Yes it does that all correctly.

It will also release a ball before timing out if you lock a 2nd ball before scoring a jackpot with 2 balls in play. It all seems normal.

But here's the thing.

When I'm down to just two balls and hit the casters club to begin the Jackpot countdown and let time runout without ever scoring a jackpot, and keep doing this several times (casters club to start countdown but no jp during countdown) eventually the casters club shot reverts back to locking balls instead of starting another jackpot countdown.

Can anyone confirm with glass off if it does this on their game as well? It seems to occur with only 2 balls in play after locking about 5 caster club shots and timing them out without ever scoring a jackpot

It seems like it may be by design because when the game reverts back to the ball lock sequence instead of another jackpot countdown during 2 ball, the game still seems to recognize it was in a multiball mode because it keeps the same ball in play after you drain.

Anyone know what the part number is for the playfield prop rod/arm? All i seem to be able to find is the prop rods for WPC95's not the earlier type, which i believe is a different length??

That's not normal behavior. Reading this it seems to me your drop down target never goes up to block the entrance of the caster's club. You cannot "lock a 2nd ball before scoring a jackpot with 2 balls in play". If you only have 2 balls in play, and you lock 1 , the caster's club entrance will be blocked until it has put ball 1 back in play, either from collecting the jackpot or running out of time.

EDIT : Unless you mean you locked 1 ball and you have 2 on the playfield , locking a 2nd one, leaving one more ball on the playfield. But to me that would be 3 balls in play, since there aren't any balls in the trough , then they are in play. Please confirm.

I just tried this with the glass off and it never acted that way. I went through 12 jackpot countdowns while in tropical fishing and it always behaved normally, always starting the jackpot timer. Then on the 13th countdown I collected the jackpot. I went through another 12 jackpot countdowns in fresh water fishing and it always behaved the same, starting the countdown. I then just let the countdown drop without pressing any other switches and eventually the game started looking for the missing ball 2 I had kept in my hands during that time. This is the only time it kicked back the ball from the caster's club, because it went through the whole sequence of ball search and since during jackpot mode the first ball waits in the catapult it got shot out.

EDIT : Those tests were done with 1 ball drained and 2 balls in play.

The game is not recognizing it was in multiball but rather the game knows one of the ball in still in play. It has 2 balls in the trough and points are still being scored so : 1) the 3rd ball is not in the trough 2) the 3rd ball is not currently missing because points are being scored.

This happens to me all the time if you got setting A1 33 -> Game Reset -> Instantly. This setting allows you to restart a game after ball 2 or later is in play by pressing the Start button again. If you drain a ball and ball 2 is coming out and you press Start with the correct timing , it will actually shoot a 2nd ball in the lane and fire them right away. You now start a game with a 2 ball multiball. Thing is , the machine isn't in multiball mode so you get none of the benefits. If you lock a ball in the casters club then , it will not put out a 2nd ball in the lane because it knows that ball is not in the trough, so it must be in play. If you score points then , it knows the play really is on the playfield so it won't search for the ball.

My diagnostic, your drop target is not coming up like it should. If more issues are present once this is fixed (or confirmed working) it's time to look at the CPU board for corrosion or bad solder joints or chips like ASIC that might need to be pushed on for better contact , cleaning switches connectors , unplugging and replugging ribbon cables, testing all switches involved in the caster's club logic and their diodes. When the VUK kicks the ball up in the caster's club it creates some vibrations and other flaky switches / connections nearby could be affected.

I think this is the correct one i'm looking for but out of stock over here
Anyone know of stock anywhere else?? Not sure if the part number is correct either.
https://www.pinballspareparts.com.au/01-10797.html

has anyone had "reese rails" make rail for their fish tales in any other color than black?.........pictures please

Not my FT. These are from the TPF show...

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Aussie review of fish tails .

WOW, 700 Fish Tales sold in Sidney, while I don't recall ever seeing FT back in '92 on all my east coast travels. No surprise mine is a German reimport.

They were everywhere here back in the day .
I used to love playing it at the pub and that's why I ended up getting one .

I 100% love that machine (I’ve seen pictures before). It is an inspiration!

I just recently purchased a fish tales
The game is very fun …but I do have a question
I have the game set on factory settings and after I lock the third ball and multi ball starts
The caster club drop target ( finger ) raises
So I have to knock it down before locking ball in the caster club to light jackpot.
Is this normal

Yes is normal.

I found the problem
The actuator that lowers the drop target
Is broken
Part
01-8647-R

Normally it should be down at the start of a game and it will only come up at the END of multiball if you manage to score a jackpot in multiball.

