Hi all. I am helping my brother with a Gottlieb: King of Diamonds that he got his hand on. I know how Williams and Bally EMs power on but I have not ever worked on a pre-1970's Gottlieb before. Also helping him via phone is a lot of fun too - LOL So I hope you don't might answering a few silly questions because I am ignorant.

If he engages the middle coin mech switch, the game turns on, will game up and actually remove a credit from the Reply Wheel. But I am trying to help him keep the door closed and credits on the Reply Wheel (by explaining how to may it "Free-Play").

Assume powered off (no lights whatsoever) but plugged into wall:
1. Should this game turn on (light up) when you press the left flipper button? Currently it is not but I "think" it should but its a Gottlieb so I do not know.
2. The door has a push button in the lower middle (not the coin returns) to what I assume is the "game up" if you have credits on the Reply Wheel. When you push it, is it suppose to turn on (light up the game) - no credits on the Replay Wheel.
3. When you push this button, is it suppose to turn on (light up the game) and game up - if credits are on the Replay Wheel?
4. The anti-cheat switch (which has a 120v warning sticker next to it) - when you bang the door - is that to turn off the game or tilt the game? Current it is turning off the power.

Right now, it does not seem like the "game up" button does anything at all. The only way to power on / game on is engaging the middle coin mech switch lever.

Sorry for the lame questions on such a simple part of a pinball.
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Found this on : http://www.pinrepair.com/em/index3.htm#start

1960s & 1970s Gottlieb Start-Up Sequence.
Games with score reels.
1. Inserting a coin or pressing the coin door start button (Gottlieb calls this the "replay" button) activates the "S" (start) relay. The start relay will lock on from its own switch and a score motor switch.
2. The "S" relay will energize the main hold relay to illuminate the game (if this is the first game after power-on).

Power Switch and Power-On Lights?
Keep in mind that pre-1967 EM's (especially Gottlieb's) usually don't have a power switch. On Gottlieb's in particular, you have to start a game to get the General Illumination (GI) lights to work. On Williams and Bally games (even as late as 1977), often pressing the left flipper button will turn the GI lights on (which turns on the Lock/Hold relay.)

On Gottlieb games they never used the flipper buttons to turn on the Lock/Hold relay. Instead usually starting a game is how the Hold relay toggles on. This meant plugging in a Gottlieb game really did nothing - not until a game was started (either by inserting a coin or pressing the start button) did the game "light up." For my home this doesn't work for me. I want a physical power switch, and when the game is on the game should be "lit."

So, now that is quoted and I now know I am not losing my mind why the game has no power switch and I cannot seem to direct my brother on "General Illumination " - I am assuming there is likely some break in a wire for the Gottlieb "replay" button.

That 120v on that switch on the door is a bit scary....

Though speaking of that anti-cheat switch, I did not find if that is supposed to "tilt" the game or power off when you bang on the door.

Wow, lots of GREAT replies after I went to bed. Thank you all for not flaming me, I really expected it.

Thank you kind sir - yes after my brother took those snapshots of the inner door I spent a good 5 minutes explaining the 120v and not to kill himself. He is in a [car] shop with concrete floors. Also your snip of the schematic is extremely welcomed. He has it there - the pinball paperwork is actually very complete (rather jealous of that - that's rare from all the coin-op games I come across). While he is a bang up expert in auto repair, schematics are not his thing - I might as well ask him to read me original Socrates writings

Well, had a long chat with my brother. He match up the schematic from MarkG to his (which not only is there one original, there are *two* of them - the 2nd one never been opened/used). I went through the path and told him to "divide and conquer" the route with the Replay Wheel showing 1 credit available. So I am trying to get him to test for continuity at the motor up to the replay button. Basically is there a continuity issue before or after the motor.

One odd thing, clearly the purple wire at the motor is correct, per the schematic but once we get to the Reply Wheel / Switch - the wire appears to have changed to "blue". It's not discolored, its really blue up on the Reply Wheel switch (no purple wire to be found) :-/ While we have did a jumper here, still no activity on the Reply Push button

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Ok, so we have the "T" Switch. In the schematic is says this T Switch is normally opened. When the game has "balls" or the Game is "Over" I am told the actuator has not moved - so I am not sure when this path gets "closed". Also, he other path, the for the ball count unit that needs to be closed when at zero balls?

Yes, I have come to realize this just a short bit ago. Im a moron

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Hi MarkG -

That's the current route since I gave up on the "T" which you have again enlightenment with pointing out this means "Tilt" and this path will not engage if the game is not "Tilted" - Duh!

So, I had my bother find the Ball Until (funny looking wheel thingy). And I am waiting on the switch photo, so I can direct him on insure its closed when there are no balls.

Well, that is troubling. The Coin Mech is non-operational (which we know always works). I can just see the user getting the pinball, unplugging it with 1 ball left and not being able to turn it on. Regardless - THANK you for pointing this out.

Seems our issue is the Ball Unit switch. If we use a jumper, it works. When (game over) and lightly pushed, it works. Brother says it's tricky to get to and he does not see any 'adjustments' to either get peg to hit closer to the switch or the switch to be closer to peg (at game over). So I have directed him to carefully adjust the switch for closer.

EDIT: Post Switch Adjustment corrected the problem of the Replay Button on the Coin Door!!!

Assuming this gets the unit in "normal" operation we can then tackle modifying the pinball for "Free-Play" and better powering on no matter the last state of the game. Which I believe I will go the "T" Replay route by making it closed all the time with a jumper (with proper labeling on what we did on the jumper wire). That way the Replay button will power on the Pinball no matter what. Though I do understand the game can now be "restarted / reset" while in normal play.
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Hi MarG -

Well, I'm not liking jumpering the Replay Switches (two I believe) - so we have given the Wheel ~10 credits and disabled the coil so credits cannot be removed. So with the "T" jumper and the Replay (Remove a Credit) Coil disabled all seems operational with turning the game on from power off and this part appears in good order. Also we have Free Play forever - basically stuck at "10 Credits".

Though somehow my brother has gotten a coil knocker to always be engaged. This knocker is tied to the Ball Unit and turns on at Ball 1 and stays "Up" until Game Over... Best that I can tell, this knocker is not in the path of what we been "adjusting" - so I have sent him off to find this knocker in the schematic.

I am pretty sure you do, if you unplug the game and it is in "Game On" (say on ball 3 of 5) then the Replay Start button is disabled. If I am reading everything correctly.

Well the Knocker is all good. It seems my brother had to move the "G" relay around or something and it was stuck on. He move it back or reversed whatever he had to do and all is well again.

Which is why I am jumpering the "T" part of the Replay path

It's all tested and seems all cases are covered (powered off, powered on). It's a very odd design with no power switch that turns the lights on and basically in "tilt" mode. Its less likely the "power on" happen all that often when the game was in "coin" mode and likely no problem for the business owner to drop a coin in if by chance the game was unplugged while "in game".

However, we have no "Coin Mechs" so we can't just drop a coin in *and* we don't want the kids opening the door. Not only are kids not careful (not breaking stuff), we do not want the 10 year olds getting ZAPPED with 120v!!

Funny you mention that... that's my next task for my brother. I did read that ( http://www.pinrepair.com/em/index3.htm#shock ) and can clearly see how the metal Replay button can do that, if that fish paper become unaligned or disintegrates in some way. What a horrible design!

MarkG - I really like to thank you for all your expert help. As I said earlier, I really thought I was going to get a shellacking when I posted what I needed to learn.

"T" Replay Jumper Modification in attached photo. Which assumes you have credits or in Free Play mode.

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