Star Tech Journal
Issue: 1982-October - Vol 4 Issue 8 - Page 16
16
STAR*TECH JOURNAL/OCTOBER 1982
STAR*TECHJOURNAL3RDANNUALREADERSURVEYRESULTS 1982
With Bally, all information needed concerning
a circuit is in one location.
With Gottlieb, you have to go from page to
page to trace a circuit. Manufacturers' 30-day
warranty on game CRTs is very unfair. Distri-
butor orders machines; warranty starts as
soon as machines are shipped. Sometimes
machines are not sold as soon as they are
received. If they have problems when they are
sold after the 30 days, distributor is stuck with
the cost of a new CRT.
Philadelphia, PA
Pet Peeve: Although "Centipede" is basically
a well thought out game, by their own admis-
sion Atari built it with marginal optical coupler
components on the mini-trac ball PCB. Atari
refuses to accept responsibility for their design
or manufacturing error and the owners have
had to pay $40 to $80 per game to replace the
original mini-trac ball PCB. Too bad Atari
won't stand behind their product.
Orlando, FL
Atari has good documentation, good layout,
experience. My choice will probably change
to Taito as I gain more experience. Although
there is not much difference among the pins,
Bally seems to be put together a little more
logically. Good things: Diagnostics, easily
removable monitors, all components readily
accessible, standard design power supplies,
extensive documentation. Bad things: Stacked
boards, card cages, no detailed schematics,
switching PSs. Taito is head and shoulders
above all other videos.
Parksville, British Columbia, Canada
Cinematronics loop all their components. This
makes their games hard to service. Early
Wurlitzers are difficult to service. You have to
be part reptile in order to service them! With
early Wurlitzers, you always have to lie down
or stoop to service selector baskets.
What may be easily serviceable to us may be
difficult to others, but in general, hard work
and long hours are mainly required .
Oklahoma City, OK
All the video game manufacturers should
have bookkeeping and adjustments like
Williams has.
San Antonio, TX
Rock-Ola has well designed unit that hasn't
changed in years.
No matter how hard manufacturers try, people
will copytheirgames and infringe patents. So,
they should cut loose with better manuals and
schematics. It's the old saying, "Where there's
a will, there's away." Nobody wants a game
they can't fix. In this business, service is the
name of the game.
Phoenix, AZ
All manufacturers' schematics use different
flow of logic. Need to establish an industry
standard.
Colorado Springs, CO
Atari and Midway have extensively docu-
mented signature schematics. Gottlieb uses
non-standard chips but they rarely fail. Rock-
Ola & Rowe are very well documented and
distributors have a good stock of parts and
services.
Stern is hard to get mechanical parts for.
Denver, CO
Rock-Ola and Rowe offer dependable high
quality parts.
Stern does not have enough service informa-
tion with their machines.
Olympia, WA
Video games are being pumped out at a rate
that the quality of even the best has deterior-
ated. The industry as a whole is reminiscent of
Detroit. No sooner does a new game come
out, but PCB lock-up mods, joystick mods,
and front door static mods accompany it.
Houston, TX
Who wants pins these days? The factories
must create a new idea orgo broke. Meanwhile,
the parts (flippers, targets, bumpers) fall apart
2-3 weeks after purchase. Today games are
earning more than ever, but the manufacturers
are going to have to have speed-ups and
conversions or our industry is going to go
broke. When "Zaxxon" is #1 for 2 weeks and
"Tron" is #1 the next and meanwhile #3 and
#4 are nowhere on the list, something must
be done. How else can we continued to pay
$2,500-$3,000 for a game that dies in 2
months?
Self test and proper documentation are a
must if I buy a machine.
Oxnard, CA
Midway has never cured the static problem
they built in. Williams' matrix method is
impossible and time consuming.
The videos using X·Y monitors should spend
more time developing trouble-free systems.
San Juan Capistrano, CA
Mechanical coin acceptors are still terrible.
They have not improved in 20 years. What's
wrong with this industry anyway?
Nintendo does not give you any schematics.
The only thing they give you is an owner's
manual.
Waco, TX
Cocktail tables are a hazard to open on most
games. Can't they devise a way to get in them
without putting your hand within 2 inches of a
20,000v charge on the monitor? Why hide
chips? Stack the boards with chips out. Don't
solder in CPUs like 280, etc. Hard to trouble-
shoot. Schematics with more voltage or scope
signals would be helpful. When you look at a
signal and it's there, it would be nice to know if
it's in the ballpark. Monitor schematics show a
lot of this. Why not do it on the game sche·
matics? Put a few more test points on boards,
maybe at circuit outputs. Show the signal
level or logic. then, if the signal is there, a
technician can look at it and go to the next
circuit or area of logic on a board. I know cost
is a factor, but test points shouldn't cost
much.
