Pin*Bot | CREDIT DOT

June 17, 2015
by creditdotpinball 2 Comments

REVIEW: Pop Bumper Showdown, Part 2: Comet Pinball

(Part one of this series can be found by following this link…)

It is no secret that Comet Pinball is a friend of Credit Dot. The Comet Pinball logo adorns the front page of this site as a partner for crying out loud! I’ve been buying from Art Rubin at Comet since he started the company a few years back. When talking about doing this series of articles on pop bumper lighting, Mr. Rubin, being the stand up, honest and right-down-the-middle-type guy he is, made it clear he wanted an honest and fair review of his products. And that’s what he’ll get. The Comet Pinball approach to pop bumper lighting follows the philosophy of the company as a whole: lighting comes down to personal tastes, and Comet offers a plethora of solutions to try and please those tastes. In Mr. Rubin’s own words:

“Personal preferences start with the player. It is not hard to learn what brightness and lighting effects please an individual. The joy of doing this, and the unique result, is as personal as decorating a Christmas tree. I would like to think that most people would enjoy tweaking the look of their game immensely [with different lighting solutions] and having a completely unique result!”

Thus, instead of offering just one pop bumper lighting choice, Comet Pinball offers many. I was able to get my hands on a few of Comet’s solutions to lighting the pops, and put them through the motions in a hands-on test.

Background:

Mr. Rubin has been providing the pinball community with LED solutions since September 2013 and is a very active member of the pinball community as a whole (he can be found posting quite frequently on Pinside as “OLDPINGUY”). For a more complete look at Comet, you can read the interview Credit Dot conducted with Mr. Rubin in October of 2014. As you wade through the Comet Pinball catalog, you are bound to notice Comet’s newest pop bumper lighting option comes in the form of a disc, and adds to an already robust lineup of bumper lighting options. This review format will differ from that of the BriteCaps EVO review that appeared last week, for organization sake. Five different Comet products were procured for test.

Traditional 555 Options:

Traditional 555 Options from Comet (L to R): the 4+1SMD Tower, the 2SMD Faceted bulb and the 6LED Crystal Fan.

Some folks may not be satisfied with the look that an SMD insert gives to their bumpers, so Comet offers a few options with a traditional 555 wedge base. For purposes of testing, I was able to play with three selections: the 6 LED Crystal Fan, 4+1 SMD Tower and the 2 SMD Faceted Lens Supreme Brightness No Ghosting bulb. Knowing that Pin*Bot would be the Guinea pig, I colour-matched all the options available to red. These options, while giving a more traditional centre-lit look to the bumpers, really do pack some power. If you are on a budget, or simply rally against non-traditional forms of pop bumper lighting, there are some options here for you. For less than five bucks you can bring brightness back to your pops. Of the three options I tested, I would absolutely recommend the 6LED Crystal Fan. It has a look that can’t be beat, while not being too harsh on the eyes. Despite being the only LED in the bunch, the LED “crystals” are arranged in such a way that it appears as the brightest option and disperses the light in both an even and far reaching manner. The 2SMD bulb really didn’t stand out in testing. The faceted lens worked to even out the brightness of the traditionally harsh SMD, but the light had to fight through that lens AND the pop bumper cap, thus appearing a bit tired as well negatively focussing the light source to a single area. The 4+1 tower, frankly, didn’t fit within the confines of the Pin*Bot pop bumper. Having restored the Pin*Bot, I had switched the socket with the flat wire leads out for the more reliable socket with insulated leads. The insulated lead socket doesn’t sit flush with the bottom of the bumper base, thus taking away a few millimeters, which the 4+1 Tower absolutely needs to sit properly within the base. The accompanying photo shows that the Tower had to sit at a 45 degree angle in order for the cap to fit. I tried the tower in a different game that had a socket with insulated leads, and the tower did fit, but the top SMD is so close to the clear bumper cap, that it prevents the light from throwing in a meaningful manner. The 6LED Fan is the clear winner here.

The top pop bumper contains the crooked 4+1SMD Tower, the middle contains the 6LED Fan and the bottom contains the 2SMD lamp.

Price: 2SMD Faceted Non-Ghosting bulb, $0.89USD each; 6 LED Crystal Fan, $1.39USD each; 4+1SMD Tower, $1.39USD each (bulk discounts available)

Colour Palate: Blue, Red, Green, Yellow, Purple, Natural White, Warm White across all options. 2SMD Faceted and 6LED Fan adds Pink and Orange to the palate.

Comet Rings:

: Comet Pop Bumper Ring, Front View

: Comet Pop Bumper Ring, Rear View

Following in the footsteps of BriteMods BriteCaps, Comet Pinball began to offer their own pop bumper rings with the value you’ve come to expect from the Comet brand. While the BriteCap shipped with its own pop bumper cap, the Comet ring came bare, needing to be used in conjunction with your existing cap. The BriteCap and Comet Ring both carry 20 colour SMDs on the top of the ring to light the perimeter of the cap, one SMD in the centre at the base, and ten SMDs on the bottom of the ring to illuminate the playfield. The original BriteCap and Comet Ring vary in three ways: the inclusion of the bumper cap (as stated above), colour selection, and price. The colour selection allows the consumer to choose the colour of the ten bottom SMDs, either natural white or matched with the colour of the SMDs on the top. The Comet Ring comes in at $7.95USD per unit compared to $14.95USD per unit for a BriteCap that will produce a similar, if not identical, look. It is no surprise that BriteMods has moved away from the BriteCap design given Comet’s price point that comes in at half the cost (and have since focused on promotion and production of the BriteCaps EVO line).

The 555 base is attached to the ring with two insulated wire leads. It is a traditional LED base with the dinky wires that need to be bent and shaped to make a decent connection. The construction of the ring is slight, but for good reason–when installed it gives a clean, dare I say “sharp”, look. I really like the results the Comet Ring brought in test. I had red colour-matched rings with natural white bottom lights for the Pin*Bot test, and a set of yellow colour-matched rings with natural white bottoms to test on Mousin’ Around. Given that the BriteCaps EVO, reviewed last week, adds 5 millimeters of height to the bumpers, I believe the rings are a suitable option for those games where clearance would be an issue. The ring nests neatly inside the pop bumper cap adding no height to the pop bumper whatsoever. The light design, while static and non-traditional, is an eye-catcher, especially for those who are used to the traditional, centre-lit incandescent look. I can remember seeing these in person on a game for the very first time, a Williams Diner, and I was completely taken by the pattern created on the bumper’s perimeter as well as the brightness it brought to the playfield from the bottom lights. The brightness control, adjusted with a Phillips-head screwdriver, works well to dial down the harshness for those with sensitivity to SMD lighting. I tested the rings at their brightest, with great results.

