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: