I originally posted this information on another foum that had nothing to do with pinball, and have decided to post the information here for the benefit of others who might be interested in restoring solid state bingo machines.

Back in the 1970s and early 1980s I used to play bingo pinball games for amusement and profit back in Tennessee. Now that I'm an old fart, I have long wanted to have one of those games of my own.

Last week while on a random troll of Craigslist I ran across an ad from a guy only about 20 miles from here that had six of the games he wanted to swap for a riding mower. I responded to the ad offering to buy one of the machines for $250 cash, and after a couple of days consideration he accepted. On Wednesday I came home with the SIRMO New Orleans 6 card bingo pinball game:

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It is in pretty good cosmetic condition for a machine made in 1984 and given the hard life it certainly had in bars, pubs, and game halls. It came without the key to open the front, and with only 2 of the 5 balls needed to play the game. I powered it on just to see what would happen. The lights on the playing field lit up, and the digital display read all "A"s (which looks like lower case c). So, obviously not working (which was as described in the Craigslist ad). The project is ON.

Before buying it I discovered it was a solid state game, which gave me some hope that the machine would be pretty easy to get going again. The older electro-mechanical versions are said to be quite challenging to rebuild. And let's face it, I'm more familiar with electronics than electro-mechanical devices.

After getting it home I did a little research online and managed to find an online copy of the technical manual, as well as pictures of how a working machine should look inside. That was quite a boon.

The first thing I did was remove the glass to gain access to the play field, then lifted the play field out of the case to gain access to what was beneath.

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What I found there was pretty clean, with a few exceptions.

One of the exceptions was the pair of "micro switches" that were under the payout buttons "R" and "D" (for Regular and Double-or-Nothing"). Needless to say, these buttons got HEAVY use, as evidenced by the absence of chrome on the R button. Likewise, the switches beneath the buttons were beaten to hell and gone, and were broken. So I replaced one (as seen below) and then the other. The one circled in red is the new one.

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I also found what looked like a speaker wire that came down from the inside of the top part of the machine, with cut ends laying loose in the bottom box. I had no idea what that wire was for, as no such wires appeared in the pictures of the inside of the working box.

I also found one of the pieces of the original circuitry that had been totally bypassed in a piece of what I would call "field re-engineering".

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Next I opened up the top part of the machine to gain access to the main computer and supporting circuits. The first thing I noticed was that the myster speaker wire was connected to the telephone interface card, and was obviously used by one of the previous owners to enable remote control of the machine, so I disconnected and disposed of those wires.

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I was told to look at the fuses first, so that's what I did, and they seem fine. I was also told to check to insure that the battery on the board (used to sustain system memory during power outages) was in good condition and not leaking... and that seemed fine. But when I looked more closely at the circuit board I started noticing some of the ceramic capacitors had begun to decay.

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Taking a closer look at the schematics in the technical manual I deduced that the broken ones were like most of the other small ceramic capacitors on the board, 22 micro-Farrads, which was consistent with the way these were marked.

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So today's missions include getting some replacement capacitors and a replacement barrel lock (so I can lock up the coin box area).

I made a bit of progress today. I reconnected an electrolytic capacitor that had worked loose and replace one of the smaller ceramic capacitors that was in the battery circuit, checked that all the fuses were viable and powered the machine up. First time through nothing happened, but when I laid the main processing board out again and powered it up, things came alive. Not sure what happened, so I don't know that I can trust it. Anyway, I put the processing board and the light board back up and power tested it again, and it came on.

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I then started testing out some of the functions and switches. The switches all seem to work. The coin switches registered credits, and the operating switches correctly reflected my consumption of the credits. However, I could not get the unit to go into play mode. When you leave it idle for a while it switches into sequenced light display mode, which I used to diagnose which of the bulbs don't light up. I tagged those that didn't light with blue painters tape. When I found one that didn't light I tried replacing it with one of the new bulbs I got yesterday, to no effect. I need to determine why that is.

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I suspect I still have some problems in the mechanical parts on the play table and beneath it, so now I'll start going through that to seek out the remaining issues.

Needless to say, I've learned a lot more about the machine as a result of this. For instance, I noted that it has a "sound coil", but this one didn't come equipped with a Sound Driver Card, so it's just sitting there doing nothing. Suits me fine, actually... I prefer the quieter game.

Yesterday I received the replacement balls and loaded them into the system. Just out of habit, I fired the machine up and it started making sounds it had not made before... sounds resembling a working machine. I decided to see how far it would come. So I put the play table back into the cabinet and started it up again.

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On the first go around I was able to get the ball lifter to bring a ball up to the table. But despite putting 4 quarters in and rolling off the first 10 credits to fill the board, the game would still not officially "start". Also, every subsequent attempt to lift a ball onto the table resulted in clunking sounds, indicating the lifter was trying, but no ball materialized.

So I decided to take the play table out again to have a look at the underlying parts. And that's when something weird happened. Apparently I put some tension on the ribbon cable connecting the play table to the table split printed circuit board because when I did that the cable AND the connector came out.

Not being discouraged, I broke out my fine tipped soldering iron and reconnected the connector, then reinstalled the PCB.

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It may be that the repairs to the compromised PCB have addressed the problems with the table not going into play mode. But until I can figure out and correct the problem with the ball lifter, I don't feel like assembling the table again.

Next I replaced a dead nickle cadmium battery pack that was soldered to the processor board. The old battery refused to hold a charge for more than 24 hours (literally at 0.0 volts when I checked, and it should be 3.6V). I also replaced another busted ceramic capacitor that I missed the first time.

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None of this changed the behavior of the game in any visible/audible way, other than to make it less likely to display the "aaaa aaaa" code on first start up (which was ostensibly caused by the dead battery).

The following evening I made a few more small incremental steps. After pouring over the photos of the other guy's working machine I noticed a few things. First, the ribbon cable connecting the play table to the PCB was upside down. Foolish mistake on my part. My long years in the computer industry have taught me that the red striped end of the ribbon cable is pin 1, and I know pin 1 is at the bottom of the connector.

I also found that one of the leads to the coin counter had worked loose, so I soldered it back into place. Not that I care, of course... but I might as well keep things as complete and tidy as I can.

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Something else I noticed was that the DIP switches on my unit were set much differently from the switches on the presumed working unit. I recorded the way my switches were set, then set mine to match his. The result was interesting in that dropping coins into it didn't yield any credits. So I changed the credit per coin settings and that started working again. That's when I decided I needed to read up on all the other switches. There are 8 banks of 8 switches (64 total), and of those only about half (or less) are described by the technical manual. Anyway, there was nothing obvious in there such as "enable/disable phone interface", so it wasn't much help (yet). Something tells me I need to dig deeper on this.

Also, I figured out what was going wrong with the ball lifter, and it's working fine now. Likewise, the table split device is working fine now too (except for not closing the holes and shifting into PLAY mode).

So, all things considered, I'm a little farther along, but still not fully working.

Today I am going to get some replacement fuses, just because a couple of them look suspect. Probably won't help, but I doubt it could hurt.

I spent a fair amount of time checking things out. I did the tests of the power supply board and found all but two were right on the money, and the two that were not within normal range were pretty close. I then found another bad amateur wire job, obviously intended to support the telephone interface mode, so I removed that hacked together job and spliced together the two halves of the original wire.

This morning I went through a few more tests of the switches on the playing field. When I thought about how I used to play the game it occurred to me why I wasn't seeing the game go into Play mode. The normal sequence of events is:
1) Insert coins
2) Click off as many credits as you want to play. The first credit clicked off puts the machine in "ready to play" mode, causes the balls to drop through the table, and one ball to be lifted into shooting position (closing a switch behind the plunger).
3) When you have lit all the features you want, you take your first shot.
4) As the first shot clears the gate (and hits the gate switch) the board closes up and the game enters Play mode.

Long story shortened, this sequence of events can't happen while the machine is disassembled. So this morning I decided to reassemble it.

Much to my delight, when I did so the game showed that it actually is now working... at about 90%. The picture below shows my first game with two shots already taken.