A set of Comet Rings installed in Mousin’ Around.

One caveat, and perhaps a major drawback of the rings, is important to mention. Seeing as the Comet rings ship as a stand-alone unit, with no pop bumper cap, it is important that you follow the instructions that Comet sends along with each ring order for successful installation. The rings can be very easily shorted on the metal ring and rod assembly of the bumper. If the ring is shorted, in some cases it will still light, but only at a fraction of its original capabilities. The rings absolutely need to be affixed to the inside of the cap before installation. I’m sure this was a problem for BriteMods, and that is why they ship their BriteCap with a pop bumper cap already attached. I’ll admit, one ring did short during test on Pin*Bot. I had used two dabs of hot glue to keep the rings in place, however it proved to be not enough on one of the caps I installed. I upped the points of glue contact to four for future applications, and have not had a problem since. I used hot glue so that the ring could be removed and replaced with other lighting solutions for testing purposes. It worked well and was fairly innocuous when used sparingly to the underside of the cap, but those that know Comet rings will be their permanent lighting solution may want to use a more permanent adhesive, making sure the selected product will not cloud the clear bumper cap (Krazy Glue or Gorilla Glue will most likely create that unwanted clouding effect, so be careful). Each Comet ring appears to be tested before it leaves company headquarters to make sure all rings are functioning properly upon shipment. There isn’t much that can be done to solve the shorting problem (short of shipping it pre-glued in a bumper cap), but it is completely preventable if consumers carefully follow the installation instructions.

Price: $7.95USD each.

Colour Options: Blue, Amber, Cyan, Green, Red, Purple, Yellow, Warm White, Natural White. Bottom lights come in either natural white, or matched to the colour of the top lights.

Comet Discs:

: Comet 11SMD Pop Bumper Light, Front View

: Comet 11SMD Pop Bumper Light, Rear View

To be clear, the term “disc” is a term I ‘ve coined for the article. Comet offers the product by the name of “11 SMD Pop Bumper Light” but for clarity sake, I’ll call it the Comet Disc as a way to distinguish it from the other options. This is the newest pop bumper lighting option from Comet, and appears to be a cousin of CoinTaker LED’s AfterBurner line of pop bumper lights. The Comet disc is available in either a 555 wedge or a 44/47 bayonet base, making this option versatile for older machines that had 44 incandescent bulbs in the pops. The disc’s small diameter also makes it a viable option for Bally/Williams “Jumper Bumpers”, as found on games like Elvira and the Party Monsters. The disc has an outer diameter of 1 1/2 inches giving it enough surface area for the hardware mounted on it, but small enough to work with older or non-traditional style pop caps.

The Comet Disc fitting perfectly in a non-traditional bumper cap: the Bally Jumper Bumper.

The traditional base is affixed to the disc via insulated wires, much like the ring. The top of the disc features a large central SMD surrounded by six smaller SMDs available in a wide variety of colours, while the bottom has four natural white SMDs to light the pop bumper body. The discs do a good job of throwing light, looking akin to a disco ball when installed. I used colour-matched red discs in Pin*Bot for testing purposes. I’m not quite sold on the fact that the bottom SMDs “light up” the opaque pop bumper base with any real benefit. It is kind of a waste to have them on the bottom, expecially if your pop bumpers are tucked away in a back corner. I much prefer the bottom lighting on the Comet Rings that light up the playfield rather than the four bottom SMDs which end up being internal. The bottom SMDs may be a feature more beneficial for older games with stand-alone pop bumpers placed in plain view rather than nested under ramps or behind a maze of wireforms. Again, Comet has included a brightness dimmer with this product to reign in the harshness of the SMDs. I found the colour to be more rich when dimmed a bit, rather than leaving it at full brightness. The disc wins in terms of value, lighting your pop bumpers with an SMD flare for less than $15USD for a set of three. However, for an extra five bucks you can get yourself into a set of Comet rings that will really catch your eye.

Price: $4.95USD each.

Colour Options: Blue, Red, Green, Orange, Yellow, Purple, Cyan, Warm White, Natural White. Bottom colour is natural white across all colours, except natural white which comes with a natural white bottom colour.

Bottom Line:

Out of all of the options, I liked the look of the 6LED Fan lights in Pin*Bot the best, and will probably stick with them going forward after I’ve tested all the products in this series (bolster them with the Pinball Life-supplied “Nordman’s Sparkly Pop Bumper Enhancement Thingy” and it will really make them pop). The rings and the discs both took too much away from the plexi Bride playfield that sits atop the pops. For me, a more traditional look (while taking advantage of modern technology) was necessary. Those looking to light their pops on a budget, I’d highly suggest the fan option from Comet.

A 2SMD in the top pop bumper, a Comet Ring in the middle, and a Comet Disc in the bottom.

When it comes to a showdown of Ring against Disc, I’d have to choose the Comet Ring on looks alone. I’ve shown the photo of the rings installed on my Mousin’ Around to a few people in my local pinball community and they’ve given nothing but positive feedback. It’s a completely different look than traditional lighting options, and gives a splash of light onto the playfield from the ten bottom SMDs that you don’t get with the disc. If you can look past the fact that you’ll have to install the rings with the utmost of care, it is an option that offers a lot of value as compared to other upscale pop bumper lighting options on the market. The ring is a bit of a non-traditional choice, as it lights the perimeter of the pop bumper and leaves the middle somewhat bare (save for a single SMD at the base). The disc is the opposite, lighting the middle and leaving the perimeter unlit. In the end, while costing less in the long run, I don’t think the look of the discs are for me. The Comet Ring offers a “cleaner” overall look. I’d welcome a Comet Pinball product that takes the perimeter lighting of the Ring and the centre lighting of the Disc and fuses them into one lighting solution, much like BriteMods has done with their BriteCaps EVO line. If nothing else, Comet Pinball’s dedication to choice and value really shines through, offering a multitude of pop bumper lighting options to satisfy any pinball enthusiast’s desires at a price that won’t hurt your wallet.

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Credit Dot Pinball/Comet Pinball Contest!

