INTERNET PINBALL DATABASE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS August 1995 Copyright 1995 Canterbury Consultive Services WHAT IS THE INTERNET PINBALL DATABASE? The Internet Pinball Database (IPD) is a listing of over 3,500 pinball machines manufactured since 1885 including such specialty machines as Bat Games, Bingo Machines, Cocktail Table Machines, Payout Machines and Table Top Games. These data have been culled from books, periodicals, photographs, flyers, machines and personal records of collectors. The Internet Pinball Database may be redistributed only under the following conditions: (1) The data are distributed in the original ZIP file, (2) The data are not altered in any way, and (3) No payment is asked of the recipient or any third party. All other distribution is forbidden without the express permission of the copyright holder. Although we have made every reasonable effort to verify the authenticity of the information in the database, we explicitly disclaim any responsibility for inaccurate, misleading or blatantly false data. In most cases, the data are not complete. However, it is better than anything previously available online and the price is right. If you have a beef about the data, your best recourse is to follow the update procedures explained at the end of this FAQ. You can mail any complaints, corrections or compliments to chick@mt.net WHERE CAN I FIND THE INTERNET PINBALL DATABASE? The IPD and the IPD FAQ are contained in one compressed file called IPDAUG95.ZIP. The IPD has two "official" homes and two methods of access. The entire database is available via anonymous FTP from the following sites: The Pinball Archive: ftp://pinball.cc.cmu.edu/pinball/Info/ipdaug95.zip http://pinball.cc.cmu.edu/Info/ipdaug95.zip The Pinball Pasture: ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/pinball/ipp/database/IPDAUG95.ZIP http://www.lysator.liu.se/pinball/IPP/PinballDatabase.html The Pinball Pasture web site also offers an enhanced IPD online with search capabilities and links to additional resources related to specific machines. We have limited availability of the database to these two "official" sites to better maintain quality control. For better or worse, the file that you obtain at these sites comes directly from the wonderful people that developed it. If you get the file anywhere else it may have been altered or corrupted. WHAT INFORMATION IS IN THE INTERNET PINBALL DATABASE? The August 1995 version of the CPD currently contains 30 data fields. Some fields are empty because the data are not yet available. The fields are arranged in the following order: IDNUMBER: Unique machine identification number ABBREVIATION: Common abbreviation of machine name MACHINE: Name of the machine MODEL: Manufacturer's machine Model Number MANUFACTURER: Machine manufacturer MONTH: Month of machine release DAY: Day of machine release YEAR: Year of machine release PLAYERS: Number of possible players PRODUCTION: Number of machines produced SPECIALTY: Specialty machine category Bat Game Bingo Machine Cocktail Table Machine Non-Commercial Machine Payout Machine Shaker Ball Machine Table Top Game Wide-Body Machine THEME: General theme of the game category (Thanks to Terry B. Cumming) Adventure Adventure - Combat Adventure - Foreign Peoples Adventure - Supernatural American West Billiards Cards/Gambling Celebrities - Fictional Celebrities - Fictional - Licensed Theme Celebrities - Licensed Theme Comedy Cops and Robbers Fantasy Fantasy - Myth and Legend Happiness Happiness - Money Happiness - Circus/Carnival Happiness - Dancing Happiness - Food Happiness - Games Happiness - Music Happiness - School Happiness - Travel Historical Historical - Knights Historical - Pirates Outer Space Outer Space -Licensed Theme Show Business Sports - Archery Sports - Auto Racing Sports - Baseball Sports - Bicycling Sports - Bowling Sports - Boxing Sports - Darts Sports - Fishing Sports - Golf Sports - Hockey Sports - Horse Racing Sports - Ice Skating Sports - Martial Arts Sports - Motorcycles/Motocross Sports - Olympic Games Sports - Other Sports - Pinball Sports - Recreational Games Sports - Skateboard Sports - Sky Diving Sports - Soccer Sports - Water Sports FEATURES: Listing of game features Add-A-Ball Ball Pitching and Batting Devices Ball Return Lane Ball Saver Bumper Bonus Hole Captive Ball Hole Disappearing Jet Bumper Drain Kickback Drain Gate Drop Target Flip Flag Flippers Gobble Hole Horseshoe Kicker Kick-Out Hole Messenger Ball Moving Target Multiball Bumper Outlane Kicker Bumper Roto-Target Roundabout Slingshot Kicker Spinner Spinning Disc Turnaround Up Post Vari Target Zipper Flippers TOYS: Gimmicks on the game CONCEPT: Credit for game concept (if other than designer) DESIGN: Credit for game design ART: Credit for original backglass/playfield art GRAPHICS: Credit for additional graphic art PROGRAMMING: Credit for programming SOUND: Credit for sound effects MUSIC: Credit for music NOTES: Historical notes or other references PHOTOS: Indicates books or periodicals and page numbers where photos can be found. AT = Bill Kurtz, Arcade Treasures (Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1994) CS = Coin Slot GR = Game Room LSB = Gary Flower and Bill Kurtz, Pinball: The Lure of the SilverBall (Chartwell Books Inc., 1988) P1 = Richard M. Bueschel, Pinball 1 (Hoflin Publishing Ltd., 1988) PA = Keith Temple, Pinball Art (H.C. Blossom, 1991) PB1 = Michael Colmer, Pinball: An Illustrated History (New American Library, 1976) PB2 = Roger