Playing Bally's Fantastic 1980 XENON Pinball Machine - All Fixed Up, Let's See What She Does!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ส.ค. 2022
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The voice is Suzanne Ciani, a musician from back in the day and she’s still kickin’ and gigging at over 70 years old
The Suzanne Cian Documentary brought me here :D - Glad I came
Thank you Ronnie, for fixing our Xenon. It plays great and it sounds great. I felt so bad for you, when you were working on that sound board. I am sure you took that thing off 10 times or so. Everyone who comes over loves playing her and now it works again, she will get a lot of plays again. Thanks again Ronnie. See you on the next video
No problem Frank, that's what we do! We're going to work on a Firepower starting Wednesday, see you then!
Next time keep your junk out of the coin slot.
Cool game. That overlay interference would drive me crazy.
The overlay isn't completely flat it has a little speed bump in it :)
28:34 It does that, it's called 'attract mode' where it flashed all the lights. After a game it waits for a few seconds and then goes wild!
There is a small button on either the sound or vocalizer cards. Press it and it runs though all the speech. Quite impressive!
The art work is absolutely incredible on this one❤
I owned one of these, loved it! (that's why I came here). Made in the USA, sent to Germany with German instructions, came to the UK where I bought it and restored it, went with me to Florida, and I eventually sold it there, when I was moving back to the UK. I loved that game! If you have one, serial number EXE 11019, please let me know here, thanks!
Watching the video of this woman making all the sounds and the equipment she used and the voice clips was amazing.
This was 1979 and she was way ahead of her time doing computer sounds and synthesizer sounds.
It was very unusual, pretty much unheard of, to see a woman into computers in the 1970s.
To see one that was linking computers to digital music equipment and programming the computer, I had never seen it before.
I would have never known about her were it not for this channel and this game coming in for repairs.
The one thing I wish they had done was to add more memory and give her more space to record more sounds and voice clips.
If there was another 6 sounds and 6 voice clips it would have been more dynamic. The repetition of the same sounds and the same voice cuts over and over is the only thing that is a drawback and I understand it's because they didn't have the space to put more memory and it would have greatly increased the cost.
In 1995 1 MB of memory was $50
In 1981 1 MB was $500
I don't how much they sold the game for but each of those memory chips were probably $50 for each sound
It really is amazing looking back at the different video games like donkey Kong and seeing the giant boards with Rows and rows of memory chips
Each ROM file is 8k, and they used I think 64 chips to get that 8k. I think the chips were 128 bytes each.
In 1995 the 10MB flash card was the largest they made.
Now they make 1TB that is 1/20 the the size.
It still hurts my brain to look at the original 10 MB hard drive that was 6 ft square and weighed 4000 pounds, and to look at this tiny chip that is the thickness of 5 sheets of paper and 1/2 an inch wide by 3/4 of an inch long that has 100,000,000,000 times the storage capacity of that original hard drive from 1953
They are already working on an 8TB chip that should be out next year.
It would be really cool to ask the woman who did the sounds what she was thinking about when she did them. I bet she had other sounds they had to leave because of space restraints.
Imagine if you could have her do all the sounds she had and load a new chip, and hack the boards, so there would be a more dynamic sound scheme.
I imagine they have the lines going to the switches wired to the sound board and if you can trace them you could wire them to a new add in board and loop it back to the audio amplifier.
Maybe even a whole new game for 50 year anniversary with a new scheme and the classic sounds plus what she couldn't use on the original one and new sounds.
I think it is worth it to contact the company and see if they would be interested in doing a new version of this game.
Suzanne Ciani was ahead of her time. It's rumored that Laurie Anderson was asks to do this commission.
The lady that recorded her voice for Xenon is Suzanne Ciani, a legend of electronic music.