Two Comet Pinball prize packages are up for grabs. The prizes were generously donated by Art from Comet Pinball. Two randomly selected winners will receive some of the products that were tested above, along with some other exclusive Comet Pinball wares. To enter, simply send an e-mail to creditdotpinball@gmail.com with the word “COMET” in the subject line. One entry for the Comet contest per email address please. If you entered the first BriteCaps EVO contest, please enter this contest, too! Two winners will be picked at random (using random.org). Contest closes June 30, 2015 and winners will be announced shortly thereafter. Open to residents of the US and Canada only…I’d love to open it up, I can’t afford to ship stuff overseas!

June 11, 2015
by creditdotpinball 3 Comments

REVIEW: Pop Bumper Showdown, Part 1: BriteMods BriteCaps EVO

Ah, the pop bumper. The ultimate ball randomizer. It was once the centerpiece of nearly every pinball table, but as technology changed and playfield layouts became more complex, the pop bumpers became somewhat of an intrusion, leftovers from a bygone era, and were tucked away in dark corners and hidden under elaborate ramps. Take Williams Demolition Man, for example. Not only was one pop bumper assembly completely removed from the layout, you’d be actually hard pressed to notice they exist at all, blocked from view by a series of ramps, wire forms and plastics. This is a far cry from the days when bumpers all but dominated the woodrail era games. Ask any pinball aficionado, though, and they’ll tell you that it ain’t a pinball machine unless there are pop bumpers on it! As the bumpers themselves moved to the periphery, it became obvious that the single light contained within the assembly itself wasn’t enough to draw attention to the unit. Faceted caps were employed in some instances, as in many modern Stern games, or covered up completely with molded plastics, as they were in Data East’s Simpsons and Williams’ White Water. However, for the most part, pinball companies old and new have resisted perfecting new lighting techniques for the pop bumper, and have stuck with the same old single bulb in a single socket.

The recent surge in enthusiasm for LED lighting has allowed aftermarket companies to offer up solutions for the tired looking, and somewhat forgotten, pop bumpers. Love them or hate them, LEDs are common place in today’s pinball landscape. So much, that every game that leaves Stern Pinball’s factory now comes with a full compliment of LEDs. To move your old game into the 21st century, you could just remove the carbonized 555 incandescent that currently sits inside your pop bumper and replace it with one of countless LED designs on the market. However, the minds at aftermarket lighting companies in the pinball landscape have dreamt up other designs that take lighting the pop bumper cap to the next level. In the next week or so, I’m going to try and wade through the sometimes confusing world of pop bumper lighting options, and weigh the pros and drawbacks of each solution. I’ve rounded up pop bumper lighting solutions from three of the biggest names in the hobby—Comet Pinball, CoinTaker and BriteMods—in an attempt to explore the different options out there. If you are a staunch supporter of incandescent bulbs, this series may not be for you. If you constantly strive to make your machine look its best, brightest and most colourful, I’ll try my best to help you make your pop bumpers really…um, pop.

Part 1: BriteMods BriteCaps EVO Series

When in doubt, start with the most expensive option, right? All kidding aside, BriteMods’ BriteCaps EVO pop bumper light has to be considered a front runner in the race to light your pops. It isn’t just a lightbulb, it’s an entire lighting solution. Available exclusively from go-to parts supplier Pinball Life, the BriteCaps EVO (which stands for Enhanced Visual Output) provides a visually pleasing experience while giving customers bang for their buck in extra features not available from the other aftermarket lighting companies. The BriteCaps EVO was born from BriteMods’ first foray into pop bumper lighting: the original BriteCap. The original design, which is still available from Pinball Life, was a unit consisting of 31-Surface Mounted Diode (SMD) lights mounted to both the top and bottom sides of a ring set inside a pop bumper cap. Since the unit came “pre-capped”, the end-user removed their old pop bumper cap and simply installed the new one with the BriteCap pre-installed in it. The BriteCap EVO takes the cap out of the equation and ups the LED count to an astounding 40 points of light: 24 SMDs on the topside available in a wide array of colours, 10 white SMDs on the bottom to illuminate the playfield, and 6 center SMDs that can be adjusted (via a switch) to always be on, or to react to the vibrations of the pop bumper. Your original pop bumper cap is used in the EVO application.

Background:

I had the opportunity to speak to Dan Rosen of BriteMods recently, and he was nice enough to fill us in on the company’s history and involvement in pop bumper modding:

“BiteMods has been around since 2013. I started designing and selling mods to folks on Pinside, but soon became overwhelmed by the response and needed a retail partner. Pinball Life was my immediate choice as partner, as they have a great reputation for quality products at fair prices, as well as exceptional service. I now sell exclusively through their web store. [Lighting pop bumpers] began with the original BriteCaps design and was simply an automotive accessory adapted for pinball. I wanted to design the ultimate pop bumper lighting from the ground up, and that’s what BriteCaps EVO represents.”

What You Get:

Each BriteCaps EVO unit comes individually boxed. Inside the box, you get the BriteCaps EVO itself, a set of installation instructions and two pop bumper screws that are longer than the traditional ones to account for the extra height the BriteCaps EVO adds to the bumper. The BriteCaps EVO is a single unit—it’s built like a tank—and has no wires or other external hangings. The unit has a brightness adjustment dial, that can be manipulated with a Phillips screwdriver to set the brightness to your liking. Pinball Life gives you the option of adding on pop bumper caps to your BriteCaps EVO order, but from what I can see, they are just standard Williams/Bally caps that are offered.

: BriteCaps EVO – Top View

: BriteCaps EVO – Bottom View

Price:

The BriteCaps EVO experience isn’t a cheap one. Each EVO unit will set you back $12.95USD. That puts a set of three at $38.85USD. It still comes in cheaper than its predecessor the original BriteCap, which retails for $14.95USD each for a standard cap, and $16.95USD for a jeweled cap.

Palate:

The BriteCaps EVO brand comes in red, blue, green, purple, orange, yellow, warm white and cool white. Note that this colour choice is for the 30 lights on the top of the EVO only, the bottom ten lights are white across all colour choices.

Application & Installation:

The EVO will work in any Williams/Bally, Stern, Sega or Data East game that uses a standard pop bumper body. Standard, unfaceted, unjewelled caps seem to be suggested (and encouraged) by BriteMods and Pinball Life, as they are offered as an add-on to your EVO order. The unit itself is pretty much plug and play. With the machine off, remove the bumper cap and 555 bulb, choose your Flash React™ setting via the switch on the bottom of the unit, carefully insert the EVO into the bumper socket, and reattach the cap with the two screws provided.

