two is up. 189 00:15:59,825 --> 00:16:05,132 The next ball that’s played will add points  to the second player’s score reels. 190 00:16:05,132 --> 00:16:11,604 And that’s literally the only difference as far as how the  game operates when the ball is on the playfield. 191 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:14,854 Once the second player’s first ball is lost, 192 00:16:14,854 --> 00:16:18,844 the machine will execute the end-of-ball sequence as it always does. 193 00:16:18,844 --> 00:16:25,718 But now we want the machine to advance to ball 2 and go back to player 1. 194 00:16:25,718 --> 00:16:27,840 How will that happen? 195 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:29,844 You might have spotted it already. 196 00:16:29,844 --> 00:16:38,400 Since the player unit moved to the player 2 position, the coin unit is no longer interrupting the ball count unit. 197 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:41,350 That link which moved down from here to here? 198 00:16:41,350 --> 00:16:44,072 Well, take a look at the player unit right next to it. 199 00:16:44,072 --> 00:16:48,969 When player 1 was up its link was at the top so the circuit  was broken. 200 00:16:48,969 --> 00:16:53,612 But with player 2 up, the link is now in the second position. 201 00:16:53,612 --> 00:16:56,237 And that matches the coin unit. 202 00:16:56,237 --> 00:16:59,295 So when player 2 loses their ball, 203 00:16:59,295 --> 00:17:07,187 the pulse coming from the outhole relay and switch 1-C to advance the ball count unit will now make it through. 204 00:17:07,187 --> 00:17:10,752 And of course, once it does, the ball count unit will advance, 205 00:17:10,752 --> 00:17:19,814 so its end-of-stroke switch energizes the player reset relay, meaning the next pulse in the sequence which comes from switch 2-B 206 00:17:19,814 --> 00:17:24,281 will in fact reset the player unit back to player 1. 207 00:17:24,281 --> 00:17:28,306 And so, ball 2 - player 1. 208 00:17:28,306 --> 00:17:34,603 So what would happen if we gave the machine three quarters at the start for a three-player game? 209 00:17:34,603 --> 00:17:38,891 Well, that would step the coin unit into its third position. 210 00:17:38,891 --> 00:17:43,965 And its link as shown on the schematic moves down to here. 211 00:17:43,965 --> 00:17:52,399 That means the coin unit will interrupt the ball count unit until the player unit is on player 3. 212 00:17:52,399 --> 00:17:59,510 So the first player loses their ball, and in the end-of-ball sequence the player unit steps up to player 2. 213 00:17:59,510 --> 00:18:06,633 Then the second player loses their ball, and the same exact thing happens: the player unit steps up to player 3. 214 00:18:06,633 --> 00:18:10,410 But, with the player unit in the player 3 position, 215 00:18:10,410 --> 00:18:15,867 the next time a ball is lost, the coin unit’s interrupt is bypassed. 216 00:18:15,867 --> 00:18:19,459 So the ball count unit can advance as normal 217 00:18:19,459 --> 00:18:25,763 which then allows the player reset relay to reset the player unit back to player 1. 218 00:18:25,763 --> 00:18:33,769 Put simply, the coin unit is saying “you must not advance the ball count until the player unit has reached player three.” 219 00:18:33,769 --> 00:18:40,935 And once that condition is met, the ball count unit can advance which of course moves the game along but also, 220 00:18:40,935 --> 00:18:46,049 through the player reset relay, puts player one back up to bat. 221 00:18:46,049 --> 00:18:51,595 Now the last thing to address here is how extra balls work in multiplayer games. 222 00:18:51,595 --> 00:18:55,177 If you score one, the extra ball relay locks on. 223 00:18:55,177 --> 00:19:02,972 And you may recall from the previous videos that this prevents the ball count unit from advancing so you get a free ball. 224 00:19:02,972 --> 00:19:05,464 But if we look at the schematic again, 225 00:19:05,464 --> 00:19:13,333 you’ll see that in fact the first and second step in the end-of-ball sequence are interrupted by the extra ball relay. 226 00:19:13,333 --> 00:19:19,998 The ball count pulse and the player unit pulse both go through this normally-closed switch. 227 00:19:19,998 --> 00:19:25,233 So, if it’s open thanks to you scoring an extra ball, neither will happen. 228 00:19:25,233 --> 00:19:31,111 So at the end of your ball the game awards the bonus points and then simply returns the ball, 229 00:19:31,111 --> 00:19:36,000 and that’s why the light on the backglass says “same player shoots again.” 230 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:38,567 In a single player game it’s just a free ball, 231 00:19:38,567 --> 00:19:44,397 but in a multiplayer game it interrupts the game’s progression from one player to the next. 232 00:19:44,397 --> 00:19:48,728 So, if you’ve got your head around all that, I have great news: 233 00:19:48,728 --> 00:19:52,121 that’s the most complex thing in this video. 234 00:19:52,121 --> 00:19:54,980 From here on out, things get easier. 235 00:19:54,980 --> 00:20:00,271 And now’s a good time to explain something about pinball machines from this time period. 