Pinball 2000

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Pinball 2000 is the last pinball hardware and software platform developed by major pinball manufacturer Williams, and was used in the machines Revenge From Mars (under the brand name Bally) and Star Wars Episode I (under the brand name Williams) before Williams exited the pinball business on October 25th, 1999. It's the successor to the Williams Pinball Controller platform.

Unlike previous pinball machines, Pinball 2000 machines feature a computer monitor to display animations, scores, and other information directly onto the playfield by using a mirrored playfield glass (through a technique called "Pepper's Ghost") that reflects the output displayed from the monitor hanging in the head of the machine. This construction was inspired by the Asteroids Deluxe arcade machine[1] which used a one way mirror to add a static background graphic to the animated vector graphics of the game. This allows to display virtual game targets in the upper third of the playfield that can be physically hit by the regular steel ball of the machine. To detect the impact of the ball the released games used various targets in the middle of the field, or by recognizing successful shots up the left and right ramps and orbits/loops.

Another novelty is the fast swapping of playfields and software, so operators can convert an existing game into a completely new one in (theoretically) 5 to 10 minutes. A conversion kit for Revenge from Mars was released so it could be converted into a Star Wars Episode I. The kit included a new playfield, ROMs, cabinet decals and a manual plunger.

Although the success of the first machine Revenge from Mars (6,878 units)was promising, the management of Williams decided to close down the pinball section after Star Wars Episode I (which suffered from the rushed and top-secret production cycle) only sold roughly half of the units (3,525).

Contents

[edit] Technical details

  • The main unit stored in the head of the machine is IBM-PC based and mainly consists of a BAT style PC mainboard running a Cyrix Media GX CPU connected to a Cyrix CX5520 bridge and a PCI-PRISM card that holds the Game ROMs and DCS2 soundhardware. Pinball 2000 uses a 19 inch VGA color monitor for graphics output, although it is even possible to exchange the built in monitors by a LCD if it can handle the low refresh rate (15kHz) and resolution (640x240) of an arcade VGA monitor.
  • The used DCS2 hardware allows for full stereo output (whereas the old WPC system uses mono) and the Pinball 2000 cabinet was the first to be equipped with a real subwoofer in the cabinet (other pinball machines feature a broadband speaker to save money).
  • New software updates can be installed via a serial cable connected to a second PC, so no additional ROM exchanges are necessary as in previous generations.
  • The machines also offer networking support, a feature that can be used to easily run game tournaments (each connected machine then displays the total highscores and optional player pictures) or to play the machine via another computer connected using TELNET, so it's even possible to control the pinball machine via webcam and internet.
  • Another first in pinball history is the display of broken lamps and fuses inside the service menu. Also other broken hardware (like switches, solenoids and the like) is displayed on the TV screen and marked on the drawn playfield for simplified maintenance.

[edit] Games

Released:

Planned titles:

  • Wizard Blocks (prototype exists, owned by Gene Cunningham/Illinois Pinball)
  • Playboy (prototype exists, owned by Gene Cunningham/Illinois Pinball)
  • Wild Toys (original working title for Wizard Blocks, registered as a trademark to Williams Pinball but later abandoned in favor of Wizard Blocks)
  • Monopoly (rumors say that the game that was later released by Stern (Monopoly) and using a traditional dot matrix display was originally designed for Pinball 2000).[citation needed]

[edit] Trivia

  • Originally, the Pinball 2000 platform was to have featured a video display in the backbox (replacing the standard DMD) without the mirroring technique and concentrating on a separation of pinball and more video modes on the display (comparable to Bally's Baby Pac Man and Granny and the Gators). This concept was eventually discarded in favor of the version that eventually made it to market.
  • The first generation mockup prototype of the Pinball 2000 architecture was called Holopin and was using George Gomez's (main designer) old Amiga computer to drive the video display. It was accompanied by a No Good Gofers whitewood prototype playfield.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "TILT: The Battle to Save Pinball" documentary, interview with Tom Uban.

[edit] Realted Links

[edit] Other Sources

  • 09/15/01: Wizard Blocks, A Snapshot In Time — by Jim Schelberg of Pingame Journal (PGJ Issue 83/84)
  • The WMS Playboy Story — by Jim Schelberg of Pingame Journal in 2004
  • Tilt: The Battle to Save Pinball (DVD movie/documentary) (official web site)