Haggis Fathom - Revisited. Mermaid edition. #112. In-depth review

[new forest pinball]

Hi all,
Thought this would be of interest to some of us here.
The plan is to look at all the elementals, flipper mechs, cabinet features, p/f features, mechs, illumination, backglass, toppers,sound system, speakers, game rules etc......
If there’s a particular feature you are interested in then ask here.......
Please use the thread below for any “handbag lifting”...... and leave this thread for constructive criticism/ feedback, questions etc.....

Haggis Pinball Fathom Revisited

Just announced https://www.thisweekinpinball.com/haggis-pinball-announces-fathom-revisted-in-depth-overview-of-the-machine-editions-features-rules-plus-an-interview-with-haggis-pinball/

www.pinballinfo.com

Here she is in the box, from Australia via India air freight .


First we will comment on the packaging and if it’s been damaged or marked in any way....
In the mean time if you have any questions please post below.....
All the best Keith.

 

[steve brum]

"Ah yes!"

 

[Matt Vince]

Does the mermaid eat the ball?

 

[David_Vi]

In the mean time if you have any questions please post below.....

What's the flipper alignment like?

In pics of haggis' Fathom or Centaur the flipper appear aligned much higher than the original games,(with the top of the flipper aligned to the inlane/ballguide, rather than being like a point like the original Bally's).
I wonder if it's a conscious decision and if so surely the games play differently to the originals.

 

[Pick Holder]

Interested to see what board set they are using.
Due to rumours about them I reallly hope they are using an off the shelf board system so the machines that come over can be kept going.
I really like Haggis's work - really looking forward to seeing one in the flesh.
So can I request some internal photos on this page bud !?

 

[new forest pinball]

Thanks for the couple of questions so far. I will address them tomorrow.
In the mean time packaging....

I thought about this and came to the conclusion, who cares about the packaging?! What was I thinking? I mean booorinnn!
So after having a word with myself I will keep it brief.
The box was double strapped to a mini pallet. Box arrived unmarked which I guess is testimony to the freight companies involved. Haggis had pallet wrapped it very well and all the metalwork was covered in a protective film. Here’s it wrapped out of the box....

The legs were packed in separate boxes which was a nice touch....

The siderails had protective film on them ....


And so did the playfield glass....

So as promised I will keep it brief....care had been taken to pack and wrap it well. The result was that it arrived undamaged and unmarked......
So I am going to start with the backglass as something took me by surprise.(as many folks who have owned classics will completely understand why)....
Can you spot what concerned me?.......... (by the way the glass is gorgeous)......


Correct . No protective edge trim! Eeekkk! (Let me tell you how easy it is to smash a backglass without edge trim!)... so I thought no problem, got plenty of edge trim sets in stock I’ll go get one. Problem was it would no longer fit in the backbox which did stress me out a little! The comprise as top trim only. Sob.

Here’s a picture of the rights........ S.G. Inc. gulp!....... If you get one of these letters it means that you are verging on doing something very naughty indeed!!...lol.......


Finally here’s a picture of our original Fathom backglass. Haggis version is very close indeed. Looks gorgeous!
Tomorrow we will look at.... “did it play straight out of the box?”
And take a look at the flipper mechs, alignment, feel, power, available menu adjustments etc........

 

[Pick Holder]

I wish I took a photo of how Thunderbirds was shipped

Like what I am seeing up to now Keef !

 

[cmrl9]

I wish I took a photo of how Thunderbirds was shipped

Like what I am seeing up to now Keef !

Stop trolling and trying to impress your mate, I'm sure the packaging was absolutely perfect. Enough negative comments

 

[stevebm1]

out of curiosity did you try the standard backglass with sidetrims in the haggis cab?,is the haggis glass a few mm wider for some reason?

 

[Pick Holder]

Stop trolling and trying to impress your mate, I'm sure the packaging was absolutely perfect. Enough negative comments

I apologize @cmrl9 -
When Mike posts it is a bit like the CEO from Lada cars posting in a Rolls Royce forum.