236 00:20:00,271 --> 00:20:06,604 If you haven’t noticed it before, the playfield completely resets after the ball is lost. 237 00:20:06,604 --> 00:20:12,334 Every ball begins with no letters lit and the bonus at 5,000 points. 238 00:20:12,334 --> 00:20:17,518 This was a compromise which made multiplayer games possible. 239 00:20:17,518 --> 00:20:25,437 Single-player games of this time period often had fairly deep and complex rulesets that unfolded over the game. 240 00:20:25,437 --> 00:20:28,891 But multiplayer games couldn’t do that. 241 00:20:28,891 --> 00:20:36,750 Relay logic is what powers these things, and there isn’t a practical way to save the state of each player’s progress. 242 00:20:36,750 --> 00:20:45,729 Some games might enable different features depending on the ball in play: Gottlieb, for instance, was very fond of doubling the bonus on the last ball. 243 00:20:45,729 --> 00:20:50,786 But multiplayer capability required a fairly simple ruleset, 244 00:20:50,786 --> 00:20:57,945 and in most cases these multiplayer games are better understood as one-ball games which are merely repeated a few times 245 00:20:57,945 --> 00:21:00,853 in the hopes of getting a very high score. 246 00:21:00,853 --> 00:21:06,807 And you might want to get a very high score in the hopes of winning a free game. 247 00:21:06,807 --> 00:21:09,597 Which brings us to the credit unit. 248 00:21:09,597 --> 00:21:12,785 This is another stepper unit which lives in the backbox. 249 00:21:12,785 --> 00:21:16,320 It’s a step up / step down stepper like the bonus unit - 250 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:23,077 one coil moves it up by one position, and the other moves it back down by only one position. 251 00:21:23,077 --> 00:21:33,069 This little window in the backglass graphics reveals what position the stepper is in and thus whether there are any credits on the machine (and how many). 252 00:21:33,069 --> 00:21:35,926 If there are none, this is blank. 253 00:21:35,926 --> 00:21:41,558 But you might have earned yourself a replay by getting a high score or perhaps a special. 254 00:21:41,558 --> 00:21:47,630 In that case, the credit unit step up coil is fired and the window will show a 1. 255 00:21:47,630 --> 00:21:52,943 And now, the game can be started again using the start button on the front. 256 00:21:52,943 --> 00:22:01,114 With a credit on the machine, the start button will energize the coin relay just as if you had inserted a coin and so the game will start. 257 00:22:01,114 --> 00:22:05,674 It also steps the credit unit down to remove one credit. 258 00:22:05,674 --> 00:22:07,467 Now, much like the bonus unit, 259 00:22:07,467 --> 00:22:11,659 to the game logic, the credit unit can only be in one of two states: 260 00:22:11,659 --> 00:22:15,180 no credits, or yes credits. 261 00:22:15,180 --> 00:22:22,478 The number of credits shown simply indicates how many steps away from the zero position the mechanism happens to be, 262 00:22:22,478 --> 00:22:30,245 and thus how many times a credit can be removed (and a game started or a player added) before it’s back to zero. 263 00:22:30,245 --> 00:22:35,379 All this thing is doing is pressing on this switch stack with this peg. 264 00:22:35,379 --> 00:22:40,882 If it’s got a credit, the peg has moved away from the stack and this switch is closed. 265 00:22:40,882 --> 00:22:43,617 That connects the start button to the coin relay. 266 00:22:43,617 --> 00:22:45,382 And if it doesn’t have a credit, 267 00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:51,294 the peg presses on the stack and this switch is open which disables the start button. 268 00:22:51,294 --> 00:22:57,158 There's another peg on the same wheel which will press  the switch stack from the other direction once it hits it - 269 00:22:57,158 --> 00:23:01,864 and this defines the maximum number of credits the machine will store. 270 00:23:01,864 --> 00:23:08,673 Once this switch is open, the credit unit step up  coil is disconnected and it can’t add any more. 271 00:23:08,673 --> 00:23:14,401 You can move that peg to a few different positions which alter that maximum number of credits the machine will allow. 272 00:23:15,120 --> 00:23:24,429 Incidentally, the mere presence of this thing is what kept pinball illegal in some jurisdictions even after flipper games became common. 273 00:23:24,429 --> 00:23:31,215 Some lawmakers apparently believed that if you could win a free game, you could then… 274 00:23:31,215 --> 00:23:38,565 sell it? I guess? to another player and then somehow that made this a gambling machine. 275 00:23:38,565 --> 00:23:47,235 Now, this sounds absurd at first but it’s a little understandable when you know that the same companies that made these pinball machines 276 00:23:47,235 --> 00:23:50,353 also made bingo machines. 277 00:23:50,353 --> 00:24:01,720 Those looked an awful lot like pinball machines (built into identical cabinets) but they didn’t have flippers and they were explicitly gambling machines. 278 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:06,254 Bingo machines were terribly addictive and insidious devices. 