Author Topic: zizzle toy pinball machines (Read 35761 times)

rlemmon · « **on:** June 24, 2006, 06:41:31 am »

what do you guys think of the zizzle toy pinball machines posted on retroblast. They look like they could be cool

video link q.time http://www.zizzle.com/pinball/action.html

info link http://www.pinballnews.com/news/zizzle.html

RayB · « **Reply #1 on:** June 26, 2006, 03:12:13 pm »

Interesting.
There used to be "toy" pinball machines that size back in the 60 and 70's too. My dad had a couple, but never got them working.

97thruhiker · « **Reply #2 on:** July 04, 2006, 12:46:43 am »

Kevin has a pretty good write-up about them in this month's "GameRoom" magazine. Seems like the developer put alot of thought into these machines with the intentions of bringing pinball to a new generation. Real wood, flippers, ball lanes, etc. If I had an actual gameroom I would consider buying these. I would take the legs off and build a nice platform that I could lay these on next to each other at a more adult looking height.

Chris · « **Reply #3 on:** July 04, 2006, 01:25:46 am »

Quote from: 97thruhiker on July 04, 2006, 12:46:43 am

I would take the legs off and build a nice platform that I could lay these on next to each other at a more adult looking height.

Or just put real pinball legs on them.

97thruhiker · « **Reply #4 on:** July 04, 2006, 08:46:09 am »

That could work also, have to wait for the full gameroom before these decisions can even be realized. Two arcade vids is enough at this time.

Chris · « **Reply #5 on:** July 31, 2006, 09:42:30 am »

They're supposed to be 3/4 the size of a real machine but they look a lot smaller than that in the pics...

Ninten-doh · « **Reply #6 on:** July 31, 2006, 10:43:27 am »

I'm pretty interested, but I'm not a fan of the two themes they have so far.

Howard_Casto · « **Reply #7 on:** July 31, 2006, 05:19:03 pm »

I have one from the early 90's called "Jungle Hunt". It isn't by the same manufacturer though. My table, unfortunately is so old at this point that it needs repiar. Also it isn't as sophisticated, only has a single light on the table and every bumper adds the same amount to the score, which is a spinning wheel on a stepper motor.

I'm thinking of saving the playfield and re-doing the whole thing. The graphics look very much like the characters in Predator, so I might be able to do something with that.

The price seems awful low for these new ones considering mine was around that price several years ago.

N8 · « **Reply #8 on:** August 01, 2006, 12:58:01 pm »

I have a really old one made in the late 70's early 80's called Flying aces. The only problem I have with mine is that both flippers are flipped when at once you press either button. They are great for someone who doesnt want to spend a boat load for a full size machine.

Ninten-doh · « **Reply #9 on:** October 29, 2006, 09:07:07 am »

Has anyone tried one of these yet? I saw that they sell them at Best Buy so I'm going to try to swing by sometime soon to kick the tires.

Chris · « **Reply #10 on:** October 29, 2006, 10:41:05 am »

I had one from the early 80's or so. It was a space theme; I can't remember the name. The art for the "plastics" was silkscreened right into the underside of the playfield plexi. It had pop bumpers and slings, and every time they kicked the TV in the living room would go staticy for a moment. Sound was provided by a couple of bells and it had reel scoing. I believe it was made by Sears but I can't find anything like it anywhere on the Net.

ChadTower · « **Reply #11 on:** October 29, 2006, 11:45:59 am »

These are completely different from the type you're talking about.

RayB · « **Reply #12 on:** October 29, 2006, 12:03:02 pm »

Hammacher Schlemmer is selling the Pirates one:

http://www.hammacher.com/publish/73427.asp?promo=QSearch

MYX · « **Reply #13 on:** October 30, 2006, 09:02:33 am »

Hate to be a nay sayer, but I think for folks who were fans of the real thing, this would get old real fast.

I would also think it would be a good idea to change the play field for different games. Asside from a couple of differences in in the lanes at the top and the graphics, they look like the same machine.

