Bagman - what was the original stick?

SanTe

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Does anyone know, for sure, what the original joystick was on Stern's Bagman? Page 4 of the manual shows an exploded diagram of a 4-way leaf switch joystick, but unfortunately it gives no dimensions and no manufacturer names, just Stern part numbers.

My hometown arcade had Bagman in 1982-1983 and I remember it having a short shaft red ball top leaf stick, but the ball top wasn't huge like you see on Dig Dug or Robotron. I remember its stick being closer to the early Taito games like Zoo Keeper and Jungle King, etc., but not necessarily identical. I simply don't know for sure.

I'm looking for definitive proof, if that is possible to obtain, of what Stern used originally for Bagman. It is very possible that Pooyan used the same stick. I vaguely remember my hometown arcade having Pooyan in the early '80s as well, but not as clearly as I remember Bagman. I've reviewed photos and both Bagman and Pooyan cabs appear to be identical, as do their control panels, right down to the carriage bolt pattern, so I'm making the logical assumption that they used identical parts. I do not know this for sure, however. GaryMcT owns a Pooyan and his has a red ball top 3.5" Wico (like a Dig Dug or Robotron stick but with a shorter shaft), but it looks too big to me; I'm not convinced his stick is original. The height looks right, but the ball top does not.

Phet sent me a pic (link) of the Bagman he used to own. That looks correct to me. Can anyone positively identify it?

I picked up a Bagman last night but it has a bat handle microswitch stick in it. It works, but it's gotta go at some point. It bugs me to look at it like this. I also will need CPO artwork, as it is missing on my cab. Bagman CPOs have never been properly repro'd, have they. And by that I mean silkscreened art on plexi, not just a vinyl print meant to be slipped under the plexi.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can move the ball forward on these questions.
 

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i just moved my bagman to storage today, but the one in the pic is identical to mine. Pretty sure it's just a wico.
 
I played the Bagman at John Yates' arcade in McLean a few weeks ago and I am almost positive it was a Wico stick.
 
I also will need CPO artwork, as it is missing on my cab. Bagman CPOs have never been properly repro'd, have they. And by that I mean silkscreened art on plexi, not just a vinyl print meant to be slipped under the plexi.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can move the ball forward on these questions.

Rich (ThisOldGame.com) did run them at one point as well as side art, but he is all out of them. Repros are out there somewhere then.

http://www.rotheblog.com/arcade-reproduction-artwork-page/

And as far as the joystick, I always thought it was just a regular Wico joystick, like Dig Dug.
 
i just moved my bagman to storage today, but the one in the pic is identical to mine. Pretty sure it's just a wico.

Yeah but that's the problem -- which Wico? I've been getting different answers.

I believe there were three common leaf switch Wico sticks back in the day:

1) short, thin shaft stick with a small red ball top -- used on all the early Taitos like Qix, Jungle King, Zoo Keeper, etc.
2) long, thin shaft stick with a small red ball top -- used on games like Frogger and Scramble,
3) long, thick shaft (4") with large red ball top -- found on Robotron, Dig Dug, Arabian, Kangaroo, etc.

My memory of Bagman back in the day (my hometown arcade bought one brand new) is that the shaft wasn't tall, and the red ball top wasn't huge like Dig Dug's nor was it small like the Taitos. This is why I'm wondering if there was an "in between" size.

And as far as the joystick, I always thought it was just a regular Wico joystick, like Dig Dug.

I don't believe so. I believe Dig Dug's stick it too tall and the ball top is too big, and in my opinion Phet's photo is proof of that. I could be wrong about all of this, and I'm not discounting what people are telling me, but I am getting different answers from different people. That's why I keep asking questions and I'm still researching it.

Thanks for the help, guys. Please post anything you can to show your Bagman stick is original, and please give some specs on the stick (shaft length, ball top diameter, etc.).
 
There were both 3.5" and 4" versions of the handles, most applications used the 3.5", which is why those are so common today.

The sticks people commonly refer to as Wico sticks are the ones that will take the Robotron/Kangaroo/TMNT/Contra/etc handles. There are a bunch of different bases, but the most common are the leaf switch bases with rubber grommets. There are also microswitch bases with rubber grommets, at least two types of microswitch bases with springs, a rotary style base, and the handles fit on the Perfect 360 optical sticks as well.

Wico also manufactured other types of joysticks, but those usually aren't broadly referred to as "Wico" sticks.
 
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I finally thought to check the Arcade Flyer archive, duh:

http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=92&image=2

Best photo we have of a new Bagman in 1982.

Based on that photo it's a full size short shaft (3.5") Wico. GaryMcT confirmed with, "That's exactly what was in Rick's Super Bagman and my Pooyan."

So I'm satisfied with that answer finally. Thanks to all for your help.
 
The Bagmans we had on our route back in the day definitely came with Wico thin shaft red ball top 4-way leaf joysticks.
 
I've got some of short and long skinny shaft red ball wicos available.. Short are used, but have a couple that look almost new. Long skinny ones (frogger, and other stern games) are nos. Can include a grey leaf base with nos leaves and grommet too!
 
The Bagmans we had on our route back in the day definitely came with Wico thin shaft red ball top 4-way leaf joysticks.

Several people have insisted to me it is a full-size Wico with 3.5" shaft, which is not the thin shaft. That did not match my memory of Bagman, nor does it appear to match yours. *sigh* I'm about to give up. I simply cannot tell for sure from Phet's photo, nor from the official flyer.
 
while I can't tell you that the game didn't come with more than one style of wico I can tell you that both the flyer and Phets pic show the thicker stick with the larger ball top. How can I tell? Well I have a number of machines in the same general area that have the three different stick styles. I have a bagman too just to be clear. The size of the ball top shown in the pics is not consistent with either the thin shaft wico or the short shaft which also has a smaller ball top. Truth be told if I didn't own the machines I would have imagined that bagman also had the taller thin shaft wico. Really until you obsess over it you don't realize that the stick is as big as it is on that game.
 
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