I don't think that em
games had skill shots

Sure they did. Fireball, 4 Million BC

Yes there are Skill Shots in playing EM pins. However not on all EM games.

I would go with, that left upper ball guide that gets the ball to the upper roll overs. On the plunge try to get the lit upper roll over.

Darcy has it right. You want to get the lit rollover lane as that gets you two bonus instead of one for any of the unlit lanes.
On the Surf Champ I was playing this weekend it moved the light to the far left lane at the start of each ball.

Soccer and Super Soccer also had a "skill shot". Roll over at the top lights special target. It must go down to the flippers without hitting anything and then you have a shot up to the top target to score it. Hit something and it goes off! Same for 300 and Top Score

Yes, the lit lane gives two bonus instead of one for any other rollover. Hitting the spinner will cause the light to move from one lane to the next. For an EM, Surfer has a lot going for it. A skill shot and a bonus mulitplier.

A lot of EMs have a skill shot off the plunger. That's not real unusual.

My Surf Champ won't start alternating the lit lanes without hitting the spinner first. Normal? Doesn't seem so if folks are saying the 'lit' lane is a skill shot off the plunger.

What I saw was that the spinner is what moves the lit lane among the five lanes at the top of the playfield.

What we also noticed is that the stepper would reset to the far left lane at the beginning of each ball. If yours is not resetting to the left lane the switch that controls this may be stuck open or closed, whatever it uses to control this. I would expect to find that switch on the AS relay that controls which lane is lit. Probably on the bottom side of the playfield.

Resetting to a fixed point at the beginning of each ball for this type of stepper is not unusual. I have a Gottlieb Outer Space which has a 10 position spinner (and ten lamp positions) that resets to the same starting point at the beginning of each ball. On Outer Space every ten clicks of the spinner earns you a bonus.

One of the great EM Skill Shots.

Right you are sir. I stand corrected. I gotta play more em's

OK, makes sense that this would be something to shoot for off the plunger. Mine stays unlit UNTIL the spinner is hit, then will cycle through. This is how every ball starts. I learned something today...that I have more issues. Question: in a situation like this...how would someone know (without seeing another game played)? By reading the schematic?

Some features operate differently depending on whether the machine is set to 3 balls (liberal) or 5 balls (conservative).

I just watched 8 different videos of Surf Champ play. 3 acted like mine (had to hit spinner to start lighted roll overs). 3 had the top left roll over lit prior to plunge. 2 had #2 lights lit prior to plunge (wasn't on 3 ball).

Maybe a Surfer/ Surf Champ owner in the know could chime in on how this game is supposed to start. Thanks

The Surfer at PAPA starts with the left lane lit. However, that feed is pretty assy a lot of the time, so I don't really recommend going for it.

Actually, the thing that shuts off the special is "bonus advance," so you can hit a little bit. Also, that means it's far easier to get on an earlier ball (especially ball 1) than a later ball, since those games light up way more on the later balls for advances.

Yes, in most cases, the schematic would explain how it "should" work.

In the case of Surf Champ, the advance unit is the KS relay (AS mini stepper). There is a leaf switch that rides on the cam labeled 1:5. This means, it is closed every 5 steps (or two positions out of the 10 in one revolution). The switch is fed by a switch on the O (Outhole) relay and a pulse switch off motor 1A.

So, when the ball falls in the outhole, it will step up to five times to get it to the home or starting position, which appears to be the far left roll over lane.

On my surfer, the left lane is lit initially on each ball. The spinner advances the light across all five positions. This is the case on 5 ball play anyway...

Thanks!