RollerCoaster Tycoon at 25 inspired real coaster designers

Vater:

I’d love to see a photo of these. Are they at your house?

Here's a few pics I took tonight. 5 games upstairs, rest in basement. Not all the games shown, part of the basement is a mess haha

If any of y'all are in Cincinnati for KI let me know, can play pin along with the park.

I remember that Chicago machine! Twelve-year-old-me is very very geeked.

I remember it specifically in the Cedar Point arcade.

Jeff:

do have a real Namco Pac-Man's Pixel Bash cabinet, with the beverage fridge in it, and it gets a fair amount of action even after two-plus years.

Those seem pricy, but I like that they have a more original look to them vs. the Arcade1Up cabinets.

They are, considering what the parts cost, but I'm kind of specific about buying something that is actually from the copyright holders. I'd be a hypocrite if I complained about copyright abuse and abused copyright by buying one of those boxes with "200+ games" they didn't license.

That makes sense. I was fortunate enough to be gifted a s*** ton of emulators and ROM files, plus a menu system that integrates with all of them, from a friend who was into the hobby. I took it on as a DIY project; bought the original cabinet in 2011 but didn't really start the project until fall of 2020. I'd estimate (very roughly) that it has somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000 games, between MAME (the OG arcade games), Daphne (laser disc games like Dragon's Lair and Space Ace), most of the Atari, Nintendo, and Sega consoles, and other consoles like Colecovision and Intellivision. Overkill for sure; 98% of the games will never see any playtime, but it's cool to have.

Most of the time I play MAME. Galaga is my all time favorite, but I have several other go-to's as well. Last night I played some Track & Field and Wizard of Wor.

If you really want to nerd out, here's the full build thread.

My son and I had plans to build one of those emulator machines. Had plans for the cabinet that father in law would build. There was a place in northeast Ohio that made 2 and 4 person controller boards. Tracked down emulators. Think they were in neighborhood of 10k to 20k games. Never got far with it before other distractions got in the way.

Wizard of Wor was a game I spent hours playing with a friend in late grade school.

I did buy an arcade bowling game. Worked well for a time but then a couple things starting going wrong and I didn't know how to fix them. Then it wasn't used which meant more things went wrong. Someone told me years ago that because they were not solid state machines, you couldn't leave it unplayed for an extended period of time and expect it to work. Talked with a couple people who said 20+ years ago there were people who knew how to fix them because Cleveland area bars had them and they needed serviced. Not true now. Struggle to find anyone who knows enough to fix one who will come out to work on it. There is a company in Missouri that restores them but you ship the machine to them.

GoBucks89:

a couple things starting going wrong and I didn't know how to fix them.

I'd probably take that opportunity to start disassembling the machine to see if I could figure out how it works (if there isn't enough info about it online, which I assume there is the case). I'm sometimes pretty good with reverse engineering older tech, but there are times where I suspect I'll do more harm than good trying to fix stuff myself. I'm not particularly knowledgeable with electronics, for example; I did have to send the board from my CRT arcade monitor to a guy in Wisconsin to repair, and now it works like new (I didn't want to go with an LCD in my cabinet; part of the nostalgia for me is playing on a real arcade monitor).

With the older electromechanical games (pinballs, bowlers, etc), the biggest problem with letting them sit unplayed is that all the switch contacts slowly oxidize, especially if the equipment is stored in musty or damp environments. The switches are designed so there's a small wiping action when they contact which helps keep the contacts clean during normal gameplay. A marginally adjusted switch may work ok when clean, but fail to activate its circuit when oxidized, and suddenly the game is doing weird things.

If you have an EM game with only a few specific problems, it's best to concentrate on just those issues rather than tearing the whole thing down. You may just create more problems unless you know what you're doing re: switch gapping and adjustment. Also helps to have schematics... many of them can be downloaded, although Gottlieb's copyright owners are still active and selling their schematics through Pinball Resource (pbresource.com).

Vater: Good for you keeping that CRT going and not resorting to an LCD! I have a pair of mostly new WG D9200s for MAME cabs (one vertical, one horizontal) whenever I get time to put them together.

My machine plays Galaga, which was a requirement because my wife will permanently have the high score. She must have played it an awful lot as a kid. I've secure the Ms. Pac-Man score, but I can't get close to her Galaga score.

Also, Vater, I love your garage.

You may just create more problems unless you know what you're doing re: switch gapping and adjustment.

Initial problem with the bowler was you couldn't knock down the 4 pin. Expect there is some type of minor adjustment to a switch that was needed. Have a schematic for the machine (and internally, the labelling of switches inside the machine is pretty good). But that only goes so far without knowing how to adjust switches (knowledge I don't have).

I don't think the initial problem required major adjustments/corrections. But without them, a perfect game is a 90. And with no strikes or spares possible, other games the machine allows are meaningless. Means the machine is used less (and certain aspects of it (such third digit scoring wheels) aren't used at all. And to your point, that means adjustments become needed to those switches/mechanisms in the machine. Takes us back to step one of lacking knowledge needed to tinker with the machine from time to time.

I think the old electromechanical machines are something of marvels. Simple yet intricate/complex at the same time. A lot packed into the back of the machine. Time to design and then to build.

Jeff:

Also, Vater, I love your garage.

Thanks. It was definitely one of the main selling points (for me). A requirement when we were house hunting was no less than a two-car garage, but most of the searching I did was for at least 3 bays. Found this house with an oversized 3-car, plus the office and game room above it. And I'm 5 minutes from a motorsports park that contains 3 road courses. Sold!

I broke 1 million once on Galaga, finally happened maybe a year ago. The high score at the top of the screen stuck at 999960, the 1UP score kept climbing and the game kept playing normally until I lost (not much above 1 mil). The hi score never registered in the top 5, though. But that's my story and I'm sticking to it. ;)

GoBucks89:
I think the old electromechanical machines are something of marvels. Simple yet intricate/complex at the same time.

Yeah, this is how I feel about the pachinko I have. I had one when I was a kid and I was always fascinated by how it worked. That one never had electrics, but this one does (a couple light bulbs, about as simple as it gets) and it makes me goofily satisfied that I can fix issues (most of the time) when they arise. No one else uses it or cares. Or on the rare occasion that one or both of the kids are using it and it jams, it takes me so long to fix it, but I'm happier than a pig in **** trying to figure it out. Then I get it working and look around and find that they got bored and went back downstairs. But **** yeah, I fixed it.

Bowler is somewhat similar. But more.

Egad. Yeah, that looks a bit overwhelming.

metallik:

With the older electromechanical games (pinballs, bowlers, etc), the biggest problem with letting them sit unplayed is that all the switch contacts slowly oxidize, especially if the equipment is stored in musty or damp environments.

This is where I’d start. Electrical contact cleaner works really well for old oxidized switch contacts. It was absolutely mandatory when attempting to iron out the electrical issues in my ‘79 Triumph.

$3 right this moment (for both!)

I wonder if you can patch it like back in the day so it will run custom parks. I want to check out the mega park I made 20-some years ago.

Will those run on current day computers? I tried my old RCT original disc and it won't run.

If I am going to spend $3 I want to make sure it works. I can't just be wasting money like that!

Buy the second game with packs for $2.49 on GOG. If it doesn't run, they'll give you your money back. Also has no DRM. I love GOG for all of the old stuff, and I've bought a few new games that way too.

I will have to check, but I think my old RCT2 disk does work on my computer. I have always been hoping to find a version of the original that would work as I liked it better than RCT2.

Shades, check out OpenRCT, it should allow you to play with your old disk.

https://openrct2.org/