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WPC Alpha: DMD or Solid State era?


WPC Alpha: DMD or Solid State era?  

14 members have voted

  1. 1. WPC Alpha: DMD or Solid State era?

    • Solid State
      9
    • DMD
      5


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Usually people split games up into eras based on the technology they use and the WPC-Alpha boardset is right on the cusp, still having alphanumeric displays like System 11c, but having the boards, processing power, etc of the later WPC DMD machines.

 

There's 3 machines that used the WPC Alphanumeric boardset: https://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?searchtype=advanced&mpu=10

 

Funhouse (late 1990)

Bride of Pinbot (1991)

Harley-Davidson (1991)

(and a Dr Dude prototype?)

 

And then the DMD era proper starts with T2 (mid-1991) etc?

 

Dr Dude (system 11c): image-34.jpg

Dr Dude (WPC prototype): image-23.jpg

Funhouse: image-26.jpg

T2: image-15.jpg

 

Do you consider Funhouse, Bride of Pinbot and Harley-Davidson "solid state" or "DMD" era machines?

Edited by ajfclark
Fixed busted link
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WPC Alpha Numeric

I believe Gilligans Island was the first Bally DMD to hit the market before T2 but definitely DE holds the title of first DMD pinball on the market.

Correct, Gilligan's is May, T2 is July 1991.

 

And yes, Checkpoint from DE in February 1991.

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None of the above

 

Early Solid State (games not much removed from EM)

Second generation Solid State, (1979 on, games started having interesting rules and light shows)

Alpha Numeric

DMD

LCD

I don't really understand the solid state terminology given that SS, early SS, late SS, DMD, LCD, etc they're all solid state machines. I've heard SS used to refer to everything pre DMD as a group, but Ok then Alpha numeric or DMD?

 

Does the display really change the game that much (given most of the time I never seem to be able to look at it anyway) or is it the capabilities of the hardware underneath?

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Solid State is anything that is a semiconductor, basically in Pinball Terms after EM machines. The use of transistors replaced relays, in jukebox terms the transistor replaced the valves used in the amplifiers. The only thing that changed in pinball generations apart from solid state technology was how the scores are displayed. eg score reels driven by solenoinds and steppers, then CRT 6-9 digit displays, then Alpha numeric displays, then DMD using a matrix to display animations and now LCD. The rest is still switches, soleniods and headaches.
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So something else must have changed besides just the way the scores are displayed?

 

Of course but I was basically speaking in terms of the way pinball has evolved, technology has advanced with the use of IC's and PC driven software and game design layouts but what stands out in front of you is the way the scoring displays have changed over time. But to address your original post the 3 gen of sys11 alpha and DMD WPC are all very similar in their internal design. Comparing a Iron Maiden software design isnt comparable with Sys11. some of the stuff they use now didnt exist back then.

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quite simply DMD=Dot Matrix Display, those games specified don't have one so they aren't one.

the labels given to different technologies is mainly to help give people an idea of era, there will always be a grey area at the points of change.

 

This is just my opinion.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Whomever came up with these "labels" introduced the confusion or grey areas to start with (and their massively uneven brackets), because DMD games are solid state as well anyway.... litterally. "SS" describes accurately from mid 70's to current (no matter how advanced or complex). It makes no sense. Nonsense so to speak Lol. It's a bit silly in my opinion. DMD goes from 1991 through to current (such as TAG)... that is a huge bracket... and there is a very distinctive difference between a TMNT and an AC/DC, isn't there? :lol

 

Wouldn't it be just so much simpler to go with what Decade the game is from?

 

The era (and the "feel") has very little relationship to what kind of score display a game has. TNA has seven segment score displays... are we calling it a "solid state" now? :P

 

Aren't late 80's SS significantly different than late 70's SS ? ... there you go. ;)

 

Same goes for EM's. What kind of score display is totally irrelevant. Just use decades and be done with it!

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

 

And then the DMD era proper starts with T2 (mid-1991) etc?

 

 

Gilligan's Island is the start for WPC DMD (or Slugfest if you count non pinballs), and besides Data East was Really first anyways, with Checkpoint :P ;)

 

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Now we also have a gaping overlap between LCD and DMD titles, so score display based brackets (and "Solid State" based brackets as well) are still providing a silly big grey area yet again, really. :)

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

A: I call them ALL 90's pins. Easy :D

 

*This "classification system" is Completely Outdated and out of its depth... soooooooooo last century!!! ;) :lol

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@razorsedge this is kind of what I was getting at. I tend to think of thing based on the boardsets that drive them as that was what sets the possibilities for the machines and that generally correlates to both decades and the other labels that people use (eg. system 11 is mid to late 80s or "late SS era" or alphanumeric) but there are some oddballs on the shoulders like Funhouse that don't fit as well.

 

You're probably right though, decade of release is simple, unambiguous, makes for good comparisons between manufacturers, etc.

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