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I played a few games to test things out. I found that the following things are working:

A) The switches in the holes all seem to be working (at least I haven't found any dodgy ones yet)
B) The vast majority of the lights on the board work (card 1 has the most dead lights)
C) The game scores correctly for regular and double scores (at least as far as I can tell)
D) The coin accepting mechanism works fine and generates the correct number of credits
E) The rollover lights work as expected and the scoring on the features seem to work correctly too

There are a few things that are still not working as well as I would like:

1) The ball lifter does not automatically deliver a ball when the game starts or when a ball is shot. I have to push the button beneath the plunger to deliver each ball. Also, sometimes it fails to load a ball into the lifter, taking extra effort to get one onto the table.
2) The ball return board (underneath the playing field that routed the balls back to the ball lifter) is warped, and as a result does not return the balls from the first rank (1 - 7) without manual coaxing. I need to get that flattened out.
3) Need to get some of the lights repaired on the main display, especially on card 1. This is probably not a light bulb problem, so it may be fairly involved (or as simple as replacing a diode on the light panel board).
4) The buttons used to trigger "Collect", "Regular" and "Double or Nothing" get stuck when pressed. I'm considering installing purely electronic buttons to sidestep that problem.

On the whole, though, I am excited that the game is now playable. It proves that the electronics are working and the game program is intact, and that I don't need an unlock code to play the game! Woo hoo!

On Saturday I found out why the balls were occasionally not making it to the ball lifter after being dropped from the play table. The ribbon cable on the underside of the play table was hanging in the way. When I pushed it out of the way that problem was solved.

With that problem gone, the game became essentially 100% playable. I haven't had to lift the play table since, except to tighten a loose light bulb under the Corners Feature push button.

Needless to say, I spent several hours after that playing the game. During that play time I mapped out all the non-functioning lights and any other problems I might encounter. At first, I noticed it had a tendency to "Tilt" whenever paying out the credits for wins on card 4. Over the course of the weekend that problem seemed to correct itself (though I have no idea why or how). Likewise, the functioning of the ball lifter improved over the weekend, which I would imagine is due to the repetitive motion loosening up the moving parts. I'll definitely lubricate some of the pivot points next time I have the machine opened up.

I even managed to get the button bar assembled in such a way that it now functions without the buttons sticking, so I've abandoned the plans to build a second (purely electronic) button bar. I'll just reconnect this one, once I'm done working on the play table. I also need to make sure the play table is level. At present the balls tend to drift to the right and the bubble level confirms it's a few degrees off level.

Today I expect to receive new rubber O-rings to use on all the bumpers. I'll take before and after pictures of that. Once I have new rubber and a level play table I will reassemble it and lock down the play area.

The rubber upgrade...

Before:
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After:
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The balls are a LOT more active now.

I did some work intended to level the playing table. Since I've had the machine the back legs showed signs of stress, as they were bent at the top and slightly bowed in. So I got a small work table, propped up the rear, and removed the back legs, one at a time. While they were off I took my blacksmith hammer and pounded out the dents against a 90 degree angled block that stood in for the anvil I don't own. The legs are straight and true now, and after reattaching them I set the leveling pegs so the table now lays true.

I played a few games to confirm that the ball no longer drifted, then decided to lower the back end a bit more so the ball didn't fall so quickly to the bottom. Now the game plays like I remember... the ball has great action against the new rubber, and moves gracefully across the board in both directions

I've been spending a lot of time playing the game lately, and really enjoying it. In fact one of the neighbor's kids has been coming over to play it too.

However, all along there have been several lamps on the display board that just would not light. It was easy to ignore the problem... but I want the machine operating at 100%, so it bothered me.

I noticed that the only part that was directly involved in the circuit was a single 1N4003 diode for each lamp. So I decided to replace them and see if that helped out. I found that some had previously been replaced with 1N4004 so I looked around and found that Radio Shack had those in stock. However, typical of Radio Shack, they had very few in stock and they were expensive. I did notice that they also sold mixed bag of 25 diodes for the same price as 4 individual diodes, and when reading up about those packs I noticed that they always had 5 of the 1N4004s in them. So, two packs and $7 later I had 10 of the diodes to solve my problems.