Pinball Machines back in the day of those Arcades used to fascinate me, the more complex the better.. a miss spent Childhood.. i remembers this
I just played one today after watching your video (an arcade 6 miles from me actually has a Xenon) I like how this one has blue lights for the backglass and tube, the one I played today had white lights and while the backglass looks fine the tube lights get lost in the general illumination. I had trouble getting the multiball, so satisfying when I actually got it. (Same arcade has a Space Odyssey as well, the two player version of Space Mission, I'm happy to report they have fixed the kickers on either side of the flippers where the ball actually can hit the swinging target now, makes the game a lot more fun. - Thanks go out to all keeping the old school pins alive, especially those still wiling to put them out in arcades for the rest of us to still enjoy. I can imagine that Space Odyssey thinking "I should be living a nice retirement life now, a few games on the weekends, maybe more when the grandkids are over, but no, I'm still working in an arcade" (And I suppose on the flip side there are enough of us eager to put money into the old pins to make it worthwhile for the owner)
This was my go to game in college. I would play it almost every day. Loved all the female oohs and ahs. It was like she was getting more excited the harder you played. 🙂 And of course the tube shot was the ultimate prize.
Oh those ball physics would drive me NUTS. Game looks and sounds amazing though.
The overlay isn't completely flat it has a little speed bump in it :)
@@LyonsArcade Any way to fix that or is that something you do when you install the overlay?
@@Nananea Overlays are basically like a car vinyl. You're supposed to use a rubber squeegee to push out any trapped air bubbles before the adhesive sets. There are ways to fix it, but you risk making the problem worse and/or damaging the vinyl if you do it wrong.
@@SpearM3064 Makes sense! Thanks for the clarification!
Way ahead of it's time
This would have been the coolest looking thing in the arcade in 1980
Yeah it really has a nice look to it, pretty amazing they even thought of it like that...
It was one of my favorites along with FATHOM & EMBRYON.
I played this when 1st came out in 1980😊also played another talking machine new back then. Gorgar😊also played silverball, space invaders and meteor👍nostalgic times
Ahhhh...the Xenon.
There was one at a gambling-hall in my hometown.
I played it often.
It is a one-of-a-kind machine.
The hall went out of business, i tried to find out, where the machine went, but had no luck.
In Germany, if you find a Xenon in good condition you must pay up to 10.000 Euros.
I used to love that pinball, it was my first one. When you are 10 you love to hear things talk. haha
That's true, I wonder if kids still think that's cool? I remember at the time thinking Mario saying "TeknikalKnahkOwt" on Mike Tyson's Punch out was so cool!
@@LyonsArcade Today kids can see a lot of things I never dreamed at 10 with cell phones, but it's too bad they'll never get to experience that feeling of stepping into an arcade for the first time and hearing all the machines playing their demo sounds. That was truly something special.
She is beautiful. I'm not crying... those are tears of happiness and joy. 😂
Seriously Ron, great work as always. Thank you for sharing!
Be safe and be well.
Loved Xenon and Gorgar back then.
Absolutely a magnet in the center just above and between the flippers. I doubt an overlay would do that, no matter how bubbled it was. Even so, what an AMAZINGLY beautiful machine!!!! Love that glass with the reflections. Also love the spinning lights on the play field that reverse directions.
Nope. That is 100% an air bubble trapped under the overlay. There are no magnets in this game. (How do I know? I used to work for the local arcade... when we _had_ a local arcade, that is. We had a Xenon.)
@@SpearM3064 That's some pretty funky physics for an air bubble. More than once I saw the ball near orbit the thing. I can see a bubble causing a ricochet or a sight curve, but were talking at least 270 out of 360, that's a full 3/4 circle spin around the area in question. I've only see a magnet do that to a steel ball. A bubble doesn't attract an object that heavy.
One of the first games I ever played! At a hotel in a back vending room, my dad got tired of me begging for quarters. Fun to watch you play!
We had a Space Port arcade in the mall where I grew that used the exact same font as the playfield. Frank spent a lot of money on that machine. It looks almost perfect. Thanks, awesome video. You weren't robbed, you got mugged and then somebody stole you identity. That was rough to watch. That one multi-ball where they both went straight down the middle was fist pound on the glass type of pain. In the same arcade, I saw a guy pick up a machine and push it into the wall so hard the back glass broke. Stand up guy. LOL Have a great weekend everybody!
