WEBVTT - How Pinball Machines Work 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:09.000 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technologies with 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:17.919 tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:21.360 Welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette and 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:23.320 I am the tech editor here at how stuff work 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:27.000 dot com. And as usual, I have managed to get 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:32.200 our senior writer Jonathan Strickland to nearly laugh, but not quite. Ever, 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:36.440 since I was a young boy, I played the silver ball. Yes, 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:38.600 but it's harder to do that these days. It's a 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:40.280 lot harder to find them. It's a whole lot harder. 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:44.040 So those of you guys and gals who are around 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:49.040 the age of your beloved hosts may already have picked 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:51.880 up on what we're about to talk about. You youngsters 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:53.880 out there may or may not know. We're going to 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:58.760 talk about pinball machines. Yes, something that I am actually 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:03.960 very enthusiastic about. I love pinball, Yes, I agree. We 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:07.840 grew upaya. It's a great game. Um, and it was 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:12.200 uh sort of the precursor to the arcade machine, the 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:15.600 video game. Um, you know, pinball were pinball was what 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:18.440 video games were before they were video games, and then 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:22.600 they were uh, you know, they kind of existed side 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:24.880 by side video games for a while, but as arcades 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:28.480 died out, so did pinball machines. Partly because, in fact, 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:31.760 I would say in large part, because they have lots 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:34.760 and lots of parts and uh and you gotta do 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:37.440 a lot of maintenance to keep them running in good condition. 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:40.520 Plus I I have, I have the real reason why 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:43.160 pinball machines are so hard to find now. But hardly 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:47.200 anyone's making them. Well, yeah there is, but there well 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:49.680 there's no one making them side stern. Yeah, at least 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:52.400 not in the United States. But um, but no, they're 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:54.160 I was going to get into that we after we 0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:56.240 talked a little bit about you know, so you normally 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:59.920 do the history of sure the pinball machine. I was 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:05.400 going to do that, Okay. Um, Actually, you could argue 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:08.320 that pinball machines in their earliest form weren't really techy 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:11.600 at all because they were mechanics, simply mechanical, right And 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:14.079 and in fact, if you want to go before pinball 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:16.280 machines proper and all, first of all, it all depends 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:18.639 on how you define a pinball machine, right, I mean, 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:22.720 the earliest pinball machines were basically a piece of wood 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:25.400 with some pins. Uh. They were a lot more vertical 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:27.799 than they are now. Yeah, and then you would drop 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:30.600 a ball down from the top and they would plunk 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:33.720 down along the pins and then eventually land somewhere at 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:36.160 the bottom. Yes. Actually, if you've if you've ever seen 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:43.040 the the Japanese phenomenon pachinko, pachinko is very similar to 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:46.400 what the earlier pinball machines were here in the United States, 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:49.120 because they were serious. They're seriously gravity driven. There're a 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:51.320 lot more upright, you hang them on the wall basically. So, 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:55.640 for instance, um, a precursor to the pinball machine was 0:02:55.680 --> 0:03:00.760 the Bagatel. Yes, the Bagatel was a uh device where 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:03.239 it looked a lot like a pinball machine. Usually it 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:05.799 was a cabinet that was higher on one end than 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:09.520 the other. So you have introduced the element of gravity 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:13.400 into the game. And you would use probably a plunger 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:16.480 or perhaps a a lever of some sort to maneuver 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:18.680 a ball so that it rolls from the top to 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:21.800 the bottom and it goes down a series of various 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:24.840 pegs like we had mentioned before, until it lands in 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:28.040 a slotted spot at the bottom, which would have a 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:30.560 score associated with it, and that's how how you would 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:34.040 accumulate points. There's not really any skill involved, is all 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:39.640 luck pretty much. So this device gave way to other, 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.600 uh similar devices. Uh. Now, we have an article on 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:46.320 our site about how pinball machines worked in which we 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:49.600 state that the first pinball game was Humpty Dumpty by 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:53.960 