Random Thoughts & Pictures
I acquired this game on Saturday, July 20, 2019, which was right in the middle of a 100 degree heat wave. I found the game via a Pinside ad. The game came from a private seller around Charles Town, WV, which was only about an hour away. RollerGames was my ninth system 11 title, but my first Steve Ritchie design, my first system 11c and my first Diamond Plate playfield. The previous owner didn't have the game very long, but claims the person before him had it for 25 years. The previous owner had disassembled and cleaned the playfield so there was no dirt. But there were a few other issues to contend with.
I usually buy games that are fully working to start, but this was a bit different. I could see the potential, but the game was going to be a frustrating player as it was. Instead of playing, I spent the first month or so going through everything and fixing what needed fixing.
The highlight of this game was the Diamond Plate playfield. It was one of the nicest playfields I've owned. No Mylar. And no wear aside from a few insert chips and a few marks at the magnet. The playfield components were in reasonably good shape. A few plastics had chipped corners. The translite was decent with a few small scratches. The ramp diverter needed rebuilding. The ramp entrance was busted up as usual and pretty flimsy. The previous owner had converted the game to cool white LEDs except for the flashers. The pictures on this page are from after I restored the game to incandescent bulbs.
The lowlight of the game was the cabinet. While structurally sound, all the reds were gone and the cabinet was equally nuked on both sides. My cabinet "repair" strategy was to simply hide RollerGames between the more eye-catching Elvira and Bad Cats.
Camouflaged between Elvira and Bad Cats.
The game was an early production model with the 15 flashers behind the translite. This I did not realize until I went to look at the game, which was a nice surprise. All the boards were matched except for a PinScore LED display. No connector hacks. Apparently there was a spot of corrosion under the battery holder. The previous owner sent the CPU and sound boards to Coin Op Cauldron. But I don't know what all was done aside from corrosion cleanup a remote battery holder.
Fifteen flashers on the insert panel behind the translite.
Numerous names and initials appear through out the playfield and translite art...
"TJE" on Skull's jacket button.
"DF" by the lower right flipper.
"WILMA" in the left outlane.
"MGH" by the right slingshot.
Design credits between the flippers.
More credits on the apron.
Diamond Plate logo at the outhole.
"BOS" and "JD" on the glove at the left side of the translite.
Game artist Pat McMahon at the lower right corner of the translite.
I WANT MY ROCK -- AND -- ROLLERGAMES
I tend toward goofy whimsical themes and RollerGames delivers. No one can describe this game without using the word "cheesy" (in a good way, of course). RollerGames is a licensed title based on the 1989 TV show of the same name. Unfortunately, the show had already been canceled before the pinball machine was produced in 1990. Note that the show's failure was due to the bankruptcy of its distributer and apparently not due to poor ratings. The loss of the show was something of a black eye for the pinball machine, but it still enjoyed a reasonably high production run. RollerGames the TV show was a roller derby type "sport" staged in the manner of pro wrestling. Most of the original episodes are available on YouTube. For more information about the RollerGames TV show there's the obligatory Wikipedia page.
The TV show enjoyed a minor resurgence with Fox Sports in 2020 as episodes were "aired" for the show's 30th anniversary. The episodes were remastered with a few format charges and removal of most of the original musical performances. On one hand the picture quality was vastly improved. On the other hand, the show lost some of its character and goofiness without the period promotions, musical guests and 1-900 numbers (must have a touch-tone phone). Personally I prefer the original episodes, but then you're stuck having to piece them together from YouTube clips which are all copies of ancient VHS tapes. As I watch episodes of RollerGames I can actually feel my IQ going down. Nevertheless, there's quite a bit of fun integration between the TV show and the pinball machine.
A YouTube screen shot shows a Williams ad banner along the RollerGames track.
Another view of the ad banner shows the game to be a Police Force.
End credits screen shot.
The translite depicts a match between the T-Birds and the Rockers. The T-Birds and Rockers never actually played each other on the TV show. The two women on the right are clearly intended to be the "T-Bird Twins", Jennifer and Kristine Van Galder. The T-Brird Twins were the tits and ass of the show, but relatively worthless on the track.
T-Birds versus the Rockers on the translite.
The guy in the middle of the playfield is Chuck Skull, manager of the Violators. The TV show tended to focus on hyped up drama between the "good" teams (T-Birds, Rockers, Hot Flash) and the "bad" teams (Violators, Bad Attitude, Maniacs). Skull is definitely one of the "bad guys".
Chuck Skull on the playfield.
The woman at the bottom left of the playfield is a Bad Attitude skater. The one on the right is from Hot Flash (perhaps Tammy Hanson).
Bad Attitude and Hot Flash.
I hadn't owned a title with so many production variations as RollerGames. Prototype games had a 5-bank drop target assembly for the SKATE targets and a second switch (switch 15) at the upper Atomic Whip kickback coil. Perhaps the upper kickback was to be some sort of alternate lock arrangement. Prototype games also had 15 flashers behind the translite along with numerous other different details. The flashers were initially retained. Switch 15 and the drop targets were dropped for the production games. The instruction card was never updated. "All Drop Targets down during SUDDEN DEATH scores 2,000,000" should read something more like "Hitting all SKATE and WAR targets during SUDDEN DEATH scores 2,000,000".
Early production (or sample) games may include wiring for switch 15 and the drops. There might be supporting software for the drop targets. Early software revisions may also throw an error for the missing switch 15.
The picture below shows my playfield wire harness with clipped wires for the missing prototype components.
Red circle - Drop target solenoid control wire; Vio/Orn (Sol 3A).
