latest addition: Atari Video Pinball

gwarble

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i scored a nice Atari Video Pinball (1978) off craigslist today, in nice shape, fixed a busted fuse holder and reseated a finicky molex connector, working fine... needs a little video/playfield alignment and a nice windex bath, but mostly pretty nice

a sweet addition to the arcade, its a fun game, unique, pretty artwork/colors, and the cabinet is cool, might work well as a corner game as its narrow and deep... and short!

- gwarble
 

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some more pics
 

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and some more
 

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Looking good! I think you need to trade me that for a Battlezone. The video pinball is to small for your game room.
 
Thanks guys, i'm pretty stoked on it... its fun and really sweet looking... i have to align the playfield a little still...

any recommendations on the blacklight? the lower playfield is too dark? also shows 28 in test mode, paperwork says 29 but i don't see any dead lights (nor do i know what i'm doing on this thing, i'll read the manual tonight

wolfeel, thanks, i'll consider it and you'll get first notice when i'm ready to get rid of it

thanks mrbill, good tip, ammonia and plexi don't mix well... (windex bath is my generic term for cleaning 30 years of dust)

- gwarble
 
heh, sorry... i offered to just buy it, she called while i was on the way and said the ball didn't come up... got there the board was lifeless, offered 200 (expected a counter of 250, i still would have got it for the full 300 probably but was happy to get a better deal of course)

the worst part was the long flight of deck stairs... (this thing is heavy)

thanks
- gwarble
 
quick status update... the blurry screen fixed itself, alignment to playfield still needed (i havent investigated yet)

the 28 in test mode is the hex value of the plunger, nothing to do with the 29 leds which appear to all be lighting but some are a little dimmer than others...

the blacklight needs to be replaced or repositioned to better light the lower playfield, its way too dark

it appears dip switch 8 is bad... i can't get freeplay or 2c1p to come up, so its always in "off" state... i'll pull the board and check the solder/traces when i tear it apart for cleaning... adding credits is fine til i figure it out

otherwise everything seems to work well... i half expected those indicators on the bottom of the marquee part of the bezel to light up individually when things were active, but alas it doesnt do that... speaking of upgrades, thumpers for flipper press would be cool... i don't like the silent flipper action

otherwise, besides being too short (i like short cabinets, but this one i have to bend over too far to see), this thing is very cool

- gwarble

ps: i'll plug it here in case anyone hasn't seen rich's custom Tron Video Pinball 2.0, it was at CAX and was very impressive... i know someone wise already mentioned to him about the depth of the playfield/screen overlay was off in another thread... that was my only complaint

the artwork/cabinet was beatiful, the game was unique and fun, and when reading about it and the work they did to build a playfield editor to design the playfield, very impressive... anyway, off topic here but worth mentioning, look it up if you haven't
 
i put a new black bulb in it, no difference... i don't know what its supposed to have but the manual online says blacklight (18" BLB)

does a white blacklight work well? give the same glow effect?

i was reading an old archived thread about it and one guy's mirror was installed backwards... but he mentioned a double image as well as dark lower playfield... and i don't have the former

also is there any high score save hack for this? after a 5+ year hiatus from the hobby ending at the beginning of this year, i was surprised to see how many homebrew projects have taken off, including all the freeplay/multi/high score stuff... i know there aren't that many of these things but if someone's made a playfield editor, a high score save shouldn't be too much to ask right??

- gwarble

edit: oh and the vertical needs to be stretched, the misalignment is mostly just from shrunk vertical picture (in a vertical orientation, so horizontal from the game's perspective)... 22v1001 monitor... its not terrible but the plunger chute is about a ball's width away, and the left drain about the same... and sorry wolfeel i know you've been looking for one of these, i almost feel bad for getting a good cl score
 
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Hey welcome to the VP club!
yeah the blacklight distribution is terrible on those.

Im working on some mods to the VP2 which offer a much better solution and would be an easy install fix for this. Something I Had to do and still tweakin.

I did fix the alignment isssue on it. The graphics were "floating" instead of being more embedded into the playfield.

The orginal has adjustments on the monitor frame as well as the chassis adjust for size and placement.

And Im having Takeman fab up some brand spankin new panels and will be screening them
from the orginal Atari Films.
 
sweet Rich, helluva job on the TP2.0 and i may want a new cp too if you do them, though this one is nice except one scratched area

i still haven't investigated adjusting the vertical size (didn't see a knob on the monitor for it when i looked quickly)

for the blacklight, i'm going to try putting some mirrors/reflective something or other around it like a tron blacklight has... blacklights by nature don't do well traveling distances, and almost all fixtures use mirror backing (unlike white for normal flourescents) in my experience... it would probably help, if i can mount something without being visible... it may also make the back the same amount brighter as the front without any benefit, unless maybe it can be "focused" toward the front

just an idea

Video Pinball rocks by the way... high score save on anyone's priority list?
- gwarble
 
yeah not much room to bounce that light from the back forward the blacklight LED strips I used worked pretty good and I plan to explore this setup when I finish by orginal VP resto.
they run 12 v and are side directed lighting so Im thinkg it would be mounted up front
and aimed away from say the bezel towrds to playfield if that makes sense.
Ill be sure to post if it works.

Video Pinball rocks by the way... high score save on anyone's priority list?
that would be a question for Xray2 who did the rom hack for me on this.
not sure if that was done or could be incorpaorated Ill find out.
 
yeah it doesn't look like much room to do much reflecting back there... if they weren't blocking the view to the inside of the cabinet that seems like a clever solution... do they disperse well (not spots of brightness on the playfield)?

its the key design to this cabinet, were they really dim in the lower playfield from the factory?

- gwarble
 
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