Gottlieb in ninety. Now that's something that some people would 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:57.560 argue is not entirely true. I would argue that that's 0:03:57.600 --> 0:03:59.880 not entirely true. Now I think I know the reason 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.120 why we stated so in our article. It's because Humpty 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:07.800 Dumpty was the first machine that introduced flippers. So you 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:13.920 have they call them flippers. Flippers, yes, yes, lightning. Oh wow, 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:20.120 now now we've lost even some of the people our age. Um, 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:24.880 exactly is this pinball machine dolphins safe? So yeah, it 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:27.440 was the first. The Humpty Dumpty was the first game 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:31.039 to introduce flippers, which allowed the player a chance to 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.520 alter the course of the game. Actually, really, well, that 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:36.680 gives you an opportunity to interact with the game right then, 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:38.560 just watching the ball moved from the top of the 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:41.880 playing surface to the bottom. Right before that, people usually 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:44.640 played would try and manipulate the game by nudging the 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:46.720 machine and trying to get the ball to go one 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:49.480 way other rather than another, which still, of course happens 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:52.560 with pinball machines, but we'll get into that. So that 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:55.800 is probably why they call Humpty Dumpty the first pinball 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:58.400 machine in the article, because again, flippers, first time you 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:01.760 got those. But you do have machines before that that 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:06.120 had pins that the ball would bounce off of, and uh, 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:10.960 those technically could also be called pinball machines. Um. I 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:13.039 think of Humpty Dumpty as the first one because I 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:15.120 think of when I think pinball machine, the flippers are 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:17.320 definitely a part of that. I think of the others 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:22.800 as variations either, um, whether the variations of Bagatel or 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:25.920 variations of the pinball machine, but not actually a pinball machine. 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:31.080 So um. But yeah, so so I go with hump 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:33.279 Dumpty Humpty Dumpty as the first one, even though I 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:35.680 know there are some pinball fanatics out there who would 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:39.280 argue that that's not entirely accurate. I'm glad that there 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:44.039 are still pinball fanatics out there. Otherwise the game would 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:48.520 have died out already, and it's it's still coughing and wheezing. 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:52.960 It's not doing great. Um, So let's uh describe the 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:56.480 anatomy of a pinball machine just in general terms. You've 0:05:56.480 --> 0:06:01.400 got the head or the back glass backball box section. Yeah, 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.520 that's the section that's vertical that you you look at 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:06.960 and usually has some pretty amazing art on it to 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:09.640 attract the eye so that you go to that machine 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:13.039 versus any other. Then you have the body or cabinet 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:16.840 section of the machine. This is where the playing field is, 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:19.400 where the ball comes out at the top and gravity 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:21.640 pulls it towards the bottom. And then you use your 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:25.600 various flippers and elements in the playing field to keep 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:27.280 the ball going as much as possible and to rack 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:31.880 up points. Yes, now, um, this is the reason you 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.720 would want flippers anyway. And the reason that pinball machine 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:39.640 is different from a baggytell is that at least in 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:43.440 in the age of electricity, um, you know, the mid 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:48.000 early earlier, I guess mid twentieth century, um, electro mechanical 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:51.760 pinball machines came into being. And this is why, because 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:54.200 otherwise there's no point in and trying to get the 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:56.520 ball except you know, well, this is headed for the 0:06:56.560 --> 0:06:58.359 forty point slot. I'd rather it ended up in the 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:01.760 seventy point slot. So you want to keep the ball 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:05.360 in play because the electro mechanical games have a number 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:08.839 of switches and buttons and bumpers and all kinds of 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:13.200 other dude ads that help you continue to accumulate more 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:16.280 and more points since the game goes on um and 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:21.280 they do this. These games were primarily before or so 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:23.280 based on what I was able to find out in 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:26.680 the Internet Pinball Database. I didn't know there was an 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:29.400 Internet Pinball database you. I used to use that all 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:31.400 the time. It is a great resource and I got 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:33.840 a lot of valuable information about it. I p dB 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.760 dot com um. But uh, as a matter of fact, 