Great looking machine.........
Great machine!
i remember seeing this machine when i was a kid, i would stare at the thing trying to figure out what all the lights meant and how you would play it (what made certain lights turn on and what you would have to hit to make the machine do things). thanks for showing me how this game worked after all these years. i only got the chance to actually play it once
Hey Ron!! Sorry, late on the drop. I was cleaning the garage/arcade stuff.
One of the best.
The art on this game is like a fantasy artist's. Like Hildebrant, Vallejo, or Julie Bell.
It's an exceptionally good-looking game and really stands out.
When this first came out i played the hell out of it at the arcade ... this one and Black Knight
You were robed in the second game. Just how I remember it back in the day. Some games were great but the next one just robed you of balls. Still great memories. The game looks super nice now. Well done on the work.
Such a great game, love the artwork and the flow. You did another good deed keeping these pieces of art going. Thanks for taking us on the ride!
Beautiful game. I haven’t played this. I’m glad you mentioned the overlay. I thought for a moment that it had a magnagrab feature.
I was 20 when I played this the most, yet the sound and voice I thought were kinda scary. lol
I remember playing machines that had magnets in the boards. They would activate at certain times causing the ball to act funky. Like everything else if played enough, you got used to the action and was able to use it for your advantage.
Wow, flashback time.
Addicting..!
Suzanne Ciani was/is such an electronic music pioneer!
That’s a Amazing looking game . The artwork the led lights make it look 👀 even better. Great job keeping another great game in play
Ahh, the memories of playing Xenon. One of my all time favorite games growing up. I remember my dad wanting to have it taken out of our bowling lanes because it sounded too much like sex. I had to argue with him to keep it in there. After it was eventually cycled out, the operator brought it back to us again a year or two later after I asked them to. If I had known you had that one in there and wanted people to play test it, I would have made a special trip down your way.
Though I have to say that overlay sucks. If I were play testing to buy it I would either lowball cause that would have to get fixed somehow or walk away. I hope that this one is atypical of how overlays usually turn out.
BTW, that male voice was also done by Suzanne Ciani. She ran her voice through a bunch of electronic filtering.
The best way to repair the overlay is to use a heat gun to soften the glue, peel it back to where the bubble is, then lay it back down again. But you're running the risk of damaging the overlay and/or making the bubble worse if you do it wrong. If the bubble is a small one, you can puncture it with a needle to let the air out and then try to smooth it down, but there will probably be a visible deformity where the bubble was popped.
I’d like to own a mint Xenon
I like there the “tilt” lite bulb is. 😉
Great game.
I remember when it came out, it was the first machine I ever saw with a ramp and with voice sampling, I loved the ramp and tube experience. I thought now these features are the future of pinball
If you haven’t watched the documentary of Suzanne Ciani, creating all the sounds for Xenon. You need to. It’s so coop
Beautiful game so fun to play the light show and sound effects are awesome flooded with fond memories. Thanks for sharing it with us Ron.
Pinball..the best game, on Earth !
Great video. Love the blue coloring and amazing backglass.
There is one for sale near me but the dealer is asking $5,000 and this is a $2,000 - $3,000 machine in my book and what sales numbers indicate.
I loved this one!
Very nice work and it looks awesome too. Thanks for posting this.
"You see how it moved a lil bit?"
Bro, that straight up changed directions like a magnet is pulling it from center over to the flipper.
What a beautiful pinball machine, I love the flashing lights.
Paul Feris is the greatest pinball artist ever!
He was awesome!
Eric, check this video out we did awhile back: th-cam.com/video/i5H-6rYPlvM/w-d-xo.html
@@retroarcadefan he did paragon, which is my entire back tattoo
The only two pinball machines I would ever have in my (bucket list) collection would be XENON and Paragon... both in my opinion are the Top 80's 'must have' pinball machines. But again, that is just my opinion and personal preference.
Great work, as always. Black Knight says at start: "I will slay you, my enemy".
Woop! Such a cool game. Lovely work Ron!