Atari games come with complete information
and back-up factory test equipment.
Honolulu, HI
Atari and all their functions are way ahead of
everyone else. Field service, customer service,
distributor support, operator support.
San Francisco, CA
Why dot he imports send manuals which don't
match the PCB or monitor? Too much main·
tenance is required on everyone's multi-ball
and multi-playfield pins. Keep it simple!
Much improvement on Exidy's documentation
and factory assistance.
I've always found the problem with one hour
on a Bally pin because of the excellent manual.
Carbondale, IL
The Centuri games have a higher rate of
failure than our other videos and they seem to
be more sensitive to physical abuse.
We believe that any manufacturer that builds
cheap equipment intentionally should be out
of the market.
Jacksonville, FL
Most games are of poor quality in construc-
tion. Extremely overpriced!! Poor serviceability.
Poor front door security. Control panels burn
easily.
Nintendo- no schematics. Centuri - boards
difficult to get to. Stern - general bad design
on power supply connectors.
Knoxville, TN
Manufacturers should send prints with each
game.
Amarillo, TX
Gottlieb's fuses that are positioned under 2nd
playfield on "Black Hole" and "Haunted House"
are a particular pain.
Riverton, WY
Rowe is easy to service and parts are inter-
changeable, but they break down more and
parts are more expensive.
Tallahassee, FL
When are the pin manufacturers going to
have the head (back box) door open up for us
right-handed people like Gottlieb does? When
are the rest of the imports going to follow
Taito's lead and come up with some readable
service information? Taito has come a long
way!
Memphis, TN
I feel most comfortable troubleshooting Bally/
Midway and Atari video games because of
self test. You don't have to be a genius to
understand most of their games' operations
in general.
Difficult to service: Seeburg; connections;
poor manufacturing. We've been servicing
machines for 33 years. I have yet to see a
distributor or factory go all the way to fix them,
or provide helpful information .
McAllen, TX
The companies that have had a long term
commitment to the industry manufacture
games that are more serviceable than most.
It seems even in the traditional locations of
pinball, it's dead compared to video. And I'm
talking about the old ratio of 15 videos to one
pinball. More realistically might be 25 videos
to one pin. Seems amazing but true.
San Diego, CA
STAR*TECHJOURNAL3RDANNUALREADERSURVEYRESULTS 1982
STAR*TECH JOURNAL/OCTOBER 1982
STAR*TECHJOURNAL3RDANNUALREADERSURVEYRESULTS 1982
With Bally, all information needed concerning
a circuit is in one location.
With Gottlieb, you have to go from page to
page to trace a circuit. Manufacturers' 30-day
warranty on game CRTs is very unfair. Distri-
butor orders machines; warranty starts as
soon as machines are shipped. Sometimes
machines are not sold as soon as they are
received. If they have problems when they are
sold after the 30 days, distributor is stuck with
the cost of a new CRT.
Philadelphia, PA
Pet Peeve: Although "Centipede" is basically
a well thought out game, by their own admis-
sion Atari built it with marginal optical coupler
components on the mini-trac ball PCB. Atari
refuses to accept responsibility for their design
or manufacturing error and the owners have
had to pay $40 to $80 per game to replace the
original mini-trac ball PCB. Too bad Atari
won't stand behind their product.
Orlando, FL
Atari has good documentation, good layout,
experience. My choice will probably change
to Taito as I gain more experience. Although
there is not much difference among the pins,
Bally seems to be put together a little more
logically. Good things: Diagnostics, easily
removable monitors, all components readily
accessible, standard design power supplies,
extensive documentation. Bad things: Stacked
boards, card cages, no detailed schematics,
switching PSs. Taito is head and shoulders
above all other videos.
Parksville, British Columbia, Canada
Cinematronics loop all their components. This
makes their games hard to service. Early
Wurlitzers are difficult to service. You have to
be part reptile in order to service them! With
early Wurlitzers, you always have to lie down
or stoop to service selector baskets.
What may be easily serviceable to us may be
difficult to others, but in general, hard work
and long hours are mainly required .
Oklahoma City, OK
All the video game manufacturers should
have bookkeeping and adjustments like
Williams has.
San Antonio, TX
Rock-Ola has well designed unit that hasn't
changed in years.
No matter how hard manufacturers try, people
will copytheirgames and infringe patents. So,
they should cut loose with better manuals and
schematics. It's the old saying, "Where there's
a will, there's away." Nobody wants a game
they can't fix. In this business, service is the
name of the game.
Phoenix, AZ
All manufacturers' schematics use different
flow of logic. Need to establish an industry
standard.
