Who?Dunnit

quses

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It's been a few weeks since I got my W?D and I thought I might post some feedback and follow up. This is a very fun game and I'm enjoying it immensely. I made a few mods to the game to get it to flow smoothly, and I think I found what is a pretty serious design flaw that might explain why so few were put in production despite this really being, IMO, an A-list title from a playability standpoint.

I continue to be really impressed by how much fun this game is. It has the whole package: great sound, great lights, immersive, interactive DMD activities, neat toys on the playfield and lots of random and innovative elements.

For those that aren't very familiar with W?D, here are a few items of note:

* It has three different skill shots methods, with five different types of skill shot awards, and the awards can progressively increase on subsequent made skill shots.

* Not only does the game have a standard "ball save" feature, but you can put the ball back into play after it drains with a combination of skill and luck by lining up the spin slot machine light on the outlane when the ball drains there. It's pretty cool to lose the ball, then get a free spin and have something come up which puts the ball back into play.

* Wagering your existing score: I know of no other machine that can bring your score completely down to 0 from billions of points, OR double it with one shot and make you cross two replay thresholds on a single play - it's incredibly exciting.

* User-controllable game play modes via the ingenious "elevator" ramp, which is one large ramp that inverts the ball and exits into three separate lanes. You can travel up or down floors based on shots and then "exit" on a particular floor to start a particular mode.

* "Equipment" that can be awarded during the game unlocks special features that allow you to get further into the storyline faster and score higher jackpots.

* Several multi-ball modes with tons of strategy in how you want to play the game. You can make big points in a number of different ways by completing cases, or just shoot around triggering the slot machine and going for various random awards.

* The "elevator ramp" is pretty ingenious in how it allows you to take control of multiball mode and get the balls timed properly around the playfield so you're not dealing with all of them at once, but just when you think you've got things under control, the ramp shuts down and you once again go into panic mode trying to control things. The game progressively gets harder the better you do.

* Random awards that aren't really random, but are based on what's going on, so special bonuses are relevant to the current mode or objective.

* Solving cases and understanding "Who Dunnit" is exciting and involved... knowing the back storyline really helps you interpret what the characters mean and there's all sorts of secret clues the game gives you on the video screen you have to be paying attention to notice.

* The slot machine is totally cool and really does feel random. You can hit an extra ball within the first 5 seconds of play if you're lucky, or go into multi-ball mode after you just lost a ball. Sometimes you can pick between different awards. It's a lot of fun.

I'm still learning the ins and outs of the game but I can see why this game has so much appeal. I can also see why some people might not like it. It's a lot different from many traditional games - it has really great flow, but then it will sometimes switch to video mode and stop the game while something is going on. I really like that, but I can understand some people might not. To me, it's the way DMD games should have always been designed. I was initially unimpressed with DMDs when they came out because most of the time you couldn't pay attention them and still manage the playfield - this game has a nice balance of that and gives you time to appreciate what's happening on the display without worrying about losing balls.

However, there is at least one thing I found a bit odd with the game. I would play and every once in awhile a ball would just go "poof" during multiball and shut the whole game down. And I could not shake it out from the machine and it wasn't stuck in any of the below-deck tunnels. It took me awhile before I figured out what was happening. Several times I would have to invert the playfield and suddenly the ball would appear but I couldn't figure out where it got stuck. The last time this happened I had to take apart half the playfield to find the ball. It turns out during multi-ball play, there's a solenoid at the top of the playfield that fires a pin which blocks the path of the upper lane. However if there's a ball on the top of the pin as it lifts, that ball will be launched into the innards of the machine, never to be seen again. I had it happen to me 4 times before I decided to do something about it:

mHk8V.jpg


I ended up taking some metal duct strapping tape and making a "restraining wall" above the lane to keep the ball from going up there. I do not know if some machines had something there or not, or if other people have experienced this problem, but it seems to me like it's a serious issue - once the ball gets stuck in between the upper and lower playfield, it doesn't always come out with shaking or even flipping up the playfield. This could be fixed either by hardware or software, but since I've got the latest ROM version, it looks like it wasn't addressed (unless there was some sort of barrier that isn't on my machine). Anyway, I'm hopeful this will fix the machine and it can really be seen during gameplay.
 
who dunnit? is a fantastic pin.....one is for sale near me (or at least WAS not too long ago), but, unfortunately, i didn't have the money to pick it up. if it sticks around, it'll wind up in my collection by the end of the year.