Review:

I really like the construction of the EVO unit. The base that plugs into the socket has incredible substance. The most frustrating part of LEDing a game is dealing with those little wire connections on the plastic stem of the bulb assembly. They need to be wiggled, adjusted and bent in a very particular way so that a solid connection is made with the socket. Hoping that connection is sustained, and doesn’t mis-align during normal game play, is a worry as well. The EVO design completely eliminates all this fiddling around. The connection point plugs into the pop bumper socket with ease and gives a robust connection on the first attempt.

Base connection points of the EVO versus the standard 555 LED/SMD bulb.

The side-fire positioning of the top SMDs make for a visually pleasing experience. The theory behind the side-fire mounting is that the light is directed outwards, rather than directly up toward the player. This achieves maximum light throw without burning the retinas of the player. I was able to colour match red EVOs to the red pop bumpers in both Williams Pin*Bot and Rollergames. I prefer the look of matching the colour of the EVO to the bumper cap, rather than letting the colour of the bumper cap do all the work with a white light beneath it. The latter gives a washed out feeling, while colour matching gives a much more full and rich result (as it does when colour matching an LED with a playfield insert). The picture below of the EVOs installed in Pin*Bot may not illustrate this completely, but the middle bumper with red EVO emits a far truer red than the bottom bumper does with its warm white EVO. The BriteMods website suggests that the user may also consider replacing coloured bumper caps with clear ones, giving the chosen colour of EVO a clean palate to work with. I swapped in a clear cap momentarily for the test in Pin*Bot, but it was not a look I was fond of. The light was much too harsh on the eyes and less visually pleasing than colour matching with a red cap. Admittedly, my eyes have a hard time processing LED/SMD lighting, and when I wear my glasses to play, it just gets worse. I installed the red BriteCaps EVO with a red pop bumper cap on full brightness on both Pin*Bot and Rollergames, and never had an issue with the light being harsh or distracting (we can thank colour matching the cap with the SMD and the side-firing for that, I believe).

Pin*Bot Application: Top bumper contains a standard 555 incandescent, middle bumper contains a red EVO with Flash React enabled, bottom bumper contains a warm white EVO with Flash React disabled.

The 10 bottom white SMDs do a great job of completely lighting up the pop bumper area. The results were stellar in Rollergames, a pinball machine notorious for leaving the rear half of the playfield ill-lit and hidden under black plastic coverings. The light cast by the bottom SMDs work to illuminate the once gloomy area and in doing so bring to life the art around it. It also worked to brighten up the playfield area beneath the mini-playfield on Pin*Bot, nicely catching the sheen of the freshly clear-coated playfield I had installed.

Rollergames application: A set of red EVOs are installed. The photo captures how well the EVOs light up the surroundings, compared to the dim incandescent bulbs near the rollovers.

The six center SMD lights, armed with Flash React™ technology, are a neat little bonus you get with the BriteCaps EVO brand. Some may use this interactivity to help justify the expensive sticker price of the unit itself. On the bottom side of the EVO, there is a small toggle button. If left in its original position, it disables the trademarked feature and the six lights stay on with the other 24 top lights. If depressed, the lights will remain off until vibrations from the game (moreover, the pop bumpers) are detected, which will light the six center lights briefly. It makes for a neat light show when the ball gets bouncing around in the pop bumper nest. I would have liked to have seen more than just six of the thirty lights react to pop bumper hits, but I’m sure it walks a fine line—too many would have created unwanted strobe. I can’t help but think that there seems to be missed potential with the technology as it is employed here. However, Flash React™ is not a necessary feature that needed to be included, but makes for a nice interactive, customizable bonus and is a feature that may work to set EVO apart from its competitors.

Flash React in action

One unavoidable downfall with the EVO is that it adds 5mm in height to your pop bumpers. The circumference of the EVO is just as big as the pop bumper cap itself, meaning the EVO will not nest inside the cap like an original BrightCap ring would have. It’s an unavoidable issue: the inner plastic lip of the pop bumper cap traditionally envelops the outer edge of the pop bumper body, however the EVO sits flush on top of the body, thus, the pop bumper cap may only rest flush on top of the EVO. A word of warning: be ready for frustrating clearance issues and making an endless amount of adjustments for any game with pop bumpers that have ramps, wireforms or mini playfields that rest on top of or near them. On test, Rollergames was able to handle the extra height of the EVO, however, Pin*Bot’s mini-playfield posed fit problems after EVO installation. I already had the thicker Classic Playfield Reproductions mini-playfield installed, and those extra 5mm really threw everything out of whack, even creating a ball hang-up on the mini-playfield where there was not one before. As stated above, each EVO is shipped with a set of longer pop bumper screws that take into account the extra height added, which is fantastic forethought, but short of grinding out that inner pop bumper lip with a Dremel, there is a high probability of fit issues in many modern games. BriteMods also warns of using the EVO in games where partially cut bumper caps are necessary (think Addams Family’s single sawed-off cap next to the side ramp).

A warm white EVO installed in Pin*Bot

Bottom Line:

If you can justify spending the money, BriteMods’ BriteCaps EVO provides an excellent lighting solution and a quality product that will make the pop bumpers, and their surroundings, stand out. The build quality of the unit is truly exceptional. The first product reviewed in the series looks to be a front-runner for top of the class. That said, the extra interactivity provided by the Flash React™ is a fun and unique attribute to have, but the result of six small lights reacting in time with the firing of pop bumpers may not be enough for some to consider the feature “value added”. The extra height is a major downfall in an otherwise fantastic product. Fit issues will prevent me from keeping the EVO in my Pin*Bot, but the extra splash of light and colour they add to Rollergames makes for a welcome change to the dull 555 lighting.

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Check back for Part Two in the series, where CoinTaker’s AfterBurner pop bumper lighting solution is tested and reviewed.

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Credit Dot Pinball/BriteMods Contest!

Two BriteMods prize packages are up for grabs! The prizes were generously donated by Dan Rosen at BriteMods. The first randomly selected winner will receive a set of three BriteCaps EVO and a set of BriteMods BriteButtons flipper buttons. The second randomly selected winner will receive a set of BriteMods BriteButtons. To enter, simply send an e-mail to creditdotpinball@gmail.com with the word “EVO” in the subject line. One entry per person please. Two winners will be picked at random (using random.org). Contest closes July 1st, 2015 and winners will be announced shortly thereafter. Open to residents of the US and Canada only…I’d love to open it up, I can’t afford to ship stuff overseas!

April 14, 2015
by creditdotpinball Leave a comment

OPINION: The Complications of Letting Go

I’m very good at buying games. I’m getting better at restoring games. But I’m absolutely dreadful at selling or trading games. My gameroom is something akin to a black hole or Jame Gumb’s basement: the things that enter seldom leave.

