First, the Happy Ending
The Road from “Got it!” to “Thank Guinness, it finally it works”
Summary / Timeline
July
With Excitement: Taito Ice Cold Beer!
August
With Anticipation: Taito Ice Cold Beer!
September
With Exasperation: Taito…Pass me an Ice Cold Beer
October
F@!#?@! Taito… Ice Cold Beer.
November
Holy Shit! I finally get to play Taito Ice Cold Beer.
The Snag!
A local collector, knowing I’ve been looking for the game offered to sell me one of his two games so as to make room for two A-Tier titles that were on the way. I was ecstatic. The price was, um…about what you see them go for these days - after all that’s what he had in it too, so I felt it was a square deal (and still feel that way).
Tapper and Ice Cold Beer… They make a pretty pair.
Everything is great, until it isn’t
There was one known bug in the game. The errant-ball-kicker/ solenoid didn’t work. I replaced the solenoid with a new one from Pinball Resource and picked up a power supply modernizer from ArcadeShop.
Usually, these power supply adapters from Arcade Shop are the cat’s pajamas. This time, not so much. The general idea is that it gives you a factory header-side harness where you can bypass the original power supply and run your game from a modern 8-liner without hacking up the harness. Unfortunately, this kit didn’t have full 5v service from the pinout and his suggestion was to solder a 5 volt jumper to the test point pictured above.
Instead… I used a crimped molex pin. Good thing, too. That adapter is a piece of crap so I ended up rebuilding the original power supply instead.
By piece of crap, I mean that - in addition to not being hack-free in terms of connectivity, you can’t get consistent gameplay (I tried several new 8-liners) because the regulated power supply seems to jump around and the 5volt jumper hack created logic problems on my game, causing it to freeze. (and yes I adjusted voltages as best I could..)
It was a little disheartening seeing just how much rust had accumulated. I bought new screws, tumbled and cleaned anything that couldn’t be easily found at a hardware store.
Guide My Balls
I found myself with the need for a new ball guide and a very generous friend sent me a repro from a KLOV contact.
The original was very brittle in places and the ball would actually puncture through at certain points.
As you can see in the video, there are some subtle differences between the original and the repro that matter. This took quite a bit of trial and error to get right.
Solenoid Problem = Board Problem
So, it turns out the issue where the errant ball solenoid wouldn’t fire was an issue with the drive transistors on the PCB. I tested the transistors and one was bad, one was good.
Unfortunately it looks like someone used an EZ Bake Oven and maybe a soldering torch to try to repair this area of the board. Since the board isn’t replaceable I sent it to the venerable Chris Hibler for repair and cleanup.
Chris did his magic, got the transistors swapped out and cleaned up the mess as best he could. The solenoid now fires!
Kicker Hurdle
Unfortunately due to differences between the repro and original ball guides, the kicker assembly plunger was no longer able to engage with the ball. Let’s be honest though, I don’t know if this ever works. Extra unfortunate is that the plunger (2 in the graphic above) is unobtanium. I ended up using a knocker plunger and modifying it for length with a… dowel rod. Yeah… I know.
Concluding Thoughts
I called this “The Out of Order Corner” at the last show I went to.
Fun to play but ownership is not for the Faint of Heart
If you find one at a show, play it early because it will likely be out of order by the second day of the show. I can go through my camera roll and find at least three examples of Ice Cold Beer’s with Out of Order signage. Which, taken as a whole, is surprising considering the game’s simplicity of being 12 switches, two motors, a PCB for logic and a PCB for scoring display. You’d expect the game to have higher reliability than a pinball of the same era but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Remember when I said I bought one from a local collector that had two of them? Yep, his other one is down too..
What Ice Cold Beer has going for it is:
Theme
Approachability
Novel Gameplay
“Just one more game” X-Factor
What Ice Cold Beer has going against it:
Poor reliability despite simple electronics
Poor parts availability
Poor aftermarket for critical components
Lackluster Factory Documentation
You can probably tell that, for me, initial ownership has been a bit of a let down. It has been a constant battle over what should be simple stuff that feels more like punching myself in the groin than an enjoyable hobby exercise. At his point of the hour-meter in a typical pinball restoration I would be getting to super-detail OCD items but in this game I haven’t even begun to address the small stuff.
I still have… a screw head that engages with the art. Coin mech, coin door wiring issues... Quieter motors…. Cabinet touch up… EOS adjustments… Ball rail re-true and polish…
To end on a positive note, I’m hoping as I get to spend more time playing the game with family and friends the hassle memories will get crowded out by happier ones.