ChadTower · « **Reply #14 on:** October 30, 2006, 09:19:09 am »

Well, for $300, it's a pretty damn good little machine. Real solenoids, multilevel ramps, multiple play modes. Don't compare it to a machine that sold for $4000 at retail.

Ninten-doh · « **Reply #15 on:** October 30, 2006, 09:26:57 am »

Hey Chad, have you played one yet? My brother has wanted a pinball machine for ages but can't afford a real one. He's got two young daughters so I thought this might be a x-mas present idea if it's not a piece o' crap.

I still think he should forego the bills for a bit and get the World Cup Soccer pin he's always wanted.

ChadTower · « **Reply #16 on:** October 30, 2006, 09:31:31 am »

I have not played one myself but it has a buzz in the pin community. There are two schools of thought:

1) it's a piece of crap, get a real pin

2) It's a $300 toy and pretty damn good for $300

The #1 guys tend to be the ones who have forgotten what it's like to be a kid, are too serious, that type. The #2 guys are more like me. We have a row of real pins and a row of $20 toy pins. It's all pinball.

They also have a Marvel Super Heroes... but now their website says $400 and I know the preorder was $300.

So, maybe wait and see if you can find one at retail. I've heard a couple of chains may pick it up.

Ninten-doh · « **Reply #17 on:** October 30, 2006, 10:06:05 am »

Best Buy has the Pirates of the Caribbean one for $299 so I might tell my brother about that one. I'm sure he won't mind staring at Keira Knightley.

Malacus · « **Reply #18 on:** November 01, 2006, 11:57:36 am »

I just saw the 'pirates' at Costco - I thought it was 200$ at the store here in Cincy, OH but the site says otherwise, if youre around with a membership and looking for one, you might want to double check. They didnt have it on display so I didnt really pay alot of attention.

-mal-

yuppicide · « **Reply #19 on:** November 01, 2006, 11:06:11 pm »

I don't like either theme, but I think they look awesome. I for one would love to change the whole graphics into something else, but I'm not crafty enough.

What would have been cooler if they came in a generic case and for a small fee you could purchase a new playfield, pop it in and a few connections to hook it up. It would be like a video game system with interchangable cartridges, only does pins tho.

Someone should design what I just said, but incorporate a cheap LCD screen in the back, some sort of programming language/SDK, and encourage homebrew/DIY people to make their own.

Shoot.. I wouldn't mind buying one of these, making it more adult size, stripping it down, and paying someone $500 to turn it into a different theme of my choice. Although I'd pay even more if someone could change a real pin for me. I remember a company that did it, but I think they're out of business.

RayB · « **Reply #20 on:** November 02, 2006, 12:20:28 am »

How about this one:LINK

Chris · « **Reply #21 on:** November 02, 2006, 02:21:07 am »

Quote from: RayB on November 02, 2006, 12:20:28 am

How about this one:LINK

If I remember right, that's running a modified Visual Pinball, put out by the same guy behind UltraCade.

ChadTower · « **Reply #22 on:** November 02, 2006, 07:49:39 am »

Quote from: RayB on November 02, 2006, 12:20:28 am

How about this one:LINK

That one is about $6000.

Q*Bert_OP · « **Reply #23 on:** November 02, 2006, 06:38:54 pm »

hehehe...ultrapin...hehehe

yuppicide · « **Reply #24 on:** November 02, 2006, 09:46:34 pm »

I'd rather have a "real pinball" with real parts inside, but that Ultrapin is definately cool.

Someone made a different one than that. It didn't look nowhere near as nice.

If I could just download and add whatever pinball machine I wanted I'd be interested in it, but not if it only comes with a few and probably makes me buy more.

CheffoJeffo · « **Reply #25 on:** November 03, 2006, 07:26:28 am »

Quote from: MYX on October 30, 2006, 09:02:33 am

I would also think it would be a good idea to change the play field for different games. Asside from a couple of differences in in the lanes at the top and the graphics, they look like the same machine.

IIRC, it was an intentional manufacturing decision for the first two titles.

Chers.

CheffoJeffo · « **Reply #26 on:** November 03, 2006, 07:43:57 am »

For a digital pin, I think I would prefer something that wasn't trying so hard to look like a pin.

