Hacker News Reader

I love mechanical pinball machines. My cousin used to restore them. I remember visiting him and he'd have them all over his house.

They're so noisy. I can't imagine the sound of a pinball arcade back in the day when they were all mechanical.

Also, did you know the qbert arcade cabinets contained a the free game wood block traditionally found inside pinball machines.

View on HN

> Also, did you know the qbert arcade cabinets contained a the free game wood block traditionally found inside pinball machines.

I did not know that and still am not sure that I understand, after Googling: is this a wooden block that provides audio/haptic feedback for "specials" (usually free games) unlocked in pinball games by achieving certain scores? If so, what was its use in QBert?

They're called "knockers"; generally the score threshold for a free game or "replay" isn't hard-coded but is instead based on the grand champion score, so depending on location they can very from very low to very high.

In QBert it "knocks" when the QBert character jumps off the edge of the grid. First, there's a sound effect that sounds like QBert falling, then a short time later a loud knock that sounds (and feels) like hitting the bottom of the cabinet at the end of the fall.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com