Orange circle - Drop target solenoid power wire; Yel/Vio.
Green circle - Drop target opto board +12 volt and ground wires.
Yellow circle - Switch 15 wires.
Clipped wires under the playfield.
Early production games (like mine) retained the translite flashers. The flashers were eventually cost cut. Some transition games lacked flashers but had lamp socket holes until that stock of insert panels was used up. A revision to the interconnect board coincided with the flasher transition. But the manual wasn't updated. So post-flasher interconnect boards may have resistor values different from the manual. Early production games had a top ramp diverter mechanism that was soon revised. See IPDB for the related service bulletin. I rebuilt my early diverter to the newer version.
Some games (like mine) had Diamond Plate playfields. Some did not. Some cabinets (like mine) were decaled, some were stenciled. Some games had plated habitrails. Some were colored in blue, yellow and red. Some had various combinations. The habitrails on my game were all plated. There appeared to be no timeline logic to many of these various variations.
I don't think I'll ever get around to retrofitting my SKATE targets with a drop target assembly. But it's fun to consider the possibilities. Bad Cats looks to be the only other contemporary game with a semi-compatible drop target assembly. Interestingly, the bracket & stud assembly on my Bad Cats was not punched for insert lighting. This is contrary to what's shown in parts manuals.
Parts manual drawing of the 5-bank bracket & stud assembly.
However, my Bad Cats bracket & stud assembly isn't punched for insert lights.
Apparently some people have used the drop target assemblies from Swords of Fury and Judge Dredd, but I believe they require additional modifications.
Update: In 2023 I retrofitted a 5-bank drop target assembly for the SKATE targets. Implementation details are on my Repair page under 2023.
Click image to view a brief YouTube video of the drop targets in action.
What about that extra prototype switch 15 at the Atomic Whip's upper kickback? One can imagine that this was to have been some sort of alternate Multi-Ball setup. To have the Atomic Whip fire multiple balls would have been a neat tie-in with how the RollerGames derby is actually played. One can also imagine how brutally difficult it would have been to get a ball up The Wall of Death ramp with multiple balls simultaneously zooming down the right orbit. In a podcast interview (Slam Tilt; Ep. 200), programmer Mark Penacho indicated that switch 15 was only for redundancy. But he didn't indicate why such redundancy was thought necessary.
Note that neither switch 14 nor switch 15 is labeled on the Switch-Matrix Table. In keeping with the switch 40 nomenclature, I guess switch 14 should be called the Mid or Upper Kickback.
John Wart Jr. had some great trivia about many of the Rollergames variations on his site including prototype variations. Unfortunately the site appears to be dead. But I've included the old links below. Maybe something can still be found on the Wayback Machine.
myhomegameroom.com/pinball/rollergames/
myhomegameroom.com/pinball/rollergames2/
myhomegameroom.com/pinball/rollergames_proto/
I did eventually find an old Pinside thread with some relevant John Wart Jr. info and pictures...
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/rollergames-how-to-install-s-k-a-t-e-drop-targets
There's another good article about the pinball machine and TV show at...
https://creditdotpinball.com/2014/08/10/featured-game-williams-rollergames/
RollerGames was the first system 11 game I've had without attract sounds. No music, no speech and no sound effects. At first I though this might have been a fault. But nope, the sounds just aren't there. Obviously there's no game adjustment to turn off the attract sounds.
Going back to YouTube, there's a RollerGames PAPA tutorial by the always entertaining Bowen Kerins and another RollerGames review from 80s Comics that was pretty funny.
The January 1990 premiere issue of RollerGames magazine appears to have come out some time in the fourth quarter of 1989. Aside from a bunch of feature articles, the magazine more or less chronicled the first half of the show's first and only season. The magazine plays to the TV show with the same sort of hype and fake drama. It would appear that the magazine was intended to be a periodical. There's a preview page concerning the March issue due out in the beginning of 1990. But as far as I can tell this premier issue was the only issue ever released. The back cover featured an ad for Black Knight 2000.
A few pages from RollerGames magazine. Click image for larger picture.
There was also a RollerGames soundtrack CD. In addition to the main RollerGames theme song, each team had a theme song. All of this music can be found online. The soundtrack does not include any music from the various guest "halftime" performers. As far as I know, the TV show itself was never officially offered for sale in any sort of VHS or DVD format.
RollerGames soundtrack CD.
RollerGames was also made into a pair of Konami video games. One was a cartridge for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The other was a full-size coin-op. I believe the coin-op was only offered as a conversion kit.
NES game.
I ordered a reprint of the Konami marquee from a place called ArcadeMarquee.com. I wasn't overly impressed with the print quality although I wasn't too familiar with how arcade marquees are supposed to look. I didn't bother with a lightbox and just hung the marquee on the wall behind the game.
Konami RollerGames marquee.
Shown above is the two page promotional flyer for RollerGames. Click image for larger picture.
Shown above is a two page flyer promoting Diamond Plate and WPC. Click image for larger picture.
Promo plastics included with the CPR plastics set.
CPR's 3D "desk top display".
Using some clear silicone I glued the display to a board and backlit the display with a small spotlight.
Turning the desk top display into a topper.
Turning the desk top display into a topper.
RollerGames the pinball machine had a brief appearance in the 1993 film "Rookie of the Year".
A .gif scene from Rookie of the Year.
RollerGames briefly appeared in the Boogie Pimp music video "Sunny", a goofy, retro sort of roller-disco video.
Boogie Pimp - "Sunny".
RollerGames briefly appeared in the Janelle Monae music video "Make Me Feel".
Janelle Monae - "Make Me Feel".