Something lke this:

http://www.tab.at/tab/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-31/27_read-7/fromportal-1/toportal-1/

Cheers

ChadTower · « **Reply #27 on:** November 03, 2006, 09:01:33 am »

Was that one ever produced?

CheffoJeffo · « **Reply #28 on:** November 03, 2006, 09:08:27 am »

Quote from: ChadTower on November 03, 2006, 09:01:33 am

Was that one ever produced?

SML (a Calgary-based distributor) has it listed on their website .. no prices listed though.

http://www.smlentertainment.com/products/pinball.htm

Cheers.

ChadTower · « **Reply #29 on:** November 03, 2006, 09:11:44 am »

That's been up a long time. I've never seen any reports that it was ever seen past a couple of prototypes.

CheffoJeffo · « **Reply #30 on:** November 03, 2006, 09:15:50 am »

OK, I've emailed them asking what the price is and if they know of any units on location here in Toronto. We'll see what they say.

Cheers.

ChadTower · « **Reply #31 on:** November 03, 2006, 09:17:17 am »

Cool. I'd love to actually see one of those things.

twitami · « **Reply #32 on:** November 03, 2006, 11:32:23 am »

I emailed a US dist. about the TAB machine about 2 months ago. It was available, and was $7000.00. I haven't played one, but I have played the Ultrapin a lot--a dealer about 10 mins from my house sells them. I even went to the open house they had last week and met a Global VR rep. I will admit, it was WAY better than I expected. The nudge and push electronics work really well, and after you are playing for a few minutes, you forget it is a video game (at least I did). Medival Madness and F14 are especially impressive. To be honest, if it drops to below 5k, I will probably buy one (Tax Refund For The Win!).

Chris · « **Reply #33 on:** November 11, 2006, 01:20:28 am »

I played the Pirates machine at Best Buy today. I was not impressed. Sound samples are extremely repetetive, flippers and solenoids are way too weak, and I was pretty bored with it after 5 minutes. I'm not comparing this to a "real" pinball, but to the "toy" pinballs that Sears (I think) used to sell when I was young. Those were much simpler games, but the action at least felt like pinball; on these, the action is about the same as the $75 toy pinballs that were out last year.

Ken Layton · « **Reply #34 on:** November 11, 2006, 10:54:43 am »

I have yet to see the inside of this machine up close. Anyone have any pix of the underside of the playfield? Are they using Stern assemblies or Williams assemblies? What brand and part number are the coils, especially on the flippers?

ChadTower · « **Reply #35 on:** November 11, 2006, 10:59:02 am »

I don't know for sure but I doubt it is either. They're both too big for the size of that playfield.

Chris · « **Reply #36 on:** November 11, 2006, 11:46:53 am »

Quote from: Ken Layton on November 11, 2006, 10:54:43 am

I have yet to see the inside of this machine up close. Anyone have any pix of the underside of the playfield? Are they using Stern assemblies or Williams assemblies? What brand and part number are the coils, especially on the flippers?

They're obviously not real pinball coils, just cheap toy solenoids.

ChadTower · « **Reply #37 on:** November 11, 2006, 01:21:16 pm »

Could you explain the difference, then? A solenoid is a solenoid. A pinball coil is a solenoid.

Chris · « **Reply #38 on:** November 11, 2006, 01:56:09 pm »

Quote from: ChadTower on November 11, 2006, 01:21:16 pm

Could you explain the difference, then? A solenoid is a solenoid. A pinball coil is a solenoid.

The difference is in the amount of force the coil is able to generate. In addition, flipper coils are actually two coils: a more powerful (50 volt) coil for the initial kick, and a less-powerful (25 volt) coil to hold the flipper in place (to keep from burning out the larger coil); an end-of-stroke switch changes from one coil to the other.

I think it's likely that the solenoids driving the bumpers, slings and flippers are 12v or smaller:

odysseyroc · « **Reply #39 on:** November 11, 2006, 02:29:23 pm »

I played on at Sears. The flippers did feel really weak, the play was pretty slow and boring.

