The credit unit is located dead center on the component board in the backbox (1st pic) and the step up solenoid is the one along the bottom side (2nd pic).

What you wrote about the side eject hole awarding a free game is disturbing. That feature should only be able to award a free ball. You may have some wires crossed somewhere. I would go back to the switches you recently adjusted and start re-examining these.

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Thanks for keeping me sharp Howard, but I do have a Hot Tip EM in front of me and the solenoid that adds credits is the one on the bottom edge with the horizontal plunger. I already tested function before I wrote my post (worked as an EE for 38 years).

DD, Did you have any luck tracking down the malfunction with the match circuit?

Howard outlined the circuit that awards a match credit for the first player.

Maybe the first question should be: does the machine fail to award a match on all 4 players? If so, that means it is extremely unlikely that the fault lies with the 10-pt drum units for players 1 through 4. That would leave about 7 other "suspects" that you would need to inspect.

The match unit has two circuit boards with numbered traces. The outer wiper on the two rotating plastic wheels will stop on the same numbered trace of each circuit board. One can observe the number match visible on the backglass and then open the back door and correlate each match number to one of the numbered traces that the outer wiper is resting on. See the photo below: If you enlarge it, you can see the outer wiper is resting on the #5 trace. On my machine, #5 corresponds to match number 90 on the backglass. You can easily change the match number to anything you want by manually rotating the tops of the plastic wheels toward you and moving the outer wiper to another trace.

One method of testing:
Start a game with the PF glass off and advance to the last ball, but don't play it. Note what number the 10-pt reel is on and go into the backbox and advance the match stepper to correspond to that. Then, place the last ball into the outhole. The game should end and the score reel will match the number on the match stepper. You can test player 2 by starting a 2-player game and advancing the game to the last ball on player 2 (but not playing it) and then setting the match stepper to whatever # is showing on player 2, and place the last ball into the outhole. If the match fails with both player 1 and 2, then the fault is likely not in the score reel circuit boards and is likely in one of the other suspects that Howard pointed out.

Another question would be: does the machine award a replay for score or special? If so, then the issue is Not with the "credit unit open at last position" switch.

My money would be on the make/break switch in the game over relay, but it could be any of the other switches or plugs.

At least you made me notice that the traces on my circuit boards are dirty. I'll make a note to clean them
Lee
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That's the game over relay. There should have been a little sticker on the metal plate itself.

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Yes, Rocket... is correct. The sticker reads "Latch" and "Trip" and it would make more sense (to me and the previous poster anyway) if it was rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise. The sticker is attached firmly on my machine and I have not tried to peel it off and reorient.

The latch coil is the Z27-100, while the trip coil is the M28-700. You can verify that on your schematic.

There is a make/break switch on the game over relay that is shown in the middle of the match number circuit that Howard outlined in red within posts 3 and 5. That very make/break switch is the bottom-most switch in the photo I provided in post 27.

From your post 24, it sounds like you have a weak signal coming through the match circuit and that signal is not enough to fully activate the credit unit step up. That usually means you have dirty or misadjusted switches or contact faces somewhere in the circuit that are effectively raising the resistance.

Please start with that make/break switch on the game over (latch-trip) relay and inspect it for clean contact faces and solid contact. When the armature plate of the latch coil pulls in, the middle switch blade should move to firmly rest against the upper blade (see photo in post 27). When the armature plate on the trip coil pulls in, that middle blade should rest firmly on the lower blade.

If that does not solve the issue, I would suggest moving to the motor switch at position 2B and inspecting/cleaning that switch.

Lee

Great that you stuck to the task and got it functioning correctly. While you went in to adjust the switch in the game over relay, it's usually worthwhile to inspect the contact faces to see if they are clean, and if not, give them a few passes with a flexfile.

I referenced the wire colors of that make/break switch on the schematic (grey-brown, grey-green, and black-white) and matched them to the wires on the game over relay in my machine. There are 2 m/b switches on the game over relay, but the bottom one had the proper wire colors.

That make/break switch is located at about 7.4-E on the schematic.