Freefall

Partial

Stern1981STERN-MPU200stern.freefall.1981

OPDB IPDB stern/freefall-1981.mdstern/freefall-1981.json

Wire it up

what an authoring tool needs first
Bind this ROM
freefall

2 ROM sets resolve to this machine. Clones share the definition unless a hardware difference is listed.

Controller platform
pinmame.stern-mpu200

PinMAME already reports logical active state. Do not invert again in the table — normally-closed is a physical fact recorded per switch, not a runtime transform.

Displays

No display inventory recorded yet.

Address space
Switches
9–40 (21)
Solenoids
7–20 (6)

Coverage

Partial

Real evidence exists, but authoring requirements are still missing or in conflict. Verify before shipping a table.

Completion19%

Progress is derived from the fixed author-readiness requirements. It helps rank unfinished work, but only a 100% author-ready definition passes the publication gate.

Catalog Identity
validated
Address Enumeration
unknown
Semantic Naming
unknown
Physical Wiring
unknown
Mechanisms
unknown
Variant Coverage
candidate
Recreation Knowledge
unknown
Still missing · 13
Driver MappingInput EnumerationInput SemanticsOutput EnumerationOutput SemanticsDisplay InventoryMechanism InventoryMechanism BehaviorPolarityVariant DifferencesRecreation NotesProvenanceSpatial Placement

Switches

The addresses PinMAME reports as closed. Numbers are the public API values, not matrix hardware pins.

21 addresses

Switch map

Sequential addresses, grouped in columns of eight.

used unused
 
+0
+1
+2
+3
+4
+5
+6
+7
1–8
9–16
17–24
25–32
33–40
Hover or tap an address to identify it.
21 shown
# Name Device ID Evidence
9
Sw9
switch.sw9 candidate
10
Check Flippers
switch.check-flippers candidate
11
Sw11
switch.sw11 candidate
12
Right Sling Shot
switch.right-sling-shot candidate
13
Left Sling Shot
switch.left-sling-shot candidate
14
Bumper3
switch.bumper3 candidate
15
Bumper2
switch.bumper2 candidate
16
Bumper1
switch.bumper1 candidate
25
Sw25
switch.sw25 candidate
26
Sw26
switch.sw26 candidate
27
Sw27
switch.sw27 candidate
28
Sw28
switch.sw28 candidate
29
Sw29
switch.sw29 candidate
30
Sw30
switch.sw30 candidate
31
Sw31
switch.sw31 candidate
32
Sw32
switch.sw32 candidate
35
Sw35
switch.sw35 candidate
36
Spinner1
switch.spinner1 candidate
37
Sw37
switch.sw37 candidate
39
Lock3
switch.lock3 candidate
40
Sw40
switch.sw40 candidate

Controlled devices

Everything the ROM can energise, grouped the way a table author builds it.

Coils, magnets & motors

6
6 shown
# Name Device ID Evidence
7
Sol Skyway
coil.sol-skyway candidate
8
Sol Ball Release
coil.sol-ball-release candidate
9
Sol Sky Raider
coil.sol-sky-raider candidate
13
Sol Out Hole
coil.sol-out-hole candidate
17
Sol Ball Lock
coil.sol-ball-lock candidate
20
Sol Div
coil.sol-div candidate

Recreation notes

Working knowledge that has no schema field yet — edition differences, tuning values, pitfalls.

Coverage: partial - machine identity plus candidate-only I/O attachments. Playfield devices, wiring, mechanisms, and behavior are evidenced only as unverified candidates.

This record was promoted from the generated catalog stub stub.pinmame.freefall by the catalog-wide identity pass of 2026-08-29. The promotion resolves machine identity and carries the catalog's residual driver grouping over unchanged, the platform and device attachments below were added by the 2026-08-29/30 candidate passes and assert nothing beyond candidate provenance. Every requirement in the definition's coverage.missing is genuinely outstanding.