Chris · « **Reply #40 on:** November 11, 2006, 02:31:29 pm »

Maybe the answer is just to hack more powerful solenoids into it?

Or just build a replacement table altogether and just use the game's eletronics to drive the game?

ChadTower · « **Reply #41 on:** November 11, 2006, 05:04:05 pm »

Quote from: Chris on November 11, 2006, 01:56:09 pm

The difference is in the amount of force the coil is able to generate. In addition, flipper coils are actually two coils: a more powerful (50 volt) coil for the initial kick, and a less-powerful (25 volt) coil to hold the flipper in place (to keep from burning out the larger coil); an end-of-stroke switch changes from one coil to the other.

Well, aside from the dual wrap nature of most pinball flipper coils, that small (likely) single wrap coil has a different resistance and shorter wrap length than a full size coil. That doesn't make it a toy, though. It makes it more like a bumper coil.

Chris · « **Reply #42 on:** November 11, 2006, 05:08:47 pm »

Quote from: ChadTower on November 11, 2006, 05:04:05 pm

Quote from: Chris on November 11, 2006, 01:56:09 pm
The difference is in the amount of force the coil is able to generate. In addition, flipper coils are actually two coils: a more powerful (50 volt) coil for the initial kick, and a less-powerful (25 volt) coil to hold the flipper in place (to keep from burning out the larger coil); an end-of-stroke switch changes from one coil to the other.

Well, aside from the dual wrap nature of most pinball flipper coils, that small (likely) single wrap coil has a different resistance and shorter wrap length than a full size coil. That doesn't make it a toy, though. It makes it more like a bumper coil.

Either way my experience playing it was that the flippers were so weak they could barely get the ball up the ramp.

ChadTower · « **Reply #43 on:** November 11, 2006, 05:13:02 pm »

What was the condition of the machine? Was it a retail display model? Those are always beat to crap.

Chris · « **Reply #44 on:** November 11, 2006, 07:27:51 pm »

Quote from: ChadTower on November 11, 2006, 05:13:02 pm

What was the condition of the machine? Was it a retail display model? Those are always beat to crap.

Yes it was, and that's definately a possibility. Or possibly just put together poorly by the employees.

ChadTower · « **Reply #45 on:** November 12, 2006, 10:43:12 am »

I've read that they are not standing up to retail display level use/abuse. They're not designed for that level of abuse and you know how people vandalize display models.

chazbeenhad · « **Reply #46 on:** December 23, 2006, 10:37:01 am »

I've had a Zizzle Pirates pinball for over a week now. I play Pinball at a local arcade all the time, so I can say the Zizzle machine is comparable..... but not as good as a full sized machine.

One thing about it.... it is very hard. You really have to tilt the machine alot to play a good round. The machines built in tilt mechanism seems to only be sensative to tilting the machine back.

Over all me and my family love the thing and it gets lots of play time every day.
I'd be happy to take the bottom panel off sometime today and post pictures if anyone is interested.

One thing I wish they had made better: The ball launcher is no different than the $75 Spiderman toy pinball machine I have.

-Charlie

Xiaou2 · « **Reply #47 on:** December 25, 2006, 12:01:00 am »

I Saw one of the Pirates machines at Sears recently. Sadly, they had
tooken out the ball so you couldnt play. However, the flipper action
seemed nice.

I have to say, sure, this isnt a real machine.. however, this is a
HUGE step up from the other crappy knockoffs out there.

I remember the phoney pinball machine we had as kids. It
was actually one of the more expensive ones that was near
fullsize, and stood on legs. There was no bumper type action
at all... just spings and contact points. No sound fx except for
an annoying point bell. The layout was poor and boaring. No
ramps, holes, etc. Very craptastic

In comparison, Im pretty Jealous if kids are getting these
to play with for xmas heh Well, I cant be too upset.. as
I now finally own 2 'real' pins

DaFoo · « **Reply #48 on:** December 31, 2006, 03:10:20 pm »

I was at Best Buy yesterday and they had it for $149... Sadly the sale said it ended on 12/30. I had to get it, me and my 4 year old are having a blast. I have Visual pinball installed on my arcade cab, but having a real steel ball, even if it's a cheap one is cool, just the sounds and the flashy lights in the attract mode adds to the experience.

