We got a Fish Tales last week and it was working okay (bar the wrong slingshot rubbers being on) until yesterday.

It’s now showing the Ball 1 Lock animation almost constantly and the reel is spinning, despite there not being a ball anywhere in the ball lock or Caster’s Club mechanism.

Any suggestions on what we should do?

Ive Yes. We've run a 'Reel' test and it's fine.

The main source of the error is when one ball is locked and a second (or third) ball drains. This is generating a consistent 'Ball 2 Locked' or 'Ball 3 locked' as the ball is draining, which interrupts the bonus information.

We're unsure if there's anything else that can replicate the fault consistently, as it does seem to be happening at other times, but that's the main source of the fault.

P.S. We've now run a single switch and solenoid test on all the Caster's Club and reel mechanism, and it looks like Switch 47 is getting intermittently stuck (that's the switch that registers when a ball enters the Caster's Club). We're guessing that this triggers an error when the ball drains because the pinball machine checks the switches and notices that Switch 47 is closed - hence, it assumes a ball is locked and triggers the animation.

How do we fix this problem?

Thanks. We've done that now. The spring under Switch 47 is knackered - the one that connects the switch to the solenoid.

We're currently trying to locate that in the manual, so we can order a new part.