Hey all - A Korean war vet (US Navy, AT3 radar tech, but that's another story) contacted me to fix his Bally ABC Deluxe Bowler - It has not worked in years, and he wanted to get it working. I've never worked on bowlers, so I was very hesitant. After seeing his machine, I'm hooked - I can fix this thing. I checked all the zero switches and steppers, and they all work fine. Relays looked good, movement was great, all in all, a very clean machine.

They are the third owners - its first life was in a tavern in a small Illinois town, followed by someone who bought it from the tavern, held on to it for five years, and then sold it to him The last tax stamp on it expired in May, 1968, so the machine is at least 50 years old. He's had it for over 40 years.

After playing and checking all the usual stuff - steppers work fine, score reels work fine, relays all appear fine and contacts all in place in holders, I finally found the problem - One of the Jones plugs had become partially disconnected. I have no idea how, nor does he, but when we fired it up, it worked fine except for one minor issue. Him and his wife were blown away - I thought she was going to cry.

The issue is the five pin always trips - My words may not be correct, but when ever the five pin is latched, the coil energizes and the spring pulls the five pin up. I told them it really does not effect game play, so go ahead and play it that way until I can figure this out. Something is telling the coil to energize and not hold the five pin down.

Trivial fact - bowling without the five pin was called nine pins, and became illegal due to gambling. To get around that, they added the five pin. Or so Ive been told.

So, here's where I need help: Who would have a schematic for this game? My research has shown they made this model for a long time, with different back glasses and operating modes. If there's not a schematic out there, where should I start looking for a reason to lift the five pin. All of the alley switches appeared to be open, so a wiring short somewhere?

Also, can anyone give me an estimated date of manufacture based on the backglass and serial number tags stapled inside the head. I've attached pictures of the machine, and I was blown away by just lifting the alley and letting it rest on its side. This thing is a tank, and he and his wife lowered it into their basement. Very impressive! You don't want to mess with Navy airedales!

Weird - the pics were in the preview. I'll try again. There is no decoration between the bowler numbers. The coin mechanism is for 10 cents.

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The five pin will drop down, but the coil energizes as soon as the contact on the side is made by the crank on the pin. It just seems like the signal to put the five pin up is there all the time. The other pins latch just fine, and that contact on the side closes when the pins are down.

I checked the contacts on the play board, and they all looked good.

I'm searching for a schematic, but I can't source one, I'm going to follow Mopar's advice and look for a bad contact on the 5,8,9 relay. I'll let everyone know what I find. I'm planning on going back there sometime next week.

Update: Finally got back to the machine - I spent several hours checking/rechecking contacts, wires, cleaning contacts, etc. I could never get the #5 relay to reset - the five pin was always up. I was about to throw in the towel when I finally noticed a piece of metal in the little box of stuff they had picked up out of the bottom of the machine. The reason the #5 pin would not reset was because the switch actuator was broken. (I sometimes chase rabbits down holes! Never occurred to me that there would be a mechanical problem.)

I contacted Steve at PBR, he did not have anything, and suggested getting the piece made. Before I go that route, I'm asking if someone out there has the piece I need. I've attached pictures of the relay, the broken piece, and other angles so you can see what I'm looking for. The middle pic shows how the actuator piece should look.

I also found a date inside the machine - final check was 10/19/56.

If anyone has this piece, or a source, please contact me. Thanks

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Special Shout out for Mopar - the part arrived, and the machine is now working. Thank you so very much. It was awesome to see this vet leave his walker and start playing the machine. He is one happy shuffle bowler player.

BTW - We found a manufacturer tag saying the machine was final tested on 10/19/1956.

Fontana - What are your questions?