The Sopranos

Coverage: partial - every I/O address, controller binding, polarity, wiring detail, mechanism, variant and recreation note is source-reconciled; only spatial_placement is missing, because the retained table does not model the trough switches, the safe limit or the five Episodes lamps, and several coil placements fall outside what the factory drawings confirm

Identity and evidence precedence

This is Stern's Whitestar machine of February 2005, model I-0085, IPDB 5053, designed by George Gomez. It covers the 21 sopr* drivers of pinned PinMAME: CPU 5.00 (sopranos and its French, German, Italian and Spanish clones), 4.00, 3.00 (with soprano3, the alternative-sound set), 2.04 and the language-only 1.07 sets. segames.c builds all of them from one init_sopranos, INITGAME(sopranos, GEN_WS, se_dmd128x32, SE_BOARDID_520_5068_01): lower flippers only (FLIP_SW(FLIP_L) | FLIP_SOL(FLIP_L)), two extra lamp columns (lamps 1-80), no custom solenoids, a 128x32 DMD and the 520-5068-01 auxiliary driver board for the UK posts. The ROMs differ in rules, language and sound, not hardware, so every driver is identical. IPDB records that a few machines were first built on S.A.M. boards, tested overseas and converted back to Whitestar before sale; no PinMAME driver represents a S.A.M. build.

Authority follows the runbook. The known-working table's embedded script decides controller callbacks and mechanism causality; the official service manual (born-digital, 214 pages, byte-identical to the copy IPDB hosts) decides construction, wiring, parts and placement on the drawings; pinned PinMAME decides routing. Three harness runs of sopranos 5.00 confirm the routing and settle the stacking opto's sense. The retained table is the freneticamnesic/32assassin 1.0.2 beta rebuild; the pinned corpus's 2024 v1.22 script descends from it and repeats its bindings, so it corroborates them but is not independent.

Controller platform and address topology

• Switches. Matrix 1-64 is sequential (column = (n - 1) / 8 + 1). Column 6 (41-48), 30, 52, 63 and 64 are NOT USED. The dedicated inputs are -3 memory protect, -2/-1/0 the red/green/black service buttons (DS-6/7/8), 84 left button (DS-1), 83 left EOS (DS-2), 82 right button (DS-3), 81 right EOS (DS-4) and 88, the NOT USED DS-5. 85-87 reach no input. The country selector is DIP bits 1-5.
• Solenoids. Public 1-32 are Q1-Q32 except the flippers: se_solenoid_w masks Q15 (left) and Q16 (right) off public 15/16 and publishes them at 47 and 45, and core.c synthesizes 48 and 46 from those. Bind the left flipper coil at 48 and the right at 46; 45 and 47 are their power-phase states. Public 15 is PinMAME's fast-flip / game-on state (sega.vbs's GameOnSolenoid = 15): it rose on Start and fell at the drain. 33-35 are the UK board's AUX 1-3; 16, 36, 37-44, 49 and 50 are unused.
• Lamps 1-80 run across each row (lamp = (row - 1) x 8 + column); 62-64 are NOT USED; 79 exists only with the tournament kit. G.I. is one relay at public 0.

Switch polarity and names

Whitestar's switch_r and dedswitch_r both hand the CPU the complement of PinMAME's state and the driver leaves invSw at zero, so public 1 is a closed contact everywhere. Every matrix switch, the two trough optos included, is normally open:

• The Trough Up-Kicker Dual OPTO Boards page (PDF 132) states that the receiver acts as an open switch while light falls on it and as a closed switch when the beam is blocked.
• The table's bsTrough holds the VUK opto 14 at 1 while a ball waits at the up-kicker.
• For the stacking opto 15, which neither script writes, the ROM answers: with four balls held on 11-14, raising 15 to 1 (or holding it there from power-up) makes the ROM fire the up-kicker six times and then the auto launch, while 0 draws nothing. Pass a kicked ball through 15 as a short 1 pulse.

The two end-of-stroke switches are the exception. The flipper wiring diagram prints them N.C.: closed at rest, opening about 1/16" when the flipper is energized, and the CPU re-pulses the coil if the switch recloses during a hold. PinMAME does not synthesize them here (no FLIP_EOS), so the ROM reads whatever the host writes; a recreation that leaves 81/83 at 0 only loses that re-pulse.