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:40.080 I got a lot of descriptions for things I didn't 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:42.840 know what they were. But on the playing field, I 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:46.120 would say the probably the biggest thing in all these 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:50.080 games dating back quite some time now, would be the bumpers. Yeah, 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:52.960 you've got the bumpers, and you've got a couple of 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:56.120 Sometimes you would have some some holes that the ball 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:59.240 could fall into that would accumulate some points as well, 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:02.440 but the bumpers, and then towards the base of it, 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:04.800 you would have the drain that's where the ball. When 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:07.280 the ball goes through the drain, that means that that 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:10.160 play is usually over at that point. So so your 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:12.160 goal is to try and keep the ball out of 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:15.280 the drain and in the playing field. UM. So you've 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:18.840 got the bumpers usually towards the top, You've got the 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.360 flippers at the bottom. You might have some sling shots 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:25.480 on either side. Those are the kind of triangular uh 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:28.120 elements that you see towards the near where the flippers 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:30.880 are that have the the the really powerful bumper that 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:34.079 will knock the ball right back towards the top. So 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:36.120 those are usually called sling shots, even though they're not 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:40.160 really slinging. They're they're punching the ball as hard as 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:44.400 they can. Um. These elements all have something in common. 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.320 They are controlled by or they're powered by, something called 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:54.559 a solenoid, which is not a decepticon. I'm so disappointed. 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:56.440 I see these things that I'm like, wow, there's a 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:59.360 transformer in there, And sometimes there is, but it's not 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:01.640 the kind of trans former I'm thinking of. It's not 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:06.120 even a gobot. So solenoid is a coil um It's 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:09.800 used in all kinds of things, but Basically, what happens 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:13.480 is when there's electricity running through the solenoid um it 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:17.120 causes UH, a magnetic field, generates a magnetic field which 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:20.400 moves a piece of something, a piece of equipment. Yeah. 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:22.400 Often there are two coils. There might be one in 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:24.480 the center and one on the outside and right, and 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:27.920 what happens is you've got two magnetic fields that are um. 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:31.120 The are the same, so they repel one another and 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:35.160 that pushes something out of the solenoid. And in this case, 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:37.640 like with the flipper, when you press the buttons on 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:41.199 the side of the pinball machine, it's since the electrical 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:45.320 circuit or it completes electrical circuit, which then causes the 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:48.800 solenoid to activate, which makes the the flipper go up. 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:51.480 What's interesting is that there are a couple of different 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:55.120 styles of flippers. There's somewhere if you hold the button down, 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:59.119 the flipper will remain engaged and it'll it'll because it'll 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:02.640 the solenoidal they'll be poking out essentially when you release 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:05.480 the button. I like that type, those favorite flippers. And 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:08.160 then there's the other kind where it has a timer 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:10.959 on how long the button can be pressed down. It'll 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:13.480 it's usually pretty much an instantaneous thing, like if you 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:15.120 were to hold the button down, it wouldn't matter. The 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:18.760 flipper would activate, but then immediately stop because it would 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:21.760 just be like a quick on switch. And then until 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:23.760 you release the button and press it again, the flipper 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:27.120 would remain in the down position. And uh, those are 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:29.000 a lot harder to use for those of us who 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:33.280 like to finesse the ball and juggle it in various ways. Yes, 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:37.040 those were invented by someone evil. Yes, yes, someone evil 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:39.440 who wanted to make sure that we spent more and 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:44.120 more nickels, dimes, quarters, whatever. Yes. Um. Now active bumpers 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:47.040 there are two different kinds of bumpers. They're active and passive. 