GENCO'S
"7-UP" - AND THE CHALLENGE OF PLAYING "PRE-FLIPPER"
PINBALL
This time I have decided to again
describe one of the more
interesting
early pingames in my collection, Genco's "7-UP", and
then
talk about the fun and challenge of playing such "pre-
flipper"
games, using the features of this game as an example of
such
machines. Before describing 7-UP,
however, I will digress
for a
few moments and describe how and why I acquired this
particular
game, and briefly tell of some of the work I had to do
in
getting it operational again.
As many of you already know, when I was
about 11 or 12 years
old (in
the late 40's) I was given two pingames by a local coin
machine
operator. These were Bally's VARIETY
and VOGUE, both of
1939. My VARIETY had a crack in the backglass (in
fact it was in
two
pieces) which made it less desirable than VOGUE. Well, it
seems
that another kid had also gotten a game from this same
operator,
but unfortunately he could not get his machine to work,
having
little or no knowledge of electrical circuitry as I
fortunately
had. As a result of this we made a
trade.
I traded my VARIETY, which I had gotten
to work, with the
cracked
backglass for his non-working game, which turned to be
Genco's
7-UP from 1941. I was soon able to get
it working and
discovered
it was a very challenging game and fun to play. I had
VOGUE
and 7-UP for several years and finally sold them to an ex-
neighbor.
Now, a couple of years ago I was talking
on the phone to
fellow
pinball collector Rich Grant from St. Louis.
Rich told me
he had
just acquired a Genco 7-UP and I told him it was one of
the
games I owned as a kid and that I would like to have one
again
someday. Well, when I went to Pinball
Expo '85 last year
I
discovered that Rich had hauled his 7-UP from St. Louis, along
with
the other machines he had for sale, primarily I believe to
show it
to me and to offer to sell it to me.
Seeing that machine
after
so many years brought back memories of the many hours I had
spent
as a kid trying to "beat" that challenging game.
We ended up making a deal for me to
purchase it and Rich
eventually
shipped it to me upon his return to St. Louis.
I
again
owned Genco's 7-UP.
RESTORATION
OF 7-UP
Upon receiving the game I set out to
restore it to playing
condition. The major problem was that a majority of the
plastic
bumper
'skirts' were warped, some quite badly.
At Pinball Expo I
had
discussed this problem with Steve Young and he suggested a
possible
solution. This was to heat them in an
oven and then
press
them into shape. I discussed this idea
with a friend,
jukebox/pinball
collector Mike Berard, and he volunteered to try
to
straighten the bumper skirts for me. I
gave them to him and
within
a week or two he returned them in quite good and
definitely
useable condition. The major 'hurdle'
in the
restoration
of 7-UP had been overcome!
After re-installing the bumpers (not an
easy job for me) I
began
with the electrical trouble-shooting. I
found two basic
problems
with the circuitry. One was that the
D.C. power supply
(Genco
used D.C. Power in all their machines)
did not put out
quite
enough voltage to reliably power all the game's circuitry
due to
the old selenium rectifier which had deteriorated over the
years. When I replaced it with a modern rectifier
the voltage
was too
high, causing different problems. After
much
experimenting
with other power packs, rectifiers, etc, I finally
ended
up using the power pack from my Genco METRO and using
another
one for METRO, which seemed to work alright on a higher
voltage.
The other major circuit problem involved
the unreliable
operation
of the circuitry connected with "multiple scoring" (the
scoring
of 1 to 5 thousand points (or replays) when certain
"Super
Bumper s" were hit.) After much
investigation and "trial
and
error" I, with the help of my friend Ron Tyler, discovered
that
the problem was due to excessive wear in a small stepping
switch
unit. The only cure, short of replacing
the entire unit
(a very
difficult task considering the large number of wires
which
would have to be unsoldered and then resoldered), was to
use
thin cardboard "shims" To compensate for the mechanical wear.
This
method, although it looks a little "Mickey Mouse" if you
look
into the backbox of the game, has proved to be a
satisfactory
solution to the problem.
One final note regarding my restoration
problems. While
working
on the game I discovered that two of the Bakelite contact
actuator
plates used on the large relay "trip bank" were broken.
At
first I panicked but I decided to try a
little epoxy type
glue. Much to my delight it worked, even under the
tensile
stress
of the application, and appears to have solved this
problem
which otherwise could have been tragic, unless
replacement
parts could have been located.
GAME
FEATURES
SEVEN-UP, like most of the pingames of
1941, had several
ways of
winning replays. This use of alternate
methods of replay
scoring
was a major factor in making these late pre-war games so
challenging.
