I believe the LISY free play is not as you would intuitively think. You have to press and hold the start button for a few seconds. It's then supposed to add a credit then start a game, or something like that.
Its not just "free play" and go.

Jeff

I went with white standard bands and blue flipper bands. At one point I hade blue GI lights, but that made it even darker. When I changed back to nice bright cool white Comets LEDs, standard white bands were fine for me.

Jeff

Yes, you can. It’s just got a higher voltage rating.

If you don’t want to tip it all the way up against the back box, you’ll probably need to fabricate your own prop bar. Best way for that is probably to base it where coin box goes and prop the playfield from the center.

Black Hole and Pharaoh! Nice! I love both of those games.

If you are into BUILDING circuit boards, I’ve successfully built and tested a LISY80 board in my Black Hole (and a TX Sector), so that would be an option if you’re into that.
It would probably cost a little less than $100, but would require more time and effort (and some chips may be difficult to get these days).
Here’s a link:
https://lisy.dev/lisy80.html
When I built mine a couple years ago, the designer was helpful to me. He’s got a contact link on his site.

Jeff

Any chance the gate (or gate mechanism) is physically stuck?
Or maybe just a little resistant to moving?
Just an idea….I had mine that was sometimes NEVER open, and just needed a little adjustment.

Jeff

It’s been a while on mine, but I thought the light was triggered by the gate. On mine if the gate didn’t move, the light didn’t change, as I recall…

Those 555 sockets may limit your choices on types of bulbs. I think they hold them up a little taller in the pop bumper.
I swapped out on my old KISS and now must use “flat top” LEDs in there.
Not a huge deal for me, but wanted to share.

Jeff

I used to have blue in mine for a while. Eventually I learned not to use colors in the games and have changed it back to cool white. That became easier to see the ball, and the artwork was no longer washed out. I left blue LEDs in the pop bumpers and that looks ok to me, but pretty much all the others got preferably changed back to white, including the back glass. That worked around all of my machines. Sure, you could probably leave a colored LED in a colored light-up on the playfield, I guess.
You can give the blue a try, and that might be ok for you, but I know lots that would recommend you to change it back to white, or if you sell it sometime, it’ll get changed back.Just a recommendation.
Jeff