For $300, not so sure, but a $149 ya can't complain at all!

chazbeenhad · « **Reply #49 on:** January 10, 2007, 07:53:07 pm »

Here is the underside of the Pirates machine. The pics are kinda large.
I replaced the the flipper buttons on mine with real arcade buttons.
Thats what the black tape is doing... tucking away the wire.

http://www.geocities.com/chazbeenhad/MISC/Zizzle_pinball_inside_1.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/chazbeenhad/MISC/Zizzle_pinball_inside_2.jpg

-Charlie

Chris · « **Reply #50 on:** January 10, 2007, 09:09:06 pm »

It does look like a motivated person could replace some of the solenoids with more powerful ones if necessary. In fact, this looks like a great candidate for just generally hacking and modding.

ChadTower · « **Reply #51 on:** January 11, 2007, 12:56:25 pm »

Those plastic mechs would limit how far you could go with more powerful solenoids... you'd probably have to replace the whole housing with a metal one. And then you'd have to worry about stronger bumpers shattering playfield parts. I'm sure it could all be done but you'd have to swap out quite a few things.

Chris · « **Reply #52 on:** January 11, 2007, 01:14:28 pm »

Quote from: ChadTower on January 11, 2007, 12:56:25 pm

Those plastic mechs would limit how far you could go with more powerful solenoids... you'd probably have to replace the whole housing with a metal one. And then you'd have to worry about stronger bumpers shattering playfield parts. I'm sure it could all be done but you'd have to swap out quite a few things.

Could be fun though... you could take an old cabinet, essentially rebuild it at full size with real parts and just keep the CPU and scoring unit. At $150 it would be cheap enough to try something with it...

When I found BYOAC, I was actually trying to build my own pinball machine from scratch... I still have old circuit schematics I sketched out for it years ago (I wasn't going to drive it with a PC). Once I discovered BYOAC, it was "Why spend 600-70 building a pin that only plays one game and will never be as good as a "real" machine, or put the same or less into an arcade cabinet that will play hundreds of games almost exactly as they were in the arcade?" MAME won.

ChadTower · « **Reply #53 on:** January 11, 2007, 01:39:34 pm »

Quote from: Chris on January 11, 2007, 01:14:28 pm

Could be fun though... you could take an old cabinet, essentially rebuild it at full size with real parts and just keep the CPU and scoring unit. At $150 it would be cheap enough to try something with it...

You can get a pretty good real project pin for $150 that needs about that same amount of work.

Chris · « **Reply #54 on:** January 11, 2007, 01:49:39 pm »

Quote from: ChadTower on January 11, 2007, 01:39:34 pm

Quote from: Chris on January 11, 2007, 01:14:28 pm
Could be fun though... you could take an old cabinet, essentially rebuild it at full size with real parts and just keep the CPU and scoring unit. At $150 it would be cheap enough to try something with it...

You can get a pretty good real project pin for $150 that needs about that same amount of work.

I've been keeping my eye out for one on the Mr. Pinball classifieds and craigslist; haven't seen one in east Georgia yet. If I do I'm all over it.

ChadTower · « **Reply #55 on:** January 11, 2007, 01:51:38 pm »

Are you a GAPAS member? Bet you can find one there if you ask. Post on RGP as well, someone in the area could have one sitting around. You won't get a Funhouse that way but you could easily end up with a lesser popularity title in that range.

Chris · « **Reply #56 on:** January 11, 2007, 02:01:27 pm »

Quote from: ChadTower on January 11, 2007, 01:51:38 pm

Are you a GAPAS member? Bet you can find one there if you ask. Post on RGP as well, someone in the area could have one sitting around. You won't get a Funhouse that way but you could easily end up with a lesser popularity title in that range.

Never heard of GAPAS... (insert Googling here, ending up at http://www.georgiapinball.org/ ) Hmm... very interesting. Gonna have to look into that... thanks for the pointer!

