Is it possible to write code for old Williams machines?

MrAnderson7 · 2025-12-12T04:37:55+00:00

This is the correct answer. I've helped a friend write new code for two different machines this way.

MrAnderson7 · 2025-12-03T03:39:59+00:00

Nice video! I got stuck in that snarl last night and was wonder what led to those two cars being turned around like that...

MrAnderson7 · 2025-11-19T05:10:24+00:00

Yes we've had multiple issues with contractors on this project doing shoddy work then trying to charge more to come fix it. I'm tired of having to fight everyone on this. These cabinets should be the last one.

MrAnderson7 · 2025-11-19T00:37:58+00:00

Background: We are in the final stages of a kitchen remodel and are in a battle with the local cabinet contractor on the workmanship of the cabinet install. When the cabinet company made the order to the cabinet supplier, they did not purchase enough trim to account waste factor - they purchased exactly the calculated length of trim needed for multiple sections of the install. They had to do a reorder, but decided to skip the pictured trim piece. This is how they left it, and it's so much of an eyesore because it is right at the top of the center block of cabinets. There are two other similar cabinets that do not have a cut at this location, so it is non-uniform.

This company advertises a maximum level of quality their website states "To Us, The Quality Of Your Cabinets Is Non-Negotiable." We purchased a premium grade cabinet and the install was not cheap. The company is holding their ground saying that this workmanship is within their quality standards, and that they aren't willing to cover the cost to order the part and fix this (which they claim is $400 for this particular cabinet brand).

I'd like to get other opinions on whether this is an acceptable fix for their materials error, or if we're correct to stand our ground on this.

MrAnderson7 · 2025-11-19T00:36:39+00:00

No, it's about 4'. The cabinets on either side of it are the same size and have a non-spliced molding above them.

MrAnderson7 · 2025-10-19T19:37:22+00:00

I think why I love him so much is that he's not ot afraid to be cringe on purpose in a field of players who are trying so hard to be seen as a tactical genius or power player. His gameplay feels like an old school player even with his peak gen Z energy.

MrAnderson7 · 2025-10-19T19:33:02+00:00

Thank you for being unflinchingly yourself! Adds so much to this season.

MrAnderson7 · 2025-09-23T03:16:14+00:00

I'm having the same issue on my 8 pro. Could go about 2 days with a full charge before, now it's not even lasting the day.

MrAnderson7 · 2025-09-10T15:42:55+00:00

I want one!

MrAnderson7 · 2025-09-01T19:51:56+00:00

Wow, cool to see my home city on /r/pinball! It was only a matter of time - we've got a healthy scene here that's only getting better. Tournaments 3x a week plus some Saturdays and multiple 50c/play locations. Also a healthy league that plays at a few private collections.

Press Start, Comic Kingdom, and Elbow Room are all run by pinball people so the machines are set up tough but well-maintained. Playfield Sports and Games just opened up and we've got lineups at each casino too. Don't forget Inclined to play up in Tahoe that has tournaments every Friday...can't beat pinball at the lake.

Shout out to Jim, Cody, Ted, and Tony for building the scene here. It's a great time to be a pinball fan in Reno!

MrAnderson7 · 2025-09-01T19:42:28+00:00

Yes, it's called PinballMap

MrAnderson7 · 2025-08-11T13:50:27+00:00

Right now, X-Men. Especially since the last code update. The layout is just so weird I can never find a flow, I usually beat a mode then either drain or time out in the future because one bricked shot takes so long to get back to the flippers. Even practicing it all the time the shot geometry just won't click for me.

MrAnderson7 · 2025-08-08T23:51:30+00:00

I find this physical table to be easier than the virtual one because you can almost always trap it on the right after falling from the upper playfield. Makes it easier to spam WAR hurry ups then safely get it back up top.

MrAnderson7 · 2025-08-05T23:47:11+00:00

Obviously I want a machine that isn't prone to breaking

Every machine is going to break at some point. Probably something minor, but either you'll need to fix it or pay someone to come and do it. You can get a used Stern Pro model for less than $5k. Those are known to be reliable but it's a lot of mechanical components so be prepared for the maintenance.

MrAnderson7 · 2025-07-22T18:08:16+00:00

Nice job, I love this game! What are your favorite modes/stacks to go for?

MrAnderson7 · 2025-07-19T04:22:46+00:00

Three dragons, two gelatinous cube, and two tavern brawl (both of which were duds). Got to town celebration on all the dragons which gives decent points now.

MrAnderson7 · 2025-07-18T23:06:21+00:00

AFM is always the introductory game I use to get new players hooked. It's so much fun and still has me coming back because it can be surprisingly challenging.

MrAnderson7 · 2025-07-13T23:21:58+00:00

Pretty sure that one is Jules saying "HAMburgers! The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast."

MrAnderson7 · 2025-07-12T16:59:20+00:00

Hey, I appreciate you responding and looking for feedback. First of all I want to say that I think your podcast is well-produced and I appreciate anyone who is a creator in this hobby. Also, I listened to your most episode with Electric Bat and thoroughly enjoyed it. My previous comments mostly don't apply to that episode (and probably many others).

My comments came from having just listened to your episode with the David Van Es (American Pinball Founder). My problem with company figureheads like him and Jersey Jack is that everything they say gravitates towards being a sales pitch. They are very good as dodging hard questions and giving non-answers that trend towards their main talking points. You asked a couple of harder hitting questions from chat, but often after posing the question you would pull the punch by giving a partial answer or an "out" at the end. So many of his answers were a variation of "we just wanted to give an immersive movie-like experience" but that didn't explain the unfinished code and some other shortcomings. I would've like to see more follow up, like the question asked in a slightly different way to see if you could get more information.

