how to initiate multiplayer with pinball?

vintagegamer

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My Sorcerer supposedly allows 4 people to play together. I have never set it up to do this, I have just put credits in and then hit the start button for each 1-player game.

Yesterday my daughter got out to the game before me and started it up, and when I got out there, scores were showing in the player 1 and player 4 windows. Did she just hit the start button twice possibly?

I'm a nervous wreck when it comes to people powering up my games without me there. Some of these things can be a ticking time bomb as all of you know, and I don't want to come out and find something not working for a mysterious reason. And I don't know what I would hate worse: the fact that it's not working, or the mindless, unconsidered reply of "uh, I dunno...." if I ask what the person did when it broke. :(
 
Thanks, I figured that must have been what she'd done.

Yes, but some games, particularly 70s and 80s games were known to catch fire a small percentage of the time if you hit the start button a fifth time, or if you "primed" the start button by hitting it several times while the game is powered off and then subsequently powering it on. Something about overcharging the Start Matrix Actuator. It seems to draw power even when the game is off.
 
yes, but some games, particularly 70s and 80s games were known to catch fire a small percentage of the time if you hit the start button a fifth time, or if you "primed" the start button by hitting it several times while the game is powered off and then subsequently powering it on. Something about overcharging the start matrix actuator. It seems to draw power even when the game is off.

wtf ?????????
 
Yes, but some games, particularly 70s and 80s games were known to catch fire a small percentage of the time if you hit the start button a fifth time, or if you "primed" the start button by hitting it several times while the game is powered off and then subsequently powering it on. Something about overcharging the Start Matrix Actuator. It seems to draw power even when the game is off.

Yikes! Although, this could be a pretty cool effect on a KISS pin :D
 
Yes, but some games, particularly 70s and 80s games were known to catch fire a small percentage of the time if you hit the start button a fifth time, or if you "primed" the start button by hitting it several times while the game is powered off and then subsequently powering it on. Something about overcharging the Start Matrix Actuator. It seems to draw power even when the game is off.

Dude...start matrix actuator??

Why don't you ask the pin newb to buy an elevator pass too? ;)
 
Note to live by if you own arcade machines that were designed for a limited life in a COMMERCIAL environment:

If you have your game properly locked up and users can only interact via the buttons/switches that they are intended to interact with, NEVER get mad at them if the machine breaks while they are using it. That is a supreme dick move. Just ask if anything funny happened, pull the cord from the wall, and tell the person "these things happen".
 
wtf ?????????

Yes, the worst reported case was a scientist who trained mice to push a button to get a piece of cheese.

When the experiment was completed he kept them as pets and let them roam freely in his house. Somehow they found his pin in the basement and started pushing all the buttons, trying to get a piece of cheese. Not knowing this, the scientist turned the game on the next morning for a quick game before work and BOOM.

They never did find the left flipper.
 
Yes, the worst reported case was a scientist who trained mice to push a button to get a piece of cheese.

When the experiment was completed he kept them as pets and let them roam freely in his house. Somehow they found his pin in the basement and started pushing all the buttons, trying to get a piece of cheese. Not knowing this, the scientist turned the game on the next morning for a quick game before work and BOOM.

They never did find the left flipper.

I told you to quit buying the cheap dope....now look at ya.
 
My Sorcerer supposedly allows 4 people to play together. I have never set it up to do this, I have just put credits in and then hit the start button for each 1-player game.

Yesterday my daughter got out to the game before me and started it up, and when I got out there, scores were showing in the player 1 and player 4 windows. Did she just hit the start button twice possibly?

I'm a nervous wreck when it comes to people powering up my games without me there. Some of these things can be a ticking time bomb as all of you know, and I don't want to come out and find something not working for a mysterious reason. And I don't know what I would hate worse: the fact that it's not working, or the mindless, unconsidered reply of "uh, I dunno...." if I ask what the person did when it broke. :(

Whoa, is this a serious question? You actually own a pin? Relax, they are not "ticking time bombs"! In fact, they are made to run 24/7 (or at least 12 hrs/day), be beat on by drunks and bad players, sit in smoke-filled pool halls and bars, and suffer worse indignities with no problems.

Do you also consider your arcade cabs to be "ticking time bombs" that can only be turned on in your presence? If so, I suggest you find a new hobby! For your family's sake as well as your own.
 
In his defense, he did say "Some Of"...

I think the way a lot of people here phrase things could give guys the wrong impression on the machine's longevity. I, personally, don't care what happens for the majority of issues. What's a couple bucks worth in repair, compared to the entertainment the entire product can bring? It's not like anyone's overly rough on home-use machines anyways.

