Funhouse

Manufacturer	System	Year	Model	Produced
Williams	WPC-Alphanumeric	1989	50003	10,750

Funhouse entry at ipdb.org

Funhouse Playing Tips and Rule Sheet

Funhouse strategy video from PAPA

Funhouse is one of the first games to use the basic WPC platform of WPC CPU and WPC power-driver board. Early versions used the System 11 sound board with an adapter. This version of the boardset is not compatible with the L9 software version. Later versions use the first WPC sound board. Funhouse is an alphanumeric display machine. It uses the "DISPLAY" header on the CPU board. Note that in WPC DMD machines, the DMD controller board connects to the AUX and I/O headers at the top of the CPU board. The DISPLAY connector is uses for auxiliary I/O in a DMD machine.

1 Game-Specific Issues

1.1 Upgrading to L-9 ROMs

The latest version of the Funhouse game ROM is L-9. With this version the game ROM has increased to a 2M ROM from a 1M ROM. A jumper on the WPC board must be moved to use the larger ROM. The jumper at W2 must be removed and a jumper at W1 must be added. This is a somewhat simple board repair but if you do not have board soldering experience any pinball tech can make this modification. A detailed explanation of this process can be found at John Wart's pinball website. as well as a discussion at rec.games.pinball.

1.2 Servicing Funhouse and Roadshow Heads

Full of tricky, but now-available parts, these heads are straightforward to service. There still seems to be an issue with poorly-made jaw gears that fracture early in service.

1.3 Rudy Test

Rudy test (T.12) will test the eyes, eyelids, and mouth. With the exception of the mouth, these other features are also tested in solenoid test.

One thing that is worth mentioning is when the game tests "Mouth Motor" (sol. 21), it is testing the mouth going down / open. Likewise, "Up/Down Driver" (sol. 22) tests the mouth going up / closed. During sol. 21 test, both the Q28 and Q30 transistors on the driver board are pulsed. Only Q30 is pulsed for sol. 22 test.

1.4 Choke Coil

Funhouse "Choke Coil", A-14418, which should have resistance of about .6 to .9 ohms.

Some (perhaps later) Funhouse games have what looks to be a standard coil adjacent to the backbox tweeter. This is, in fact, a "choke coil", which changes the audio range of the tweeter. It is wired in parallel with the tweeter. the coil should have a resistance of .6 - .9 ohms.

2 Playfield Swap

2.1 T-Nuts

Playfield T-Nut Locations (front)

Playfield T-Nut Locations (back)

Between the front and back sides of the playfield, there are 17 #8-32 t-nuts and 6 #6-32 t-nuts used on the Funhouse playfield.

Return to Williams WPC page.