Why did this not catch on?

Silverunicorn

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Question is below :p

So I tore down a Hyperball playfield the other day. This was a game that was played HARD, and then the playfield was stored in a barn. it was absolutely filthy, and had stuff all over it. I cleaned it up, and when I disassembled it, it looked like this (sorry for the blurry pics):

5374395626_63030945f4.jpg


And after some windex, Novus3, Novus 2, and novus 1, this is what I got:

5374395750_6e60380799.jpg


5374395814_9018e4995c.jpg



SO I was wondering.....Why did they not keep the plastic playfields in pinball machines. Everything is screened from the bottom, the art does not wear out, the plastic (at least in the case of ALL the Hyperball machines I have seen) is incredibly durable.

Just pondering why this did not become an industry standard. I would have to think it would be cheaper (but I could be wrong).

Chris
 
I would have to assume they made these machine to last for 2-3 years so people would be forced into buying new ones. People meaning operators. On the flip side of the coin i have to wonder how long this plastic stays rigid with all the heat being generated and the topside being heavy. one would think it'd start to sag or contort?
 
I would have to assume they made these machine to last for 2-3 years so people would be forced into buying new ones. People meaning operators. On the flip side of the coin i have to wonder how long this plastic stays rigid with all the heat being generated and the topside being heavy. one would think it'd start to sag or contort?

The plastic is only like 1/4" thick. It's mounted to wood which has all the routed areas for the lights, and everything is mounted to the wood. I guess t could be problematic to drill the plastic for stuff like drop targets and pop bumpers, but I'm not sure.

Chris
 
I dont have any experience with that game but it seems to me that it would scratch and dull easily. I have a space time pin with a plastic window in the playfield that needs attention quite a bit to keep it clear.
 
Some of the problems with plastic when it was tried on playfields,

Bally some test playfields - posts and screws rip out or strip pretty easy from ball hits and can't be fixed.

Peyper used over the playfiled - scratches and breaks and gets a dull look.

stern Orbitor 1 cracks around the outhole.

And Hyperball has a lot of black underneath, keep out of the sun so you don't warp the crap out of it.

Just didn't do good in commercial use.
LTG :)
 
Some of the problems with plastic when it was tried on playfields,

Bally some test playfields - posts and screws rip out or strip pretty easy from ball hits and can't be fixed.

Peyper used over the playfiled - scratches and breaks and gets a dull look.

stern Orbitor 1 cracks around the outhole.

And Hyperball has a lot of black underneath, keep out of the sun so you don't warp the crap out of it.

Just didn't do good in commercial use.
LTG :)

Those all make sense. Orbiter 1 was more molded though, which I think lead to the cracks, but I could be wrong. I'm suprised that the posts would give them issues. The Hyperballs posts that I had to pull out were in there good. But now that I think about it, standard pinballs are a whole lot heavier than the ones that hit the posts in Hyperball.

Well, at least I know they tried before abandoning the idea :cool:

It just seems that every Hyperball I see is in great condition! But then again, it could be because they were always broken :)

Chris
 
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