How come the Revenge From Mars I played didn't give out any free games (replays)?

Revenge From Mars shipped from the factory with the setting to give extra balls at the score thresholds.

We feel this is a setting that maximizes earnings for the operator while still having a worthwhile goal for the player. Revenge can be adjusted (via operator settings, consult the Owner's Manual) to give a credit at the second score threshold if desired.

What CPU (Central Processing Unit) does Pinball 2000 use?

Currently, Pinball 2000 uses a Cyrix MediaGX motherboard, in an industry standard "Baby AT" form factor.  The CPU case uses a standard PC power supply. 

The PCI expansion card (called PRISM) holds all game ROMs, Flash memory, battery-backed memory, and the DCS-2 Audio System.

I noticed that the Pinball 2000 cabinet is shorter than the old pinball cabinet.  Why?

To get the optimal manufacturing yield from our cabinet vendors, the cabinet was made slightly shorter.   This also met a request from our European operators to make the pinball footprint smaller while delivering the same Williams pinball feel everyone knows.

While the cabinet width has not changed, the depth has been changed from 51.5" to 47.5", a difference of four inches.  (Flyers that quote a depth of 55" are referring to the crated game).

This means the playfield has been shortened as well.  By making very small adjustments to the playfield geometry, our designers have found they can give the same Williams pinball feel, and the change is not even noticable!  The distance from the flippers to the ramps, scoops, and other shots has not changed at all.

For history buffs, Williams' standard playfield length increased from 42" to 46" in 1988.  With Pinball 2000, the size is changing from 46" to 43". This makes the Pinball 2000 playfield 1 inch longer than classics such as Firepower, Black Knight, Comet, High Speed, Pin*Bot, and Cyclone among many others.

See a comparison between the three sizes

Are you still going to manufacture pinball machines with the old (WPC) system?

No.  Everyone here at Williams/Bally is fully committed to developing games for the Pinball 2000 platform.

I don't like Pinball 2000, this is not pinball, you are wrecking pinball, etc...

"Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress."

Mahatma Ghandi

"There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still."

Franklin D Roosevelt

Does the Pinball 2000 backbox fold down?

No, but the head is designed to be quickly removed (with four bolts and three connectors).  We've made Pinball 2000 easy to exchange playfields and software so that moving cabinets is not a necessary part of game rotation.

Why did you eliminate the plunger from Pinball 2000?

The Pinball 2000 cabinet is modular and can handle a manual plunger or a launch button, and can be swapped easily depending on the game application. 

Revenge from Mars is the only Pinball 2000 game available for photographing at the moment and uses a launch button at the decision of the design team.  Future games may use a plunger instead.

Why are you eliminating playfield toys in Pinball 2000?

Playfield toys will be a part of pinball for years to come, the video imagery does not forbid the use of other physical devices on the playfield.

It is up to each design team to decide how to use Pinball 2000 technology to their advantage.  Revenge from Mars, for example, still has bouncing rubber Martians.

What type of monitor does Pinball 2000 use?

Pinball 2000 uses an unmodified 19" color monitor at 640x240 resolution (also known as "Lo-Res" or "CGA"). 

This is a standard monitor configuration used by many coin-op video games.

Why didn't you use a Hi-Res, Med-Res, LCD, HDTV, or Plasma screen instead of a video monitor?

The costs of using such displays in Pinball 2000 were prohibitive in making Pinball 2000 an affordable product line.

Play testing confirmed that the extra resolution given by those display technologies did not justify their extra cost and maintenance problems.

Does Pinball 2000 use EPROMs?

No.  Pinball 2000 uses ROMs for all game images and sounds, and uses Flash memory for code and sound updates.

Every Pinball 2000 cabinet has a standard DB-9 serial port connector, by which game software and sounds may be updated.  All updates are stored in the PRISM card's Flash memory.

I hope Pinball 2000 doesn't have a problem with burnt GI connectors!

There is no general illumination circuit in Pinball 2000.  All lamps are 6.3 Volt controlled lamps.

Is Pinball 2000 year-2000 compliant?

Of course!  We couldn't call it Pinball 2000 otherwise, now could we?