For anyone interested I posted a thread a while back with lighting mods I made to my EFTLW. The link is posted below. I love this game. True, probably the least in-depth pin I own, but for a good 5 minute pinball fix, this one is great. Played it a lot as a kid and brings back floods of childhood memories playing it. Friends always compliment how cool the machine looks, more so than any of my other pins. It really is a unique layout.

Here is the link to my mods thread. Be sure to also scroll to the bottom of the thread since I have added more recent pictures of newer lighting mods I made.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/escape-from-the-lost-world-eftlw-pinball-lighting-mods

On a side note, my left plastic ramp is an after-market remake. It is brown plastic with no patterned design like the original. I have seen this on a few other internet photos of this machine but absolutely cannot find ANY info on where these came from or who made them. Does anyone know?

Very nice. I noticed your machine has the *original* left plastic ramp in good condition. Nearly all of the machines I see around are either the dark brown reproduction ramp of mysterious origin or originals beat to hell and back. Enjoy the machine!

Most likely cost cutting.

Very nice! i noticed the T-molding on your back box is red. What kind of condition are the playflield plastics in? I noticed you have an original left plastic ramp. I've seen a lot of remakes (of unknown origin) without the patterns in the plastic. You also have the original playfield glass with silk screening. Nice machine!

I used hot glue under my top ramp to reinforce it where it was cracked. I also adjusted the spring on my plunger so a full plunge is just enough energy to get the ball to the top of the playfield and not smash into the side of the plastic ramp like a canon ball. I positioned the right top flipper so that the volcano ramp shot can be made but the angle is enough so the bottom wall of the plastic ramp can't take a full force shot. I also decreased the strength of the right flippers a bit, they are way too powerful imo. Hopefully this will avoid future cracks.

Have had mine for years and bushings never broke. I think they are original.

Agreed. The flippers in the game are WAY too strong imo. No real need for that much power and it greatly increases risk of damage to the (almost) impossible to replace plastics. I decreased the power to my flippers and the game still plays great.

Same here. And the innards of my Special Force (also Bally 6803) are made from scraps from some other games as well.

Ill try to snap a pic later tonight when I get home.

It appears that the right side wall of the plastic ramp was cut off. My ramp has a border of plastic that overlaps that area to prevent the ball from getting stuck.

Here is a stock photo (from IPDB) of the original ramp. Look closely at the area where your ball is stuck and you'll see what I mean.

Maybe it was removed because it was cracked. That edge of the ramp really takes a beating with the flipper smashing the ball point blank into it with a poorly positioned shot over the bridge. My ramp is cracked pretty bad on that edge, had to do some repair work on it.

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Looks great! is that gold powder coat?

I don't think I've posted these pics yet in this forum, I added 'upgrades' to my EFTLW.

1) flashing fiberoptic lights on volcano
2) hidden black light strip that illuminates mountain range area
3) some fake plants
4) lizard in the lava pit. Since the photo this has been changed to a human skeleton
5) Dinosaur props. I've since removed the large T-Rex in the upper playfield since I like the more open look.
6) additional light fixture illuminating bridge of gold.

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If you don't mind me asking where did you get the parts coated and what does it cost?

I have one single playfield lamp on my 6803 machine not working. I replaced the 1n4004 diode at the lamp base, tested the circuit by bypassing the base altogether to rule out bad weld joint in the base itself. If I put a bulb from the input wire directly to ground it lights and stays on constantly. The partner lamp that shares the other phase of the driver (Q28 in this instance) works just fine. I've ruled out the driver transistor, the lamp base, the 1N4004 (replaced with 1N4007), multiple incandescent bulbs, and nothing works.

Any ideas?

Correct about the looping but I'm almost positive its 5 loops to open the gate

Looks good! A few years back I was doing the same thing and ended up using a deep blue led strip mounted under the plastic trim I think the same way you have yours set up. I also used super bright blue led's around the "escape" door and super bright warm-white led's in the lava pit. For me keeping the playfield G.I. somewhat dark overall really made the blue glow off of the back artwork and the lava pit really stand out. I also used a slow-fade color changing LED in the volcano which gives it an effect of lava running down the sides. Also used super-bright orange led's under the mountain range (upper pf) plastic. This actually does not give off much light when shining through the plastic but it really brings out the color and gives the mountain range plastic a nice vibrant glow. I think so anyways .

FYI it looks a lot better in person. The camera doesn't seem to take good photo's with led lighting. The blue effect it not nearly as overpowering as it appears in the photo.

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Yeah you'll most likely never find new ones. I don't think the game is popular enough to make reproduction ramps profitable. I am curious though, my left plastic ramp plastic has no printed pattern on it. It is flat dark brown and nearly opaque. Perhaps this is an aftermarket replacement ramp from decades ago? Are your guy's left ramps flat brown or are they the same striated rock pattern as the other plastics in the machine?

agreed. I'd purchase a repo ramp if they ever become available.