This was all well and good when disposable income and space were both plentiful. Recently, however, the household (ie. my wife) has tightened the purse strings on frivolous expenses and the basement is reaching absolute critical mass. I’m at the point where furniture would need to be removed to add more games. The once-promised sitting room, housing just “a few” games, where guests could be comfortably entertained, is bordering on a full-fledged arcade with little room for socialization. The eleven games in my current collection eclipses the maximum of eight that my wife once asked me to observe. I am at the point now where one game must to go if another is to come in. And that poses a problem for me.

My son, at ten months, “playing” Solar Fire in 2012.

I’m not sure how many are affected the same way: I have completely fabricated a personal attachment to each of the games in my gameroom and I have a very hard time letting go. Of the games that I purchased with my own hard-earned money, I’ve only ever been able to bring myself to sell or trade one of them. And trading that one game was tough. Heart-breaking, even. Much more so because it was my very first game that I purchased back in 1995, a Williams Solar Fire which I have written about here. I traded it to a good friend who appreciates early Solid State games from the dawn of the 80s more than I ever will. In return, I got a Pin*Bot which came with an uninstalled Classic Playfield Reproductions playfield. I seized the opportunity to flesh out my collection with a game I enjoy one hundred times more than Solar Fire, but still, packing up that Solar Fire for delivery made me sick to my stomach. I had grown with it. It was the game that started the adventure of building a pinball collection.

I understand that these things are inanimate objects–heaps of steel, plastic and wood–and any feeling or attachment I have for them is a construct of my own subconscious, but it doesn’t help ease the distress. I’ve got a whole laundry list of “important landmarks” I can attach to each of my games: the first game I got when my son was born, the first game I completely restored from the ground up, a copy of the game I played endlessly with my father at an arcade when I was growing up. I’ve manufactured reasons to horde these commercial oddities in an unhealthy fashion. I suppose others are affected to a greater extent: whereas I’m reluctant to let go of any one of my eleven fully working games, others have trouble letting go storage units full of games that aren’t even on legs! We’re listening to the same radio station, just consumed at different volumes, I guess.

There is also the fact that I covet the value of the bird-in-hand, as opposed to the two that may be in the bush. If I let go of my Addams Family, when will I ever be in a position to get another if the market continues to trend upward as it has over the past few years? To replace a game with another copy in the same (or better) condition at the price point I have originally acquired it would prove to be difficult. I’m more of a “stand pat” kind of guy rather than throwing caution to the wind, and that complicates things.

Collectors say it all the time: “You can’t keep’em all!”. And it’s true. Gameroom turnover keeps things fresh, and rejuvenates one’s interest in the hobby. But, I’ve come to love the little intricacies of my games, tinkering with them, making them “my own”, bringing them back to life. I probably enjoy twiddling about in the backbox or under the playfield just as much as I do playing the games. Don’t get me wrong, I probably average about twenty minutes a day in the gameroom actively flipping, however, working on games and playing them with any high level of expertise are two unique skill sets. For many like me, there is little overlap. I’m firmly in the “collector camp”, as my playing skills leave much to be desired. This is probably another reason for my unwillingness to let go: I’ve become heavily involved in making them perform at their absolute zenith rather than just playing the snot out of them with reckless abandon. I’m like a mad scientist who forbids the angry mob from harming the monster he created.

I promise, I’m not a freak. I’m not sleeping under the machines or gently stroking them while whispering sweet nothings of how they’ll be waxed later in the week. My wife isn’t being supplanted with Pin*Bot. I just need to learn to let go. I need to suppress these manufactured emotional connections I have. They can’t all be keepers. All still water will get stagnant eventually.

White Water, reluctantly packed up and ready to leave.

So, two weeks ago, I overcame the manufactured odds and traded my second game. I had to let another escape, if only for my own sanity. I traded my White Water for a World Cup Soccer ‘94 and some cash. The White Water wasn’t collector quality–the cabinet was beat, however everything under the glass was really nice and it was solid as a rock for the three years I had owned it. I liked the game. One of Nordman’s best, for sure. Diverse gameplay, unique layout, fantastic art and perhaps the best music ever created for a pinball machine. But it wasn’t getting much play by anyone other than me. When guests would visit, White Water wasn’t given a second look. Even my three-year-old son, who indiscriminately, yet passionately, flips away on all the machines, gave the game the cold shoulder. On the other hand, I really wanted a World Cup Soccer. My collection was devoid of a John Popadiuk-designed game, and World Cup is the only one of his that can be had without breaking the bank. More importantly, my three-year-old son has played soccer since he could walk and has really taken to the sport–I thought he’d get a real kick out of the game (pun intended). A really, really nice one became available, and my potential trade partner wanted my White Water in return. I came close to pulling the plug at a few points during negotiations, but I finally cut the cord, folded up White Water with little fanfare and brought home a World Cup Soccer ‘94. (Not having moved a game OUT of the basement gameroom proved to be a blessing in disguise for all these years–turns out they are much more heavy and awkward to remove than they are to put in). A friend of mine says that with each game exiled, it only gets easier to see them leave. I hope he’s right.

Any regrets I had about the trade quickly eroded when I lifted the backbox on World Cup and my son, standing on his overturned milk-crate softly cooed: “Soccer ball pin ball…my favourite!” His eyes were like saucers and he was grinning from ear to ear as he took in everything from the cartoon dog Striker on the backglass to the rotating soccer ball on the playfield. During his first game he raised his hands in victory when he scored his first goal, only to have the ball immediately drain while he was celebrating as it was kicked back to the right flipper. On separate occasions, he excitedly tried to explain to a lady at the library and his long-time soccer coach about our new gameroom acquisition. Neither could understand him, as excitement turned him into a complete marble-mouth. I had to explain on his behalf. I then had to explain further that, yes, we did have a full-sized pinball machine in our basement, and, yes, we did have more than one.

The boy playing his new favourite game. Made the trade worthwhile.

Only today am I struck by the irony: World Cup Soccer is the game my son now runs to first when we visit the gameroom, and he has even started to refer to it as “his” game. Thus, the kid is a chip off the old block when it comes to forming emotional attachments to pinball machines. Looks like we got another keeper on our hands and a potential problem when it comes time to get rid of World Cup Soccer. However, my emotional attachment here isn’t with the machine…clearly, it’s with my son. And that’s something that can’t be fabricated.

