Hello! First time posting to this forum. I hope you can help me.

Subject is a 1956 Williams EM pinball machine "Super Score" (IPDB No. 2440). Bought this machine from an antique dealer in RI about a year ago. The machine had been refurbished, but little did I know I had a tiger by the tail! After spending ungodly amounts of money to have the machine serviced by incompetent service people, I decided that if I was going to keep this machine I needed to learn to service it myself. After reading B.B. Kamoroff's excellent book "Your Pinball Machine" I feel much more capable to do this!

I've learned that the machine is never "fixed", and is only between repairs! My latest issue has me stumped. After powering on the toggle switch, the replay button does not start the machine. It doesn't do anything at all. The machine is wired for "free play" but I'm not exactly sure how it is wired for this. I've studied the schematic and the logic for machine start up is quite complicated, with many interdependent circuits. When I flip the toggle switch to apply power the machine trips the "GAME RELAY" and the "TILT RELAY", so the relay bank is getting power. I believe this may be normal behavior, these relays are reset by the relay bank reset solenoid when the replay button is pressed. But unfortunately the replay button doesn't do anything at all. The relay bank reset (120v) is actuated by a step unit that does some other things, but the step unit is not being energized when the replay button is pressed.

I've included some photos that may be helpful. Would appreciate any advice you can offer.

Thank you!

Brad

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Dr Nybble’s advice makes sense. I just need to locate the REPLAY step unit. Possibly in the back box, I haven’t opened that up yet.

Also appreciate the resources mentioned. As the new caretaker of this lovely lady I’m anxious to learn as much as I can.

Will let you know how I make out. Thanks for the advice!!

Good eyes Dr Nybble! I never noticed that before!

It occurs to me that my problems could be attributed to the connector strips that attach the back box to the play field (see photo). I had an intermittent issue with the lights that I solved by pulling these strips and cleaning the contacts. I may have introduced other problems, and possibly a break in the electrical pathway to the RELAY step unit. Also the balls played lights aren’t working. I will need to check all of these connectors very carefully.

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Thank you Dr. Nybble. The problem was exactly as you suggested. The zero switch on the REPLAY S.U. was open. I manually cycled the replay counter to 40+ credits. Machine is working great now, until I run out of credits! I suppose the solution is simple, just short the zero switch with a jumper wire? What baffles me is that the machine was already wired for free play. I'm not sure how it was wired, or why it stopped working. So I have a little more troubleshooting to do.

Incidentally, you mentioned the wire codes in the schematic but the number codes are a mystery to me. Is there an online reference for these number codes?

Thanks again. This is a great resource, very happy to have found it.

Yours in pin, BradF

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Great information. Thanks everyone!