Catacomb playfields sold out on their site earlier this year. I assume the restock is when they get more “lumber” allocated for a given title.

Where can I get the pop bumper cap (decal?)? My caps are plain yellow.

I finally tracked down the bad diode and/or switch capacitor and the game seems to work as it should now. The trough switches are kinda weak which triggers an early drain. Is there a way to increase tension on the metal tab in the trough that activates the switch as the ball rolls over them? Two of those tabs seem to be weak/slow to recover from the ball rolling over them.

I just installed SiegeCraft LED boards and plugged the wire from them to the gray wire on the Tilt bulb. Now the toast lights blink at the same pace as the Tilt bulb, instead of the attract mode pattern I see with other Catacomb videos on Youtube. The blue 5 and green 2 bulbs, however also seem to be on their own pace in addition to flashing along with the Tilt bulb. Those two also have a separate pattern that looks more like the attract mode. I'm guessing the wire plugged from the LED boards to the Tilt bulb is incorrect. The test points on the SiegeCraft boards all measure a steady 5-ish volts. Where does that wire go if the Tilt bulb isn't correct?

Bank A, B, and C do not light with it connected to that tab. Bank D and the rest of the feature lights seem good. Am I now chasing a ground issue in the A, B, and C area? I saw cottonm4 was chasing a similar issue with his LED board install, but it sounds like his issue fixed itself.

Yes it’s clamped on to that base of the lamp socket. I’ve reflowed solder to the obvious lamp grounds and relevant lamp wiring in the toast and drop target sections. I don’t see anything that looks iffy to that extent.

Bank A: 1, 6, 9, 14
Bank B: 3, 8, 11, 16
Bank C: 4, 7, 12, 15

The corresponding numbers in the toast section are also not lighting. Other lights not lighting in attract mode are Spot 2, 500 at the spinner, Spot 1, and Spot 6 at the top lanes. I haven’t looked into those to see if they are just wonky sockets or part of this issue.

I sure did! That connector looks to be in good condition, but barely moving that particular wire brought just about everything to life! Thank you very kindly for helping me sort through this. Next, I'll tackle individual troublesome bulbs. I think I saw in Clay's guides that a bit of solder between the base and the lamp socket can usually get them going. It's worked so far a few times in other games, but is that frowned upon as being hackish?

On to a general question about the game: Just below the star rollover at the top center of the playfield there is a switch facing that rollover. It isn't listed in the manual as having its own number in switch diagnostics. What does it do? How is it possibly triggered since I can't see a plunge having enough force against that rubber to activate it.

It's tied into the star rollover next to it. Same wires and same switch number. Mystery solved. I guess it's just in case the ball travels a bit low on the plunge.

This club may not be the most active of the classic Stern era, but there are a lot of good people here that helped get my game up and running.

cottonm4
greatwichjohn
Quench
HHaase
barakandl

and others who chimed in with excellent knowledge for game play and what exactly I'm doing now that I can bang the ball around and try to put up a decent score!

Since everyone is still here--will this switch replace the kicker and slingshot switches on this and most classic Stern games? I count 17 between this, Cheetah, and Big Game that are all likely original and bent all sorts of ways from over the years. I'd like to change them all out. Yeah, they work, but adjusting them is proving to be more of a pain than soldering in new and having a fresh start with them.

https://www.pinballlife.com/williamsbally-slingshot-score-switch.html

IMG_0452 (resized).jpg

It was painted black by a previous owner. I’m ok with a blacked out Cheetah for now. As for the way I see my trio, I haven’t had them all up and running top notch long enough to give any real comparison. I’m a novice so my opinions are low-level, is it fun to shoot-type of review. Cheetah is my go-to game. If I’m getting a quick game in before bed or leaving, I’ll play it and have a good time with it. The spinners are in different areas and each spinner shot leads to another interesting part of the playfield. The only part I could do without is the slot machine style 3 bank of drops at the horseshoe, but even that isn’t much of a downer.

Catacomb is similar to how you have to think when playing like Big Game, but again, I prefer the shots here to Big Game. The bagetelle is quite a diversion, but it’s fine. The complaint of no direct shots to lock balls is absurd. You, as the pinball, are escaping from the Catacomb! You wouldn’t wander directly back into your cell!

Big Game is worth the price of admission to Pincinnati by itself. Play @chuckwurt’s machine and tell me it’s not on your to-buy list! I need more time to bask in its greatness, but it’s currently third. Thing is, I’d rank the high end 90’s trio as IJ, TAF, TZ, but that doesn’t mean TZ is a bad game.

Cheetah is easily just as much worth making as QuickSilver or Stargazer. I've never played either of those two, but I think the only reason Cheetah doesn't get more hype is because people with the voice most heard haven't had much time on it. For me, the money shot on each of the three machines is the spinner(s). Big Game's spinner goes to a saucer then to the B-I-G lanes, then to the pop bumpers before getting back to the speed that everyone loves about it. Its other spinner goes over some rollovers and back out. All three of Cheetah's spinners continue the action. For a game that requires thought, I prefer Catacomb mainly due to the multiball and bagetelle. Big Game is great, but what makes it great is done better by Cheetah and Catacomb.

When I bought my Big Game several years ago, there were a fraction of the total number of owners listed on here compared to the current number. I think it might have been 80-ish owners. Then chuckwurt began preaching of its genius. It's nice to see that a lot of classic Stern titles have been dug out from the depths and returned to use after a long period of being broken down or in parts and pieces.