Star Tech Journal

Issue: 1991-March - Vol 13 Issue 1

~ Willia1ns
Funhouse
Head Mod
Data East Simpsons
Drop Targets
Pat Lawlor
Williams Electronics
Chicago, Illinois
Amie Aarstad
Data East Service Department
Melrose Park,·· Illinois
PROBLEM
PROBLEM
The ball gets stuck in Rudy's head. Then you
need to take the head apart to free the stuck
balls.
Recently we have received complaints that the
drop targets used on The Simpsons pinball are
breaking prematurely. Our engineering staff has
investigated this problem and discovered that
some (not all) of these targets were not allowed to
cure long enough and this has caused them to
become brittle.
CAUSE
At differing times during the run of Funhouse
there have been different Rudy faces. The
problem occurs because Rudy's UPPER lip does
not extend far enough back inside his head. As
a result the ball can get air-born and skip up
between his lip and the curved metal bracket for
the in mouth kickout.
SOLUTION
To correct this problem we have increased the
plastic toughness of these targets 25% by
changing the material used to make them to a
plastic called Nylon 801 ST.
SOLUTION
~ immediate flxwould be to simply glue a small
piece of plastic to Rudy's upper lip ( remove the
face to do this). All you need add is approx 1/4
inch in length to his lip.
All new Rudy faces have the extended lip de-
signed into their vacu-fonned structure and a
new face should be available from your dis-
tributor. (This problem wasn't discovered until
well into production.)
801 ST is stronger due to its glass content. Toe
glass makes the target retain moisture which
keeps them from getting brittle prematurely.
No11:
This drop target will work in any Data East drop
target assembly ever made.
No11:
One nice thing is that the software in our new
system will allow the game to play with only 2
balls and varies the rules accordingly. By the
way .... model cement works just fine to glue the
piece to his lip or for the more aggressively
inclined you could pop rivet on a small piece.
MuRPHY's LAw #1301
Willia:ms Funhouse Multiball
Lost Ball Checklist
Pat Lawlor
Williams Electronics
Chicago, Illinois
SOLUTION
A) Ball goes into the upper hole
and "Quick Multiball" is awarded.
The coil for the kickout is a 26-1200 and is
powerful enough that if 3 balls were stacked it
could clear the tunnel. Check 2 things:
B) 2nd ball is shot onto playfield;
original ball does not kick out.
C) 2nd ball is shot into lower hole
above right slingshot and just sits
there.
D) Players have complained that
sometimes no balls are available
for play. (Fortunately, the game
will fix itself given enough time.)
E) All of the switches under the
playfield were checked seem ok.
CAUSE
In this instance, it sounds like the second ball
got to the right underground kickout before
another switch was made. This means that 2
balls are now resting on the underground
kickout plunger. The game should, at that point,
wait. go into ball search and kickout both balls
from underground.
1. Check that the alignment of the
kickout coil and plunger is
straight in line with the kickout
chute. If one is skewed to the other
there might be a loss in velocity.
2. Check the plastic chute that
leads from the top of the playfield
tunnel entrance (and trap door
entrance).
Where this chute goes into the
metal kickout chute there should
be a single 1 / 16" washer between
the chute and the playfield on the
side CLOSEST TO THE PI.AYER.
(This is the last screw attaching
point for the plastic chute). I doubt
it's missing, but it is better to be
safe than sorry.
This washer lowers the chute at its
drop off point into the metal
kickout, so that 2 balls cannot get
caught in the final bend of the
chute --thus kicking out one but
leaving the other trapped IN THE
BEND.
So ... what happens is MULTI-BALL, a ball i
missing, its not anywhere to be found, etc .. etc.

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