Question for fellow Blackout owners-

Never owned one before and I noticed something curious and was wondering if normal.

1) Start a one player game and left it finish as normal. Displays 2, 3 & 4 will all show 000,000.

2) Machine will go into game over mode. Display one will show last score and alternate with high score. All other displays will show 000,000 still.

3) After period of time machine will go into attract mode- state "BLACKOUT" drop the GI lights and displays and then go back to alternating high score mode.

4) Player one display will alternate last score and high score but the other three displays will now show highscore instead of 000,000.

Is this normal?

Video for those wondering, I didn't even play a game just let it sit till it went into attract mode.

Ok, sounds normal so move along!

Just replace, just a few bucks.

The one on Planetary is mirrored.

Finally got around to fusing my bridges on Blackout, easy upgrade that took a hot 10 minutes.

Enjoy mine, didn't think I would at first. If I'm playing and don't make Blackout by the last ball the start button gets mashed again.

20200421_100610 (resized).jpg

Only time I do repaints is badly trashed, otherwise light touchups

Of late best price I have seen was $2000USD

Pity as it is a really fun game with great art and sound, not sure why little love for the title.

Not sure the reference. What is wrong with System 6?

Have to say mine has been very reliable since being gone through.

Odd as the statement can apply to any piece of hardware that is over 30 years old. Caps dont care if in a system 6, 7 or 11. A lot of this hardware is way beyond expected life.

Frankly if you are not willing to get hands dirty you should not be fooling with 30 or 40 year old arcade hardware in my opinion or you need to have a good tech on call. Bulletproofing is going to happen regardless of system.

Just a follow up- I have seen distaste for early solid state hardware from people with some stratification. Some guys will not play anything without a DMD for example, hell I have seen people unwilling to play any game without a COLOR DMD minimum. The early solid states have a stigma to them perhaps unfairly that they are nothing more than solid state EM games which to some extent is true. Mostly are single level playfields with little or no multiball as a rule of thumb.

I think it is a poor choice arbitrarily ignoring them as there are some gems from this era that have great play and sound.

I have one Bally that those .100 has been such a PITA I'm selling it.

It has been an endless issue on this pin. Like playing whack-a-mole.

Look, I'm no great shakes when it comes to electronics. I'm good with general electrical repairs but when you get down to board level repair I'm still weak on theory but I'm good with my hands and willing to learn. There are some very good guides out on the internet and this board for how to bulletproof various platforms.

It took me a day to replace the 40 way interconnect, rebuild the power board with new caps and replace the diodes with heavy duty versions and add fuses to the bridges to protect the wiring in case of bridge failure. Not a big deal IMHO.

And yes, LED across the board. Warm White in clear and frosted domes goes a long way to reducing amp loads. More of a problem with some pins like Data East but can't hurt here either and better for the plastics and backglass too.

Back in the main lineup where Medusa was stationed.

20201105_171032 (resized).jpg

20201105_190719 (resized).jpg

I'll hook you up bro, take me a day or two to shuffle around pins so I can get the glass off. Drop me a reminder if you don't see a post by Sunday night.

20201105_171032 (resized).jpg

Common on overseas pins to get retrofitted with Gottlieb mechs for some reason. Cheaper, available or more durable? Take your pick.

Touch base with @sataneatscheese, he has a wall hanger Blackout playfield.

Glad I could point you in Mike's direction.

Gary

Easy to make if you have a friend with table saw.

Check the connectors at the top of the MPU, the contacts often lose tension and get a bad connection.

If you can take off and reinstall the connectors once or twice and the problem goes away for several weeks you might have the cause.

I was going to suggest making sure the assembly was clean too, I just had a Williams that someone GREASED the coil and sleeve.

Reset was erratic till it was all cleaned.

For cleanup of the contacts nothing overly aggressive. If something is really tarnished I use a fine 3M abrasive pad dipped in solvent like acetone. Even then it's a light touch as you don't want to take the gold coating off.

I have owned both... Blackout is the superior game in my opinion.

Firepower lasted a month, Blackout still here and played weekly after years of ownership.