Oooh, never played one. If I come over and fix it, can I play? Where are you located?

Check the small fuse on the solenoid driver board (top right board in the head) and check the HV power supply portion on the power supply (lower right small board on the side above the transformer in the head). There are great guides for early Bally SS games. Google them for much more detail.

You can grab schematics for this game from ipdb.org if needed: https://www.ipdb.org/files/2170/Bally_1980_Skateball_Schematics.pdf

As Skidave mentioned above, you'll want to check the 2 fuses for the displays. Check fuse F2 on the rectifier board (likely mounted inside the backbox on the left or right side with the big transformer right next to it)...it might have a plastic cover that needs to be removed to access the fuse, which in this case is a 3/4 amp fast blow fuse.

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The other one is a 3/16 amp fast-blow fuse mounted on the solenoid driver board, and may be an odd physical size (shorter than the typical AGC type fuses used virtually everywhere else). If that fuse is blown, a pair of fuse clips can be installed in the other spots on the board, allowing longer, more common fuses to be installed there.

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Make sure to remove the fuses from the boards and check them with a meter.

Good luck!

One other important tip for older games that use the gas discharge displays such as this one---never *ever* unplug a display while the game is turned on. The EMF can fry all kinds of stuff. Note also you're dealing with high voltage here, so take all the usual precautions and be extra careful when conducting voltage tests etc. I know you didn't mention those things, i just like to underscore the importance of safety when working on the high voltage circuit on any machine. Let us know how it goes!

Not to mention that YOU WILL zap yourself attempting to swap displays while the game is on. The "time saved" is not worth getting zapped. It doesn't feel good at all and there's a risk for some bad things to happen if you're not careful.

I've been zapped 2-3x times working with Bally/Stern machines, a few other times on other HV circuits in pinball, once on a floor lamp that's wire was chewed through and conducting to the metal base, once on a vacuum cleaner when I was 5-6 years old). It gets really really old So much so that on the new LED displays I'm offering, pin #1 position on the display header is completely removed.. only a 19-pin header is on the display board. No chance to get shocked on the displays themselves since only low voltage makes it to any solder points.

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http://www.pinitech.com - "Pinball Inspired Technology"
NVRAM, Bally/Stern LED Displays & Mods for pinball machines

Haha, one of the rare times you can say "it was just a fuse"

Congrats! Are you enjoying the game?

No, Bally didn’t put that on. Maybe someone didn’t like the special effects.

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