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The Classic Pinball Podcast
The Classic Pinball Podcast
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#64.1 Voltan Escapes Cosmic Doom - The Classic Pinball Podcast

PodcastAnalysis updated 3d ago39 min listenBy George
From the creator

Dave and George welcome Tommy Skinner from This Flippin Podcast to discuss his acquisition and restoration of this very rare Bally SS game.

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Highlights

  • Voltan Escapes Cosmic Doom had a production run of 365 units
  • Approximately 20 Voltan machines likely exist today (based on 'half theory for every decade': one surviving per 2 years of age)
  • Only two Voltan machines had been previously professionally restored before Tommy's: one by Christopher Hutchins at High End Pins and one by Jeff Miller at Pinball Pimps
  • The game's poor location performance contributed to the incomplete production run
  • Voltan's rules are confusing, with a non-standard bonus multiplier (3X only, skipping 2X) and an unusual extra ball mechanic tied to a 10-40 number range
  • The artist/owner of a Voltan (Stu, associated with CPR) refused to create a backglass reproduction to prevent devaluing his own machine
  • Tommy played over 400 games on Voltan during the month he owned it, compared to roughly 50 games on his Centaur since December/January
  • Tommy upgraded Voltan to a 7-digit display using Andrew's NVRAM Bally MPU board with built-in 7-digit conversion adapter

Notable quotes

“To me, pinball is something that should be shared. That's one of the reasons I operate games. It's one of the reasons I have friends over to play my machines, that I'm willing to restore these classic rare games so other people can experience them.”
Tommy Skinner
“I only had Voltan for a month and I think I put over 400 games on it. The ball times are, the games are faster on it, it's very brutal, but I was just very, it was, I wanted to break a million points so bad and it just kept bringing me back in because it definitely had that one more game feel.”
Tommy Skinner
“Those rollovers are the worst... it's like a sandpaper cardboard. And some sore fingers.”
Tommy Skinner
“I completely understand why they don't put Star Rollers in modern pinball machines... once you add clear coat into the image like oh it's just the worst”
Tommy Skinner

Entities

  • BG Resto· company
  • CPR (Classic Pinball Restoration)· company
  • High End Pins· company
  • Internet Pinball Database· company
  • Pinball Pimps· company
  • Pinside· company
  • Valley Company· company
  • Voltan Escapes Cosmic Doom· game
  • Andrew· person
  • Bill Davis· person
  • Christopher Hutchins· person
  • Coos· person
  • Dave· person
  • George· person
  • Jeff Miller· person
  • Nick Madsen· person
  • Nick Schell· person
  • Ron Kruseman· person
  • Ryan Claytor· person
  • Stu· person
  • Tommy Skinner· person

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