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:49.840 Passive ones were used in the earlier machines were basically 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:53.079 when the ball would strike the bumper, it would register 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:55.640 that it had hit and would give you the according 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.920 number of points. Now, active bumpers use the solenois to 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:03.160 bump back, bump back the ball across the playing field. Right, 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:05.840 there's a plunger inside the bumper that that activates, and 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:08.079 there's a little metal ring, which you know, that's when 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:10.360 when the metal ball comes in contact with the metal ring, 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:14.960 then that that's what activates it to um too activate 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:18.280 the solenoid, and the plunger moves the bumper and it 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:20.680 it propels the ball somewhere else on the playing field, 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:23.160 which is you know, that's when you can get like 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:26.240 maybe that there's often you'll see a configuration of three bumpers. 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:28.680 Three is three is pretty common. I mean you'll see 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:30.880 others like maybe two or maybe as many as five 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:33.760 or six. But if you luck out, you can get 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:36.840 the ball to bounce back and forth between the three 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:41.200 or more bumpers and rack up points really quickly that way, yeah, yeah, 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:43.400 Or you know, the ball could go careening into a 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:47.480 drop target, which is a little object I guess made 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:51.200 of probably plastic or would um that when the ball 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:55.160 hits it, it drops into the table um and gives 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:56.960 you the according number points. You can't hit it again 0:11:56.960 --> 0:12:00.200 because it's gone. But yeah, if you usually if you 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:03.440 hit all of the drop targets along a certain section, 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:06.520 it'll reactivate and uh give you a bonus of some sort, 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:08.800 and then all the targets will will spring back up 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:11.840 and then you'll have them to hit again, but you 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:15.160 you have to knock them all down or sometimes after 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:19.360 a ball drains. It will reset the board um versus 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:22.440 a standard target or stand up target I'm sorry, which 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:26.479 is you know, usually a lot of times they're they're round, 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:28.520 be like a lollipop there, you know, on some kind 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:32.640 of um something mounted to the table itself, but they 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:37.480 don't go anywhere the and it does it's usually through uh, 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:39.680 depending on how old the machine is. If it's an 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.280 older machine, it's usually a leaf switch. Yeah, and a 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:45.600 leaf switch is uh. Well, here's an easy example. Think 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:48.200 of two strips of copper, all right, that are close 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:51.920 to one another. Their their parallel and on one end 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:56.160 you have the two strips embedded in an insulating material. Yes, 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:59.520 all right, so it's sort of like a v yeah. Yeah. 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:03.000 And then on the other end you've got the the 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:06.400 two free standing strips of copper. When they come into 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:10.040 contact with one another, uh, it creates a circuit and 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:13.559 that's it activates like a switch. That's the the whole 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:17.320 uh concept of the leaf switches. Whenever the two pieces 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:20.960 of copper come into contact, that means that it has 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:25.920 registered something registered the contact. So a lot of the 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:32.080 old electro mechanical pinball machines use leaf switches to register 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:35.320 contact along various parts of the board, and it maybe 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:38.520 everything from a stand up target like you were mentioning, 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:40.760 or it could be a switch that's on the actual 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:42.800 playing field so that when the ball rolls over a 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:47.040 certain point, it uh it makes a contact and creates 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:50.000 some sort of reaction, whether that's more points or changing 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:55.160 the mode of play or whatever. And uh, that's really 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:58.160 what the older machines rely on. Newer ones have things 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:03.120 called micro switches, which are similar to the leaf switches, 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:06.160 but they are self contained. They have they're usually protected 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:10.080 in a little case. Um, and they're they're smaller and 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:13.880 they're more sensitive. So uh so don't upset them or 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:17.839 they'll cry. That's not what I meant. But sure, um, 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:22.200 they're they're less likely to uh malfunction to break down. Um. 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:24.680 Here's an example I used to play. There was a 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:26.600 game that I played while I was in college. It 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:30.720 was an older pinball machine. Don't don't assume when I 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:32.880 start talking about this pinball machine that it was new 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:35.720 when I was playing it in college. It was a 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:39.320 Star Trek pinball machine from the seventies, and it was 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:44.560 an electro mechanical pinball machine, and it had a sensor 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:48.040 in the upper left corner of the playing field that 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:51.320 would register when you would roll the ball over it. 