279 00:24:06,254 --> 00:24:16,254 They tended to make your odds of winning slightly better by quasi-randomly enabling more features and thus making a win slightly more likely 280 00:24:16,254 --> 00:24:23,635 if you gave them more money before the clock on the timed game (did I mention it's a timed game?) ran out. 281 00:24:23,635 --> 00:24:28,360 I’ve linked to a very good explanation from a collector  if you’d like to learn more about them. 282 00:24:29,120 --> 00:24:32,535 Those machines also awarded credits if you won 283 00:24:32,535 --> 00:24:36,005 which were technically just free games. 284 00:24:36,005 --> 00:24:39,208 But you might win hundreds at a time. 285 00:24:39,208 --> 00:24:46,295 And the proprietor could knock them off the machine with a hidden button and pay you out their cash value. 286 00:24:46,295 --> 00:24:52,542 The distinction between pinball machines and bingo machines might seem obvious enough in hindsight, 287 00:24:52,542 --> 00:25:01,077 but anyone who knows how poorly Congress seems to understand the internet should be able to piece together why this confusion occurred. 288 00:25:01,077 --> 00:25:04,198 The pinball manufacturers were crafty, though. 289 00:25:04,198 --> 00:25:07,765 They just wanted to sell these machines to operators. 290 00:25:07,765 --> 00:25:12,219 Vertical integration and strict profit-sharing agreements weren't trendy yet, 291 00:25:12,219 --> 00:25:15,614 so they only made their profit when they sold the machines. 292 00:25:15,614 --> 00:25:17,697 They didn't care how they got used. 293 00:25:17,697 --> 00:25:21,872 So, to get around some of the stricter anti-pinball laws 294 00:25:21,872 --> 00:25:28,316 they began producing altered versions of their flipper games known as add-a-ball machines. 295 00:25:28,316 --> 00:25:31,269 In these games, there was no credit unit. 296 00:25:31,269 --> 00:25:33,370 You couldn’t win a free game. 297 00:25:33,370 --> 00:25:35,285 Law satisfied! 298 00:25:35,285 --> 00:25:38,424 But you could win more balls. 299 00:25:38,424 --> 00:25:44,835 These machines, rather than displaying the ball-in-play, showed balls-to-play. 300 00:25:44,835 --> 00:25:48,449 The ball count unit became a step up/step down stepper, 301 00:25:48,449 --> 00:25:53,448 and the game was configured to begin with a certain number of balls, lets say 5. 302 00:25:53,448 --> 00:25:57,929 Then, when you lost that ball, it would step down to 4 remaining. 303 00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:02,296 The game would end when you reached zero balls remaining of course 304 00:26:02,296 --> 00:26:08,852 but you could fairly easily add a ball through scoring enough points or hitting a certain target sequence. 305 00:26:08,852 --> 00:26:13,223 And you could often end up with more balls to play than you started with! 306 00:26:13,223 --> 00:26:15,173 Ah, loopholes. 307 00:26:15,173 --> 00:26:23,716 Oh, that’s also partly why the outlanes on this machine say “special” when lit, rather than “replay” when lit. 308 00:26:23,716 --> 00:26:28,543 The operator could configure this  to award an extra ball rather than a credit, 309 00:26:28,543 --> 00:26:33,863 which would be enough to satisfy at least some of the weird legal prudes out there. 310 00:26:33,863 --> 00:26:38,787 I think that also might be why the credit unit doesn’t show a zero: 311 00:26:38,787 --> 00:26:48,619 disable replays and make the special an extra ball and then there’s plausible deniability that this machine can even store credits. 312 00:26:48,619 --> 00:26:52,097 Then again, it was also just an option given to operators 313 00:26:52,097 --> 00:26:57,574 and would enable the same playfield design to be used in both add-a-ball and replay machines 314 00:26:57,574 --> 00:27:08,108 so I’m not sure how much the legal issue influenced the term “special” but the use of it to imply “replay” was nearly universal 315 00:27:08,108 --> 00:27:10,458 unless you lived where it was illegal. 316 00:27:10,458 --> 00:27:16,680 But of course I’ve skipped the most important thing - what adds credits in the first place? 317 00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:20,808 Well, first of course there’s the outlanes when lit for a special. 318 00:27:20,808 --> 00:27:25,086 When it’s lit and the ball hits the switch, the credit unit steps up. 319 00:27:25,086 --> 00:27:35,768 The lane is only lit if the bonus unit is at the maximum position AND you’ve lit every letter in AZTEC so it’s pretty hard to score a special. 320 00:27:35,768 --> 00:27:40,853 Plus which outlane is lit flips back and forth as you hit 10 point targets 321 00:27:40,853 --> 00:27:44,524 so it’s pretty rare to earn one this way. 322 00:27:44,524 --> 00:27:48,949 But you can also win replays by getting a high enough score. 323 00:27:48,949 --> 00:27:50,627 How’s that work? 324 00:27:50,627 --> 00:27:58,123 Well, until now I’ve been deliberately ignoring  all these wires going to some of the score reels. 325 00:27:58,123 --> 00:28:03,789 Three of the five reels in every player position  have a circuit board attached to it. 326 00:28:03,789 --> 00:28:11,323 That board has 11 wires coming from it: a common connection and 10 wires for each of the 10 digits on that reel. 327 00:28:11,323 --> 00:28:17,307 A wiper on that circuit board connects  the common connection to one of the 10 wires. 