Gasp!

This is my first post using my new Christmas present, a spankin' new 20" iMac, which is pretty darned sweet.

The big news is that I have officially received my last part to get Doctor Who to work. I was emailing about this and that with the guy who sold me the speaker grill and mentioned that I had the mini-playfield motor but needed the cam. A little while later he emailed me back with a cam, but not the cam... it was one from the Ringmaster in Cirqus Voltaire. I told him, no that's not it, but thanks for looking... I had done all this myself, so I didn't expect anything. A few minutes later he emailed me another cam, and that was it! It was just $15 from Illinois Pinball Co., and I'd never found it because it's listed solely by its part number (A-15035) and name (CAM ASSY) but not by the game, and there was no picture. I had to change my pants, I was so excited. I ordered it that night and it arrived a few days later. If the speaker grill guy had been here I would have kissed him. mmmm-mwah!

So I got around to installing it tonight (I needed to get a few screws and things from my local hardware store). First I hooked up the motor and ran the mini-playfield test, and the motor ran. Then I attached the cam and worried it into position... it's a little tricky, but I did it by unscrewing the mini-playfield opto sensor and swinging it around, positioning the motor & cam, then swinging the opto back and screwing everything in. I put the playfield down, started up the test, and held down the flipper buttons (which you have to do to avoid crushing your hands)... and the crazy gizmo really worked! Then it gave me an error! That's great news, because the error is probably because the opto doesn't work. So I ran the test again, the playfield went up, went askew ever so slightly, then stopped and gave another error. This time, it wouldn't go down. I left it the way it was and didn't go in to see what was wrong, but still, I was reasonably flush with semi-triumph! Mini-triumph, even!

Which leaves me with this chilling challenge: To install the flippers over my Christmas vacation! Then assuming I can get the mini-playfield reliably running, I should have a fully working game.

The bad news is that the guy selling the Dalek topper did indeed relist it for less money... $5 less. Then some clown bid on it, which just enabled the guy's bad behavior. Sheesh.

Anyway, late now, so gotta go to bed. There's more purchasing of stuff to write about, just not now.