Williams · 1993 · Dot-matrix era (1991 to 1999)

Star Trek: Next Generation

Name: Star Trek: Next Generation
Brand: Williams

Design: Steve Ritchie, Dwight Sullivan, Greg Freres · Art: Greg Freres

Star Trek: The Next Generation is Steve Ritchie's 1993 SuperPin widebody, and it took 14 months to build. The team visited the Enterprise sets, and the cast recorded lines after ADR sessions, with Patrick Stewart correcting some of the script. Two ball-firing cannons sit on top of the slingshots. They swing to aim, and you fire with the trigger on the phaser launcher. Underneath, a patented subway swaps balls between three cellar holes and their kickers so play never stalls, which suits a show with transporters. The Borg ship fires the locked ball at the flippers to start multiball. Dwight Sullivan and Matt Coriale wrote the largest code in pinball at the time, with three times the speech of any earlier game. Williams built 11,728.

Spec at a glance

Maker: Williams
Era: Dot-matrix era (1991 to 1999)
Theme: TV licenses
Year: 1993
Players: 4
Made: Williams, November 1993 (model 50023)
Design: Steve Ritchie, Dwight Sullivan, Greg Freres
Art: Greg Freres
System: Williams WPC-089 with DCS sound
Display: Dot-matrix (DMD)
Production: 11,728
Cabinet: SuperPin widebody
Also listed as: STTNG, ST:TNG, STNG, Star Trek The Next Generation, Star Trek TNG

Bench check

Boards, playfield, toys and the trip home

Boards and batteries: STTNG's batteries sit on a WPC-089 CPU, with DCS sound, and they leak onto the switch matrix, so get a photo of the CPU. The board to know is the 8-driver in the head that runs the subway diverters. It needs a purple/green diode tieback wire from the drop target coil, and if that connection fails the board's transistors fail and a coil can lock on and melt.
Display: Like every WPC dot-matrix game, STTNG has a high-voltage plasma panel. Look for faded dots, sparkles, clouds or ghosting in a photo of the display test. The last three mean the voltages are high.
Playfield: Ask for raking-light photos of the three flipper areas, the inlanes and the landing spots below the cannons. Greg Freres has said some plastics misspell shields as sheilds, and that's a factory quirk.
Toys and mechs: Each cannon has home and mark switches, an opto that sees the ball, and a wire loom that flexes every time it moves. Fractured loom wires or a dead ball-in-cannon opto cause the Gun Cannot Find Home error, where a cannon swings back and forth and stops at 45 degrees. Broken leads on the trough opto board cause missing balls or surprise multiballs.
Cabinet and art: It's a SuperPin widebody. Models of a Klingon Bird of Prey, a Romulan Warbird, the shuttle and the Borg ship sit above the playfield, so check all four are there.
Moving it: A widebody needs wider doorways, so measure yours first. There's no weight on record, but plan on two people and a dolly.
Parts and code: The cannon wire loom is Williams part H-17067. Some production games used a stronger FL-17636 blue-wrapper flipper coil for the Delta ramp shot before Williams went back to the FL-11629. We have no record of the final code, so ask which ROM version is fitted.

Should come with it

All four ship models over the playfield

Check the listing photos against these lists, and ask the seller about anything you can’t see. A missing toy, glass or key should come off the price.

What to check

Cannons that won't find home, from a broken loom wire or a dead opto, are the signature fault. A lost diode tieback can take out the 8-driver board, and the CPU batteries leak like any WPC game.

01Cannons: Ask for a video of both cannons loading and firing. Each should swing smoothly and stop where it's aimed.
02Batteries: Ask for a photo of the CPU board around the battery holder. You want clean traces with no crust.
03Errors: Ask whether the game shows Gun Cannot Find Home or other errors at power up. A clean boot is what you want.
04Subway: Ask for a video of multiball. Balls should come back from the cellar holes without getting stuck.
05Ships: Look for all four ship models in the playfield photos. All four should be there.
06Display: Ask for a photo of the DMD during display test. Every dot should light evenly with no sparkles.
07Playfield: Ask for raking-light photos of the flipper areas and inlanes. Worn paint shows as dull patches.
08Size: Measure your doorways before you buy. A widebody needs more room than a standard game.

Buying your first one? Red flags in a pinball listing covers the photos and videos to ask for, and the battery corrosion guide shows what leaking batteries do to an old CPU board.