The first method, of course, is
"high score." In connection
with
this I should first explain the game's scoring
characteristics. The basic scores are indicated in units of
1000,
ranging up to 77,000. Scores of 1000
can be obtained in
several
ways. All bumpers (except for the two
"Super Bumpers",
whose
operation will be explained shortly) score 1000 if they are
"permanently
lit". I say "permanently
lit" because some of the
bumpers,
connected with the "ABCD" and "Diamond" features, are
sometimes
"temporarily lit". This
distinction will be explained
later.
All unlit (or "temporarily
lit") bumpers cause small lighted
numbers,
which are arranged in a circle on the backglass, to
change. There are 12 of these numbers in the circle,
each
between
1 and 5, the sequence of numbers being:
"1,2,3,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,5." The next hit of a bumper, after the
"5"
is lit, causes 1000 points to be scored.
The significance of
these
numbers is related to the "Super Bumper" Scoring, which I
shall
now describe.
The game has two white bumpers, one at
the top of the
playfield
and the other near the bottom, which are each labeled
"Super
Bumper". These bumpers provide the
"multiple scoring"
feature
which was mentioned earlier. Whenever
any of these
bumpers
are hit (when they are not lit) they score from 1000 to
5000
points, depending on the lighted number (1 thru 5) in the
circle
on the backglass which was just described.
If these
"Super
Bumper s" are lit (how they are lighted will be described
shortly)
they score 1 to 5 replays, again depending on the value
of the
lighted number. This is the second way
to score replays
on
7-UP.
In
order to score replays with the "Super Bumpers" (other
than by
high score) they must first be lit.
This is done in
connection
with what I shall call the "A-B-C-D feature". On the
playfield
there are four rollover channels labeled "A", "B",
"C",
and
"D" respectively. The
corresponding letters are also
indicated
by lighted 'panels' on the backglass.
Beside each "A"
and
"D" rollover is a red bumper, and on each side of each "B"
and
"C" rollover are two green bumpers.
Whenever the ball in
play
hits any of these bumpers (or other unlit bumpers) the
lights
in them cycle "on" and "off", first one set and then the
other. This, by the way, is what I meant by the
"temporarily
lit"
bumpers mentioned earlier.
If a ball goes through one of the
rollovers, when the
adjacent
bumper(s) are lit, the corresponding letter lights on
the
backglass. In the case of "B"
and "C" only, when those
letters
are lit their corresponding green bumpers become
"permanently
lit" and score 1000 points from then on.
The
lighting
of all four letters (A,B,C,D) causes the two "Super
Bumpers"
to light and score replays instead of points.
The third way to score replays on 7-UP is
by lighting a
"number
sequence". Placed diagonally
across the playfield are
seven
yellow bumpers labeled "1" thru "7" (that is probably where
the
name 7-UP came from). There are two
additional numbered
yellow
bumpers, "8" near the bottom of the playfield, and "9"
near
the top. There are nine corresponding
numbers on the
backglass.
In order to light these numbers the
player must hit these
yellow
bumpers "in sequence", this is, "1" first, "2"
next, etc.
As each
number is lit, the corresponding yellow bumper lights and
henceforth
scores 1000 points, until all seven bumpers are lit.
When
the "7" bumper is lit one replay is scored. After that,
hitting
any of the lit yellow bumpers scores a replay (rather
than
1000 points). If, after lighting the
numbers 1 thru 7,
bumper
#8 is hit five additional replays are scored.
Then
hitting
bumper #9 lights it, scoring an additional five replays.
Lighting
1 thru 7 "in sequence" is quite difficult, but then
hitting
"8" and "9" is almost impossible!
The final way to win replays on 7-UP is
the "Diamond
Feature".
This is sort of a 'jackpot' feature and
works in the
following
manner. There are two rollover channels
on the
playfield
(one near the top and the other near the bottom)
labeled
with a diamond. Next to the entrance of
each of these
channels
is a red bumper which is alternately lit and unlit in
the
same manner as the other "temporarily lit" bumpers described
above
in connection with the "A-B-C-D" feature. At the top of
the
backglass are eight "half diamond" symbols, seven of which
have
numbers which show if that diamond is lit.
If a player gets a ball to go through one
of these rollover
channels,
when the corresponding red bumper is lit, the first
diamond
on the backglass lights indicating number '1'.
Additional
rollover scoring causes additional diamonds to be lit
on the
glass ('2', '3', etc). When a
predetermined number of
diamonds
have been lit (the number required being preset by the
operator)
a replay "bonus" is scored.
The way this "bonus" is scored
is somewhat novel. What
happens
is that the game's replay counter is automatically
advanced
to a preset level (either 20, 40, 60, or 75, as preset
by the
operator). If, however, the player
already has that many
replays
to his credit, nothing happens! I guess
the game's
designer
felt that you had already "beaten the machine", so why
take
the operator for any more.