C. Sharpe, Pinball (E.P. Dutton, 1977) PCQ = Pinball Collectors' Quarterly PGJ = PinGame Journal PM = Heribert Eiden and Jurgen Lukas, Pinball Machines (Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1992) PT = Pinball Trader SK = Silver Knight SOURCE: Identifies the source of the machine data Machine = Inspection and/or play of the actual machine Service Manual = Inspection of original machine service Manual Flyer = Inspection of the original machine flyer Photo = Inspection of a photograph of the original machine or flyer Book = Referenced in a book. See "PHOTOS" for book codes. Believe it or not, a great deal of thought has been expended on selecting the fields to be included. Suggestions for new fields are welcome, but for the foreseeable future our primary effort will be to fill in the existing blanks. HOW CAN I USE THE INTERNET PINBALL DATABASE? Once you have downloaded the file IPDAUG95.ZIP, you will need to uncompress the file using a utility such as PKUnzip or InfoZIP. You will then have two files: IPDFAQ01.TXT (this file) and IPDAUG95.CSV. The CPD10.CSV file requires at least 450 kilobytes of disk space when it is extracted. The IPDAUG95.CSV data is in Comma Delimited ASCII format, one record per line. The first record contains the field names. Every other record contains the same number of comma-delimited fields, even if some fields are empty. The best way to use the Internet Pinball Database is to import the IPDAUG95.CSV data into your spreadsheet or database software. Most all popular spreadsheet and database software accept data in Comma Delimited ASCII format. Check your software documentation for specifics about importing files. WHO COMPILED THE INTERNET PINBALL DATABASE? The IPD collaborative effort. It was originally developed by Chick Canterbury (chick@mt.net) from data contained in a variety of publications including books, periodicals and flyers (see specific listing under the "photos" data field specification). The original database was intended for his personal use and was limited to machine name, manufacturer, production year and number of players. After completing an initial database of over 2,800 records, Chick posted a message to the rec.games.pinball newsgroup to see if anyone else was interested in this project. David Byers (davby@ida.liu.se) expressed interest in expanding the database and offering access through his Pinball Pasture WebSite (http://www.lysator.liu.se/pinball). David and Chick developed specifications for an expanded database and David created the software required to access and search the database online. Frank Laughlin (FrankLaugh@aol.com) also responded to the r.g.p. posting. He indicated that he had a database of almost 4,000 machines compiled over a 15 year period. Frank contributed his information to the database including previously unavailable data on model numbers, production dates and production runs. Terry Cumming (terry.cumming@canrem.com) agreed to let us use his pinball motif classification structure as the basis for our "Theme" field. Terry developed this structure for a college statistics course project in 1981. His report, "Trends In U.S.A. Pinball Machine Motifs, 1947-1981", was reprinted in the May-June 1988 issue of The Pinball Trader newsletter. Kevin Martin (sigma@mcs.com) has agreed to use his Pinball Archive FTP site as an "official" home for the Internet Pinball Database (ftp://pinball.cc.cmu.edu/pinball/). The Pinball Archive is also as a web Site at http://pinball.cc.cmu.edu/ HOW CAN I CONTRIBUTE TO THE INTERNET PINBALL DATABASE? If you have read this far you know that several people have devoted a lot of time and effort to provide a freely available pinball database to the pinhead community. We have done so for two reasons: 1) we are wonderful people who get pleasure from sharing our efforts, and 2) we need your help to improve the current database. YOUR PARTICIPATION IS VITAL TO CONTINUATION OF THE IPD! Please use the Machine Update Form at the end of this FAQ to help us add information about any machine with which you are familiar. Specifically, this is what you can do to help us: 1. If you own a machine(s), please compare our database entry with your machine. Use the Machine Update Form to send us any information that we have not included. You can also use the online form at the Pinball Pasture. 2. If you are writing a rulesheet for a machine, please consider including as much of the database information as possible in the rulesheet so we can use the rulesheets to update the database. As a minimum, try to include credits for each of the designers, artists, musicians and programmers who developed the machine. INTERNET PINBALL DATABASE Machine Data Update Form INSTRUCTIONS: Please use this form to submit updates for the Internet Pinball Database(IPD). Please include the machine ID Number and Machine Name for each submission, then enter only the information that should be revised or added. Refer to the field specifications in the IPD FAQ if you have questions. When finished, Email this form to Chick Canterbury (chick@mt.net). Feel free to make any comments or explanations you feel are necessary. A human being will review this form before any changes are made to the database. MACHINE ID NUMBER: ABBREVIATION: MACHINE NAME: MODEL NUMBER: MANUFACTURER: RELEASE MONTH: RELEASE DAY: RELEASE YEAR: NUMBER OF PLAYERS: NUMBER OF MACHINES PRODUCED: SPECIALTY: THEME: FEATURES: TOYS: CONCEPT: DESIGN: ART: GRAPHICS: PROGRAMMING: SOUND: MUSIC: SLOGANS: NOTES: PHOTOS: