thanks a lot for the feedback!

I actually found a screw in the jackpot saucer, I guess that was doing the short.
Removed it, tried like 6 multiballs, no tilt.
Will keep on doing some tests, but finger crossed that was the culprit!

Spooky Podcast gifted me a new Pinball Life left/right shooter rod handle. It's sweet!

ftsr (resized).jpg

Awesome! Show me some pics of that orange powder coat please

Wrapped the legs with orange vinyl like an import car (~$10 from eBay).

5ft x 1ft (5 Sq/ft) Avery SW900 Supreme Gloss Orange Vinyl Car Wrap Film

Fish Tales powdercoat options here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fish-tales-powdercoat-or-not#post-4094128

Thanks!

So was playing tonight and when I turned on the machine it reset to factory settings. I've had the machine for 4 years and never had this happen before. Has anyone had this happen to their machine? Is this something to be concerned about or is it just something that occassionally happens with a 25+ year old machine? Thanks in advance!

Have you ever changed the batteries in the headbox? I'm assuming of course that you have a regular battery pack setup and not a NVRam. If the batteries have died then it would revert to factory settings for sure. If you have the batteries on the MPU board itself and not the remote pack style then check for battery leaks as soon as possible!!

I have a regular battery pack setup in a remote set up and it looks like the remote back velco backing came loose when the pack fell and loosened the connection. As a precaution I also changed the batteries and everything (hopefully) looks good now. Thanks for the advice!

Jammed shooter button ? I started working on my fish tales tonight and the shooter button is hard jammed into the holder. I took everything apart and the switch works well but I cannot for the life of me get the button (white) to move in the holder. Any hints or places to get a replacement ?

IMG_20201005_174311 (resized).JPG

Ok so I found a red version at Marco but any ideas how to free up this one ? (sorry the description on Marco says it's a white button vs the red button in the picture)

Apparently I'm also looking for the bracket for the kickout hinge for the video mode hole.

IMG_20201005_185257 (resized).JPG

Found it at Marco, hopefully they can add it to the order I placed earlier.

Can anybody show me what this is supposed to look like ? and if you have a part number for the spring I would appreciate it.

IMG_20201006_131805 (resized).JPG

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/10-439

Thank you very much, I'll have to add it to my next order.

I bought that button. It is red. I also had to fab a plate for it. I would prefer a stock looking white one but oh well. Can you take the button apart? I'm guessing it is gunked up or internal spring broke. If you hold it upside down does the button drop?

The button doesn't move at all. I sprayed it down with a silicone spray and tried tapping it out with a screwdriver. No movement at all. Maybe once the new one gets here I can compare them and figure out why it is so locked in there.

Hi,
I have a weird problem on my fish tales, when I shoot the captive ball, I can't go further than "hold bonus", whatever I do, it is stuck on it, impossible to get the video mode or more... target is good and respond correctly in test and everything seems to be well connected under playfield. I tried a factory reset but nothing changed.... have you guys any ideas...?

What do you mean ? Is video mode flashing green and ready to be collected ? Or is video more not flashing , not solid green, just not lit ? My very first idea with your problem is to ask if you've increased the captive ball by doing a long cast ? In order you must hit switch #26 , Left return lane. This will light the long cast. Once long cast is lit , you must hit switch 62 and then 64 (Top right loop then top left loop) and this will increase captive ball to the next item.

Or do you mean that it's enabled and flashing , but hitting the captive ball once more after collecting hold bonus just won't collect the video mode ?

Edit: oops I had a picture for you.

long cast (resized).png

I have a question myself concerning the long cast. I restored my machine to A1 condition, yet it seems the long cast doesn't always work. Too often the ball hits the gate and doesn't cross it. I sometimes feel it's a software issue where the game was a tad to slow to open the gate VS the speed at which the ball hit the switch before reaching the gate (maybe the game was too slow because it is displaying something else that was collected just moments ago). In my restoration I changed the spring on the gate. Last week I pulled the gate out , increased the bend on the wire so that it requires less pull to open the gate, slightly bent the gate itself so that the gap would be opened faster as well, yet it still happens way to often that when I shoot long cast twice is a row , super fast, the second time it hits the gate. I might need to setup a camera and catch the moments it fails, to see what the issue is. But I'm probably not alone with this issue ?

Simply put , when I shoot the long cast too fast , the gate doesn't seem to open fast enough. I'm pretty sure this isn't intended by design, and this isn't the first machine that gives me this feeling.

You may need to adjust the metal rail in the upper left by the video mode saucer so that ball aims perfectly trough the gate. I was having trouble trouble with the auto launch going trough gate, and adjusting the rail fixed that.

Some cell phone cams like iPhone have slow motion recording so that you can use it to confirm if the gate is opening, or the ball is just going too fast and missing.

Thanks Roamin, I tried what you said but unfortunatly, whatever switch I hit (long cast, etc..) , it does not change anything, the video mode, never flash...it is always stuck on the first one. The long cast switch register in test and game play, but never increase captive ball value.
I saw a video where the payer, once hit the captive ball, it increase to the next level....that's what it ii supposed to be... I even changed the rom, nothing better, I finally set up the game to easy, and it allows me to get access to the video mode, once I hit the captive ball, but once again, it's stuck on this level, impossible to go further... I really don't know what's going on with this pin...

lanfeust : I would think the only possible way for this to happen to your machine is the switch matrix has an issue. Did you go into test mode and manually close the 3 switches and verify that the machine sees them closing ? When you are playing a game (at medium difficulty) and you close switch 26 manually , does the light for the "long cast" indicator light up at all ? That's the very first thing that needs to happen. 26 closes , the long cast light turns on. Then manually close switch 62 (while playing a game). If the long cast light was lit , and you close switch 62 , the gate at the top left needs to open the moment you close #62. Once that gate is opened , then manually close 64. Still nothing ? Definitely a switch must not be registering properly. You said you tried another ROM , but if you didn't have any checksum errors for any of the ROMs, then it is nearly impossible that it is a ROM issue. Which ROM are you currently using? L-5 ? D-6?

Is the video mode bulb in the captive ball area good ? Once you have triggered switch 26, you could simply close 62 , 64 , 62 , 64 , 62, 64, 62, 64 and one by one you should light the different captive balls. (you have about 10 seconds after you closed switch 64 before the long cast light turns off, so you could aim for 62 again and again to make that loop after loop and with 5 shots completely enable the captive ball rewards.

Whatever you issue is, it has to be within the switch matrix.. Either the switches themselves , the diodes or the integrated circuit.

The first thing to check is the switch test. I see you are French, I speak french as well, if it helps you out we can communicate in French (via PM).

@roamin: I will keep write in english in case my problem may help others. So I checked all switches which were all good, then when you talked about the gate which was supposed to open to make the long cast possible, I realised that it did not open correctly.. Closer, I could see that the spring was not in his correct position! Once back in place, everything went back in good order!! So thanks to you my pin is now fully functional!
Merci beaucoup pour ton aide!!

Can someone please get me a picture of J120 connector ?. I have no back box GI and when I looked at the connector on the cable it's one pin short so I'm not sure if it goes left or right.

Never mind, I found the manual and brown wire is pin one (far right)

As a follow up even though the description says white button it is red.

After more testing: issue is still here and been completely pin-pointed but still no idea of what's causing it.
Nothing is shorting anything, all switches behave just fine.

So the tilt occurs if and only if: MB is ongoing, one ball has been drained, one ball has hit the caster club, other ball hitting the monster fish spinner

This one is so puzzling that I am wondering if it's not located on the mpu board?

Chances that the issue is from the mpu board are very slim. The ball position you are mentioning makes a perfect square and the most logical explanation is there is a short. Remove the balls and go in t1 test, and take a picture? This will show if the system always sees a closed switch when it shouldn't.

Did you check the diode d3 on the coin door interface board? If the test report shows a switch closed other than 24 or 38, disconnect the coin door interface board and see if it goes away?

It really looks like the issue is in switches 14,34,16,36.
Tilt, spinner, trough 1, catapult. Someone a very similar issue in the past days and for him it seems that simply disconnecting and reconnecting the connectors on the board ended up fixing things.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fish-tales-tilts-after-shooting-through-left-spinner

Thx.
In test mode everything is showing up as it should and each of those switches behaves normally, but I'll check again and check also D3.
thanks for the link!

If in test mode you place a ball in the catapult, in trough 1 and you move the spinner halfway to trigger and hold the switch , does switch 14 (tilt) close on screen as well ?

edit.. Where can I find the tackle box decal that doesn't have to be cleared?

What is the tackle box decal?
Do you have an image to share?

I just ordered one from Classic Arcades on Ebay.

Good call! I might need one as well. How do you plan on applying it? Do you also plan to cover it with Mylar?

Thanks for that tip, this was actually part of the issue. It turns out I had 2 issues, the top right rail would send the ball a tad to low and it would sometimes hit the angled track just below the gate, even if the gate was opened. Switch 62 also has seen better days. It worked,but not every time if the ball ran past real quick. I swapped the switch with one of the switches of the LIE lane (until I receive new ones). After both modifications, I can now send the ball flying long cast after long cast without any issues at all.

From what I have researched I am going to remove most of the insert decals in that area witch looks like a pain but if you don't they will look strange when they light up.

nope it does not
I just tried and the fuc*** tilt switch never appears.
I am completely puzzled with this one, and as I am getting tired of it I just ordered a new MPU. Will report afterwards.

The wife got me this Kick-Ass t-shirt for my birthday .
She's the best .

IMG_20201020_223540 (resized).jpg

Awww... My 40th birthday is coming up .. And she asked me just last night what I wanted.. She won't buy me a 2nd pinball she says ... Cheapskate!

Maybe she'd buy me this! Source?

I'll ask the missus when I get home from work .

You DESERVE two pins

Ok so I feel like an idiot asking but can someone explain to me like I'm 5 (with pictures if possible) how I am supposed to lock the playfield in the up direction if I don't have a prop rod with these spring hooks and the pins on the side ? I cannot for the life of me figure it out.

I don’t have a game in front of me this minute but.... lift the PF up at the front. Lift it to shoulder height, put both hands on front rails and pull towards you until it stops. Then pivot vertical.

Also, search it on you tube

Edit: if nothing is up, I’ll make a dummy proof one for ya!

My springs are screwed and one of the hooks is binding up but I did get it to lock in by lifting the entire playfield up vertically. I think I need to sort out the bendy angle things on the sides first. I suspect they aren't working like they should which is causing the issue. I can definitely not just pull the playfield out, lift it to shoulder height and pull towards me until it stops. Ill check youtube to see if I can find one that makes sense.

I figured it out, one of the clips is definitely going to need some rebuilding but I was able to get it locked in the upright position. Thank you for the "shoulder height" part. I wasn't lifting it high enough to get it on the pins that it locks onto.

Teespring is the site .
Just type in fish tales .
It also comes in black .
https://teespring.com/

Thanks!

What is this hole for ?

IMG_20201022_175147 (resized).JPG

Mine is the same as yours, nothing there.

That's a laser alignment hole. It's designed to assist in the printing of multiple playfields simultaneously without resetting the jig. This enables the playfields to be identical and avoid variations on ball return from that ramp. Just kidding, mine is the same, and I have no idea.