i've always heard there were "software" issues that made the game "less than complete" during the production run (like it wasn't actually completed or something), but i've always found the game to be very fun. i hope to add it sometime....not sure if it'll work out or not though.



either way, congrats on your pick up....solid pin, IMO.
 
who dunnit? is a fantastic pin.....one is for sale near me (or at least WAS not too long ago), but, unfortunately, i didn't have the money to pick it up. if it sticks around, it'll wind up in my collection by the end of the year.



i've always heard there were "software" issues that made the game "less than complete" during the production run (like it wasn't actually completed or something), but i've always found the game to be very fun. i hope to add it sometime....not sure if it'll work out or not though.



either way, congrats on your pick up....solid pin, IMO.

i heard the same, but at least the updated roms help, i saw one pop up but i wasnt fast enough
 
who dunnit? is a fantastic pin.....one is for sale near me (or at least WAS not too long ago), but, unfortunately, i didn't have the money to pick it up. if it sticks around, it'll wind up in my collection by the end of the year.



i've always heard there were "software" issues that made the game "less than complete" during the production run (like it wasn't actually completed or something), but i've always found the game to be very fun. i hope to add it sometime....not sure if it'll work out or not though.



either way, congrats on your pick up....solid pin, IMO.

What was the one going for in your area? I'm curious what people are asking for these?

As for the software issue claims... I think the main criticism is that there isn't a "Wizard mode" - and in an interview the designer said he had hoped to put one in the game. However, being able to complete all the cases is extremely difficult. So far, I've only been able to complete one case and go through 4.

If anybody thinks this game is "easy" I suspect they don't have their machine tuned properly. However, there are some things I think could be improved in the software. One problem is by default the game allows 3 buy-ins. It was really designed to eat money on location and I bet it did very well. But there is no alternate high score table for buy-ins like there is for TZ, so you could set the machine to offer a ton of buy-ins and buy your way into a crazy high score or solving a bunch of cases, but to me that's cheating.
 
What was the one going for in your area? I'm curious what people are asking for these?

As for the software issue claims... I think the main criticism is that there isn't a "Wizard mode" - and in an interview the designer said he had hoped to put one in the game. However, being able to complete all the cases is extremely difficult. So far, I've only been able to complete one case and go through 4.

If anybody thinks this game is "easy" I suspect they don't have their machine tuned properly. However, there are some things I think could be improved in the software. One problem is by default the game allows 3 buy-ins. It was really designed to eat money on location and I bet it did very well. But there is no alternate high score table for buy-ins like there is for TZ, so you could set the machine to offer a ton of buy-ins and buy your way into a crazy high score or solving a bunch of cases, but to me that's cheating.



i think it was going for somewhere around $1400-1600 or so...maybe? it's been a while since i looked and i don't see it listed anymore, so it must have sold. from the pics/description, it looked to be in VERY good condition.
 
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The no wizard mode is the only thing that this pin has going against it in my opinion. I could care less about another toy on the playfield, sometimes the newer dmd pins got way too crowded. When I finally solved all five cases, it was just a little anti-climactic to just have it start over at case 1 again! However, that being said, This is a highly underrated pin and I never get tired of it.

Right now Jeff (chips4sle) is shopping mine out and I can't wait until I get it back. The LED upgrade with the light show this thing puts on should be awesome!
 
I sold mine for $1250 with a brand new display and a rebuilt HV section. It was in excellent condition too. I could have sold it to a rich dude for more, but it would have turned into a coat rack in no time. Instead I sold it to a local collector friend who had that machine as his pin grail. Bonus points, I can still go play it if I want.
 
I've owned my Who Dunnit? for over a year and this has never, ever happened to me.

I will check out that area on my machine carefully, but I suspect you may be missing some plastic guard or something in that area.

I'm having something similar happening to me on my BSD skill shot and I seem to be missing a guard in the area.

RussM


However, there is at least one thing I found a bit odd with the game. I would play and every once in awhile a ball would just go "poof" during multiball and shut the whole game down. And I could not shake it out from the machine and it wasn't stuck in any of the below-deck tunnels. It took me awhile before I figured out what was happening. Several times I would have to invert the playfield and suddenly the ball would appear but I couldn't figure out where it got stuck. The last time this happened I had to take apart half the playfield to find the ball. It turns out during multi-ball play, there's a solenoid at the top of the playfield that fires a pin which blocks the path of the upper lane. However if there's a ball on the top of the pin as it lifts, that ball will be launched into the innards of the machine, never to be seen again. I had it happen to me 4 times before I decided to do something about it:
 
I've owned my Who Dunnit? for over a year and this has never, ever happened to me.

