EM to SS Transition

Sectorseven

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So looking at the pinball release lists, it seems like almost all the manufacturers dropped EM at basically the same time.

What was the anticipation like for SS? Were some companies thinking "this will change everything" while others thought it was just a fad?

Or was it it simply the fact that SS was cheaper to build and repair?

For you guys who remember the switch, did you know it was coming, or did an SS pin just show up one day at your local arcade? What was your own impression of the tech?
 
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For you guys who remember the switch, did you know it was coming, or did an SS pin just show up one day at your local arcade? What was your own impression of the tech?

It just showed up. A quarter a game where the ems had been 2/25¢ - thought it was a fucking ripoff. The tech wasn't really all that exciting. The early ss games still had chimes for sound and the games were pretty simple. The big differences were the lit up scores and maybe a 3X and 5X bonus - whoopee.
 
So looking at the pinball release lists, it seems like almost all the manufacturers dropped EM at basically the same time.

What was the anticipation like for SS? Were some companies thinking "this will change everything" while others thought it was just a fad?

Or was it it simply the fact that SS was cheaper to build and repair?

For you guys who remember the switch, did you know it was coming, or did an SS pin just show up one day at your local arcade? What was your own impression of the tech?

I don't know, I kind of liked that late EM's (Space mission, Aztec) -the real early SS's were ok, but I still put $$ in the EM's, .... but when 8 ball deluxe came out it was a game changer for me.
 
The real advantage of SS is simple: A whole lot less relay contacts, and less downtime.

Using chip switching was easier to maintain. That's the bottom line - they started with a few, operators loved them (reduced maintenance, reduced downtime) and the cost was good. They were also cheaper to make - you make the playfield harness and backglass harness, and plug them into a couple of connectors, instead of having to solder hundreds of wires to contacts.

It also allowed for more complex games, where you could add in things that you couldn't really do with EMs.

While I love EMs, SS were originally easier to work on.

Then, the other shoe dropped.

SS started to show their weaknesses. There were battery issues, and when you did blow a SCR, it wasn't as easy to fix. (The vendors would advocate replacing the board for one bad SCR...)

In the long run, a SS game is easier to maintain. That's pretty much it, apart from the optics.
 
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