After the last video I downloaded a version of this game for VPM and my experience was the same. They probably lowered the back legs to make the game easier, if you launch the ball as hard as possible to make it bounce around the top and if the table was more level you could get those 4 buttons half of the time, but all that does is add a big chunk of bonus points. Tables like these where there is a high chance you can lose the ball without even being able to do anything should be 5 ball by default, I didn't look to see if there was a dip switch setting to make it 5 ball, got pretty bored with the table after about 20 minutes.
Great job Ronnie! I didn't notice until you mentioned it, but it's weird to see a drop target bank that's exposed from the back. Thanks for the video! ✌️
I'd bet the installation instructions say to put a level on the bottom of the cabinet and adjust the leg levelers to make that part level and plumb. (They realized not all floors are level and flat.) That way the play field is at the designed in tilt for optimum and consistent game play. But of course people were setting the levelers to suit their own preferences.
Thank you for filming this video. I have never seen this game before. There is a record store in Columbus Ohio that had Xenon for sale I didn't buy it. The also had a Dolly Parton but they wouldn't sell that one. Thank you for what you do.
I remember playing this game at Bally Aladdin's Castle when it first came out and it was a great game with sound effects and to me it was a sequel to Xenon. In 1990 the VFW Bar my stepfather managed had this game, but instead of the regular sound effects, it had the electronic bell chimes on it, and you could not get any replays with the exception of making a match or beating the high score to date. This was also the year that the bar changed vendors when the previous vendor passed away, and the son didn't want to take it over.
The Guardian style drop targets are similar to Vector, which had 2 rows of 3 to guard against the left ramp shot. The button special looks like the one Bally used on Kings of steel where it's a skill shot that awards a special if all 4 buttons are rolled over in a single pass. Once the first button is hit, any target hit that isn't one of the buttons will turn the special light off. That includes the blade switches behind the rubber rings on each side of the button area. Still a pretty cool game for the mid 1980's when all of the pinball manufacturers were trying to cut costs.
Ha Ron. You were robbed. Just as much as I was back in the day when I played it it could take balls off you real quick. I prefer xenon my self but didn’t realise how close there were just reversed. Another great video thanks for the memories. Bob.
The leg leveler thing may be true on older pins but I know for certain that the Sopranos pin says in the setup section of the manual to run the legs all the way in and use them to fine tune the angle. That machine was designed to be at 6.5 degrees with the legs in.
Another great vid, love this game especially with the background lights off, cos it’s got enough going on but not too much. One question, in the UK I’m sure we used to have a tilt button for when the ball got stuck, but the pay off was the flippers would stop working for a few seconds? Maybe I imagined all of that though 😊.
Very cool game, the sound really makes it. I think the bar it was in a long time ago shut it off. Great job Ron. If it was mine, I would pay real money to have you put the extra light in. :P
For an economy era Bally this actually looks pretty good and I would prefer it over Xeon (it never shuts up). Having one pop bumper is intersting for the time and most of the playfield seems very risk vs. reward.
When I did my time in an arcade, the place would ALWAYS jack up the back legs up to make the game harder to play. Why? MORE QUARTERS SPENT FASTER! They would go through the video games and any "high volume" game they would set to be harder to make the throughput faster. Low volume games they would either set easier or leave factory in order to get more plays on them. They would pour over the logs weekly to see which games needed adjusting. You could quite literally play the same game three weeks in a row and it would go from "OMG THIS IS HARD" to "I can get 20 levels in this game on a quarter" to "OMG I can't get past level 4"...all because the operators were changing the settings weekly.
Great video Ronnie, You did a great job fixing it up. Jacking up those legs made a huge difference. Did you make the tube shot? The game was cheating on you. Thanks for filming Ronnie. See you on the next video.
You might think that if the company wanted to save money they would pick on something a bit more costly than a couple of lightbulb sockets and globes. … Gottlieb did the same thing when the wedgeheads went from the 69s to the 70s, they left off the 4 globes that were under the top arch. … The end result is that none of the 70s wedgeheads look as good or lit up as their 60s counterparts. So stingy and for what kind of saving? …a few dollars on each machine. I think that some of pinball’s down periods over the years have been self inflicted. When the company cheats out on a machine the players will also cheap out on that machine. Thanks for another enjoyable vid on a not so common pinball machine.
Cybernaut's playfield vs. Xenon doesn't really looked cheaped out to me, vs. something like Black Pyramid. But yeah, no voice, no reverb, no double backglass and chaser lights. Though the last two were certainly never a standard like voice and better sound had become by the early 80s.
JOE CLASSIC, The BAD 4013 chip was causing switch Lamps not to work? J2 connector pins 5,6,7. Any reasons why they used SCR instead of transistors to turn on/off the lamps?