Funhouse is certainly where I'd like to end up in a few years, but I'd definately want to hone skills on smaller project machines first.

ChadTower · « **Reply #57 on:** January 11, 2007, 02:07:38 pm »

A good place to start is on an early Williams SS if you can find one. It will get you familiar with the Williams preWPC architecture (that some great games use) and even if you get a "crappy" title you'll still end up with a quality player if you do it well. There are some low end games in that category out there that should be available for a reasonable price.

ClubNinja · « **Reply #58 on:** January 11, 2007, 02:36:55 pm »

+1 for early Williams solid state games. It's really hard to go wrong with any of them.

Chris · « **Reply #59 on:** January 11, 2007, 02:41:25 pm »

Fortunately I have a fondness for machines from the 70's/early 80's.

But I should probably stop hijacking the Zazzle thread...

Ken Layton · « **Reply #60 on:** January 24, 2007, 11:58:46 am »

Too bad someone hasn't put Williams flipper assemblies on the Zizzle machine. Just reuse the Zizzle coils and put them onto the Williams assemblies.

Chris · « **Reply #61 on:** January 24, 2007, 12:01:58 pm »

Quote from: Ken Layton on January 24, 2007, 11:58:46 am

Too bad someone hasn't put Williams flipper assemblies on the Ziffle machine.

Chad's probably right, the machine probably couldn't handle the power.

ChadTower · « **Reply #62 on:** January 25, 2007, 02:56:30 pm »

Ken isn't saying to replace the Zizzle coils... he's saying to reuse the Zizzle coils in Williams assemblies. The Williams assemblies are really, really tough to break even in a Williams machine.

Malacus · « **Reply #63 on:** March 06, 2007, 07:45:36 pm »

sorry to bring an old thread back to life, i just noticed these are on sale at bestbuy.com for $169.99

-mal

bsellers100 · « **Reply #64 on:** March 19, 2007, 10:19:17 pm »

at Sears today I noticed the Pirates of the Caribean pinball was on sale for $99. This was at the Parks Mall in Arlington, Tx.

ChadTower · « **Reply #65 on:** March 20, 2007, 05:35:21 pm »

Wow these must not be selling at all.

bowman9 · « **Reply #66 on:** August 23, 2008, 06:49:16 pm »

Somebody modded a zizzle POTC pinball machine into a Deathklok/Metalocalypse machine, the cartoon that is on the Cartoon networks Adultswim.

I did email the guy and he said he was unable to make any changes to the sounds so it still sounds like a POTC machine

Here are some pics I found.

If the images do not show here is the forum I found them on:
http://www.dethklok.org/forums/showthread.php?t=867&highlight=pinball\

Xiaou2 · « **Reply #67 on:** August 23, 2008, 11:47:00 pm »

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGv7Cj8Vfxk[/youtube]

found vid

Ken Layton · « **Reply #68 on:** August 23, 2008, 11:47:14 pm »

I couldn't see any of the pictures here or at the site you mentioned. When I go to that site it asks me to register.

bowman9 · « **Reply #69 on:** August 24, 2008, 12:32:23 am »

I added the images as attachments (above), you should be able to see them now.

bowman9 · « **Reply #70 on:** September 01, 2008, 03:24:55 pm »

I sent an email to Zizzle (John) to ask if the sounds could be changed on the machine to match a new theme if the cutomer wanted to change the theme of the machine to their own design. His response was "the software is masked...so it can not be changed". So has any one here (or elsewhere) "unmasked" the software?

If so please let me (us) know.

Thanks,

RetroJames · « **Reply #71 on:** December 31, 2008, 03:37:53 pm »

Quote from: bowman9 on September 01, 2008, 03:24:55 pm

I sent an email to Zizzle (John) to ask if the sounds could be changed on the machine to match a new theme if the cutomer wanted to change the theme of the machine to their own design. His response was "the software is masked...so it can not be changed". So has any one here (or elsewhere) "unmasked" the software?

If so please let me (us) know.

Thanks,

reviving the thread ...

It is too bad they did not make it programmable, they may have found a better market had they allowed users to change the sounds with their own mp3s etc.


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