I have an opportunity to get an Avengers The Pin for what I consider a really good price... Potentially well under $1K. Just wondering if spares and support for these machines are still available? I know things like the flipper buttons are easily replaceable, but I know nothing about the rest of the machine. The current owner says it turns on and lights up, but doesn't feed a ball to the lane. Could be something simple and I'm willing to pick it up given the price is right.

I have an LOTR with a TH pending, figured a simple machine like this would be good for the kids.

But if there are "unobtanium" parts like boards and whatnot, I'll walk away... I do plan on contacting Stern later today to get their take. Figured I'd start here first.

Thanks!

Thanks Vid. It's already priced under $1K ($850), but I think I can get it for less.

Well, I got it for less! $650 to be exact. Going to pick it up this weekend.

Hopefully an easy fix - if I can get it working for less than $200, I'll be extremely happy!

Will try to document the process... 'cause I know pics or it didn't happen!!!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a simple fix no doubt...

Dunno - I'll have a solid look at it this weekend.

You all are jinxing me! Watch - the thing will be completely non-repairable!!!

Bastards!

Thanks!

Best thing of all - I actually got buy-in from the Mrs BEFORE I made the offer!!! Have to pat myself on the back for that one...

Alright, picked up The Pin about 4 hours ago and have spent some time looking around. You can tell it's been futzed with before - the bottom cover is missing, quite a few scratches/dings/dents, but overall in good shape and I'll be a happy camper if I can get it working. So here's what I've found so far:

1) One of the flat 9-pin ribbon cables is damaged. It is the cable that goes from the main light board (?) to the Hawkeye light board. Need to find/get a new one.
2) Couple of posts/T-nuts were loose or missing. Local ACE had 6-32 T-nuts so everything is tight now.
3) Two GI lights were out - just loose bulbs.
4) Right flipper button was jammed. Fixed that easily.
5) Machine boots up, lights up, has the initial start up sound, does the ball search by dropping the ramp post down about 5 times, then prompts the player to press start. All appears in order up to this point.
6) Pressing start does absolutely nothing. No sound, no action, no nothing! You're supposed to be able to get into the service menu by holding both flipper buttons - that also does absolutely nothing. The flipper buttons appear dead as well.

Would sincerely appreciate any tips on a path forward, short of calling a tech to visit. I'll give Stern a call next week to see about parts/part numbers.

I remember seeing issues with node boards when SPIKE first came out - could this be the potential issue?

Thanks in advance - I'll get pics up sooner or later!

Jim

Spoke to Chas at Stern yesterday and got some part numbers:

10-pin ribbon cable, that goes from the node board to the insert LED light boards
604-5002-10-12 (12")
604-5002-10-8 (8")
604-5002-10-6 (6")

Node board on bottom of playfield
520-5321-00

Chas suggested that perhaps my node board was bad given my set of issues. I had forgotten to mention that no other insert lights work besides a couple of inserts in front of the pop bumpers and the pop bumpers themselves. All the GI (which are LED bulbs, not boards) is working. He noted that the node board acts as the distribution hub from the MPU in the back box to all the satellite boards under the playfield.

I ordered the node board and two of the 12" cables. Hope this resolves the issues...!

I'll do my best!

Ok - so have a quick update on this...

- Main node board wasn't working. Got a new one from Stern and installed. Everything associated with that node board works now.
- Secondary node board also bad. Have one on order. Might have one or two of the led boards (fed from the secondary node) bad as well - have two on order.
- Had a couple of those tiny ribbon cables that were mangled. Ordered and replaced.
- Everything else seems to work / function properly. I'll know for sure once I get the secondary node replaced.
- Cabinet is a little rough, but it is fine by me for a player. Side decals have a scratch or two. No biggie. I might get new decals (if available) and I can always repaint the cabinet if needed. Doubt I will though. Glass is fine. No damage to the translight.
- Something happened with the back box at some point - as the support structure in the cabinet is repaired with glue and wood screws. Can't see this when the machine is put together, and it is structurally fine now.
- Playfield is in very good shape except for one spot where someone used a longer screw to attach a board beneath. Popped up the playfield pressboard in that spot. I've flattened it out mostly, a little more to do and you'll never notice. Won't affect play.
- A bunch of the board standoffs were missing - ordered and replace so now all the boards below are mounted properly, with the correct length screws.
- All the plastics and playfield toys are excellent. Hulk has one very small 3mm nick on his side, easily touched up. Tesseract cube in great condition.
- Displays and speaker all work as do the LED lights on the main CPU board in the back box - they're friggin' bright!
- Made a new comm cable. Originally, there's a short Cat5e cable (with 6 conductor RJ11 plugs - machine does NOT use standard 8 conductor Cat5e jacks!!!!) going from the CPU in the back box to a union on the surface of the cabinet under the back box. Then, another cable goes from that union to the main node board under the playfield. I made a home run cable and removed the union. It's easy enough to unplug it in the back box and remove the back box as you normally would.
- Once I get everything working again, I'll make a new bottom cover for beneath the machine. You can tell there was something covering the bottom of the cabinet, but that is gone on mine. I'll make something that is easily removable and helps attenuate the machine noise.

Have spoken to Stern Tech Support a couple of times - they do not have a ton of information for these pins. They are known internally as "Stern ELG" pins - the ELG stands for Entry Level Game. They do not call them "The Pin." They were able to give me shop scans of the lighting, switch, and coil playfield maps. Other than that, they have no additional documentation for these machines. Too bad!

All in all, I'm extremely happy with the purchase so far. Will be a fun game to flip on and not worry about!! I know - pics or it didn't happen....!

Jim

Agreed.

I've heard that Automated might have some. Not sure how much they'd sell them for though... While I think it is a very neat game and I am sure the play will be cool and it uses typical pinball parts, I don't think I could ever pay what they originally listed for.

To be honest, working on it has been easy so far. But then again, it is not tucked into a corner or in a row of machines at the moment. I have full access to it. And it is pretty light so it's very easy to move as needed. My daughter and I can readily lay it down or stand it up and she's got no upper body strength!

One thing I really don't like is the power switch at the back of the cabinet. Makes it problematic if it's in a line of machines and not on a switched outlet... Might look to relocate that towards the front of the cabinet.

And it looks so funny next to my LOTR! It really is 3/4 or 2/3 pinball machine!!!

Really not much to take pics of - the playfield does not tip up nor come out (without great effort), so you're on your back, under the machine if you need to work on it.

And an update - it works!!!!! Replaced the other distribution board, which is fed from the main node, and everything finally works!!! Really fun game and glad I took the risk... Pics attached, it's sitting next to my full size LOTR.

AvengersELG_1_(resized).jpg

AvengersELG_2_(resized).jpg