March 15, 2015
by creditdotpinball Leave a comment

PEOPLE: Brett Davis from XPin

For nearly five years, XPin has been the collector community’s choice for re-engineered replacement displays. With a strict adherence to quality control and an eye for innovative design, Brett Davis has engineered a bevy of replacement parts for our beloved games. With his newest innovation, 7Volution, he has also changed the way we play our games as well. Credit Dot Pinball is pleased to present an interview Mr. Davis about his beginnings, innovations, business philosophies and new products.

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Credit Dot: How long has Xpin been in the pinball business?

Brett Davis: The XPin brand has been in existence since September of 2011, which is when the first distributors started to receive their product. The actual http://www.xpinpinball.com website when live in January 2012.

CD: What were some of the first Xpin displays offered for sale?

BD: That’s a tough one. Because of the product line, it only makes sense to offer all similar products at once, so it would be all of my Williams and Bally displays. They were all released about the same time. The Dot Matrix displays were released a little bit later.

CD: Is there a history between Xpin and Pinscore? There is some overlap in the products offered.

BD: There is some is some history between XPin and Pinscore. I am the original designer of the Pinscore products. When I chose to separate myself from Pinscore, the original Pinscore designs became the property of Marco Specialties because they owned the name Pinscore. This forced me to re-engineer what I had done to make XPin.

XPin’s XP-WMS10877 display kit, in blue, installed in the author’s Pin*Bot.

CD: What makes the XPin product a better choice for aftermarket displays as opposed to those of your competitors?

BD: There are a couple of reasons that XPin is a better choice for aftermarket replacements. First, each product is a true re-engineering, or re-design of the original product. I did a lot of research into the failings that occurred with the original designs. I guess you can say it was a little forensic engineering. I chose to avoid copying the original design because in doing so you just duplicate the problems that caused them to fail in the first place. Second, technology today is so much more capable than it was 20-30 years ago. The majority of failures that occur due to the circuit design can be eliminated with newer technology and different circuits. Third, using modern manufacturing methods, reliability and cost can be controlled to make a quality product. Obviously with exceptions to components and the circuit boards, all XPin products are manufactured here in the US.

CD: Can you share some of your best selling display kits at the moment?

BD: The XPin bestsellers are the Williams System 11 displays and the XP-DMD4096 (dot matrix) displays.

CD: Can you tell me a little about your groundbreaking 7Volution display kit?

BD: Modern technology is what makes 7Volution possible. Over the years people have hacked the game code, modified the MPU boards, added wires to the harness, all to make 7-digit scoring possible. The problem is that once you choose to go down that mod path, it’s hard to go back. Also, if you are not an experienced tech, making the mod is fairly daunting. 7Volution’s prime goal was to be a plug and play solution: no mods, no cut traces, no rom changes needed. The heart of 7volution plugs into the MPU and watches the display data. When it sees that the score boundary has been crossed, it jumps in and takes control and displays the new score…and then keeps track of it. If it wasn’t for the processing power of new technology, 7Volution wouldn’t be possible.

Pinside user bcrage88’s Paragon with 7Volution display kit installed. Vinyl filters were used to achieve the three colour effect.

CD: Where did the idea for integrating a seventh digit originate?

BD: 7Volution is an idea that came to me in 2008 or 2009 at the Northest Pinball show. I took a Bally Six Million Dollar Man to the show with my (then) Pinscore display system in it. A gentleman played the game and it was amazing the way he was playing. While I was sitting there at my booth I saw this man roll the game 3 times! Afterwards we talked about how all of these great classic Bally and Sterns would never keep the high scores if rolled. This started me down the path…

CD: I find it really cool that Xpin customers can customize the look of their game by choosing the colour of their displays. Generally speaking, does one colour outsell the others?

BD: Surprisingly Orange is still the preferred color, at a rate of about two to one!

CD: I noticed a slight price difference between some of the colour choices, with blue being more expensive than the red and stock orange. Why is this?

BD: It is all about chemistry. To manufacture blue or white, a different set of elements are required to get to those colors. Elements for red, orange, and green are more readily available. The elements used to create Blue and White generally cost two to three times more than the other colors, so they end up costing a few more dollars.

CD: Are all of your display products plug and play?

BD: Yes, everything is plug and play…with a caveat. WPC games with dot matrix displays have an exception when it comes to the colors Blue and White. There is an original design flaw in the dot matrix controllers. Blue and White draw more current because the blue and white LED requires more current (it is that chemistry and element thing mentioned previously). Realizing this I developed plug-in modules, my X-Bridge XP-WPC-HV and XP-WPC95-HV. These boards compensate for the original board shortcomings.

XPin’s versatile XP-WMS8345, that will replace the power supply in a staggering 51 different pinball games!

CD: Xpin is known for their replacement displays, but you carry a lot of other replacement boards as well. What is your best selling product in that area?

BD: The power supply arena is a big one. My universal Williams power supply, XP-WMS8345, is my most popular. It can be installed in every Williams Sys 3-11b that used either the Williams part number C-7999 or D-8345. It also will work in all of the Data East games that used alpha numeric displays. That is 51 different titles serviced by one board!

CD: What do you do to ensure your customers are receiving the best possible replacement parts for their games?

BD: Component selection is always a key in any redesign effort, along with an understanding as to what is expected by the end-user. This of course is a major part of the product development, but the manufacturing of the product is just as important to maintain quality control. Every product has a test fixture that is used–the fixture will test as much of the product as possible.
For example, the XPin dot matrix display has over 300 components on it. Look at each individual trace on the board– if you laid them end to end, you would have about 300 feet of copper trace. Over 2,000 holes are drilled into that board. When you have that much happening, you do not skimp on testing. Most boards go through at least 2 minutes of functional testing before they are released from production for packaging. Every few months I do a random sample and put them on a test fixture for a couple of days. There are a lot of great engineers capable of doing what I have done from the design side, but managing the production side is a whole different ball game, and if you have that down, you will end up with a great product.

Pinside moderator gweempose’s Tron with a blue XPin DMD display installed. Absolutely stunning!

CD: When developing new products, be it a board or a display, what are some of the factors that are considered?

BD: Considerations for any product development come from my customers. I give all suggestions consideration. Some are actually quite doable, but then it comes down to how much will it cost to execute. In turn, you also have to consider reasonable expectations for a retail price. Also, when considering a new project, I look at how many games will it go into. Take for example Williams’ Banzai Run. That game’s display is completely unique. It was never used in another game, but I still made it. Why? BR is a very collectable game. I currently use the driver board in my XP-WMS10877 system. I just needed the big board and connection mechanism. I look at all of the designs this way.

CD: Are there any memorable design challenges that Xpin has overcome in updating PCB technology over the years?

