Lexington, SC
So I recently picked up a 1952 Quartette and ran into what I "thought" was a problem (still sorta not sure).
Background: From what I can tell, there are two ways to win free games. One is by scoring traditional "points" to a pre-set level, let's say 2.3 million. You can also win by scoring a different type of point that's only earned by completing certain actions.
Namely, There are four holes vertically in the middle of the playfield where the balls can drop and be held in the holes. Once a ball goes into the whole, you get regular points and the corresponding color pop bumper lights up. If you then hit the corresponding pop, you can get that different "type" of point that is the second avenue toward winning a free game.
Importantly: The balls, once in the holes on the playfield, are released whenever a new game is started. They then travel through a metal trough back to the below-playfield plunger trough, where a player can elevate and shoot them. There's also a metal gate behind the flippers at the top of the machine where lost balls sit until a new game is started. It seems the flippers are always energized.
I noticed when I first started playing a buzzing noise from a coil, and realized that the four vertical holes and metal gate below the flippers were staying open. At first I thought this was a problem, so I lifted the playfield and began to poke around. I could see nothing that was sticking (though I do need to do some work on that noisy coil).
In pulling the schematic, it appears that the metal gate and ball holes are supposed to stay open until you hit 100,000 points. This seems to me like it's supposed to be some sort of ball save to ensure you get at least some points on the machine.
Questions: Has anyone ever seen that before? Is it normal for flippers to stay energized between games? This machine has four small flippers, in two pairs, at the bottom of the playfield. Really neat design.