Joystick breaks? At most it's 15$ for me to replace. Buttons? 2 bucks? If anything happens to the software on my MAME cab, I've got a ghost image of the OS and front end partitions, just copy those back and replace the roms.

As for my pinball machine, so far the replacements I've had to do have cost me less than 1$ each, if I haven't had the parts on hand. Sure there's high voltages involved on a pinball machine, but you lock the head up, and put the key behind the coin door, and lock the coin door and put in a hook to hang the key to the bottom of the body. Out of sight, out of mind. Now at most really all they can do is burn a few solenoids? Big deal!
 
I didn't mean by using "ticking time bombs" that these things would literally blow up and take someone out, or that they were in any way junk. Poor choice of words on my end, my apologies. I was simply referring to the fact that these machines have been around for quite some time (both vids and pins that I own), and if you don't treat them with a certain level of care, they will start shutting down, having issues, that sort of thing. And it always seems to happen when you let someone else power up your games, or they decide they can handle certain aspects of launching games without you being present.

I'm sure these games in their day were bulletproof, but I'm sad to say I don't have the funds or the time to keep every single one of them running 100% perfectly, and be proactive on maintenance with them. Since I'm still in many ways a learner of this art, I sadly have to be "reactive", and if something fails I have to deal with it then. But 9 times out of 10, when there's a problem with my games, it's because someone turned it on or started a game differently than I would, or beat on a joystick or part more than I do, and then when I ask "what happened? what did you do?", you get the infamous "uh... I dunno".
 
...you've got a special way of turning on your machines?

In all seriousness, you should maybe consider taking the time (evening, day, weekend, whatever) to child-proof your machines. Make it easy for everyone to power up, select game if it's a MAME, coin up, and play. People are gonna appreciate your machines a TON more when they can just play play play instead of either having you over their shoulder, or having something go wrong. If something does break, and something WILL, it's gonna be either awkward when they come to you, and ask why it's broken, or you find the machine is broken.

Do yourself a favour and take the time to do some preventative maintenance, so that everyone can enjoy your machines the way that you do.
 
...you've got a special way of turning on your machines?

I knew that was coming ;)

I like being there for the games when I can because to be honest, I never in a million years thought I'd be fortunate enough to even own one arcade game, let alone all that I have. So, I hover around when people are playing them, just so I can be there if something goes south. And yes I totally agree that these things will always have something break, I would rather just have people play the games once they are already on than have them figure out where the power switches are, mess with the interlock switches, etc etc

I learn more from this site about my games every day so, hopefully my paranoia will continue to diminish. I can remember though last year when an acquaintance's child was over playing the games- I'm not a big fan of the people to begin with, but of course my wife invited them. The kid got the pinball stuck on the playfield, and rather than tell me (or someone, anyone...) what happened, they simply walked away. I came out after a little bit to find that the game was in "ball in play" mode, and I didn't see the ball stuck on the playfield so I had no idea what was wrong or where to start troubleshooting in the middle of the party. I had to turn it off, and I was pissed because the pinball is the most-played game I have at these events. When I found out who did it, I was even more mad, because these kids never say hello, thank you for letting me play your games, thank you for having us, see you later, f*k off, nothing. They just show up like rats, eat the food, play the games, and leave without any appreciation.

So, long story short, that's why I watch my games like a hermit. :D
 
My paperboy is a ticking time bomb. My fan quit one day while I was out of the room for a few hours. The monitor chassis cooked itself.

Star Trek vids are ticking time bombs. Pinballs with non cpu controlled slings and pops are ticking time bombs, etc, etc,etc. It's all just a part of the hobby you have to accept though. That is why you always insure your fuses are properly sized, your games are surge protected, and your outlets are not overloaded.
 
On more serious note (compared to my previous entries to this thread, I mean), this is why I avoid most hardcore collectors' offers to play at their houses. They are way too paranoid about their games. A little nudging and some tilt warnings and they are jokingly saying "whoa there, tiger, ha ha ha" but I can hear the worry in the tone of their voices and tell they're cringing.

The only collector games I play are when the player is a player first and foremost.

"This one isn't the prettiest, but it plays fine" = great, let's play some pinball.

"Look at this new mod I got, it cost $200 and took me five hours to install. Also, I just put the fifth coat of wax on, installed some imported peruvian rubber and adjusted all the kickouts to within + or - 2 nano microns of factory spec." = looks nice, see you later.
 
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