Besides the voice, Suzanne Ciani also composed the music of the game.
She's very talented!
super game....but.....the overlay would send me crazy....you were robbed a number of times lol....cheers
Great work Arnie. Another fantastic pinball machine up & running, and providing fun and pleasure for folks. …. It seems absurd now that pinball was actually banned in places. … and every time I see those pics of that big ol’ boy mayor that broke the machines …. well it makes me want to punch his lights out. …. and then along came Ronnie.
Yeah I wish I had all the broken up games in that picture, I'd be investing in some super glue I think I could save 'em :) The glass you can't save though...
Really cool game. Definitely one I’ll watch for locally. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you MRN Bricks! ... I mean, Circus Pinball Expert :)
@@LyonsArcade ha. Yea. I’m ready for a new one. Not sure why I picked to rebuild two of them one after the other.
Awesome brother!
That ball is like a knuckleball in baseball.
The overlay isn't completely flat it has a little speed bump in it :)
The male "ow!" sounds similar to when the warrior takes damage in Gauntlet
I played this game back in the day and also an arcade has this game, and it plays really well
This is such a great machine. I remember it well.
If you ever see a Xenon machine, you MUST play it.
Great job🤖👍
I played that in an amusement park when I was a teenager. Good times. Don't know if I was lucky or some dip switches were set to easy, but I think I could play a lot longer on a single coin than on any other pinball they had there.
Nice. Just as I remember it. Couple things I noted during the play. The ball going down the out lane on the left, especially after being ejected from that hole at the top, was common with that game. Asking you to shoot for the tunnel after new ball in play was because you had spelt XENON twice on the previous ball. As for the high score of 5 million, I've seen it higher.
Love love love this game find me a Robo Wars lol
Who would win in a fight? Xenon or Bride of Pinbot?
If I had the extra cash..I would definately buy one .
Great game Ron I wish it was mine some day.
I know she didn't do the female voice but i would have guessed it was Laurie Anderson.She was wierd enough to do that voice too(she's famous for her song O"Suprman).
12:53 Xenon Exit 1 Exit 2
The ball is indeed doing some very weird stuff between the slingshots. Seems like left/right level is pretty off. Weird physics is right! Thanks Ron!
beautiful! btw suzanne ciani did the sounds and voice.
That's the one!
First time i saw/played this was in Switzerland in 1981 in a swimming pool called SGU near Glarus.....was blown away !! :) ...It spoke in French though !!..Thank you for the video guys,such a cool machine for its time...following on from Space Invaders x
That's pretty awesome, it's funny how we can remember stuff like that sometimes, my memory is not that good so I often can't remember the exact place I was when I played things, but sitting here thinking back I do remember a few but I don't remember dates or even the name of the place, just kind of where I was.... "at the mall in that corner" etc.
@@LyonsArcade arcade was massive in Europe....machines everywhere.. was a great time to be alive,we were very lucky !! x
Great video, reminds me of back in the day watching someone kicking a$$ on pinball, except you didn't lol
You think so?
There's like magnets in that lower playfield! That ball took some wicked direction changes down there. If that's the overlay...it is not great.
Remember XENON well when she showed up in our pinball arcades.
There was always a line waiting for XENON - When XENON sat idle and
on she would start to talk with cryptic messages.
Check that machine for magnets...🧐 I do like the Xenon machines. I panic with two balls.
The link to Suzanne Ciani's site was apparently dead but I found a YT video of her doing the voices and music. She looks and sounds good, damnit!
Also her last name appears very Italian and on the video the narrator pronounced it as /cha:ni/ or /chya:ni/ which would be very much what I expect from Italian pronunciation. Note that I know very little Italian language, and even though I 'm kind of an Italo-Disco freak, I only know that genre too very superficially. Boy, it is such a large and convoluted genre that no matter how much you knew about it you still know very little.