328 00:28:17,307 --> 00:28:24,079 That wiper is attached to the drum, so as it rotates, the single wire connected to the common wire changes 329 00:28:24,079 --> 00:28:29,098 with the specific wire connected corresponding to the number shown on the drum. 330 00:28:29,098 --> 00:28:31,469 How does that give you free games? 331 00:28:31,469 --> 00:28:36,364 Well, here in the backbox you’ll find a rather strange adjustment jack. 332 00:28:36,364 --> 00:28:43,963 This connector has 10 positions, and next to it are 9 differently-colored wires with their own plugs. 333 00:28:43,963 --> 00:28:48,664 Those loose wires are connected to the drums at the 100,000 position. 334 00:28:48,664 --> 00:28:55,362 And the connector you plug them into has each hole wired to the drums of the 10,000 position. 335 00:28:55,362 --> 00:29:02,082 This guide here shows how to use them -  if you want to award a replay at 350,000 points, 336 00:29:02,082 --> 00:29:07,650 then you need to plug the yellow wire, for scores between 310,000 and 400,000, 337 00:29:07,650 --> 00:29:12,688 into the bottom-left hole of the connector, the 50,000 position. 338 00:29:12,688 --> 00:29:22,334 Now, what that actually did was link the 3 in the 100,000s score reel to the 4 in the 10,000s score reel. 339 00:29:22,334 --> 00:29:24,646 Betcha thought I was gonna say five. 340 00:29:24,646 --> 00:29:32,705 But see, the machine has to add that credit at the moment the display first reads 3, 5, something something something points. 341 00:29:32,705 --> 00:29:40,306 And the action which takes place before that happens is the rolling of this digit from 4 to 5. 342 00:29:40,306 --> 00:29:45,950 What actually moves that score reel forward in the game is the 10,000 point relay. 343 00:29:45,950 --> 00:29:54,004 So what these plugs do is connect this switch in the 10,000 point relay to the credit unit step up coil, 344 00:29:54,004 --> 00:29:58,040 but that connection goes through the first two score reels. 345 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:03,615 If and when they are in the correct position, in this case 3 and 4, 346 00:30:03,615 --> 00:30:12,720 then the next pulse of the 10,000 point relay will of course roll the 4 up to a 5 but it will also award a credit. 347 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:16,458 And here’s that mess of wiring drawn in the schematic. 348 00:30:16,458 --> 00:30:22,467 On the left are the 10,000 point score reels and on the right are the 100,000 point reels. 349 00:30:22,467 --> 00:30:24,906 The adjustment jack is in the middle. 350 00:30:24,906 --> 00:30:31,357 Like the player unit, these arrows represent the link the score reels are making based on their position, 351 00:30:31,357 --> 00:30:38,716 and since the schematic is drawn with the game reset, the top position is zero, then 1 through 9 follow. 352 00:30:38,716 --> 00:30:47,390 The yellow wire is connected to the 3 in the 100,000 point score reels and when it’s plugged into this position on the adjustment jack, 353 00:30:47,390 --> 00:30:52,044 then when the displays reads 3,4 something something points, 354 00:30:52,044 --> 00:30:57,026 there’s a link through all this mess and up to this switch here. 355 00:30:57,026 --> 00:31:03,412 The next time the 10,000 point relay energizes, as it will when rolling the 4 to a 5, 356 00:31:03,412 --> 00:31:10,147 it sends a pulse through the credit or extra ball adjustment and finally through to the credit unit step up coil. 357 00:31:10,147 --> 00:31:12,079 And so you won a replay! 358 00:31:12,079 --> 00:31:13,233 [knock] 359 00:31:13,233 --> 00:31:15,881 Which brings us to knockers. 360 00:31:15,881 --> 00:31:20,550 When this machine awards credits, it also energizes the knocker. 361 00:31:20,550 --> 00:31:26,847 This is a solenoid attached to the cabinet which simply whacks its bracket to make a knocking sound. 362 00:31:26,847 --> 00:31:27,952 [knock] 363 00:31:27,952 --> 00:31:29,605 Why? 364 00:31:29,605 --> 00:31:32,400 The exact reason is likely lost to history, 365 00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:39,311 but the sound is unique and lets both players  and operators know that a free game was won. 366 00:31:39,311 --> 00:31:42,900 On these electromechanical games the knocker is fairly subtle, 367 00:31:42,900 --> 00:31:49,686 but into the solid state era, the manufacturers started having fun making them startlingly loud. 368 00:31:49,686 --> 00:31:55,410 In machines from the early '90s, the sound level is similar to a balloon popping in your face. 369 00:31:57,045 --> 00:31:58,267 ♫ fanfare ♫ 370 00:31:58,267 --> 00:31:59,078 [KNOCK] 371 00:32:01,601 --> 00:32:08,869 That is until they got too cheap to put in an actual knocker coil and started playing a sound effect through the loudspeakers. 372 00:32:08,869 --> 00:32:14,457 Williams started it but they at least tried to emulate the old sound with their games. 373 00:32:14,457 --> 00:32:17,163 Meanwhile, over at Stern? 374 00:32:17,163 --> 00:32:19,464 Well, if you know you know. 375 00:32:19,464 --> 00:32:22,208 Put it back, guys. That noise is hideous. 