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:55.920 It would uh start accumulating points towards an extra ball. Well, 0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:59.640 the one that we had in our student center, which 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:02.760 I guess was donated by either a student or a 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:07.920 former student. Um the the sensor would stick, so if 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:09.720 you could get the ball to roll over it once 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:11.560 or twice, it would stick long enough for it to 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:14.480 register as an extra ball. So anyone who knew how 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:17.200 that machine would work would the very first thing they 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:19.120 would do is aim to get the ball up in 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:21.920 that upper left hand part of the playing field, because 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:23.840 as soon as you registered an extra ball, you could 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:27.760 play the ball as recklessly as you like, because once 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:31.160 it drained, you got another ball to to play. And 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:33.320 then again as soon as you got the extra ball, 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:36.600 aim for the upper left After a couple of hits, 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:38.960 you would get another extra ball. And this these games 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:42.760 could last forever. I actually managed to turn that game 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:45.760 I got. I went over the top, as they say, Yeah, 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:48.160 I went over the top and reset the score back 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:50.360 to zero. By the way, once I did that, it 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:54.280 did not register it as a high score anymore. That 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:56.840 kind of was kind of a bummer. It took me 0:15:56.880 --> 0:16:00.480 about an hour and a half I think total, and 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:03.360 I had more than sixteen free games racked up after 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:08.480 it was done. Good times. Um, so yeah, there are 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:11.280 there are other new technologies now, I'm just it's good. 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:14.520 There are other new technologies too that h have been 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:18.160 made possible with advanced electronics, such as the opto or 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:22.280 opto electronic sensor um, which basically records what the ball 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:26.520 is doing with light. Yeah, there's also proximity sensors that 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:31.320 use magnets. Yes, basically basically the same kind of do 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:33.640 hikey that registers whether or not your car is sitting 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:38.080 there at the light. Because it uh, it basically identifies 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:40.040 when a ball has passed over it without their needing 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:44.040 to be a physical switch. Right, it changes the the 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:49.560 the electron flow through the circuit um. We should say, however, 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.320 that when I said it uses magnets, I really should 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:54.760 have said it uses magnetic fields. Doesn't really use a 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:58.280 magnet because a lot of a lot of a common 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:00.960 complaint among pinball users is, oh, this thing must have 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:04.040 magnets to make it drained so quickly. Um, all of 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:06.520 all the research I've done, all the magnets that are 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:09.480 used in these these pinball machines are used in such 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:11.520 a way that either the player has control of it 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:14.600 or it is a specific mode that gets activated within 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:19.800 a pinball game, and are all electro magnets and otherwise 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:22.240 there are no magnets in penell There aren't any magnets 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:24.640 and pen ball machines specifically designed to make the ball 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:29.760 drain faster. No, no, um, despite what you might think 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:34.159 as you're playing and cursing. Well, these these devices that 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:38.240 we're talking about are used more commonly in in what's 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:42.360 known as solid state games, which are the heavily uh 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:46.240 electronic type machines that you see, you know, you saw 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:49.840 started seeing and then the late seventies, early eighties and 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:53.720 into the es where it would usually be more than 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:56.240 you know, they didn't have the numbers, the mechanical numbers. 0:17:56.240 --> 0:18:00.920 It would flip over anymore. Um more. Yeah, it's it's 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:04.800 not even an led. They're actually using plasma displays, um, 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:09.640 some of which had electronic games baked into them. Yeah. Actually, um, well, 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:12.679 look just to to differentiate a little more, the electro 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:15.760 mechanical pinball machines, they used a lot of switches, they 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:19.520 used motors, scoring wheels, which would be like the digit 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:23.760 counters um where each each number, each digit was on 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:27.399 its own wheel that would turn as you accumulated points, 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:29.719 and the number of wheels it had would essentially tell 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:32.360 you how high your score could go before turning back 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:36.240 over to zero. UM and stepping units relays that kind 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:42.280 of thing. So lots of electric electronic um, electromagnetic stuff, 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:45.960 not electromagnetic stuff, but stuff you would find in basic electronics. 