@TechConnectify This was great. Do you own this machine? How did you learn so much about how it works? I've had a Williams Grand Prix for decades, but learned new things in this wonderful video.
@TechConnectify With all this boolean circuitry I'm left wondering: How closely does this resemble a computer under the Church-Turing definition? More than your jukebox I believe!
Memory's ridiculously limited though, possibly enough to disqualify it...
@alcinnz you haven't seen it yet but it does have a few bits of memory! I'm not deep enough into computer science to know whether it technically counts as a computer, though I'd call it one (and do in the next script).
It's executing a program in a sequence defined by interrupts/interlocks and the physical position of components you might call a register. There is even a definite loop structure to what it's doing!
@TechConnectify I get the impression that your intuitive understanding closely matches the theory. (Which btw excludes most "analog computers" I've seen, I put that down to shifting terminology)
This certainly resembles a computer at least! I'd have to reason about the machine more to say for sure.
@me Depends on the scope of the analysis, but yeah its generally more interesting to not count the hardwired circuitry as part of the program (ROM adds nuance here).
And yes there's certainly latches in this machine, but to be turing-complete they'd basically (caveats exist) need to be random access. I don't think that's the case here, but it might fall into the caveats.
@TechConnectify I have one question, for the score counters do you have any idea why they didn’t use one solonoid (I don’t know how to spell it) and have the reels just turn the next one along once it reached 9-wrapping around to 0. If that makes sense
Edit: I realise the idea above would be stupid as the solenoid would not be fast enough but you could probably get away with just using two: one for me units and tens. One for hundreds and thousands. Is there another thin im not getting here?
@Pinball_machine I presume you mean in a way like an old fashioned odometer?
The main reason is that some targets are worth 10 points, some 100, some 1,000, some 10,000. They all need to be able to move independently to make such scoring possible.
@TechConnectify This was awesome. I don't normally watch hour-long technical videos on subjects I know absolutely nothing about, but I managed to stay glued to the screen the whole time for this one. You get me every time! I definitely learned something.
@TechConnectify You’d probably like middle-aged railway signal box technology with extensive use of relays! I can only speak for German variants, but there is a (extensively used) model series from 1960 (SpDrS60 etc.) that is based on “simply” connecting prebuilt relay group boxes to match the rail layout of the station including switches and signals. So there is no inherent need for special, resource intensive circuitry planning for each signal box, but quite some standardization.
@TechConnectify I really want to get hold of four of those score rollers now to make a clock. If anyone knows where I can source them, preferably in Europe.
@alexanderdyas I'm sure there will be some on eBay. These machines ended up all over Europe and not just in the US! They even had a different score motor part to deal with 50 hertz electricity
@alexanderdyas also, I did not go into it in the video because it's more important to the second part, but there are zero position switches which will certainly help you in designing your clock
@TechConnectify Thanks, one of my favorite types of videos on your channel is, “look what kinds of neat things we were able to build before computers” (Maybe the next favorite is, “what’s up with my fridge”) :-)
@TechConnectify Absolutely adored this video. I would say I had some kind of understanding how EM pinball machines work, but you brought so much more clarity into it. Looking forward to part 2! 🙌
@TechConnectify Wonderful video! 👍 I love pinball, and have spent countless hours watching pinball repair videos. EMs are fascinating, but look like a nightmare to repair and maintain. I honestly prefer solid state, but for some reason, the machines from my favorite era (early 1980s) are very hard to find in Europe, or extremely expensive. I have plans to build my own machine, and have an idea to wire it using a interesting technology, but I’m not saying anything about it yet. 😝
I played a lot of pinball in the 1980s, and love the mechanical machines (even the ones with computers inside). But when arcades were filled with video games, crowding out the pinballs, I lost interest.
@TechConnectify I am SO EXCITED to watch this!! I went to the Pinball Museum in Asheville, NC last year with my brother and we were HOOKED!!! Seeing all those older machines and seeing some of what goes into them was just pure magic!!! So thank you for making a vid where I can enjoy more of that!! (PS I bought a pinball ball from the museum and I was so shocked at how large it is! It’s such a great memento of that trip!!)
@TechConnectify Let me know if you'd like me to send some photos of mine! I have a Bally Firecracker EM pinball from I think 1974 ish? its got some neat quirks, such as a pseudo-random score generator using a spinner and a spring-loaded cam device type thing.
@TechConnectify It's really cool to see the evolution from the late 30's to today.
The oldest in my collection is from the 30's and it was just mechanical - no electricity.
Games from the 40's, they added the score motor, some bells, a stepper motor or two, and lights for scoring.
The 50's is the same but just more of it.
I have a game - Royal Flush - from the end of the EM era (late 70's). It's amazing how complex they were able to make the rules with just steppers, relays, and a motor.
@TechConnectify Thank you so so much for this video, I grew up with a 1975 Gottlieb Super Soccer at home (see attached image I found on the web), it's really weird seeing how similar yours is, I guess there was a lot of copying between companies! I'm very glad you're planning on making a part 2, those machines really deserve to be remembered, at least for another generation. If you have the time, do you think you could talk about the reset system? I always wondered how it works.
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