The memory-protect switch -3 is N.O. and closed by the shut coin door; public 1 blocks writes to protected RAM, so a closed door is -3 at 1.

Library and table quirks, all recorded on the devices and none of them about the machine:

• sega.vbs and PinMAME's keyboard port put the slam-tilt key on 55, which this game prints as Tournament Start; the optional slam tilt kit is wired to 53.
• sega.vbs names the EOS addresses swURFlip/swULFlip.
• The table's solTrough pulses 22 (Center Lock 1) instead of 15.
• The pinned v1.22 script also writes 16 on the Start key; the retained 1.0.2 table's same lines are unreachable behind the VPinMAME key handler.
• The table models the right-ramp switch 25 as a spinner, which v1.22 corrects.

The manual's switch parts page prints the eject switches' matrix numbers as 17 & 18; the grid and the same page's wire-gate row show they are 17 and 28.

Ball handling

• Trough. Four balls on 11 (left), 12, 13 and the VUK opto 14 at the up-kicker (Q1); the stacking opto 15 above it. Hold occupied positions at 1, initialize 11-14 at 1.
• Shooter. Manual plunger and the Q2 autoplunger arm; shooter-lane switch 16.
• Ejects. Two 30-degree ejects (500-6511-01): the left eject under the fish (17, Q21) and the center eject under the safe (28, Q3). A ball held in either drew repeated kicks in the gameplay run.
• Three two-ball locks, each an up/down post that is down while its coil is energized: Center Lock 1/2 (22/23) behind Q4 (500-5867-02, the "spinner lane ball lock"), Boat Lock 1/2 (31/32) on the right steel boat ramp behind Q22, and Bing 1/2 (19/20) at the Bada Bing! behind Q23 (both 500-5867-09). In the gameplay run the left ramp (9) raised Q23 and the right ramp (25) dropped it, so the ROM can hold a post energized for a long stretch.
• Control gates. Q5/Q6 drive the left and right 2-way ball gates at the top (32-1800 mini coils, no position switch).

Toys and targets

• The safe. A door above the playfield, struck on Safe Hit Left/Right (21/24), with a Safe coil (Q8, 22-1080) and a Safe Latch coil (Q30, 27-1500) on one dual bracket below and a Cherry limit switch 10. The ROM fired Q8 with Q30 at power-up and on every safe hit. In the table, energizing Q8 starts the door closing and releasing it starts it opening; while Q30's latch is set a Q8 change only selects the closing state without moving an idle door. The table writes 10 at the end of each travel (1 open, 0 closed). Neither the manual nor a run settles the factory door's sequence or the limit switch's sense, so treat the table's model as a working recreation and 10 as the end-of-travel sensor.
• The fish. A molded head on the left side with a jaw lever worked by Q17 (27-1500) and a #44 LED flash lamp (Q25) behind its clear eyes. The ROM opens the jaw with speech; in the run it moved with a bumper hit and while a ball sat in the left eject below.
• Bada Bing! pole dancers. Q18 energizes a relay (500-6700-00) that runs a 24 V AC bi-directional motor (500-6887-00, about 46-55 RPM). The motor turns two dolls on shafts through a belt and pulleys. There is no position sensor: the dancers spin while Q18 is on.
• 1-bank drop target (500-6893-01). Switch 26 closes while it is down; Q14 resets it and the 32-1250 trip coil Q7 knocks it down. The ROM reset it at power-up and on Start, and tripped and reset it at the drain.
• Bumpers, slingshots and flippers. Left/right/bottom bumpers Q9/49, Q10/50, Q11/51, with red domes Q29 on the left and bottom bumpers. Slingshots Q12/59 and Q13/62, two contacts each. Flippers Q15/Q16 on one 50 V supply: a 40 ms kick, then 1 ms every 12 ms while held. Every one of these switch-to-coil pairs fired in the gameplay run.
• Other switches. Left/right orbit 18/33, left ramp 9, right ramp 25 and right ramp exit 29 (wire-gate switches); spinner 27; the standups 34/35 (narrow yellow) and the right 2-bank 36/37; top lanes 38-40; outlanes and return lanes 57/58/60/61.
• UK Post Save. Board 520-5068-01 drives AUX 1/3, the left and right outlane ball deflectors (500-5788-02), and AUX 2, the center up/down post (500-6293-00). The UK cabinet buttons on 1 and 8 ask the ROM for them. Standard machines fit none of it, so all five devices are optional. Q24 is likewise optional: the coin meter, which the ROM pulsed four times per coin.