@@gorillaau Yes true but why are they using AC voltage to turn on/off lamps when you can use DC voltage to turn on/off lamps? There must be a reason as to why the designers choose to use AC voltage to turn on/off lamps which you have to use SCR's
@@waynegram8907 I wonder if those lamps are being driven from general illumination power rails which traditionally always been AC. If you are cost cutting, then you don't want to add additional components to get DC, Even a 10 cent diode and 20 cent smoothing capacitor added up over a fee thousand boards.
@@gorillaau Besides cutting cost. What advantages of using SCRs compared to using Transistors? I think the designers preferred the SCR's because of how the lamps would blinking effect of the SCRs compared to how transistors/FETS would blink the lamps. They used the 60hz frequency to turn on/off the SCRs which is unusual to use the 60hz line frequency at the STROBE SIGNAL for the lamps. Most Strobes signals are taped off from the Clock signal.
This is easily the worst pinball I have ever seen you play. The half gallon of Mountain dew and the 3 bumps of marching powder is too much. The endless flipper action with no ball around and the barrage of self-induced straight down the middle shots were tough to watch. I'm blaming it on the angle of the table being wrong. 😏 It looks like it was still fun though. Another great pinball video on a Friday. Enjoy the weekend everyone!
After the last video I downloaded a version of this game for VPM and my experience was the same. They probably lowered the back legs to make the game easier, if you launch the ball as hard as possible to make it bounce around the top and if the table was more level you could get those 4 buttons half of the time, but all that does is add a big chunk of bonus points. Tables like these where there is a high chance you can lose the ball without even being able to do anything should be 5 ball by default, I didn't look to see if there was a dip switch setting to make it 5 ball, got pretty bored with the table after about 20 minutes.
George is messin' with the lights! Stop it George, Ron has to fix Cynernaut since Joe said it's broke! 😅
But i like the lights!
Blinkin lights on the game definitely but no so much blinkin the store lights 🤣
Love watching these videos. Come on people! lol
Great job Ronnie! I didn't notice until you mentioned it, but it's weird to see a drop target bank that's exposed from the back. Thanks for the video! ✌️
You know what they call a pinball table with no incline?
A pool table. Hiyooo
I'd bet the installation instructions say to put a level on the bottom of the cabinet and adjust the leg levelers to make that part level and plumb. (They realized not all floors are level and flat.) That way the play field is at the designed in tilt for optimum and consistent game play. But of course people were setting the levelers to suit their own preferences.
I think this game is badass. Stripped down or not still a super cool game
Thank you for filming this video. I have never seen this game before. There is a record store in Columbus Ohio that had Xenon for sale I didn't buy it. The also had a Dolly Parton but they wouldn't sell that one. Thank you for what you do.
I remember playing this game at Bally Aladdin's Castle when it first came out and it was a great game with sound effects and to me it was a sequel to Xenon.
In 1990 the VFW Bar my stepfather managed had this game, but instead of the regular sound effects, it had the electronic bell chimes on it, and you could not get any replays with the exception of making a match or beating the high score to date. This was also the year that the bar changed vendors when the previous vendor passed away, and the son didn't want to take it over.
Never forget that backglass! Darn thing was at a local bar, always out of order. Maybe it's the same machine ^^
The Guardian style drop targets are similar to Vector, which had 2 rows of 3 to guard against the left ramp shot. The button special looks like the one Bally used on Kings of steel where it's a skill shot that awards a special if all 4 buttons are rolled over in a single pass. Once the first button is hit, any target hit that isn't one of the buttons will turn the special light off. That includes the blade switches behind the rubber rings on each side of the button area. Still a pretty cool game for the mid 1980's when all of the pinball manufacturers were trying to cut costs.
Works great after repair😎👍
Very rare! I’ve never come across one
Over the flipper?!?! Aaaaagh cmon people they definitely robbin' ya on that one 😂
Ha Ron. You were robbed. Just as much as I was back in the day when I played it it could take balls off you real quick. I prefer xenon my self but didn’t realise how close there were just reversed. Another great video thanks for the memories. Bob.
The leg leveler thing may be true on older pins but I know for certain that the Sopranos pin says in the setup section of the manual to run the legs all the way in and use them to fine tune the angle. That machine was designed to be at 6.5 degrees with the legs in.
I dig it. Maybe someday I will be able to play this machine. Thanks for the video!
I believe I can hear Pole position in the background.
Prepare to qualify!
Another great vid, love this game especially with the background lights off, cos it’s got enough going on but not too much. One question, in the UK I’m sure we used to have a tilt button for when the ball got stuck, but the pay off was the flippers would stop working for a few seconds? Maybe I imagined all of that though 😊.
Thanks Dave, Yes when you tilt the machine the flippers will stop working until the next ball, its like that on most pinball machines
@24:24 Yes! something happend.... you get a clean shot to the 3 targets at the back!