376 00:32:22,208 --> 00:32:23,073 Also, 377 00:32:23,160 --> 00:32:24,671 fun knocker fact, 378 00:32:24,671 --> 00:32:28,337 while video games really did a number on the pinball manufacturers, 379 00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:34,560 some notable early arcade games were made by the likes of Bally, Williams, and Gottlieb. 380 00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:36,592 Gottlieb produced Q*Bert, 381 00:32:36,592 --> 00:32:40,918 and for fun they installed one of their knocker coils into the game cabinet 382 00:32:40,918 --> 00:32:45,692 so it made an actual thud shortly after Q*Bert fell off the board. 383 00:32:45,692 --> 00:32:48,214 Also, Haunted Mansion fans? 384 00:32:48,214 --> 00:32:54,380 That wrap on a table is probably coming from a pinball knocker, or at least something quite similar. 385 00:32:54,380 --> 00:32:57,484 Now did you notice something when we were looking at this mess? 386 00:32:57,484 --> 00:33:00,412 The player unit was also involved. 387 00:33:00,412 --> 00:33:04,271 If you’re wondering why, well what would happen if, say, 388 00:33:04,271 --> 00:33:13,576 player 2 lost their ball and then, once they were awarded their bonus points, they ended up with 345,720 points? 389 00:33:13,576 --> 00:33:22,357 Player 2’s score reels would then display 3 and 4, so the 10,000 point relay would be set up to award a replay. 390 00:33:22,357 --> 00:33:27,108 But when any other player is up, that connection must be broken. 391 00:33:27,108 --> 00:33:35,831 Otherwise the next player to score enough points to bump their 10,000 point relay will win Player 2's replay undeservedly. 392 00:33:35,831 --> 00:33:42,253 So the player unit only connects the score reels of the player that’s currently up to the credit unit. 393 00:33:42,253 --> 00:33:48,944 But there’s one more way you might score a replay, and that’s with the number match feature. 394 00:33:48,944 --> 00:33:54,506 At the end of the game (if that feature is enabled), a number appears on the backglass. 395 00:33:54,506 --> 00:33:56,872 That number will either be double-zeros, 396 00:33:56,872 --> 00:33:57,543 10, 397 00:33:57,543 --> 00:33:58,237 20, 398 00:33:58,237 --> 00:33:58,758 30, 399 00:33:58,758 --> 00:33:59,507 40, 400 00:33:59,507 --> 00:34:00,159 50, 401 00:34:00,159 --> 00:34:00,659 60, 402 00:34:00,659 --> 00:34:01,471 70, 403 00:34:01,471 --> 00:34:02,755 80, or - 404 00:34:02,755 --> 00:34:04,618 and this might shock you 405 00:34:04,618 --> 00:34:06,453 - 90. 406 00:34:06,453 --> 00:34:11,879 If that number matches the last two digits in your score, you win a replay. 407 00:34:11,879 --> 00:34:12,781 [knock] 408 00:34:12,781 --> 00:34:16,585 Now you probably already have a good sense of how that might work. 409 00:34:16,585 --> 00:34:24,522 The 10s score reels also have the circuit board attached to them, so their position is “known” to the game. 410 00:34:24,522 --> 00:34:30,279 It would seem that the number that appears  on the backglass must be determined by some other mechanism, 411 00:34:30,279 --> 00:34:35,582 and if it and the last digit in your score match, then you win a replay. 412 00:34:35,582 --> 00:34:37,578 This is that mechanism. 413 00:34:37,578 --> 00:34:41,346 It’s called the number match unit and it’s a very simple device. 414 00:34:41,346 --> 00:34:46,664 This is just another stepper unit and like the score reels it merely spins in circles. 415 00:34:46,664 --> 00:34:56,635 The match unit receives a pulse to advance with the 10 point relay, so every time a 10-point target is hit, this moves to its next position. 416 00:34:56,635 --> 00:34:59,955 The match feature is only one part of its job, though - 417 00:34:59,955 --> 00:35:06,584 this little switch is what’s been causing some of the targets  to change as the ball moves around. 418 00:35:06,584 --> 00:35:15,666 A cam in the center of the match unit alternately opens then  closes this switch which energizes a relay called the change relay. 419 00:35:15,666 --> 00:35:19,968 That relay is what’s flipping which of the bumpers are lit for 1,000 points, 420 00:35:19,968 --> 00:35:22,962 which of these two targets will award bonus points when hit, 421 00:35:22,962 --> 00:35:26,822 and it also flips the lane that's lit for special. 422 00:35:26,822 --> 00:35:31,243 I’d go over how it does that but the answer, as I’m sure you know by now, 423 00:35:31,243 --> 00:35:32,944 is wires. 424 00:35:32,944 --> 00:35:37,746 The number match feature is done by the circuit boards on either side of the match unit, 425 00:35:37,746 --> 00:35:43,885 and both of them have a pair of wipers bridging a common wire with 10 other wires, just like the score reels. 426 00:35:43,885 --> 00:35:51,458 One circuit board illuminates the lights on the backglass which indicate the number this is on (though that’s hidden until the end of the game), 427 00:35:51,458 --> 00:35:55,654 and the other board links to the 10s score reels of every player. 428 00:35:55,654 --> 00:36:02,332 If the score reel’s position matches this mechanism's position at the end of the game, the machine awards a replay. 