BD: Each design has its own challenges. I have three general requirements for each design:
1. Make it consume less power than the original design. This is a very important requirement because these products oftentimes are going into old, tired machines where the electronics may not be up to original specs.
2. Make it plug ’n’ play. Most of my customers tend not to be do-it-yourself hobbyists or knowledgeable about electronics. They usually can disconnect a few cables, take out screws and then replace them all with a new board. If they have to do much more than that then they will, more than likely, need to call a tech for help.
3. Make it as bullet-proof as I can. More times than not, someone is replacing an original board with an XPin product because something caused the original board to fail. If the time wasn’t taken to find the original failure, then the likelihood of continued failure is high, even after a board change.

Pinside user Stretch7’s Alien Poker with Xpin’s XP-WMS8363 kit installed.

CD: What are some of the improvements that Xpin has made over the original designs by the big names in pinball?

BD: In the displays you see some of the best improvements. Brightness control for display brightness, test buttons to illuminate all segments/dots. Along with this is the low power aspect. Lower power means less heat released by the older power supplies.

CD: How active is Xpin in the pinball community?

BD: I like to think I am very active. I frequent Pinside quite often. I sponsor tournaments when I can, such as the Retro Tournament at the Texas Pinball Festival. They will actually have two classic Bally games that will be running my 7Volution Systems this year. I am also scheduled to sit on the Pinball Developers Panel that will be at the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show later this year. All of it very exciting!

CD: In talking with customers, have you found that they are primarily buying new displays to replace inoperable ones or buying to just give their pinball a fresh look?

BD: Most of my customers make the choice because of a failure or an obvious pending failure. Very few seem to be replacing the existing functional boards with my products just because it’s new.

Pinside user PappyBoyington’s Stargazer looking phenomenal with XPin on board!

CD: Can you give the readers a preview as to some of the products Xpin will be releasing in the near future?

BD: Let’s see…I have begun work on the Williams Sys3-6 7volution system. There is a lot of excitement there. I am also working on Gottlieb and Zacaria display sets. I have a few more items coming out but I waiting to announce those at Texas Pinball Festival.

CD: What are some thoughts about this new pinball “resurgence” we are all a part of? Do Xpin sales reflect the increased interest in the hobby?

BD: I think this is AWESOME! I love talking to these innovators. XPin is standing behind them 100%. Spooky Pinball currently uses a green XPin for its America’s Most Haunted and I will be there for their next title, too. I have also done preliminary work with other boutique pinball groups and I can only wish them well. I have a lot to offer to them with my ability and manufacturing contacts so in the long run I hope to become a partner in their success.

An XPin DMD display in green, appearing in an America’s Most Haunted near you!

CD: What games are currently in Xpin’s pinball lineup? What are some of your all-time favourite games?

BD: At the moment I only have 3 games: Mars God of War, Cyclone, and Silverball Mania. I under some space constraints at the moment, but I have my own list of wants. I just have to convince my wife of the “business need” to purchase them.

CD: Do you have any closing comments for readers in the pinball community?

BD: You will not find a greater bunch than this group. I see this on the forums and when I meet them at the shows. I am very privileged to be part of such a great hobby and be able to provide something back to this hobby. Let’s keep on flipping!

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Mr. Davis can be reached at tech@xpinpinball.com, or you can visit XPin on the web. Products can be ordered directly from the XPin website, or through one of XPin’s fine partners, such as K’s Arcade or Bay Area Amusements. Look for Mr. Davis and XPin at this year’s Texas Pinball Festival March 27-29, 2015 and at the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show June 5-7, 2015.

April 30, 2014
by creditdotpinball 2 Comments

FEATURED GAME: Williams FIRE!

I don’t have an affinity for Barry Oursler games. His oeuvre can be split into two distinct bodies of work: his early designs which all appear to echo one or two stand-by stock layouts, and his later designs which are too reliant on one feature or toy that make the games seem shallow and trite. For me, two games stand out as exceptions, Fire! in the former category and Bram Stoker’s Dracula in the latter. BSD is currently the darling of collectors and tournament players alike and is enjoying a bit of a renaissance of sorts (meaning the price went up $1000). Maybe I don’t enjoy it because it IS beyond my skill level as a player, or perhaps the art package is just too wretch-inducing. Either way, it leaves me no choice but to take a closer look at Fire!

Fire! was released in August of 1987, and takes its theme from the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. With nearly 8,000 units produced, the game was far from scarce, however, it is not a game that comes up often for sale in my area (maybe all the firemen have bought these up…firemen love being firemen and everything associated with fire history and fire prevention and being a fireman…just ask them). To put it into perspective, Williams made 8,100 units of Comet. I can’t go for three days without seeing someone trying to unload a Comet, so I guess once Fire! finds a home, they stay put. I mean, who doesn’t want a game in a poo brown cabinet to be the centre of their collection?

Legend says a cow (!) kicked over a lantern in a barn, and that’s what started the fire that burned for days and destroyed most of the city of Chicago. The game is a natural fit theme-wise, paying homage to the fire-fighting history of the city in which these great pinball machines were built. The theme stands out from other Williams/Data East machines being built at the time–-most being themed upon capitalistic Cold War paranoia (Millionaire, F-14 Tomcat, Secret Service) or Science Fiction in the pure sense of the genre (Pin*Bot, Laser War, Time Machine). You could almost picture olde tymey dudes with mutton chops and pork pie hats gathering around this amusement machine for a bit of merriment. Wait, those aren’t olde tymey dudes at all…just hipsters from Portland!

No pop bumpers in this game. Let’s get that out of the way. Purists have long complained that any game without pop bumpers isn’t a pinball machine at all. I think this just adds to the game’s overall flow and overarching theme, and helps to set it apart from the other games released at the time. Complete playfield symmetry is achieved here, each side of the playfield being a mirror image of the other, and can be read as a throwback to the simpler woodrail games of the 1940s and 1950s. There is also a post-up “hydrant” ball save which is seen on only a couple System 11 games of the era (moving towards a less expensive “lit” ball save instead).

The main idea of Fire! is to “put out” fires (no kidding!) by hitting the stand-up target banks in front of the the various vacuum-formed buildings around the playfield. Two banks lie mid-playfield, while two dead end ramp shots flank a mini-area with two more target banks. A second set of kickers really get the ball moving in that closed off mini-area. Surrounding the dead-end ramp shots is an elevated horseshoe orbit with lifting ramps (a la the left Pin*Bot ramp) that lock balls on either side once an indicated fire is extinguished. Dead centre is your rescue shot, which is a ramp (with no guides) that lifts out of the playfield to help launch the ball through a “window”. This can serve as your last shot to start three-ball multiball and carries with it a 50,000 bonus. One million points are awarded if all fires are put out in multiball and the rescue shot is achieved.

