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The Classic Pinball Podcast
The Classic Pinball Podcast
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#46 Space Riders (Atari) - The Classic Pinball Podcast

PodcastAnalysis updated yesterday1 hr 22 min listenBy George
From the creator

In this episode Dave interviews a father and son team from Rochester NY who are big fans of our podcast and Dr. Dave's Pinball Restorations YouTube channel. Scott and his 11 year old son Griffin...

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Highlights

  • Space Riders was designed by a person who also designed Neutron Star and other games, but the designer's name is not immediately recalled
  • George Opperman was the primary artist hired by Atari to do artwork for video games and cabinet designs
  • When manufacturers transitioned from electromechanical to solid state pinball in the mid-1970s, they added stepper units to solid state games to bridge the gap and make players feel machines were still mechanically dynamic
  • Steve Sharlin (now deceased) was a notable Gottlieb expert who helped diagnose and repair vintage Gottlieb machines and shared extensive knowledge with the community
  • The talking voice was an optional upgrade on Gorgar costing around $70-$100, and some machines were sold without this feature
  • Williams developed lane change mechanics first, before other manufacturers adopted the feature
  • Pinball PCB offers a combo soundboard aftermarket replacement for Blackout for approximately $125
  • Novus 2 polish is effective for playfield plastics, cabinets, and general cleaning, available at bulk pricing ($5 per bottle in some orders)
  • Gottlieb drop target assemblies are complex engineering requiring significant time to rebuild (initially 4+ hours, reduced to 30 minutes to 1 hour with experience)
  • Mike Thomas from Southern California is a recognized Atari pinball expert who provides troubleshooting consultation via email

Notable quotes

“It's a piece of art and I'm stunned that we got it working because there's very few people that are around still that know this pin and the circuitry.”
Scott
“Tell me what's in, oh, I don't know, transistor Q14... it's empty. He goes, ah, somebody desoddered it and cannibalized it and put it somewhere else. Go get yourself a four cent resistor.”
Scott (recounting Steve Sharlin's diagnosis)
“I'm like the carpenter whose house is falling apart, but the customer's houses are awesome.”
Dr. Dave
“Griffin will not let me plug anything in until it's perfect.”
Scott
“I like the lights and how the play field was designed... I go from 60s to 80s, from machines like Dancing Dolls from 1960 to Gottlieb's Black Hole in 1981.”
Griffin
“An EM game is a fantastic game to play if it's all strong and working well.”
Dr. Dave
“He's good at playfield plastics. He can buff and clean a playfield of plastic like nobody's business.”
Scott (describing Griffin)
“They put stepper units inside the first solid state games that would actually just work in conjunction to make those sounds inside the game. So people would feel they bridge over to the new technology.”
Dr. Dave

Entities

  • Pinball PCB· company
  • Pacific Pinball Expo· event
  • Alien Star· game
  • Big Shot· game
  • Black Hole· game
  • Blackout· game
  • Dancing Dolls· game
  • Eldorado· game
  • Firepower· game
  • Flight 2000· game
  • Funland· game
  • Gorgar· game
  • Neutron Star· game
  • Paragon· game
  • Space Riders· game
  • The Classic Pinball Podcast· organization
  • Dr. Dave· person
  • George Opperman· person
  • Griffin· person
  • Mike Thomas· person
  • Scott· person
  • Steve Arpino· person
  • Steve Sharlin· person

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