Hey Just4fn, I'm in the same neck of the woods (kinda) - I'm up above Bellingham.

I'm in the same boat, got my first EM (Argosy) and its pretty daunting, especially when its hard to know what its "supposed" to be like. In my case not much happens when its turned on, but since I don't know what should happen when its turned on it makes it difficult. If you guys get a EM work-party going let me know, I might be able to make the drive down and say hi.

I write a lot of technical documentation for non-technical people and I find that people who are accomplished and experts in a field tend to forget just how daunting it can be to understand and make the connections. For example:

From Pinrepair.com:

The Score Reel EOS Switch.
Each score reel will have an end-of-stroke (EOS) switch for its coil. This normally closed switch will open as the coil plunger reaches its end of stroke when advancing the score reel.
The EOS switch's purpose in life is to break the power going to the score relay. If this switch never opens, a score relay can stay energized (stuck on). This can lock on the score reel coil on (energized) and any feature (such as a bell or chime) wired to the score relay. This EOS switch should be cleaned and adjusted properly. If a score reel EOS switch does not open, it will cause problems (particularly on Bally and Williams games), keeping the score relay (and score reel coil/chime coils) energized. However a broken, permanently open, or missing score reel EOS switch causes far less problems.

This is the kind of help that is available and its good, but it assumes so much prior knowledge. For example, I can easily picture novice people being pretty confused by this and asking:
How can a wheel have a stroke?
Why would its "purpose in life" be to break power to a relay when it says the switch is for the coil: "Each score reel will have an end-of-stroke (EOS) switch for its coil."
Why doesn't it break power to the plunger since that's what advances the score reel.
If its "normally closed" why is being permanently closed such a bad thing and permanently open "causes far less problems"