429 00:36:02,332 --> 00:36:04,850 In fact, one for every player that matches. 430 00:36:04,850 --> 00:36:05,921 [knock knock] 431 00:36:06,883 --> 00:36:14,942 This works more or less identically to how the high score credit award worked, at least as far as the linking between the score reels and the match unit, 432 00:36:14,942 --> 00:36:19,698 but it’s the game over relay which actually awards those credits. 433 00:36:19,698 --> 00:36:21,453 Look here on the schematic. 434 00:36:21,453 --> 00:36:33,982 Switches 2-C, 3-C, 4-C, and 5-B are always sending pulses through the 10s score reels, then through the number match unit, and to the credit unit throughout the game. 435 00:36:33,982 --> 00:36:41,859 But this switch in the game over relay prevents those pulses from going anywhere when the game is switched on. 436 00:36:41,859 --> 00:36:49,658 When the game switches off, which happens when switch 1-B advances the ball count unit and trips the game over relay, 437 00:36:49,658 --> 00:36:52,268 those pulses can make it through. 438 00:36:52,268 --> 00:37:01,135 So if the score reel’s position matches the match unit’s position, a pulse will make its way to the credit unit step up coil and you win a game. 439 00:37:01,135 --> 00:37:06,250 The number match is the very last thing the  machine does before it shuts off. 440 00:37:06,250 --> 00:37:13,747 Since the score motor was pushed out of its home position by the outhole relay, even though the game over relay is about to trip 441 00:37:13,747 --> 00:37:16,132 it will still complete the cycle. 442 00:37:16,132 --> 00:37:22,871 And actually, take a look - if I move the last digit of player 1 to match the number that's lit, 443 00:37:22,871 --> 00:37:28,342 then every time I push the score motor forward, it awards a replay. 444 00:37:28,342 --> 00:37:30,772 Wait, why didn’t that work? 445 00:37:30,772 --> 00:37:34,116 Oh, the player reset relay also has to be pulled in. 446 00:37:34,116 --> 00:37:39,234 So if I hold it in and then turn the score motor - there we have it. 447 00:37:39,234 --> 00:37:42,133 The knock tells me it added a credit. 448 00:37:42,133 --> 00:37:43,905 [kachunkaKNOCKkachunkahunkaclack] 449 00:37:43,905 --> 00:37:48,867 Now, you might wonder - if it’s the 10 point relay which moves the match unit, 450 00:37:48,867 --> 00:37:54,820 that means the match unit and the 10 reel are always moving at the same time. 451 00:37:54,820 --> 00:38:00,339 Wouldn’t that mean the machine could get stuck in a loop  where it’s always awarding a match? 452 00:38:00,339 --> 00:38:02,166 Well, not really. 453 00:38:02,166 --> 00:38:09,928 Remember that the scores are reset to zero between games, and the number match unit doesn’t move during that process. 454 00:38:09,928 --> 00:38:15,942 So it will desynchronize unless the game ends with the score reel on zero. 455 00:38:15,942 --> 00:38:21,492 And to fix that potential issue, the numbers the match unit picks aren’t in order. 456 00:38:21,492 --> 00:38:26,883 You’ll notice that as I advance it manually,  the numbers move around quite frantically. 457 00:38:26,883 --> 00:38:29,926 Actually - probability people. 458 00:38:29,926 --> 00:38:31,646 I have a question about this. 459 00:38:31,646 --> 00:38:37,054 Intuitively, since the match unit has 10 positions and the score reels have 10 positions 460 00:38:37,054 --> 00:38:41,088 then it should award a replay 10% of the time. 461 00:38:41,088 --> 00:38:46,403 But, and I’ll admit I haven’t kept track over hundreds of games to confirm this, 462 00:38:46,403 --> 00:38:51,572 it sure feels as though it happens much less frequently. 463 00:38:51,572 --> 00:38:53,557 Is that possible? 464 00:38:53,557 --> 00:39:00,355 It feels like it shouldn’t be, but since the two mechanisms are running in different sequences, 465 00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:06,148 there are scenarios where it’s not possible  to get a match if they stay synchronized. 466 00:39:06,148 --> 00:39:11,969 Say the match unit starts on 6 and the game starts with the score reel on zero. 467 00:39:11,969 --> 00:39:18,881 If the two mechanisms always move together then it’s  impossible during that game to win a replay. 468 00:39:18,881 --> 00:39:23,291 It will just be repeating these 10 pairs, none of which match. 469 00:39:23,291 --> 00:39:31,150 So unless the mechanism is faulty, the only possible way for a match to occur if the match unit starts on 60 470 00:39:31,150 --> 00:39:38,485 is if a second player is added so their ten-point scoring desynchronizes the match unit and player 1. 471 00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:44,835 Now, there’s a confounding issue, here, which is  that the match unit in this game isn’t working quite right - 472 00:39:44,835 --> 00:39:48,256 many times the mechanism doesn’t advance when it should. 473 00:39:48,256 --> 00:39:49,949 It’s kind of sticky. 474 00:39:49,949 --> 00:39:57,356 But even if it were working perfectly, I suspect given how the game works and the sloppiness of the real world 475 00:39:57,356 --> 00:40:03,983 there will be occasions where the 10 point score reel moves but the match unit doesn’t, or vice versa. 