I found this link to a video. th-cam.com/video/r28i-k3mL3o/w-d-xo.html
For anyone curious, here is the process of Suzanne Ciani creating the soundtrack and voice snippets for this machine, pretty cool: th-cam.com/video/r28i-k3mL3o/w-d-xo.html
Alright, 2 times I took money from my mom's purse, 2 different times. A 20 each time, and it was because of this game that I did this. At the time this pinball game came out it was like nothing we had really seen yet. And at the bowling Alley when you were on a game and you stacked quarters on the glass you basically had a monopoly on it till they were gone. If there was no quarters stacked you could teach over and put your quarter on the glass booking it for the next game when the guy loses finally he has to give up the machine and it's your turn. That works out but not when u come around the corner and you see the school bullies crowded around it.ha ha. And they were just like Moody and his clan in the movie My Bodyguard (Christopher Makepiece) just like them . Anyway mom noticed the 20 and then blamed me for the first mystery 20, but I got my but whooped good and grounded for a week. That finished that AND Xenon came to a screening halt. Black Knight remember that one?
Awesome
We really enjoyed it!
Nice admiration video. Not sure if we want any of those sounds added to the Ron Mod of the sound chip!
Susan Cianni (Chah-nee) did the voice work, as well as the synthesizer music, as part of her long career in music and advertsement.
Come on now! lol I drank every time I heard that! I'm prettyd damd drinjmk.
You'd almost think there's magnets under the playfield the way that ball moves, maybe the playfield decal is a bit high friction so ball spin has a greater effect? Has it been waxed?
The overlay isn't completely flat it has a little speed bump in it :)
That backglass is staring into my soul...
Thanks for filming these :).
Watching play, the way the ball behaves makes it appear like theres is an electro-magnet under the XENON circle which screws with the ball movement sometimes? (but not every time) making predicting when to shoot harder? I know you mentioned the overlay affecting the ball physics, but there where just such odd deflections sometimes (like you see when a ball passes over a magnet).
That overlay would drive me crazy. You can get a HardTop now for this game and it's superior to an overlay. Installed one on my project game last year. I worked on Xenon back when, bunch of grown men huddled in a conference room listening to dozens of recordings of moans and groans over and over again trying to select the best ones.
As seen on the pinball arcade
Come on people, thats some great art work! And don't forget, TRY XENON!
The way the ball moves sometimes on the play field its almost looks like there is some sort of magnetic field pulling the ball into a weird way.
Gameplay starts at 9:34.
I have a really nice Xenon and trying to decide if I want to go to LED lamps.
Oooh...where did you find blue drop targets for that? Mine are white. Todd Tuckey told me that the prototype had black ones.
@9:15 Yeah I don't have mine on free play for that same reason. ^_^
What’s the aim of the multiball? Another tube shot and a lock in the top saucer?
Really cool.
Did you know that Mouser still sell 2N5060 thyristors. They are PBFREE and new production made by Central Semiconductor. If you want to dot the i's. You can replace those others one in the lamp board. Not that it matters though. By the way are the thyristors directly connected to the rectifier. Because the way they work. Very short If you apply a voltage to the gate they will latch, and stay on until the current (anode, cathode) fell under a threshold value. At that point you have to trigger them again. So if you apply a regulated voltage they will latch on and stay on by the first trigger pulse
Sorry, missed what an overlay is. Is it a clear vinyl wrap that is put on the playfield? Or is it a vinyl wrap that has all the artwork and they put it on a stripped playfield? Or is it a vinyl wrap that has all the artwork and they just laid it on top over the existing artwork?
The second one. It's a vinyl wrap with the artwork, that you put on a stripped playfield. (You don't necessarily have to strip _all_ the original art off, but the surface does have to be sanded flat.)
@@SpearM3064 Thanks. I bet those overlays aren’t cheap.
This machine looks like a predecessor to The Fifth Element motion picture (which is an "homage" to the Harry Canyon segment of the Heavy Metal animated movie).
Did they ever make a Fifth Element pinball game?
I don't think they did. it's a shame. i think someone made a virtual pinball table of it, but it never was made IRL.
This is too cool! One of my favorite tables is Space station just cause it’s soo unique but it has a similar vibe
That's a fun one too!