Lamps, flashers and general illumination

• Lamps. All 80 lamp cells are wired as printed. 65-72 are the eight RIP portrait lamps behind the back panel (65-68 top row, 69-72 bottom row) and sit outside normalized playfield space. 79 and 80 are the tournament and start button lamps.

• Flashers. Q19 super jackpot, Q20 safe, Q25 fish and Q27/Q28 the yellow sling domes. Q26 is the back flash: two #89 on the back panel and one #906 yellow dome at the stage. Q29 is the two red bumper domes, Q31 one flasher on each side of the playfield, and Q32 two at the truck.

• G.I. One relay feeds four fused circuits:

  • Back panel, 12 #44 (F24).
  • Middle/lower right playfield, 13 by its location count and the drawing, though the bulb line prints 11 + 1 (F25).
  • Upper right playfield, 8, plus the 2 coin-door bulbs (F26).
  • Middle/lower left playfield, 12 (F27).

  The table's GI collection holds 33 lights, matching the 33 playfield sockets the G.I. drawing letters.

Spatial status and why the record stays partial

Placements come from the retained table's script-bound objects, normalized against its 952 x 2300 bounds, and are checked against the three factory location drawings. The drawings validate most of them: all 62 table-placed lamps, and most switches, coils and flashers. These stay unvalidated:

• Projections onto mechanism objects. The table does not model the trough switches 11-15 or the safe limit 10. The EOS contacts sit on the flippers, the auto launch is placed on the shooter-lane trigger, and the drop-target coils on the target. The safe coils, fish jaw, fish flasher and Bada Bing! relay are placed on the objects they move.
• Drawing measurements (candidates). The five Episodes lamps 73-77, which the table stacks at one point, and the UK AUX posts, which the US table lacks.
• Placements the drawings do not confirm. The flipper and slingshot coils, whose drawn boxes sit on coil bodies away from the bats and walls; the second Q31 flasher, which the table omits; and anything the spatial report lists.
• G.I. The 33 G.I. placements, whose bottom-view drawing has no reliable control fit.

Nothing here is a disagreement about the machine; the blockers are missing geometry, so the record carries no conflicts.

Author construction checklist

• Ball path. Build the 4-ball trough with stacking opto, the manual and auto shooter, two ejects, the three post-locks (each down while energized), the two control gates, the drop target with trip and reset, and the safe door with its two coils and limit switch.
• Toys and scoring parts. Build the talking fish (jaw coil and eye flash), the Bada Bing! motor and dancers, three bumpers, two slingshots, two flippers with N.C. EOS, the spinner, standups, the 2-bank, the lanes and the orbits.
• Initial state. Initialize 11-14 and -3 at 1. Pulse 15 per kicked ball.
• Bindings. Bind Q15 at 48 and Q16 at 46; 45/47 are power phases and 15 is game-on. Bind 33-35 only for a UK build, and Q24 only for a coin meter.
• Displays and lights. One 128x32 DMD in the cabinet. Recreate the 33 playfield G.I. bulbs, the 12 back-panel and 2 coin-door bulbs, all lamps and flashers.

Sources

• manual.stern.the-sopranos.2005: SHA-256 4765c79a9fac44d14e4330477ffb4ab4d7af259499a3b5d1156adf83d75b0c88, IPDB 5053's service manual; excerpts under evidence/excerpts/stern.the-sopranos.2005/.
• vpx-table.sopranos-freneticamnesic-32assassin-1-0-2 and its embedded script (56262b8b...), with the retained 1,441-file extraction and its manifest.
• vpx-script.sopranos-v1-22: the pinned corpus script (ab44cf36...).
• vpm-script-library.sega-vbs: sega.vbs (d6e508aa...).
• runtime.the-sopranos.stacking-opto-and-gameplay: three LibPinMAME runs, summarized in evidence/runtime/whitestar/the-sopranos-stacking-opto-and-gameplay.json.
• drawing-callouts.the-sopranos.2026-10-09: tools/seeds/stern/the-sopranos-2005-callouts.json.