I don't know how I missed this thread up until now. I must be slacking. I'm a long time Alvin G fan and for years I ran this website to archive information on the company and the games. It hasn't been active for a long time, but I had collected quite the list of serial numbers there (particularly for Mystery Castle) which I passed on to Matt Elder. I believe it was also the first place to document the differences between the early 'prototype' machines and standard machines.

https://web.archive.org/web/20120712180810/http://www.tristatechapter.com/arcade/alving/alving.html

It's great to have Michael Gottlieb contributing to this thread!

Yup, these look like the slingshot plungers. I have never found original flipper plungers and links.

That's one of the downsides with these Alvin G games is that flipper rebuild parts are not available. You'll have to get creative and hack a repair or substitute B/W parts.

I have the article in a .pdf, but can't find a practical way to post it here. davebart5 - PM me your email and I can send it to you.

Great stuff, Matt! I am hoping that you will be actively trying to retrieve the data from those 5-1/4" floppys soon.

I am no expert, but a lot of weird issues are often related to the power supply board in the lower left of the backbox. Even if the power is correct at the dmd control board, it may not be correct somewhere else which affects the output to the display. Clive at Coin Op Cauldron can rebuild these at a fair price if needed.

Here's more of that S/N list from my old Alvin G site. Matt took up the torch for a while after I lost hosting, so he may have some more data points since then. The one that was for sale in the marketplace for $8k does indeed have the proto artwork. The serial number 3406 can be seen in one of the photos, so now you have some history on that machine.

3406 robert cheek, usa (proto art)
3407 steve schmidt, usa (proto art)
3410 timmy vierboom, belgium (proto art)
3414 pinball perfection, usa (proto art)
3416 brian stahl, usa (proto art)
3418 tom altenbach, ger (proto art)
3421 toddi, ger
3424 anthony capo, usa
3454 mario van cleave, usa
3461 todd, usa
3463 dan loosen, usa
3477 rick burnham, usa
3479 basil leblanc, usa
3486 ipp, usa
3493 scott kenny, aus
3495 arthur, holland
3521 gregor, ger
3526 matt elder, usa
3540 fred pika, ger
3550 jess askey, usa
3572 anon, usa
3583 dan loosen, usa
3592 unknown, usa
3594 robertmee, usa, made for Italian market
3601 maurizio, italy, made for Italian market
3603 mike, usa, made for Austrian market

Unfortunately, my old site is long gone. You may still be able to find it on the wayback machine or something like that.

Production playfield art has purple banners with text at the shot entrances, and purple CASTLE text for the drops. Sample/Proto playfield has blank white banners and white CASTLE text.

7a4091881 (resized).jpg

mysterycastle2 (resized).jpg

Good call. I had forgot about the cabinets being re-sprayed World Tour cabinets too. My best guess is that the early playfields were printed before they had settled on the names for the major shots.

Others have done this before. There was a podcast interview with Michael Gottlieb years ago where he was asked extensively about MC. He did clear up some things about the number of machines produced, but he didn't have any documentation. We can only assume that 3400 or 3401 would have been the first machine built, though very early units may have been used in-house only. Matt Elder probably knows more than anyone on the subject, and has more documents and pieces of company history than even the people that worked there.

Don't get discouraged. It's always good to see a new owner who's enthusiastic about this title like I am. I've had mine for over 10 years now and it's still one of my all-time favorite pins.

Not stock. That was just a pic of a modded MC that I found online years ago and used as an example.

Sure, what the heck... Added!

3406 robert cheek, usa (proto art)
3407 steve schmidt, usa (proto art)
3410 timmy vierboom, belgium (proto art)
3414 pinball perfection, usa (proto art)
3416 brian stahl, usa (proto art)
3418 tom altenbach, ger (proto art)
3421 toddi, ger
3424 anthony capo, usa
3454 mario van cleave, usa
3461 todd, usa
3463 dan loosen, usa
3477 rick burnham, usa
3479 basil leblanc, usa
3486 ipp, usa
3493 scott kenny, aus
3495 arthur, holland
3521 gregor, ger
3526 matt elder, usa
3537 m. fanum, usa
3540 fred pika, ger
3550 jess askey, usa
3572 anon, usa
3583 dan loosen, usa
3592 unknown, usa
3594 robertmee, usa, made for Italian market
3601 maurizio, italy, made for Italian market
3603 mike, usa, made for Austrian market

Just some thoughts...

The lighting simulates lightening strikes when the bonus counts. If most of your flashers are out, I am guessing you are just seeing part of that display. I would start with the simplest solution first and check the bulbs that are out.

"Please Wait" should only be on the display for a few seconds when you first boot the game. Your game may be resetting.

Are these out in test too? I'm pretty sure these aren't normally lit until you progress in the game.

Just speculation, but the power supply board in the lower left of the backbox is a common failure point on this game. It can cause all sorts of strange issues. Clive at CoinOp Cauldron can refurb these at a reasonable price.

Thanks. Will add it to the list.

Congrats! I would have expected that one to be an export too.

Interesting. This machine was previously owned by a collector in Germany.