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:49.280 That's what we're in the old pinball machines. Electromechanical stuff 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:52.800 is solid state. Would be more things like circuit boards 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:57.040 and UH and micro switches, things that are that don't 0:18:57.040 --> 0:19:01.960 rely on so many moving parts necessarily. And as for displays, 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:05.880 instead of the score wheels, you might have the most 0:19:05.880 --> 0:19:10.760 common word dot matrix. Displays choose dots to indicate what 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:13.280 the what was going on, you know, your score. You 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:15.480 might have a special video mode, like you were saying, 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:18.400 a little mini game pop up. Some had LED displays. 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:21.440 The segmented plasma displays were a little different. They weren't 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:25.040 like a plasma display like an HDTV. It was it 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:30.840 would plasma would illuminate a small segment of the scoreboard 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:33.960 and that could form either letters or numbers, so it's 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:35.959 almost like a neon sign, is kind of what they 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:38.320 look like. It wasn't that you would necessarily get a 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:43.200 very high deaf um uh experience from it. Yeah, because 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:47.119 people associate plasma these days with high definition. No, not 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:51.240 so much. Pinball had kind of a rocky road to 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:54.440 go through. Do you you know that some places uh 0:19:54.440 --> 0:19:58.840 outlawed pinball machines? Yes, because they by giving away free games, 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:02.119 they were gambling. Yeah. The idea here is that you 0:20:02.160 --> 0:20:04.760 would have to pay to play a pinball machine. Therefore, 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:08.880 playing pinball has a value. Right. Let's say it's a quarter, 0:20:09.240 --> 0:20:10.959 so it's a quarter of play. That means that you 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:13.879 have assigned the value of the experience of playing the 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:17.479 pinball machine to cents. If you were to win a 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:20.800 replay that is a free game, that means that they've 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:24.320 just given away a twenty five cent experience. Therefore you 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:30.600 have uh gambled. You gambled to win another game. Uh. 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:34.520 Most of us would consider this crazy, And eventually almost 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:37.680 everyone did consider this crazy, and they decided that it 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:40.200 wasn't really that big a deal. But for a while 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:42.440 it was a big deal when when gambling was it 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:45.119 was being what. There were crackdowns on gambling across the 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:47.560 United States and in other parts of the world too, 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:51.080 although in Japan UH pachinko is such a big deal 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:55.399 and you can actually win prizes and in some cases 0:20:55.440 --> 0:20:58.880 people are who are professional pachinko players can actually make 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:03.520 UH money playing pachinko. So and not everybody is well 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:08.200 and some and some pinball machines actually did reward people 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:11.680 with coins or or credits or things like that, something 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:14.280 beyond just the free games. So there were games that 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:18.720 did UH have more of a gambling element to them 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:21.679 than just the free play. Let's talk about some of 0:21:21.680 --> 0:21:23.879 the other things that you might find in pinball machines. 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:26.000 Depending on what you're playing there, there are lots of 0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:28.320 different variations because I mean, of course, you've got your 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:31.520 basic board, which is your your elevator. You know, you're 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:34.840 tilted playing field so that gravity pulls the ball downward. 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:38.760 You've usually got some bumpers. You might have the slingshots 0:21:38.800 --> 0:21:41.080 at the bottom and the flippers. You've got a plunger 0:21:41.320 --> 0:21:43.919 that allows you to propel the ball up to the 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:45.840 top of the playing field so that you can start play. 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:48.159 And then you got the drain at the bottom. Uh. 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:50.560 But on top of this, there have been lots and 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:53.679 lots of innovations for pinball machines to kind of differentiate 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:56.600 them from everything else. So you've got things like spinners, 0:21:57.119 --> 0:21:59.440 sections of the playing field that spin around and around, 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:02.680 depending on you know, some some might spend the entire game, 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:06.439 some might spend if you activate a certain switch, and 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:08.800 that can alter the course of a pinball as it 0:22:08.880 --> 0:22:14.040 rolls across. You've got ramps are very basically got the 0:22:14.240 --> 0:22:17.320 ramps that will lead to possibly another section of the 0:22:17.400 --> 0:22:20.840 um the playing field, or even another separate playing field 0:22:20.880 --> 0:22:26.800