I just finished replacing the diodes on the board and am pleased to report the lights all light up now when they are supposed to, and there are no more lights coming on when they shouldn't. PB19.jpg

I just replaced the last two parts that I know of the needed replacing. Another diode (the one controlling the "Nothing" light of the Double/Nothing pair for card 1) and the shooter spring. It works MUCH better with the new spring.

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I have noticed that lately there is a problem manifesting itself occasionally in which some of the numbers will "blink off". Pounding the machine will eventually get them to come on again, but while they are off you can't collect on any combination requiring those numbers. Very odd... I need to figure this one out.

Yeah, honestly I was surprised when I learned there were SS 6 card bingo machines out there. And yes, it is easy to work on with even a minimal background in electronics.

Some day I probably will tackle an older EM machine. Got my eye on a 1976 Bally Miss America Supreme from the same seller. If I had space for it in the house it would be a no-brainer. But you know, Sirmo made a SS knock off called Miss Americana, and I'm willing to bet it would be a LOT easier to restore.

For my purposes, this machine was a good buy. I doubt it will ever be worth much more than I have spent on it, but that's not why I bought it. I just wanted to play 6 card bingo again.

Last night the machine started doing something weird... when powered up the capacitors failed to charge. The main computer board fired up, and the digital display worked, but the main light board was dark as could be. I had a sneaking suspicion I knew what was wrong. When I was doing the initial repair I noticed that the big blue capacitor on the power supply board had broken loose on one side. I soldered it back in the best I could, and it held for a while, but I knew it was only a matter of time. Last night was that time.

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I managed to get the machine running long enough to play, but today the same thing happened.

Happily, while buying restoration supplies I had picked up a replacement capacitor and today I went about the business of installing it. All is well again.

As an aside, I tried contacting Sirmo today. I noticed on their web site they still sell bingo machines, and the bingo machines have some of the same parts used in mine. So I sent the hardware support guy an email asking about these parts... so far, no response (and frankly I don't expect one. So if any of you know what I can find these little plastic light hoods, please let me know.

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Also, if you happen to know where I can find a PCB 061 (Sound Coil Driver) please let me know about that too.

Dennis, thanks. That sounds great. I really appreciate it and will mail you from my work account.

Received new parts today, including four "dead" rubber rings for the bottom four posts, and the replacement light hoods for the two that had none, and the two with the most worn out posts (one of which had been glued in previously). This was my first look at a complete and correct play field.

Special thanks to Dennis Dodel for making this possible.

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Good eye, Dennis. I hadn't noticed that. Looks like mine has either been bent or replaced. This one is just a flat triangular piece with three holes drilled into it. It would be a simple matter to put a slight bend in this piece, but something tells me I should do more.

Replaced the rebound bracket with one Dennis provided and I do notice the difference. The one that was on the machine was almost totally flattened out and the rubber was not squeezed to the proper pressure (my fault for not knowing how to install it). I bent it back to the proper shape and installed the rebound rubber properly, so now I have a spare sitting around in case my next machine has been modified in a similar way.

Dennis was also kind enough to give me some information about the ways operators tended to modify their machine, ostensibly in the hopes of making it harder for players to get payouts. Quoting Dennis:

* It is actually very uncommon to find a game that has not been altered in some way.

* The most common change is to move the posts around the 1-2 just slightly to the left or right which really screws up your skills.

* The first thing ops usually do is disconnect the multiple jump capability on the odds relays.

* Another common alteration is to connect an off-on switch to high payout features such as the 2 In Blue feature on Magic Screen games. They will have the feature turned off so that it could never light for a few weeks and just about the time people start to realize that it has not lit for a while they will switch it back on for a few days.

You can bet I will be on the lookout for these modifications if/when I work on another machine. The good news is that apart from the flattened rebound bracket, my New Orleans machine seems pretty straight... especially now that I have the "dead" rubber on the red pins and the bracket replaced.

- Greg

Well, time has passed and I have since moved back to Texas. I was worried that the New Orleans machine wouldn't survive the journey, but to my utter delight it did! It works as well now as it did in Washington.

It did incur a tiny bit of damage. One of the leg levelers got bent out of shape and one of the plastic light covers broke. That said, I'm certainly not complaining. I replaced two of the leg levelers with casters so now the machine is much easier to move around. All things considered, I couldn't be happier with the result.