I will check out that area on my machine carefully, but I suspect you may be missing some plastic guard or something in that area.

Let me know if you have some sort of plastic guard there. If not, let me know what rom version you're running. I just installed 1.2, the latest version. It seems to me during multiball mode, the pin to stop the ball at the top should never fire. That's the only thing I can see that would cause a ball to launch in the air back there - maybe this issue only appears in certain rom versions?
 
where'd you get the 1.2 version ?

is it 1.2E ? or just 1.2 ?

had someone send me a 1.2E but i think it got x-rayed when it went through customs
he sent me another one and i havent tried it yet

when does the ball diverter pop up ? i havent seen that yet
i know its working

i love my WHO DUNNIT. its fantastic but i think im going to sell it
 
where'd you get the 1.2 version ?

is it 1.2E ? or just 1.2 ?

had someone send me a 1.2E but i think it got x-rayed when it went through customs
he sent me another one and i havent tried it yet

when does the ball diverter pop up ? i havent seen that yet
i know its working

i love my WHO DUNNIT. its fantastic but i think im going to sell it

I downloaded 1.2 from IPDB and burned my own ROM. As far as I know it's the latest version. If you know of anything later, let me know.

I am not sure when the ball diverter pops up but it must because there's no other way that I can see where the balls end up in the back of the machine above everything else. I guess it could be possible that one ball hits the hole where the solenoid is, as another ball is coming in the other direction and one gets launched into the air, but I think that's unlikely. I've actually seen the ball go through the underside of the train ramp at a fairly medium speed and just go "poof" like it was the bermuda triangle - strangest thing I've ever seen.
 
Have you checked your under playfield subways? Maybe the one that is fed from the pop bumpers is loose or something, and is allowing the ball to get stuck and/or escape.
 
Have you checked your under playfield subways? Maybe the one that is fed from the pop bumpers is loose or something, and is allowing the ball to get stuck and/or escape.

The ball doesn't get stuck under the playfield. It actually gets stuck ABOVE the playfield. The pop bumper hold doesn't have a solenoid anywhere near it that could push the ball out. As best I can surmise, what's happening is, the solenoid-controlled up-post at the top of the playfield happens to fire during multi-ball when a ball is on top of it, and launch a ball into the back of the cabinet.
 
I've never even given this game a thought. After your writeup I checked it out on youtube and it looks very interesting, especially for the price.
 
The diverter post just doesn't seem logical. That is more of a freak event. No way it happens as often as you are saying. It has to be something else.
 
I think you are definitely missing some plastic(s) in the top of the orbit area - this is fully enclosed by plastics on my W?D.

The chances of the diverter pin popping up just under the ball as it rolls over it seems like an unlikely event, in any case.

I see the diverter pin go up and down during play on my W?D all the time, and I've never seen it launch a ball into the air or into the bottom of the overhead ramp.

That is unusual.

RM
 
I think you are definitely missing some plastic(s) in the top of the orbit area - this is fully enclosed by plastics on my W?D.

The chances of the diverter pin popping up just under the ball as it rolls over it seems like an unlikely event, in any case.

I see the diverter pin go up and down during play on my W?D all the time, and I've never seen it launch a ball into the air or into the bottom of the overhead ramp.

That is unusual.

RM

Can you post a picture of what it looks like on your machine? Maybe I am missing a plastic?
 
I've never even given this game a thought. After your writeup I checked it out on youtube and it looks very interesting, especially for the price.

I am really enjoying this game. I was playing a friend's WW the other day, which I believe is about 3 years older and you can really tell the difference in the maturity of the technology and programming. If you think TZ and STTNG makes good use of the DMD, you should see W?D. It's really well done. This machine was made at the same time as AFM.
 
The ramp blocks it. I doubt you are missing that.

Did you see this pic?

mHk8V.jpg


The metal strip with the holes in it is what I added (it can be easily removed - it's merely looped around two posts and brazed together). Does your game have some piece of plastic where the metal is, or is it wide open too?

My problem could be rom-related too. It may also have to do with gameplay. During multi-ball mode, I imagine most players just shoot for the elevator ramp, but you can score big points by upping the jackpot value if you can get balls hitting the pop-bumpers, so I tend to shoot the outer lanes during multi-ball, so the possibility of this happening the way I've been playing might also account for it happening more often to me.
 
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