Mine did that when I first got the machine. I disassembled the gate and gave it a good cleaning and lubricating that seemed to fix it. If I remember correctly I think there is a spring somewhere in the mix that closes the gate when the coil is inactive. You may want to tighten up that spring.

It's one of two things...

Either one of the micro switches (i think there are two) located in the center ball drain aren't registering when the ball is present in the drain or it's the optical switch in the left multiball kickout lane. You should be able to reach in and wiggle the connector a bit for the board that has the optical switch on it. perhaps use some contact cleaner on it. This probably is not the problem but you want to rule it out just to make sure. And it's also possible you may have to replace the Optical switch board all together but again this is unlikely.

If it's one of the Center drain micro switches , which it most likely is, then try very gently adjusting the rollover arm or you may have to replace the switch all together if it's beginning to become faulty. You can set the game into a diagnostic mode where you can test the switches to see if they are registering when they are supposed to be. I had a very similar problem and it ended up being one of the center of micro switches wasn't registering when the ball was in the trough. Hope this helps.

The micro switch looks very similar to this. It's wedged up in between the yellow solenoids in the photo.

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Turn the machine off, take the balls out and look down in the center ball trough. you will see two firm metal wires that look like bent paper clips that the balls will push down when in the trough. Those are the rollover switches. Those metal arms are attached to the switches I was referring to. If those switches fail then the machine won't know the balls have drained and things will not operate correctly.

Hope this helps.

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You thinking rom mod?

... Oops didn't see the video link

That's awesome! Keep us posted on the progress and details.

I'm a bit confused. You mean that the "3" lamp needs to be ON for the escape gate to open when the drop target bank timer is activated (when the gate would normally be open), correct? What is the mrs switch near the "cave shot vuk" for? Is it the cave shot on lower playfield by pop bumpers or the "build treasure" shot on upper playfield? The mrs is triggered by the ball passing through the cave?

Another approach may be instead of having the lower cave shot collect the jackpot, perhaps when the 3 lamp is lit (which indicates multiball status) and the lower cave shot is attained during multiball, that configuration 'unlocks' the upper Playfield "collect treasure" gate. So essentially if the drop Target bank is completed before the lower cave shot is made during multuball the gate will not open because it's still 'locked' . Once the lower cave shot has been made during multiball another lamp or auxiliary light could be lit indicating that the upper "collect treasure" gate is 'unlocked' so it will open when the drop target bank is made. Perhaps phrase the rules in such a way that step one of the game is to obtain the key and unlock the gate while building treasure then step two is to open the gate and escape. Using an Arduino, phototransistor, mrs and a relay board this would actually be pretty simple except for having to somehow tell the system went to reset the setup (assuming that the gate remains 'unlocked' for the duration of the game) . This would give that lower cave shot much more purpose and also keep the upper Escape gate a critical part of the game rule set. Just a thought.

How would you lock the relay 'on' when you wanted to make sure the gate solenoid was enabled? I understand using the ball to momentarily trip the mrs but after that how does the relay stay locked and know when to unlock?

... I mean without using an Arduino or similar micro controller.

Either way, very excited to see how this turns out!

Excellent work!!! I may have to do this to mine.

What power source (and its DC input voltage) are you using on the buck converter? Is the light activated relay a single component or something you designed on a breadboard? If it's single component can you provide a link? I'd love to see the specs and order a few to have on hand! Again, great work so far!

Inspired by SlapDrain's idea with the mrs I did a mod with an mrs in the cave tunnel. I used an Arduino uno and a 2-relay board. I relocated the flasher that is upper left of the volcano to behind the cave tunnel and swapped out the red flasher dome for a clear one. I mounted a #44 lamp base behind the dome and installed a wide angle yellow led that draws power from the GI from one of the left slingshot lamp bases. The lamp can be turned off/on via Arduino controlled relay. The power to the escape gate solenoid can also be cut via Arduino controlled relay. The relays are spdt and setup so if power is cut to the Arduino and relay board the game maintains normal 'classic' function.

The simple code requires that the cave tunnel is completed three times to 'unlock' the escape gate, otherwise it won't open when the drop targets are made. The lamp will strobe 1 or 2 times each tunnel shot to indicate number of shots completed. On the third shot it remains lit and the gate unlocks for 2 minutes. After 2 minutes the lamp turns off and the gate locks again. Completing cave shot while gate is unlocked will reset timer to 2 minutes and is indicated by a fast 3x strobe.

It sounds easy but is actually quite difficult to do. I also made a custom sticker placed above the cave shot stating "gate unlocked when lit" with an arrow pointing to the repurposed flasher dome (see photo).

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Edit: to be clear when I say "quite difficult to do" I mean actually achieve this and Escape to collect treasure. The mod was not really difficult at all.

That's a bit of a trainwreck you have there. Those plastics are near impossible to find unless you get lucky and someone is parting out an old machine. I'd put a wanted ad with photos on Pinside and let it sit for a while and see what happens. I've never heard of or seen reproduction plastics for this pin unfortunately. Good luck!

I might still have an original manual. If there are any particular pages I can probably snapshot them.