476 00:40:03,983 --> 00:40:08,872 But I am really curious to the probabilities here if it were working perfectly. 477 00:40:09,689 --> 00:40:12,440 Wait a minute, I can just do a matrix can’t I? 478 00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:20,185 OK, of the 100 possible ending combinations assuming the two mechanisms stay synchronized throughout a single-player game, 479 00:40:20,185 --> 00:40:22,421 10 result in a match. 480 00:40:22,421 --> 00:40:26,871 So it does seem as though the likelihood is 1 in 10 overall, 481 00:40:26,871 --> 00:40:36,264 but the odds of getting a match in the next game are heavily influenced by where the match unit ends in the previous game. 482 00:40:36,264 --> 00:40:45,642 If it ends on 60, 40, 30, or 20, then you cannot win a match in the next game  (assuming, again, the mechanisms stay synced). 483 00:40:45,642 --> 00:40:53,551 But your odds of getting a match are great  if the previous game ended with the match unit on 70 or 50. 484 00:40:53,551 --> 00:40:58,926 But how multiplayer games mess with this, where each player up jumbles the sequencing up, 485 00:40:58,926 --> 00:41:00,359 is well over my head. 486 00:41:00,359 --> 00:41:05,442 I have tried to give it some thought but it hurts too much so I’m throwing it out to you! 487 00:41:05,442 --> 00:41:18,182 I fully expect it to still be 1 in 10 overall but this bunching of possibilities combined with how the sequences might synchronize then desynchronize feels fishy. 488 00:41:18,182 --> 00:41:24,700 Now if you didn’t spot it before, the coin unit makes itself known one more time at the end of the game. 489 00:41:24,700 --> 00:41:28,249 Remember, it determines how many players can play. 490 00:41:28,249 --> 00:41:33,636 And what if the number match unit landed on zero in a single-player game? 491 00:41:33,636 --> 00:41:40,189 Three score displays would match because they’re all zeroes, but you only paid for one game. 492 00:41:40,189 --> 00:41:48,102 Since it’s in the reset position, the coin unit prevents the number match feature from working on players 2 through 4. 493 00:41:48,102 --> 00:41:52,630 But, in a two player game, these three arrows all move down 494 00:41:52,630 --> 00:41:59,671 so now switch 3-C will pulse the 2nd player player and award a replay if it matches. 495 00:41:59,671 --> 00:42:03,209 Three players? Then 4-C gets hooked up, too. 496 00:42:03,209 --> 00:42:12,121 And in a four player game, every score display gets checked against the match unit,  and any time one of them matches, you score a replay. 497 00:42:12,121 --> 00:42:16,113 And with that - we’ve reached the end. 498 00:42:16,113 --> 00:42:20,593 As in, I think I’ve gone over pretty much everything this game does. 499 00:42:20,593 --> 00:42:27,685 But this won’t be the last video - at least two more videos on Aztec will be put out on Connextras. 500 00:42:27,685 --> 00:42:35,768 The first will be an unscripted one where I go over some frequently asked questions - so, uh, ask your questions in the comments below! 501 00:42:35,768 --> 00:42:42,393 And the second will be a sights-and-sounds video where I  make audio recordings of it going through its various sequences 502 00:42:42,393 --> 00:42:45,880 and explain what’s on the screen for those who can’t see it. 503 00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:49,576 Oh, but I will address one thing which kept coming up: 504 00:42:49,576 --> 00:42:57,120 many of you have presumed that these electromechanical games must be horribly unreliable and a pain to take care of. 505 00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:02,949 Well, as someone who has had this machine for over 10 years and even - 506 00:43:02,949 --> 00:43:04,704 and here comes a surprise - 507 00:43:04,704 --> 00:43:10,000 had it on location in revenue service at a restaurant for a couple of years... 508 00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:11,244 I'm that weird. 509 00:43:11,670 --> 00:43:15,912 I can tell you from first-hand experience this isn’t the case! 510 00:43:15,912 --> 00:43:21,408 This machine has only had one thing break in all this time - and that was a flipper. 511 00:43:21,408 --> 00:43:24,435 One of them just broke on the shaft. 512 00:43:24,435 --> 00:43:31,213 The only other issue I had to take care of over several thousand games was the slingshots - 513 00:43:31,213 --> 00:43:35,081 on occasion the kicker would slip out from behind the rubber ring 514 00:43:35,081 --> 00:43:37,549 and then this would happen. [rapid, painful chattering] 515 00:43:37,549 --> 00:43:42,529 Luckily my friends who ran the restaurant would shut it off right away and put it out of order, 516 00:43:42,529 --> 00:43:46,383 and all I needed was to slide out the glass and put the kicker back. 517 00:43:46,383 --> 00:43:50,727 In contrast, this Theatre of Magic machine from 1995, 518 00:43:50,727 --> 00:43:55,387 which lives in my home and doesn’t have the general public giving it quarters and beating it up, 519 00:43:55,387 --> 00:43:59,811 oh and also is run by a computer rather than all this crap, 520 00:43:59,811 --> 00:44:06,963 has had at least a dozen things go wrong with it which required repair in the last couple of years. 