What did you do today in the hobby?

[mdeslaur]

Fixed a bootleg Gyruss by creating a bypass pcb to replace the encrypted Konami1 cpu with a regular 6809E and decrypting the sub cpu rom.

Pcb gerbers and rom patch available here:
https://github.com/mdeslaur/gyruss-konami1-bypass

[mdeslaur]

Had to change capacitors in a Timber power suitcase to get rid of a big monitor hum bar, so decided to give it a fresh coat of paint while it was out.

[mrmikeman]

Fixed a broken wire on HP and installed a cliffy style protector that JJP had sent me for the under flipper hole. Continued tweaking my streaming rig and then streamed twice (HP). Installed precision flippers on Metallica.

[semicolin]

Unpacked a great big order from Marco Specialties for all of the current ongoing projects.

I seem to do one order a year from them, and every time, they screw something up. This time was no different; they sent me 25 of the wrong coil sleeves. Waiting on their solution; I really don’t want to have to drive to New York or spend a bunch of money on a postal return that I shouldn’t have to.

I probably should know better by now.

[Luckas]

Destroyed the lfet flip on myu Flinstsones

[mdeslaur]

Destroyed the lfet flip on myu Flinstsones
618798832_10237766737443714_4638409243777551953_n.jpg

You're pressing the buttons too hard! hehehe

[Azatotht]

You may need these Luckas: https://precisionpinballproducts.com/sh ... -and-minis

[Azatotht]

Fixed a switch in Lightning's ball trough yesterday.

While the glass was off I gave it a well-deserved cleaning.

Checked the audits: 686 games played since I updated the software.

Clean and ready to rock for another 600!

[mrmikeman]

Played our newest addition.

[Azatotht]

So Mike, first impressions?

Is it as good as they say?

[mrmikeman]

Shit load of fun. Obviously early code but pretty decent considering. Spooky speak is gimmicky but fun.

I disapprove of the excessive use of cheap servos but maybe they’ll be ok. I mean you can’t have your cake and eat it too. To get a game this packed they had to go with compact inexpensive motors… cheap chinese servos… BoF only uses them for cosmetic elements, not game mechs. Multimorphic has done away with them completely because of poor reliability. Spooky has doubled down and used them all over in ways that would make the game unplayable when servos fail.

On a positive note they are cheap to replace. Game comes with a spare one in the goodie box. Time will tell.

We’ll see down the road. Can’t assume it’ll be an issue but I’m expecting it.

[Azatotht]

Thanks, awesome that it lives up to the hype.

[cait001]

Such a cool pickup! Spooky killing it with BJ and ED.

[mrmikeman]

Thanks, awesome that it lives up to the hype.

It does.. But when you look at the 10k USD price for Beetlejuice and then compare to a Harry Potter Arcade Edition at the same price, the choice isn't that clear. JJP has a higher quality build than spooky and it's not even close. I think BJ loses that battle unless you are against the whole Harry Potter thing because of the author. However regardless of the social stance on the theme, IMHO JJP made a better game and of better apparent quality than Spooky for the same price. Hard to tell about quality yet as the game hasn't really been out on location much.

Also keep in mind that most buyers are getting the fancy Beetlesnake topper which brings the price closer to 12k USD.

[cap]

Also keep in mind that most buyers are getting the fancy Beetlesnake topper which brings the price closer to 12k USD.

That's a lot of juice!

[Sparky]

I managed to get 2 machines fixed up, with an assist from DaveW.

First was my Big Game. Recently purchased, but needed a lot of electrical work. Had many hacks in the wiring and boards. We replaced displays and the power supply board, rebuilt it's connectors, rebuilt the solenoid driver and removed s bunch of hacks at J3. Pin now works!

Big job was my uncle's Laser Ball. Game was in a flood and was in bad shape. Replaced the shorted-out displays, rebuilt the power supply, installed a new mpu/driver from t1lt.com and cleaned a lot of stuff. She lives!

[Sparky]

Shopped out a pin with DaveW... Shaggy on the tube... cold beer in the fridge.

Life's good.

[Azatotht]

Installed a shaker motor in Godzilla.

I can now feel the destruction!