Colorado Springs, CO
Atari and Midway have extensively docu-
mented signature schematics. Gottlieb uses
non-standard chips but they rarely fail. Rock-
Ola & Rowe are very well documented and
distributors have a good stock of parts and
services.
Stern is hard to get mechanical parts for.
Denver, CO
Rock-Ola and Rowe offer dependable high
quality parts.
Stern does not have enough service informa-
tion with their machines.
Olympia, WA
Video games are being pumped out at a rate
that the quality of even the best has deterior-
ated. The industry as a whole is reminiscent of
Detroit. No sooner does a new game come
out, but PCB lock-up mods, joystick mods,
and front door static mods accompany it.
Houston, TX
Who wants pins these days? The factories
must create a new idea orgo broke. Meanwhile,
the parts (flippers, targets, bumpers) fall apart
2-3 weeks after purchase. Today games are
earning more than ever, but the manufacturers
are going to have to have speed-ups and
conversions or our industry is going to go
broke. When "Zaxxon" is #1 for 2 weeks and
"Tron" is #1 the next and meanwhile #3 and
#4 are nowhere on the list, something must
be done. How else can we continued to pay
$2,500-$3,000 for a game that dies in 2
months?
Self test and proper documentation are a
must if I buy a machine.
Oxnard, CA
Midway has never cured the static problem
they built in. Williams' matrix method is
impossible and time consuming.
The videos using X·Y monitors should spend
more time developing trouble-free systems.
San Juan Capistrano, CA
Mechanical coin acceptors are still terrible.
They have not improved in 20 years. What's
wrong with this industry anyway?
Nintendo does not give you any schematics.
The only thing they give you is an owner's
manual.
Waco, TX
Cocktail tables are a hazard to open on most
games. Can't they devise a way to get in them
without putting your hand within 2 inches of a
20,000v charge on the monitor? Why hide
chips? Stack the boards with chips out. Don't
solder in CPUs like 280, etc. Hard to trouble-
shoot. Schematics with more voltage or scope
signals would be helpful. When you look at a
signal and it's there, it would be nice to know if
it's in the ballpark. Monitor schematics show a
lot of this. Why not do it on the game sche·
matics? Put a few more test points on boards,
maybe at circuit outputs. Show the signal
level or logic. then, if the signal is there, a
technician can look at it and go to the next
circuit or area of logic on a board. I know cost
is a factor, but test points shouldn't cost
much.
Atari games come with complete information
and back-up factory test equipment.
Honolulu, HI
Atari and all their functions are way ahead of
everyone else. Field service, customer service,
distributor support, operator support.
San Francisco, CA
Why dot he imports send manuals which don't
match the PCB or monitor? Too much main·
tenance is required on everyone's multi-ball
and multi-playfield pins. Keep it simple!
Much improvement on Exidy's documentation
and factory assistance.
I've always found the problem with one hour
on a Bally pin because of the excellent manual.
Carbondale, IL
The Centuri games have a higher rate of
failure than our other videos and they seem to
be more sensitive to physical abuse.
We believe that any manufacturer that builds
cheap equipment intentionally should be out
of the market.
Jacksonville, FL
Most games are of poor quality in construc-
tion. Extremely overpriced!! Poor serviceability.
Poor front door security. Control panels burn
easily.
Nintendo- no schematics. Centuri - boards
difficult to get to. Stern - general bad design
on power supply connectors.
Knoxville, TN
Manufacturers should send prints with each
game.
Amarillo, TX
Gottlieb's fuses that are positioned under 2nd
playfield on "Black Hole" and "Haunted House"
are a particular pain.
Riverton, WY
Rowe is easy to service and parts are inter-
changeable, but they break down more and
parts are more expensive.
Tallahassee, FL
When are the pin manufacturers going to
have the head (back box) door open up for us
right-handed people like Gottlieb does? When
are the rest of the imports going to follow
Taito's lead and come up with some readable
service information? Taito has come a long
way!
Memphis, TN
I feel most comfortable troubleshooting Bally/
Midway and Atari video games because of
self test. You don't have to be a genius to
understand most of their games' operations
in general.
Difficult to service: Seeburg; connections;
poor manufacturing. We've been servicing
machines for 33 years. I have yet to see a
distributor or factory go all the way to fix them,
or provide helpful information .
McAllen, TX
The companies that have had a long term
commitment to the industry manufacture
games that are more serviceable than most.
It seems even in the traditional locations of
pinball, it's dead compared to video. And I'm
talking about the old ratio of 15 videos to one
pinball. More realistically might be 25 videos
to one pin. Seems amazing but true.
San Diego, CA
STAR*TECHJOURNAL3RDANNUALREADERSURVEYRESULTS 1982
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).