Find one on eBay

We haven’t been through this game’s listings yet. Search eBay and run every listing through the checklist above. Ask for a video of a full game, a photo of the CPU board and photos of the playfield in good light, and ask what’s been replaced. Pass on any seller who won’t answer.

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Maker

Era

Theme

Read

Star Trek: Next Generation

Design: Steve Ritchie, Dwight Sullivan, Greg Freres · Art: Greg Freres

Spec at a glance

Maker

Williams

Era

Dot-matrix era (1991 to 1999)

Theme

TV licenses

Year

1993

Players

Made

Williams, November 1993 (model 50023)

Design

Steve Ritchie, Dwight Sullivan, Greg Freres

Art

Greg Freres

System

Williams WPC-089 with DCS sound

Display

Dot-matrix (DMD)

Production

11,728

Cabinet

SuperPin widebody

Also listed as

STTNG, ST:TNG, STNG, Star Trek The Next Generation, Star Trek TNG

Boards, playfield, toys and the trip home

Boards and batteries

STTNG's batteries sit on a WPC-089 CPU, with DCS sound, and they leak onto the switch matrix, so get a photo of the CPU. The board to know is the 8-driver in the head that runs the subway diverters. It needs a purple/green diode tieback wire from the drop target coil, and if that connection fails the board's transistors fail and a coil can lock on and melt.

Display

Like every WPC dot-matrix game, STTNG has a high-voltage plasma panel. Look for faded dots, sparkles, clouds or ghosting in a photo of the display test. The last three mean the voltages are high.

Playfield

Ask for raking-light photos of the three flipper areas, the inlanes and the landing spots below the cannons. Greg Freres has said some plastics misspell shields as sheilds, and that's a factory quirk.

Toys and mechs

Each cannon has home and mark switches, an opto that sees the ball, and a wire loom that flexes every time it moves. Fractured loom wires or a dead ball-in-cannon opto cause the Gun Cannot Find Home error, where a cannon swings back and forth and stops at 45 degrees. Broken leads on the trough opto board cause missing balls or surprise multiballs.

Cabinet and art

It's a SuperPin widebody. Models of a Klingon Bird of Prey, a Romulan Warbird, the shuttle and the Borg ship sit above the playfield, so check all four are there.

Moving it

A widebody needs wider doorways, so measure yours first. There's no weight on record, but plan on two people and a dolly.

Parts and code

The cannon wire loom is Williams part H-17067. Some production games used a stronger FL-17636 blue-wrapper flipper coil for the Delta ramp shot before Williams went back to the FL-11629. We have no record of the final code, so ask which ROM version is fitted.

Should come with it

All four ship models over the playfield

Check the listing photos against these lists, and ask the seller about anything you can’t see. A missing toy, glass or key should come off the price.

What to check

Cannons that won't find home, from a broken loom wire or a dead opto, are the signature fault. A lost diode tieback can take out the 8-driver board, and the CPU batteries leak like any WPC game.

01Cannons: Ask for a video of both cannons loading and firing. Each should swing smoothly and stop where it's aimed.

02Batteries: Ask for a photo of the CPU board around the battery holder. You want clean traces with no crust.

03Errors: Ask whether the game shows Gun Cannot Find Home or other errors at power up. A clean boot is what you want.

04Subway: Ask for a video of multiball. Balls should come back from the cellar holes without getting stuck.

05Ships: Look for all four ship models in the playfield photos. All four should be there.

06Display: Ask for a photo of the DMD during display test. Every dot should light evenly with no sparkles.

07Playfield: Ask for raking-light photos of the flipper areas and inlanes. Worn paint shows as dull patches.

08Size: Measure your doorways before you buy. A widebody needs more room than a standard game.

Buying your first one? Red flags in a pinball listing covers the photos and videos to ask for, and the battery corrosion guide shows what leaking batteries do to an old CPU board.

Find one on eBay

Star Trek: Next Generation

Spec at a glance

Boards, playfield, toys and the trip home

What to check

Find one on eBay

Compare with

Judge Dredd

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Twilight Zone

Keep exploring

Star Trek: Next Generation

Spec at a glance

Boards, playfield, toys and the trip home

What to check

Find one on eBay

Compare with

Judge Dredd

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Twilight Zone

Keep exploring