Going 4 deep with Bally Capersville pinball

In this post I want to go deep with my favorite Bally electromechanical flipper game: Capersville 

Bally Capersville was released in December 1966. It was designed by Ted Zale with artwork by Jerry K. Kelley. At the time Capersville was Bally's highest production electromechanical game, since Bally restarted it's pinball production in the late 50's, with 5120 units. The impressive production figure was surpassed in 1973 by Monte Carlo with 5254 units. Despite the high production figures, Capersville is a very hard to find game today, or at least hard to find here in Canada.

Capersville is a 3 ball multiball game. It was the Multiball follow up to 1963 Bally Star-Jet, being a 3 ball multi-ball game and incorporated the 4 step free ball escape assembly used in 1964 Bally Mad World. The grandmother of Bally Multiball games is Balls-A-Poppin. 

Capersville combines gameplay elements of Star-Jet, with the two captive ball saucers at the top of the playfield and the 4 step free ball escape device of Mad World.

As a side note the same captive ball saucer configuration was used for 1970 Bally Big Valley, another EM multiball game.

I think Capersville is the EM flipper pin game with the most features, or at least the most complex features ever released. Later I will focus on one feature: the 4 deep caper feature.

Capersville's artwork by Jerry K. Kelley is inspired by Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 film Alphaville:

The plot follows agent Lemmy Caution, on a mission to Alphaville. The mission: to repatriate or eliminate the architect of the Alphaville society. Alphaville is a technocratic society where everyone is controlled by the central computer Alpha 60. Everyone has a serial number and everyone must behave within the parameters of Alpha 60's logic. People who cannot adapt become outcasts in the society and are pressured to commit suicide or simply executed. People who do comply with alpha 60, but who for one reason or another act illogically, are executed publicly.

For the rest of the story, you have to watch the film.

Béatrice, séductrice d'ordre 3. In front of an AMI Continental. Notice the serial number on the left shoulder.

Personally I love the movie. It's filmed like someone who draws building plans, or EM schematics, on the back of an envelope. Quick and dirty. A science-fiction dystopia. It's a noteworthy example of the French New Wave film movement and I find the film to have a powerful message in context to today's society. "Sauvez ceux qui pleurent" agent Dickson said.

In both the style and in the theme, we can see art elements that are picked up by Jerry Kelley from the film and it's many movie posters:

Pointy people: (A Jerry K. Kelley art style purloined by Christian Marche)

This one might be debatable, but the influence is definitely there... Alphaville was released May 5th 1965, Capersville was released December 1966 BUT Kelley's first pinball offering with pointy people art was Williams Pot-O-Gold released June 30th 1965. When was Pot-O-Gold's artwork conceived? I do not know... but it's less than two months apart:

The central element of the backglass but with inverted roles and hats....

 

Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine) with hat and trench-coat.

Tapered big block letters. Vertical instead of horizontal letters on the backglass art 

 

The rest of the Capersville's art alludes to themes of spying (concealed guns, decoders) and science fiction themes of the submarine ship and "Zap" of the code zapper.

The very name: Capersville, a caper by definition: "an activity or escapade, typically one that is illicit or ridiculous"

As a side note: I have a theory to the purple female character in the background of the backglass art that looks like she is doing a backflip is the main character one the backglass of The Wiggler, the multiball follow up to Capersville, but this theory could be expanded into a whole other post. One day maybe...

The 4 deep Caper feature:

But first an explanation of how the multiball gameplay of Capersville works:

Capersville is a 3 ball multiball game. That means that up to 3 balls can be in play simultaneously.

There are two ways to achieve the multiball:

By way of the two top captive ball saucers 

OR

By way of the 4 deep caper.

However, the 3 ball multiball is only possible with the top captive ball saucers, and the captive ball saucers can lock balls only if there is no ball in the 4 deep caper alley.

So you lock a ball in one of the captive saucers. The machine feeds another ball to the shooter lane to play.

The second ball can be locked in the second captive ball saucer and a third ball is fed to the shooter lane to play.

Hitting the white mushroom bumper frees the captive balls from the saucers.

At any point if you hit the mushroom bumper it releases the locked balls in the saucers. Doesn't matter if there's one or two locked balls. Doesn't matter if it's the left or the right captive ball saucer. Doesn't matter if you are already in a multiball. Hitting the white mushroom bumper releases locked ball(s) and a 2 or 3 ball multiball is initiated.