[cait001]

I'm still here, still ticking along.
My home arcade is in a very mature state, and there are three forthcoming machines to help finish it up:
1) saving up for a Godzilla Pro, but I've kind of been doing that and failing for years now, but this time for reals
2) Rock-ola World's Series (1933) is out for restoration and probably back this year
3) a fourth arrange ball machine is out with a friend for eventual fixing
once those are all in place, that will nearly be the arcade's final form.

I'm still doing a lot of research on Japanese arcade history. My list of electromechanical machines in Japan is nearly at 5700 entries. https://earlyarcadesjapan.blogspot.com/ ... ction.html
there is still a lot of obscure material out there that I want to get my hands on. Like I have this one post that is just Japanese flyers I know exist, but need to find good scans of https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2025 ... eeded.html and I have been in contact with some of the most prolific flyer collectors in the world! I'm at the point where I'm going to start trying to find ways to contact people like David Copperfield. Those kinds of mega collectors.
I've also been maintaining this research publications list, and we have been adding so many scans to it. https://earlyarcadesjapan.blogspot.com/ ... -list.html
that can give you an idea of just how much research material we have been buying and digitizing.
If you missed it, I gave a presentation about my research at the Replaying Japan 2025 conference: https://earlyarcadesjapan.blogspot.com/ ... emeka.html
I set up the URL http://eremeka.com as a redirect to help make things easier.


I recently shared a significant number of Sega pinball flyers that might be of particular interest to people here. There will be at least one more post forthcoming as well.
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2026 ... art-1.html
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2026 ... art-2.html
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2026 ... art-3.html
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2026 ... art-4.html
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2026 ... japan.html
Most of these flyers have never been available in high res before.

If you are a fan of Bronze Age video games, my research has also gathered a lot of rare material on them.
For example, this Taito price list from 1975-03 https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2026 ... -list.html
Sega price list from 1974-01 https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2026 ... 74-01.html

Still documenting a lot of pachinko stuff. while perhaps not considered in the same esteem as most arcade stuff, pachinko history is still very important for Japan's game history.
bought this photo from 1950: https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2026 ... -1950.html
Also bought this 1951 Asahi Weekly magazine with a cool article pachinko https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2026 ... -with.html
1977 Japan illustrated article on pachinko https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2026 ... hinko.html

I even posted another Niche Collection: https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2026 ... ectic.html
I hadn't done one of those since 2020. It was a fun thing to start during Covid, and I think a good thing to continue when the muse strikes.

For fans of UK machines:
Bollands amusement machines catalogue from the early 1930s https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2026 ... hines.html
1985 auction catalogue https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2026 ... ction.html

I am still working on my Canadian Coin Box archiving project. If you are aware of anyone with old issues of Canadian coin box, please get in touch. I am mostly looking for issues pre-1975, but I can show you a list of what I have. I will also have a new batch of scans posted today or tomorrow, all from 1994.

I'm still working on gathering videos of arcade/pinball/pachinko in movies. I also have another one of those posts forthcoming, but in the meantime the most recent one I posted was Videos part 17: https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2026 ... rt-17.html

Last year at Ontario Pinfest, Mike Hanley, Mr. church of the silver ball himself, passed me a box of old billboard magazines. They were brittle and had some significant losses, but I got them to preservationist friend who meticulously scanned what they could on a large flat bed, and you can browse all the results: https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/sear ... /billboard
There are a lot of amazing pinball and arcade advertisements in them, printed large, and preserved at 600 dpi.

And if you like prewar arcade, do not miss all of the Automatic World scans that I have been sharing https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/sear ... ic%20World
I have issues up from 1930 through 1939, but will be eventually sharing issues all through the 1940s as well.

[Azatotht]

WOW, you are keeping yourself busy for sure!

It's nice to see such passion and dedication, well done

[Sparky]

I had a few buddies over!!

[semicolin]

I finished ripping apart Elektra, and stripping the cabinet down to just the wood. Brought it to the shop at work so that I can start soaking in wood hardener tomorrow to the disintegrating bits. Wood glue and the clamps to repair the base and corners. Then sand, fiberglass resin to fill in any missing bits, sanding and then stencils. It's coming along.

[cait001]

Adjusted a shelf to put the kicker catcher back in the lineup

[semicolin]

Classic Bally SS games have that stupid groundplane made of mylarized cardboard. At forty-five years old they’re kinda crispy. I couldn’t remove Elektra’s without damage, and nobody sells replacements. I fabricated a new one from 26-gauge galvanized sheet metal. I had to buy a bench brake to get straight bends.