Identity

  • PinMAME catalog: root driver freefall, description "Free Fall", manufacturer "Stern", catalog year "1981".
  • OPDB record G5W9p-MJw0B (IPDB 953) names this machine "Freefall" (Stern Electronics, manufacture date 1981-01-01); the resolved identity rests on the agreement of the PinMAME catalog and this reviewed mapping.
  • The definition's driver list is exactly the clone tree PinMAME declares under freefall; whether every listed driver really runs on this physical machine is unverified.

Drivers this record holds

  • freefafp (1981, Stern, clone of freefall).
  • freefall (1981, Stern).

PinMAME source contract (candidate)

  • The pinned PinMAME source declares freefall at src/wpc/stgames.c:1037 with machine module by35_mST200v; the definition declares controller platform pinmame.stern-mpu200 from it.

VPX script candidates (candidate)

  • 1 retained community table script(s) declare this machine's driver; their extracted switch/lamp/solenoid/GI candidates are carried as 27 candidate devices. When curator work weighs sources, a retained script outranks emulator-derived candidates for runtime semantics, but every device here is still a candidate until a known-working table is verified against this exact physical machine.

What a curator must establish next

Full input, output, and display enumeration with semantic names; physical wiring and polarity; mechanism inventory and behavior; variant differences across the clone tree; recreation knowledge from a manual, schematic, or known-working table; runtime provenance; and a normalized spatial placement for every physical device. No manual, schematic, or runtime-harness evidence is retained for this machine yet; the candidate sections above are the only retained I/O evidence so far.

ROM sets

Every driver that resolves to this physical machine.

ROM set Description Year Parent Hardware
freefallFree Fall 1981——
freefafpFree Fall (Free Play) 1981freefall—

Parent set: freefall — clones share this definition unless a hardware difference is noted.

Pinball memory maps

External source LGPL-3.0-only1 map

RAM layouts published by an independent project and mirrored here at a pinned commit. They are not part of this machine’s definition: nothing below was used as evidence for the definition, and none of it counts towards coverage. Check claims against the upstream project.

Upstream
tomlogic/pinball-memory-maps
Commit
d8693b9

This program makes use of content from the Pinball Memory Maps project.

m200-7digit-B.map.json

stern-m200v3format 0.8

maps/stern/m200/m200-7digit-B.map.json

Applies to ROMs
freefall
Also covers
dragfistironmaidlightninsplitsecviper
Sections
adjustmentsauditsgame_statehigh_scores
Map JSONMap sourcePlatform JSONPlatform source

stern-m200 defines the RAM layout this map’s offsets are read against — the map is not interpretable without it.

Evidence

Every claim above traces to one of these. When they disagree: a known-working VPX script wins on controller addresses and causality, the manual wins on wiring and construction, pinned PinMAME wins on emulator routing and display layout.

  • PinMAME catalog

    BSD-3-Clause

    pinmame.catalog.8371478a7640

    PinmameGetGames

    8371478a7640
    by
    PinMAME contributors
    rev
    8371478a7640

  • PinMAME source

    BSD-3-Clause

    pinmame.core.8371478a7640

    src/wpc/stgames.c:1037 (machine module by35_mST200v)

    src/wpc/stgames.c
    by
    PinMAME contributors
    rev
    8371478a7640

  • VPX script

    vpx-script.ce35e6bf0e900c57

    vpxtable-scripts: Freefall (Stern 1981) v600.vbs

    0c036bb61b4b
    by
    Authors credited in Freefall (Stern 1981) v600.vbs and repository contributors
    rev
    0c036bb61b4b
    sha256
    ce35e6bf0e90…

Something wrong or missing?

This definition still has 13 unmet requirements, listed under Coverage above. Fixes belong in the definition itself — editing on GitHub forks it for you and opens the pull request.

Cite a source for anything you change — a manual page, a line in a working VPX script, PinMAME source, or a reading from the machine's own service menu. Claims without provenance cannot be validated.

Edit the definition Edit the note Report a problem
Before you startCONTRIBUTING.mdschemas/machine.schema.jsondocs/MACHINE_DEFINITIONS_PLAN.md How to read a definition

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