This concludes the discussion of the many
features of this
very
challenging and technically sophisticated pingame. This
game is
typical of the interesting pinballs manufactured just
prior
to World War II temporarily halting production of all new
amusement
devices "for the duration."
"PRE-FLIPPER"
PLAY APPEAL
Most flipper pinball players seem to
believe that playing a
pingame
without flippers would be extremely dull and
unchallenging. This, I believe, is primarily due to the
fact
that
they have never played one. The fact is
the lack of
flippers
makes the game more challenging because it is harder to
"beat". There is still a great deal of skill
involved in playing
a
pre-flipper game, maybe even more since the player does not
have
flippers to aid him in his conquest of the machine.
The two main areas of skill required to
play (and "beat")
one of
these games are plunger shots and "gunching". These
skills
are also used in playing flipper pinball, but are relied
upon to
a lesser degree with emphasis being put on flipper
action. Another form of "skill", although
not manual, is the
mental
skill in deciding which of the game's replay scoring
features
to concentrate on to try to win replays.
I will attempt
to give
a little personal insight into the uses of these three
factors
in playing a pre-flipper pingame, using 7-UP and its play
features
as a typical example.
In playing the game the first action to
be taken is of
course
the initial plunger shot. Before
shooting the first ball
you
would probably want to decide which of the game's replay
scoring
features to go for. Probably the
"1 thru 7" feature
would
be chosen since that is the "theme feature" of the game.
If that was your choice you would try to
"aim" your first
ball at
the #1 yellow bumper at the upper left of the playfield.
If the
number on the backglass indicating the value of the "Super
Bumper
s" was at a high value, say 4 or 5, (incidentally, it does
not get
reset at the start of a game) you may try to hit the top
"Super
Bumper" first, scoring some extra points, and then try to
get the
ball to bounce off it and hit #1. After
lighting '1' you
would
try, by a little "gunching", to hit additional numbers of
the
sequence (2,3,etc), since with only five balls you must light
more
than one number per ball whenever possible to succeed in
lighting
at least seven numbers.
Now, during the play of the first ball
you may have
succeeded
in other things, besides lighting one or more numbers.
You may
have lighted the "C" and/or "D" letters, or you may have
gotten
some good score by hitting both "Super Bumpers" for
multiple
points. In any case, what you
accomplished on the first
ball
will usually determine your strategy on the next shot.
If you did well on your original plan of
lighting 1 thru 7
you
would probably continue with that strategy.
If you did not
you might
decide to try for a different goal, maybe lighting all
the
letters (if say, you lit both 'C' and 'D' on your first
shot),
or going for "high score" if you did well with the "Super
Bumpers". This, I believe, is where a lot of the
"mental skill"
comes
in, making a decision to either continue with your original
course
of action or "switch horses" for a "better plan".
This "strategy switch" may also
be unwise. It may be better
in the
long run to choose a goal and stick to it even though your
first
shot failed, as far as your original goal was concerned. I
sometimes
believe that one reason the designers of these games
used
several methods of scoring replays was so that a player
would
often be tempted to switch from his original goal and thus
possibly
decrease his chances of "beating the machine". This
would
help satisfy two of the major design objectives of any
game,
namely 1) to provide challenge and interest to the player,
and 2)
to decrease the chances that the machine will be "beaten"
easily,
which could reduce the operator's profit.
The decision
to
change, or not to change, his strategy during the course of
the
game is up to the player and this "mental skill", I believe,
is of
utmost importance in beating any of these games.
As I said earlier, "gunching"
(nudging the cabinet with the
palms
of the hands, to influence the path of the ball) is of
utmost
importance in playing pre-flipper pinball.
Without
flippers
the player must make each ball hit as many "targets"
(bumpers,
rollovers, etc) as possible. This is,
of course, where
gunching
comes in. Part of the skill in gunching
comes from
hitting
the machine hard enough to influence the ball, without
'tilting'
the machine. The player must first get
the "feel" of
the
tilt setting of a particular machine by trial and error. The
freshness
of the rubber on a game is of course a big factor in
the
effectiveness of gunching. If a game
has "good rubber" it is
amazing
how far a ball can sometimes be deflected
by a slight
push of
the cabinet. Needless to say, if you
dont have flippers
to
cause the ball to be redirected up the playfield to strike
additional
"targets", you must rely heavily on gunching (a real
'art',
I might add) to make the most effective use of each ball.
I think the above discussion should give
anyone who has
never
played a "pre-flipper" pingame (especially one of the
1940/1941
vintage) some insight into the fun and challenge of
playing one of these fascinating games. It should also
illustrate
the various "skills" (both manual and mental) required
to
play, and "beat", one of these games. So, if you flipper
players
have never tried a "pre-flipper", find someone who has
one and
"try it; you may like it!"