 

[new forest pinball]

FLIPPERS.
ok so lots of points to note on the haggis flippers.
First let’s consider the alignment. Out of the box the flippers are aligned as pictured:
Now this may seem a little high compared to the Bally original, but when you play the game you can see why Haggis set it up like this , as it allows you to backhand the lagoon shot and the spinner shot easily........
Haggis have used Titan rubbers on the flippers from the factory. (We will discuss rubbers later in this thread).

The flippers have now been re-aligned to match the Bally classic game, this makes the shots feel very similar to the original in our opinion.......

Next let’s consi the flipper strength. Left felt good and all shots could be made no issues, but the right flipper struggled to make the lagoon shot from a trap. So we made some adjustments to the strength. The machine has a fairly simple menu system that allows for several flipper adjustments to be made easily. The menu looks like this, for flippers select the service menu. Then adjustments, next select standard........

Then first you have flipper power, selection is weak, normal(factory set) and strong. We left this normal.

Then you have the option to adjust each flipper. (Left,right, upper) factory setting is 24 out of 50. Which is fine for the left.....


We adjusted the right to 32 and this we found just the right strength to make to lagoon 90%.....


Next let’s take a look at the flipper mechs, under the playfield. Notice that they have no EOS (end of stroke) switches, therefore the right cabinet switch is a double stack switch......

No ideas on what flipper coil has been used as the game comes with absolutely no service/parts information whatsoever! (We will also address this later)...... next we will look at the board set..........

 

[new forest pinball]

Apologies for the radio silence. Lots going on this time of year at NFP.....
A few moons ago I promised to show the guts of the Haggis remake........ so here goes.....
Haggis Fathom uses the FAST pinball platform - Neuron controller . Looks very cool, but I am not at all familiar with it...
So here’s some pictures.... inc. the power supplies, amplifier and some hdmi/WiFi box.
Only comment I have is that the amp controls are virtually impossible to adjust and see with the playfield in.


Next the coin door. As we really don’t like it much. Looks a bit DIY in real life...... got some ideas for it. I am running by good ole uncle woobles

 

[new forest pinball]

......o.k. Bit hyper still tonight so let’s get straight to the coin door.....
Here’s what it looked like out of the box.... Think someone in the factory had a sense of humour, placing one of the coin inserts upside down...........


So here’s the thing. The haggis brand sticker is just stuck directly onto a polished stainless steel sheet that is just stuck on to the coin door. Looks bling but just something about it........

Plan is to remove the plate and the coin inserts and replace with a ltd edition plaque and some Bally inserts.....
Work in progress....

Obviously we kept all the parts to return it back to it’s out of the box look here’s the finished product. What do you all reckon? Really would of been ideal to use the Fathom reply inserts from cpr but you need to buy the full plastics set!



Next up. We discuss rubbers and airballs......

 

[stevebm1]

perhaps that coin insert was upside down as it came from australia

 

[KendarTheOrc]

Here’s what it looked like out of the box.... Think someone in the factory had a sense of humour, placing one of the coin inserts upside down..

It's how you can tell they're an Australian company

 

[Pick Holder]

perhaps that coin insert was upside down as it came from australia

I used to play in a band with an Australian drummer. He took all the logos off his drumkit and refixed them upside down!

 

[Pick Holder]

Well - the electronics..... hmmmmm.... There is a cheap amazon relay board along with a cheap amazon amplifier.....

Expected a bit more out of a pinball but on the other hand easy to get replacements for when/if haggis go bump.

FAST seems to be becoming the industry standard - PROC is never available. I think american pinball are buying it all.

 

[Taxiturn]

Really enjoyed playing this on Friday night, having screens on the apron was a novel experience but got used to them after a couple of plays. Only had a couple of airballs (one of which cleared the flippers) and it crashed once, but otherwise great stuff. It is such a good looking pin