521 00:44:06,963 --> 00:44:09,037 I’m talking potentiometer adjustments, 522 00:44:09,037 --> 00:44:10,542 mechanical realignments, 523 00:44:10,542 --> 00:44:12,578 wire-reattachment and repair, 524 00:44:12,578 --> 00:44:14,439 parts replacements, switch adjustments, 525 00:44:14,439 --> 00:44:17,212 and even driver board repair. 526 00:44:17,212 --> 00:44:22,728 And still! It has a problem with the trunk motor where it  sometimes gets stuck for no apparent reason, 527 00:44:22,728 --> 00:44:24,916 there’s a light socket I need to repair, 528 00:44:24,916 --> 00:44:29,534 and now the right flipper is sticking in the up position. 529 00:44:29,534 --> 00:44:37,281 Pinball machines from the '80s and '90s are an endless battle of weird little issues (especially as capacitors decay) 530 00:44:37,281 --> 00:44:41,482 but these electromechanical games are shockingly resilient! 531 00:44:41,482 --> 00:44:45,950 Aside from catastrophic mechanical failures like a flipper breaking off, 532 00:44:45,950 --> 00:44:51,535 the only truly troublesome thing in these electromechanical games are the stepper units. 533 00:44:51,535 --> 00:44:57,120 They are rather delicate devices and their proper operation relies on smooth movement, 534 00:44:57,120 --> 00:45:00,885 properly-tensioned springs, and clean contacts. 535 00:45:00,885 --> 00:45:03,936 If they get gummed up or the springs start to fail, 536 00:45:03,936 --> 00:45:08,244 the game logic breaks down or sometimes it just doesn’t do what it should - 537 00:45:08,244 --> 00:45:16,736 for instance I did have to reimburse my friends at the restaurant for several games when the coin unit didn’t step up properly for a second player. 538 00:45:18,067 --> 00:45:25,016 Other than that, though, these machines usually just require cleaning dirty switches and adjusting them if need be. 539 00:45:25,016 --> 00:45:29,642 And, if they’re adjusted properly, they should mostly clean themselves. 540 00:45:29,642 --> 00:45:37,480 Their rounded shape and over-extension as they’re actuated produces a rubbing action which grinds off any deposits. 541 00:45:37,480 --> 00:45:42,702 What is truly difficult with these old games is troubleshooting problems. 542 00:45:42,702 --> 00:45:48,329 If a single switch is out of adjustment, it can wreck a whole lotta stuff. 543 00:45:48,329 --> 00:45:54,503 And since all these switches look the same, with some normally open yet others normally closed, 544 00:45:54,503 --> 00:45:58,519 finding the problem switch can be a nightmare. 545 00:45:58,519 --> 00:46:04,632 But if you can learn to read their schematics and you understand what the game should do when, 546 00:46:04,632 --> 00:46:07,696 you’ll usually be able to find it pretty quickly. 547 00:46:07,696 --> 00:46:12,670 And I hope through these videos that you’ll have some idea of how to do that for yourself. 548 00:46:12,670 --> 00:46:14,487 But I must warn you: 549 00:46:14,487 --> 00:46:17,089 if you decide to get a pinball machine of your own, 550 00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:23,699 before long you’re going to discover why they put a power outlet inside the cabinet. 551 00:46:23,699 --> 00:46:25,941 That’s for your soldering iron. 552 00:46:25,941 --> 00:46:28,215 And you will need it. 553 00:46:28,215 --> 00:46:30,691 Sometimes annoyingly frequently. 554 00:46:31,650 --> 00:46:33,860 Sure is worth it, though. 555 00:46:34,748 --> 00:46:37,373 ♫ salaciously smooth jazz ♫ 556 00:46:38,634 --> 00:46:43,168 ...between gambling and pinball led to it being outlawed in some locales - 557 00:46:43,168 --> 00:46:43,869 locales. 558 00:46:43,869 --> 00:46:45,155 In some locales. 559 00:46:45,546 --> 00:46:46,629 In some locales. 560 00:46:46,949 --> 00:46:47,662 In some locales. 561 00:46:47,662 --> 00:46:50,025 I am really struggling with saying those words! 562 00:46:50,025 --> 00:46:53,364 With the coin unit now in its second position - ah! 563 00:46:53,364 --> 00:46:54,943 I should start it, huh? 564 00:46:54,943 --> 00:46:58,340 [ka-chunk and all the lovely noises] 565 00:47:02,142 --> 00:47:04,489 [another ka-chunk as he finally remembers to add a second player] 566 00:47:04,489 --> 00:47:06,164 I think I said relay funny. 567 00:47:06,164 --> 00:47:12,297 The pulse coming from the outhole relay and switch 1-C to advaooohhh [tiny burp] god that line is too long! 568 00:47:12,297 --> 00:47:16,614 Meaning the next pulse in the sequench whits comes from swi - ah crap. 569 00:47:16,614 --> 00:47:19,899 ...until the player unit is on player 3. 570 00:47:20,823 --> 00:47:22,801 And I lost my place. 571 00:47:24,867 --> 00:47:28,535 So, ya think a video on Theatre of Magic and what these games started to look like in the solid state era might be worth it? 572 00:47:28,535 --> 00:47:32,182 There is some cool stuff in there: clever sensors, magnets, matrixed lamps and switches. 573 00:47:32,182 --> 00:47:35,703 Plus it's kind enough to keep track of things and tell you when there are problems! 574 00:47:35,703 --> 00:47:37,452 Well, usually. 575 00:47:37,452 --> 00:47:39,857 Self-diagnostics only go so far...