Bally Sea Island Bingo and beer

Playing my Sea Island Bingo machine and enjoying a beer.
Marzen Rauchbier. Mmmm. Liquid bacon!

Wine and Bally Mystic Gate Bingo

Playing Mystic Gate.
Drinking Wine.
Winning 192 credits on a 3 in yellow.
Messing around with my phone camera.
La dolce vita.
The sweet life.
La grosse vie.

Bally Capersville coindoor wire repair

The wiring on my Capersville looked a little ragged. It worked but it looked really bad.

The plan was to bring the game to the 2018 Canada Pincon pinball show.

I imagined the wiring would give out at the worst possible moment at the show.

A bit of refurbishing was in order.

Wiring Before:

Capersville coin door wiring before

Almost all the wires were broken. Most of them had the twist and tape routine.

The one wire that wasn't taped was barely holding by a strand.

I spliced and soldered the wires and finished them with some heat shrink tubing.

I even took the time to redo the wire dressing.  

Repaired wiring

I finished the job by adding some nylon spiral wire wrap for additional protection. That way, it's unlikely the wires will get pinched in the door hinge.

Finished Capersville coin door wire repair

Indian Cycle Rickshaw

Today was a beautiful day. Sunny. Not too hot. Cloudless sky. I decided to go out for a drive and check out a favorite junk shop of mine about an hour away from my place.

I spotted this rickshaw while perusing the said junk shop. I absolutely loved it. The colours, the patina, the rod brakes. I was mesmerized by it. I was imagining myself riding around my neighbourhood with my girlfriend sitting in the back. Bewildering the bystanders as we roll by.

But the real question is: How did it get to eastern Ontario?

There was no price on it and I did not dare asking. My loss.

Rickshaw in L'Orignal

Zip tie moments at Canada Pincon 2018

Here are a few zip tie moments at Canada Pincon 2018. The event was held on June 2nd and 3rd in Vankleek Hill Ontario.

I had a few games in the free play area and a couple more in the history section.

Free play area

 I did a few shifts of guide duty in the history section.

History section

The first Zip ties moment is out of my 1966 Bally Capresville. It was the simplest way to put the game on free play. A loose zip tie stopping the credit wheel to go down to zero. No bending switch blades, no messing with alligator clip test leads. Temporary. Does the job.

Zip tie in Capersville

The second one was out of my 1939 Keeney Thriller. The machine kept tilting because of low line power issues. Too many machines. Too long extension cords. The "hold" relay kept dropping out.

Solution: Zip tie on the switch for the relay hold in circuit.

Zip tie in Thriller

Sometimes, you have to improvise.

In french speaking Quebec, we call zip ties "Tie wraps". No to be confused with Thai Rap.

May 22: World Goth Day... Centaur!

To commemorate World Goth Day...

Thank you Paul Faris for the amazing Gothic / Biomechanical artwork of Centaur.

Art by Paul Faris

Bad move human!

Goth isn't just a style. It's a state of mind.

Old Goths dont die. They just stop wearing black all the time.

I always wondered if William Gibson was inspired by the woman on Centaur for his character Molly Millions / Rose Kolodny / Sally Shears in Neuromancer / Sprawl trilogy.

MANIX: The Edge lit Display Slot Machine Unicorn?

Now here's something I've never seen before. Never heard of anything like it either: A Slot Machine Using what looks to be custom Edge Lit Displays with fruit symbols. Crazy! That's MANIX.

When I first saw this ad, I thought Manix used custom Nixie Tube displays, but further research and observation leads me to think they used Edge Lit Displays. I speculate the prospect of making custom Nixie tubes with fruit symbols would have been prohibitively expensive.

I found the ad in the Canadian Coin Box Magazine of December 1976 at page 19. The CCBM was a monthly magazine for Operators in the Amusement and Music Industry.

Notice how there's a spelling mistake in the ad (MANIX or MANNIX ?). Notice the exciting Hold and Draw feature. The Interwebs is very thin on information about this slot machine. I dont even know if MANIX ever went into production or if it was just a startup that never took off. Old school Vaporware? It came out of Las Vegas Nevada of course.

I think I've found my new unobtanium flying unicorn grail.

My guess is that Manix display technology was already outdated by 1977. Maybe thats why MANIX didn't catch on. Electronic slot machines came out in 1975 as did the first Video Poker machines. They would be industry standards by the dawn of 80's.

If you don't know what are Edge lit displays is, HERE is the link to the wikipedia entry

If you want something to watch, here's a video by Techmoan asssembling a Edge lit display clock kit