The playfield should have 6.5 degrees of tilt Joe
Nice pinball game. Dont remember seeing it at my Aladdins Castle otherwise I would have been many tokens lighter
I keep sneaking a look at that Woodrail sitting next to the Cybernaut....
Very cool game, the sound really makes it. I think the bar it was in a long time ago shut it off. Great job Ron. If it was mine, I would pay real money to have you put the extra light in. :P
For an economy era Bally this actually looks pretty good and I would prefer it over Xeon (it never shuts up). Having one pop bumper is intersting for the time and most of the playfield seems very risk vs. reward.
I assumed leg levelers were covered in the manual but sometimes ya gotta draw em a damn picture! Lmao
Feet are owner preference… flat=slow incline=fast. Left and right pitch usually affects score.
When I did my time in an arcade, the place would ALWAYS jack up the back legs up to make the game harder to play. Why? MORE QUARTERS SPENT FASTER! They would go through the video games and any "high volume" game they would set to be harder to make the throughput faster. Low volume games they would either set easier or leave factory in order to get more plays on them. They would pour over the logs weekly to see which games needed adjusting. You could quite literally play the same game three weeks in a row and it would go from "OMG THIS IS HARD" to "I can get 20 levels in this game on a quarter" to "OMG I can't get past level 4"...all because the operators were changing the settings weekly.
wicked sound
Great video Ronnie, You did a great job fixing it up. Jacking up those legs made a huge difference. Did you make the tube shot? The game was cheating on you. Thanks for filming Ronnie. See you on the next video.
Hey Ron!!!
Hey Jason!
Oh so close
George trolled ya real good while playing this one
👻
Amarillo by morning?
You might think that if the company wanted to save money they would pick on something a bit more costly than a couple of lightbulb sockets and globes. … Gottlieb did the same thing when the wedgeheads went from the 69s to the 70s, they left off the 4 globes that were under the top arch. … The end result is that none of the 70s wedgeheads look as good or lit up as their 60s counterparts.
So stingy and for what kind of saving? …a few dollars on each machine. I think that some of pinball’s down periods over the years have been self inflicted. When the company cheats out on a machine the players will also cheap out on that machine.
Thanks for another enjoyable vid on a not so common pinball machine.
Come on people..rear legs are higher..just like the wheels on a dragster..no not a drag queen..a dragster car 🙄😁
Cybernaut's playfield vs. Xenon doesn't really looked cheaped out to me, vs. something like Black Pyramid. But yeah, no voice, no reverb, no double backglass and chaser lights. Though the last two were certainly never a standard like voice and better sound had become by the early 80s.
What is the machine to the right ? That's been in a lot of videos but I don't think you have fixed it. I don't remember seeing any video about it
In the beginning of video? That seems to be Blue Skies, a 1948 EM pinball…
merch sneaky ad dang
Yodelayheehoo
JOE CLASSIC, The BAD 4013 chip was causing switch Lamps not to work? J2 connector pins 5,6,7. Any reasons why they used SCR instead of transistors to turn on/off the lamps?
SCRs are used to switch AC power. Do not use Transistors for AC voltage rails, they won't work right. Only DC power for transistors.
@@gorillaau Yes true but why are they using AC voltage to turn on/off lamps when you can use DC voltage to turn on/off lamps? There must be a reason as to why the designers choose to use AC voltage to turn on/off lamps which you have to use SCR's
@@waynegram8907 I wonder if those lamps are being driven from general illumination power rails which traditionally always been AC. If you are cost cutting, then you don't want to add additional components to get DC, Even a 10 cent diode and 20 cent smoothing capacitor added up over a fee thousand boards.
@@gorillaau Besides cutting cost. What advantages of using SCRs compared to using Transistors? I think the designers preferred the SCR's because of how the lamps would blinking effect of the SCRs compared to how transistors/FETS would blink the lamps. They used the 60hz frequency to turn on/off the SCRs which is unusual to use the 60hz line frequency at the STROBE SIGNAL for the lamps. Most Strobes signals are taped off from the Clock signal.
@@waynegram8907 Can small SCRs switch faster? I'd want to look at the entire schematic of the relevant section to figure it out.
Only two things wrong; ya ain’t supposed to be able to hit Drop Targets from the back, and ain’t no Pop Bumpers !!!
Stripped Down
C'mon people. Gravity is your friend.
What's wrong with the light? It's broke!
Joey wasn't happy with it??? Was is BROKE?!?!
This is easily the worst pinball I have ever seen you play. The half gallon of Mountain dew and the 3 bumps of marching powder is too much. The endless flipper action with no ball around and the barrage of self-induced straight down the middle shots were tough to watch. I'm blaming it on the angle of the table being wrong. 😏 It looks like it was still fun though. Another great pinball video on a Friday. Enjoy the weekend everyone!
IF I could play with the glass off,
I'd ALWAYS be the
Highest Scorer