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That might be what Han thinks but what are the odds of getting a matching number on my 1973 Williams Darling machine? That’s a good question that I took a look into today because I was playing around with the match unit.
On an EM machine, the match unit sits in the machine’s head and has a set of spring arms that advance one index every time the player scores 10 points. These arms are connected to the match lights behind the backglass as well as to a circuit that goes to each players 10’s reels. If at the end of the game then player’s 10’s digit reel score matches the number lit by the match unit, the player gets a free game.
Here is a photo of the match unit schematic for Darling and you can see that the sequence of match numbers goes 70, 10, 60, 00, 40, 90, 50, 20, 80, 30 since the arms rotate counterclockwise. Remember that at the start of a new game the reels all reset to zero so lets take a look at a possible starting point.
Suppose the last game ended with a match score of 70 and you put in a coin and start a 1 player game. Your first 10 point score would put 10 on the 10’s reel and the match unit would rotate one position to the left so it would point at 10. Wow a match! Keep following this along and you’ll see that the machine will match at 10, 40 and 80, that’s a whopping 3/10 or 30% chance.
Now suppose you start a one player game with a match score of 60. If you follow the same logic you’ll find that there are NO possible combinations for matches regardless of what score you have on the 10’s reel. This is also true of 20, 30, 40 and 80 as start match numbers.
So if you walk into an arcade with just one coin in your pocket, aren’t a great player and want the greatest chance of getting a free game, don’t put your coin into a Darling game with 20, 30, 40, 60 or 80 on the match display. You have a 0% chance of getting a match!
The odds for the remaining match numbers are 70 (3/10), 10 (1/10), 00 (2/10), 90 (1/10), 50 (3/10).
So what are the overall odds for a one player game?
-No idea what the starting number is 1/10 – 10%
-Start on 20, 30, 40, 60 or 80 0/10 – 0%
-Start on remaining numbers 10/50 -20%
-Start a two player game – 1/10 – 10%
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Clever info. How common is that match unit on Williams machines of that Era?
-Mike
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I don’t know but I assume that it was the standard unit for all Williams machines, it works independently of the number of players. There is a plug in the backbox for enabling of disabling matching so that would let the operator decide wether to use the feature or not.
I’ve seen settings in SS machines for setting the pay out. Do those use a random number generator or do they index forward with certain point scores?
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Really interesting. So now you’ve got to script it…
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I’ve seen settings in SS machines for setting the pay out. Do those use a random number generator or do they index forward with certain point scores?
I think most SS machines (particularly later ones) simply use a random number generator of some form, instead of trying to index forward on a table. Early SS machines, silicon storage was expensive enough that doing it as an index table could have pushed up the cost quite a bit (by requiring a larger die) versus just “generate a number from here to here, round, present result and match to score digit”.
Creator of the first PinupPlayer PostDMD mods for VPX - PostDMD for Masters of the Universe VPX and Jaws VPX.
Head Proprietor of Pisces Pinball, a VPX table developer.
Lead Technician of MC Chase Amusements, a private arcade in our home basement.You need to login in order to like this post: click here
I don’t see how it can be random if there is a set “payout” limit to lest say 10%.
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Really interesting. So now you’ve got to script it…
I’m going to have to figure out Gottlieb’s now and make it work. scripting should be easy, I’m thinking an array… but I’m sure there are other ways.
… OK, so 30 minutes after starting this post it appears the Gottlieb’s do run sequentually, at least in the post 1966ish era using the small AS relay for match.. now I’m off to see which way it runs, be back soon…
hmm, not sure on direction, I believe it goes up, but I no longer have an em to test one of the relays… maybe @gnance will chime in.
So, if that is the case and I’m thinking right, on a single player game the only way you will ever match is if the last match number was a 00, since the player score starts at 00 and it would keep in time with the match unit while scoring assuming it all functions right. Does that make sense? (I’m pretty sure that’s how mine are mostly scripted as well, never paid attention to it matching). maybe it goes reverse direction then I would have to think about it, but still there would only be one prior score it would match on. hmmm
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so just found a video of the little gottlieb stepper in action and it does go up in sequence, so unless it’s wired out of sequence (which I see no signs of that on the schematics) it is sequential.
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all I do remember from that time and I think it was a Gottlieb table:
some other person, who knew what’s the next match number, tilt the table, when the player had a certain 10-20-30… score, to get a replay. And we got many – lol.
So, I think it was sequential.You need to login in order to like this post: click here
Some idiot scripted this into Jive Time, but didn’t realize the unit rotated counter clock wiseÂ
No, he’s not releasing an update for this.
Current Project: Perpetual updates of VPX physics.
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I don’t feel so bad, the Jive Time manual doesn’t have the nice arrow showing the unit direction.
Current Project: Perpetual updates of VPX physics.
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A Gottlieb table will only match on a 00????
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Some schematics I’ve looked at advance the match unit on more than just 10 point scores. I wonder if that’s the key to matching on a Gottlieb?
Current Project: Perpetual updates of VPX physics.
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Yeah I know it’s not always 10 on every table, but usually it’s just tied to the 10 point relay. It is if the prior game had a match number of 00, then when the score resets, they are in sync for a 1 player game, assuming I follow it right. Maybe I’ll post it up on pinside and see what the experts say.
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I really can’t follow schematics that well, but on Sky Jump for instance the relay for the match increment is tied to the 1000 point relay, on golden Arrow and jack’s open it is tied to the 10 point relay, and on vulcan it appears to be only tied to the player 1 10 point relay, on jungle princess it’s tied to the center pop bumper
 . From the wire color coding on the ones I’ve checked they do run in order incrementally, but it does appear to at least vary somewhat from game to game.beyond that
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Do Gottlieb games have a manual in addition to the schematic? Relay and unit wiring details are shown there on Williams games.
If you want to send me a Gottlieb schematic I can help you interpret it.
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I checked my Jacks Open machine this morning by advancing the match relay manually. The numbers counted backward from 90 to 00 as the relay advanced.
I remember working on my Top Score machine several years back and found that the relay advanced once each time a 100 point bumper was hit, unless the kicker hole special was lit (which came on at the beginning of each ball) in which case the relay didn’t advance. Something like that anyway, so that you couldn’t look at the score and determine where the match relay is positioned.
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<p style=”text-align: left;”>Cool, thanks Gary. Now I have to rescript all my tables! Ok, not really, but I will pay more attention if I update or make new ones, not that match is that important in the virtual world.</p>
<p style=”padding-left: 30px;”>I looked at one schematic last night, don’t remember which one, but it changed depending on if in 3 ball or 5 ball.</p>You need to login in order to like this post: click here
Do Gottlieb games have a manual in addition to the schematic? Relay and unit wiring details are shown there on Williams games.
If you want to send me a Gottlieb schematic I can help you interpret it.
They do have a manual, but I have not seen any wiring details for that unit in them. Maybe in the service manuals that I probably don’t have.
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That makes sense that the match unit is not linked directly to the 1x relay but is only advanced by certain elements or conditions that feed the 1x relay. This would prevent the one to one relationship that would only allow matches at 00.
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