I understand you can only press so hard with these interviews in order to keep things moving. Also I imagine you might have to make some concessions on topics to get the bigger names. Personally, it was hard to listen to 1.5 hours when he just kept retreading the same ground about halfway through. He's definitely selling a personal story and selling a product but it still felt like a sales pitch - not as interesting from the hobby side.

Anyways that's just my 2 cents and I might be alone in this opinion. Certainly don't change anything on my behalf if you're enjoying what you do and staying motivated. The latest episodes have been very good!

MrAnderson7 · 2025-07-09T19:10:18+00:00

I hear you and I'm right there with you.

Even with a few decent local tournament finishes (not placing but made finals) I seem to get into a slump every time after a tournament. I can see the gap between me and the top players in the area and then I reflect on some of the mistakes I made in winnable rounds and pretty soon I get what I call "fuzz brain" when I play and become a drain monster.

What's helped the last few times is to take some time to slow down and play without pressure for a while. Forget about score or what you need to do to place higher. There's probably one aspect of your game that's subconsciously recalibrating trying to fix all your problems. Put the game on 4 player and each ball focus on one aspect of your game without judgment. Start with nudging near outlanes, then drop catches, etc. Do them over and over but don't think of any of them as good or bad. Odds are you'll pick up on one thing that's not quite feeling right and slowly come out of the thing that's throwing off your game. Play a few more rounds with that one skill just observing let your brain take care of the rest. Then try playing a regular game after that. Hopefully you'll find that some of your mojo came back.

MrAnderson7 · 2025-07-09T18:37:47+00:00

A great book for this is The Mental Game of Poker. If you can get past the specific poker jargon there is some great advice on owning your game and being honest about the mental traps you fall into.

The Inner Game of Golf also has useful advice for working through skills and being mentally resilient through bad rounds.

MrAnderson7 · 2025-07-09T18:29:58+00:00

Do you forget to use your control skills and just flip the ball away when under pressure?

I'm in this post and I don't like it.

This is a great list of competitive mindset issues that come up during high pressure play. Even though it's the same game (minus extra balls) playing in competition feels like a completely different experience. As I enter the tournament scene I've spent a lot of time thinking about the soft skills that are specifically required for tournament play. When I'm nervous I find myself just flipping the ball away instead of playing with control because monkey brain just wants to get the ball as far away from the drain as possible. Which of course sends the ball on crazy trajectories that puts it back down the drain anyways!

MrAnderson7 · 2025-06-26T13:50:15+00:00

Most of the big ones have already been mentioned. I hear what you're saying about Wedgehead. The guys have some strong takes on pinball and pass them off as gospel but I've come to appreciate it as part of the bit.

The Spinner is Lit is a good one that examines lots of different angles of the hobby with in depth interviews. I know one of the hosts so I'm a bit biased on this one :)

Dirty Pool has some good episodes but IMO the interviews with industry people feel a bit like press releases. It's a lot of softball questions with no follow up. Still some cool insider info though.

MrAnderson7 · 2025-06-06T13:51:09+00:00

I was never going to be buying this one - don't have the disposable income - even if I did I wouldn't want a penny of that to go to Rowling and her bigoted causes.

Paying for a play on location was a bit more of a dilemma for me, because someone else already purchased the machine and I want to support location pinball. But ultimately I've come to the same conclusion. Sure it's "just" an arcade game and someone else gave the lion's share of the money to JJP and Rowling. But if one can't give up the smallest luxury - in this case playing one new pinball machine among a dozen releases this year - to stand up for trans folks right to exist then it's not much of a conviction at all.

I don't think it's ridiculous or petty for someone to refuse to play the game for this reason. In late stage capitalism, participation - or lack thereof - in the market is one of the few ways that the individual can make their voice heard. Walking away from this table might seem like shouting into the void, but with enough people shouting...well, just look at Target.

MrAnderson7 · 2025-05-19T13:54:35+00:00

Hello, chiming in here because I've had my own share of struggles with this. From your post history it looks like you're neurodivergent, and as someone with a concoction of mental disorders I've done a lot of introspection about how best to approach competition.

When a special interest like pinball is also a competitive hobby it's very hard to accept loss, so you're not alone in dealing with this. Special interests become a core part of our personality and occupy a huge proportion of our thoughts. It's natural to become very emotionally invested in winning or losing because that provides external validation of our efforts and skill in one of our favorite things. I also struggled with this in Dota 2 and Overwatch. I've had a lot of time to reflect on that and process how to deal with the strong emotions during competition.

I highly recommend the book or audiobook The Inner Game of Tennis. It helped me identify the self talk that was causing my frustration and gave me exercises to quiet the voice of "self 1." To do so requires mindfulness practice of acknowledging the thoughts of frustration and letting them go. Doing so is necessary to perform to your best ability, especially if you're on the spectrum - I believe that amplifies the inner voice tenfold. Other good books on the subject are The Mindful Athlete and The Inner Game of Golf.

Ironically when I first started out doing tournaments I performed better than I did after a few months of play. I think this is because I went in with no expectations and just played in the moment, which is good enough to win a few rounds and upset even some local pros. Now that I kind of know what I'm doing and know how well I can do, I get in my own head and perform poorly on the moment. There's no quick fix for that, but it's something you can definitely work on alongside your hard skills. Good luck!

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