Now Capersville has a very brutal layout and the multiball will quickly become a multidrain but once in a while, you get a really good multiball and when that happens it's sublime.

If during a 3 ball multiball you lock a ball in one of the top saucers or in the 4 deep caper alley, that ball is locked and you now have a 2 ball multiball.

If you have a 2 ball multiball and you lock a ball it does not release the third ball to the shooter lane. Locking a ball in one of the top saucers or in the 4 deep caper alley during a 2 ball multiball ends the multiball.

Now for the 4 deep caper alley:

The gate to the 4 deep caper is open only if there are no locked balls in the top saucers and no ball in the alley.

Once you shoot a ball into the alley, the gate at the entrance of the alley closes and a small diverter closes just in case a second ball somehow makes it into the entrance to the alley it is diverted to the shooter lane.

As long as there is a ball in the 4 deep caper alley, balls cannot be locked into the top saucers. If a ball makes it into one of the top saucers it is automatically kicked out. There can be only one ball in the 4 deep caper alley.

It is called the 4 deep caper because to release the ball, you have to hit the mushroom bumper 4 times. Each time, the ball progresses deeper in the alley until it is finally released to the shooter lane.

The rollover switch for when the ball is released by the 4 deep.

The ball in the 4 deep caper carries over from player to player and from game to game.

Some might argue the 4 deep caper does not lead to a multiball since the ball is returned to the shooter lane, not directly into play. I can't be bothered... To me it's a multiball.

As another side note, a 3 step free ball escape assembly was used in Bally Four Million B.C. for the "Tar Pit". The unit works the exact same way but with 3 steps instead of 4. With 4MBC you can still lock a ball in "The Volcano" even if you have a ball trapped in the Tar Pit. Furthermore, after 3 steps the ball is released to the playfield instead of the shooter lane.

How does the 4 deep caper feature work:

First a diagram from the Bally parts catalogue

Here's how it looks inside the machine

The 4 step free ball escape assembly (every time I type "free ball" Free Bird starts playing in my head)

A series of asymmetrical "horse shoes" each with an off centre pivot. The "horse shoes" are linked to an arm by way of a second pivot point. The arm is connected to the solenoid plunger.  When the solenoid is energized, it pulls the arm. The arm rocks the horse shoes, allowing the ball to go down the alley one step at a time. At the other end of the mechanism there is a spring that pulls the arm to its rest position when the solenoid isn't pulling.

A closeup of the diverter unit called the 2nd Ball trap solenoid in the schematic.

The Free Ball gate relay (... knows I can't change...) that opens and closes the gate, drives the light indicating the gate is open and energizes the 2nd ball trap solenoid.

So how does it works?

To better understand, we have to see Capersville as having 2 modes: Normal mode and 4 deep caper mode.

Normal mode is when there is no ball in the 4 deep caper alley. Balls can be locked in the top saucers. The white mushroom bumper in this mode ejects the balls from the captive saucers.

The 4 deep caper mode is when there is a ball in the 4 deep caper alley. The white mushroom bumper in this mode advances the ball through the alley and balls cannot be locked in the top left and right saucers.

What toggles the game between both modes is the Captive Ball interlock relay.

When a ball enters the alley it rolls over a rollover switch that momentarily energized the trip coil locking the relay . The game is now in 4 deep caper mode.

As the ball exits the alley it rolls over another rollover switch that momentarily energizes the latch coil. The actuator is released and the game goes back to normal mode.

A trio of bottom view:

Left: Free Ball gate relay (...high, free bird...)

Centre: Ball advance solenoid

Right: 2nd Ball trap solenoid

The ball advance solenoid is energized momentarily by the white mushroom bumper relay by way of the captive ball interlock relay.

The white mushroom bumper relay is energized by the white mushroom bumper switch. The w.m.b. relay has a hold in circuit, keeping the relay energized until the normally closed score motor 10C switch is momentarily opened. Pretty simple.

I think we have gotten to the bottom of the 4 deep caper of Capersville. If you have the chance to play Capersville, I strongly recommend it. It's a very difficult game so it's not for everyone. Now go play some pinball. Enjoy!