To me, the game feels like it’s a martyoshka nesting doll in both layout and art package. There is a layering effect to the loops and ramps that pulls the playfield together quite nicely and symmetry is something we don’t often get in modern era pinball, so you should enjoy it where you can. Bill of materials on this game must have been quite something. In the days before Dennis Nordman arrived at Williams and became the undisputed king of vacuum-formed plastic, Oursler orchestrated quite the miniature diorama of 19th century Chicago under glass here. The amount of detail Mark Sprenger put into fleshing out the plastic buildings is phenomenal. With such intricate playfield art, its easy to overlook the spinning fire reel that turns below the playfield to give a burning effect that flickers through the windows of the buildings above. Sprenger also nailed the gold leaf and cobblestone look of the era on the playfield to really give it that pre-Capone Chicago feel, as well as creating an intricate maze of a darkened huddled mass of citizens cowering from the power of the fire. Sound package is ho-hum, nothing to write home about…olde tyme piano mixed with limited speech from muffled male voices (as was the style for many System 11 games at the time), but man, that bell atop the backbox really catches your attention when it rings. I was at the Allentown show last year, and you could hear that thing ringing out from anywhere in the venue.

Fire! plastic sets are currently available from Classic Playfields, and a repro playfield is currently in development by the CPR folks and available for pre-order. Repro plastic buildings, however, are a different story. These vacuum formed plastics are subject of a ton of wear and breakage with the physics of the playfield the way they are. Plenty of promises out there from companies “if there is enough interest”, but nothing as of yet has materialized. Not only would the plastic have to be vacuum formed, the art would also have to be reproduced as stickers to affix to them. I think this is something beyond what CPR or other repro company would be interested in doing (profit-wise), so it will be up to the ingenuity of the pinball community to find a work-around. Plenty of call must exist for these, as the production run on the machine was quite hefty.

There was also a “Champagne Edition” of Fire! released concurrently with the standard edition which was a classier version, probably for use in higher class bars, restaurants and atriums looking to cash in on the re-emergence of pinball as an arcade staple. The game came with a real wood veneer cabinet, gold rails/legs/lockdown bar and two extra spinning fire cylinders in the backbox, like the one below the playfield. Only about 300 were released.

This game is an anomaly not only in the oeuvre of Oursler, but also in the design and theme of what Williams and their contemporaries were coming out with at the time. Fire! can be viewed as the Eight Ball Deluxe of the System 11 era. When Bally was making a ton of sci-fi themed games and licencing everything under the sun, they came out with EBD to appeal to a very different demographic of pinball player and hit a home run. Fire! exists somewhat in the same way, just a tad less successful. For Fire!, they were shooting for a more refined demographic, and the production of a more refined looking machine in the “Champagne Edition” really hammers this point home. I mean, look at that Champagne flyer below. You could put the game in an atrium (SEE! I TOLD YOU!) surrounded by ferns and play the game IN YOUR DAMN TUXEDO! This game is so f*cking classy, right?? Anyhow, the standard edition is a beautifully executed machine, did I mention it came in a poo brown cabinet, with a straightforward ruleset much like the other games from the System 11 family. Go put out some fires and save Chicago.

Further Reading:

Classic Playfield Reproductions – Fire! Plastic Set Photo Gallery
Pinball.org – Fire! Rulesheet
AAARPinball – Fire! Restoration

April 29, 2014
by creditdotpinball 1 Comment

MODS: Fireproofing using the “Bridge Board”

This post follows up Fireproofing Pin*bot and Other Early System 11 Games, which was posted a few weeks back. In covering this fix, I will revisit to note that that Pinsider Inkochnito has now introduced a “Bridge Board” which he designed to solve the same problem that is normally corrected by installing two fuses in line with the +18 and +25 volt power supply regulated by two bridge rectifiers on System 3 thru 11 Williams games (and some Data East games too).

Inkochnito, who may be better known for making available faithfully reproduced apron cards for our classic games, has spearheaded the production of this board which can replace parts that already exist in the backbox. To use my Pin*Bot as an example, I would need to remove the fuse blocks I installed (obviously), the two mounted bridges and the large capacitor that sits near the bottom of the box, all indicated in the first picture of the gallery below. These parts are all “on-board” the new unit. Screw-down connectors are used to affix the wires (which I’m not all that fond of) so no soldering skills are required for installation and the board has two LED lights to alert you when exit power is present for the two line voltages. The bridges are mounted to the back of Inkochnito’s board so that they retain the same cooling properties from the metal backbox plate as the original bridges. Mounting the board is achieved using the original bridge mounting holes. Installation couldn’t be simpler. Installation notes can be found here (pdf).

: What to remove

: Front

: Back

: Installed, via Pinsider “Cheddar”

The “Add Two Fuses” fix has been the standard for years, and I don’t see much reason for my Pin*Bot to have a whole new board installed in it, even though the price is affordable at $49.00USD+$7.00USD economy shipping within the US. If I notice lights dimming (sign of a bad cap) or if my installed fuses blow (sign of a bad BR) perhaps then I would consider this board as a suitable replacement. Even at an affordable price, the game could be fixed with suitable replacement parts for much less, but as I understand, some of the Data East caps are pricy and hard to find, so in that case, it may be cheaper to use the board. Folks doing a complete overhaul or restoration of games from this period may want to jump straight to this solution, as it looks much cleaner and may save you a few steps down the road anyhow. Restoration of this era of game is normally done for the love of the game rather than profit (after dealing with a blown out playfield, new plastics, cabinet repaint, board fixes, etc. there really isn’t all that much meat left on the bone). What’s another $49.00 when you are doing it for the love of pinball in the first place?

The Inkochnito Bridge Board is available in the US from North American distributor Big Daddy Enterprises, and directly from its creator in Europe by emailing inkochnito (at) kpnplanet.nl.

CREDIT DOT

Mapping pinball trends for the casual enthusiast…

Tag Archives: Pin*Bot

REVIEW: Pop Bumper Showdown, Part 2: Comet Pinball

REVIEW: Pop Bumper Showdown, Part 1: BriteMods BriteCaps EVO

OPINION: The Complications of Letting Go

PEOPLE: Brett Davis from XPin

FEATURED GAME: Williams FIRE!

MODS: Fireproofing using the “Bridge Board”