Sometimes it needs a little adjustment when the coil that moves the little actuator can't pull it in without help. Have not seen it break before.

Well, that depends on how you have the feature set. I have mine on hard, so my drop target starts out in the up position when a game is started.

I look forward to learning the intricacy's of the game,
My part is physically broken as it will raise the target in test but not lower it.
I can see the tab that's broken off that resets the drop target.
Just thought I would update for the next person having issues .
Time to go fishing.

When the 3rd ball is locked the game raises the drop target to prevent any more balls going in until it has put all 3 balls back in play. Since you arm is broken, it gets stuck there. Otherwise you could lock another ball before it released all 3.

The first time I played FT I was working in a Beach Bar (Sharkey's) in Port Aransas. Perfect game for a small tourist town that had a bunch of charter boats. Who knew some 20+ years later I land a great deal and have my own.

Upgrading my cab with RadCals! The head and front of the cab are done, next up are the sides.

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Those edges will clean up nice with a black sharpie!

I will do that, thanks!

It finally happened. My drive belt for the fishing reel snapped. I have backups (is there any difference between ones from Marco and ones from elsewhere?).

Can someone point me to the best instructions for replacing the belt? Is it complicated?

Thank you!

I installed one from Marco in 2015 and no issues so far. I recall you remove the reel assembly from under the playfield and remove the e-clip and slide off the 'reel' and install the belt around the cams and reassemble. Page 74 of the manual PDF shows the diagram.

Thanks! I read a couple other threads with basically the same tips. So i slowly disassembled the reel and it wasn’t too bad, actually. Working great now!

The school builds!

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You should do the Translight as a full back piece

Back is full.

Belongs in the Iron Maiden thread.
Simplified Live after death album cover.

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Um, yes. I would say your back is full.

SCREAM FOR ME LONG BEACH!

In case anyone is interested, Cliff Rinear now has a complete Fish Tales protection package on his web page.
http://www.passionforpinball.com/FishTales.htm

gran juego!!!

I bought the previous complete FT kit in June from Cliffy.

This new kit added two pieces.

A quick email to Cliffy and the two added pieces have been ordered as standalones.

Needless to say, Cliffy is great to deal with. Buy with confidence.

Actually 3 pieces added to the playfield set now. The right side shooter eject, outhole drain and carbon fiber Jackpot insert. The "makeup" kit for those who already have the earlier kit is $20. I'm just happy to have FINALLY made a dedicated page on my site for Fish Tales- such a cool game and wish I had one again http://www.passionforpinball.com/FishTales.htm

Picked up a Fish Tales recently and am sorting some small issues out... a couple of things struck me as unusual and I was wondering if they are normal for this game:

1) there's no prop bar for the playfield... looks like there was never one installed... the wooden block where it would fix into is there, but no hole in it from a previously installed bar... and there's no holder/keep for the bar when not in use... is that normal for FT? The playfield does have the recessed hole for it to go in though...

2) There's no playfield high voltage interlock switches which are normally activated by a bracket on the coin door, and no bracket on the coin door... is that normal?

Thanks, and looking forward to playing this game when I sort out some niggles!! I had one many years ago, but probably didn't give it the play time it deserves before a fellow collector persuaded me to sell it to him.

Both normal. No prop on mine and the coils work with the door open.

The prop bar sucks anyway so you're not missing anything. I never use that "feature".

Personally I find it useful for working on the flippers, puts them at a convenient height... my new prop:

As you can see, I could do with those RadCals!!

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Automobile hood prop works great too. They are adjustable so you can set the height where you want it.

LTG : )

You always have the best solutions LTG .

I picked up at Fish tales last week and I am having problems with the reel. When it spins the plate that holds the reel on touches the metal at times. It seems like it does not line up perfectly with the hole. This causes The reel to not always launch balls when it should when it goes into multi ball and the third ball does not launch and has to go to ball search. Any suggestions?

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Don has my old fish tales. When I first got it, the wheel went backwards. As advised by members here, I reversed the motor wires and it worked correctly ever since. Odd thing was that the motor wires did not look like they were ever disturbed before me.
I'm kinda wondering if for some reason now it's going the other way again, which would be the right way, had the wires not been reversed.

65 pages into this thread. This is the answer I came to find (where to get decals to repair ramp drop/inlane damage) and I can't find what I'm after on the site. Maybe they aren't available anymore?

Got to the 79th page and still no answer. I wanted to read the full thread before posting any questions.

Have owned a Fish Tales (one of my two grail pins) for about 3 weeks now and it is in pretty good condition, it does need the cabinet art replaced but that can wait for now. Where the ball drops from the rail onto the left inlane is wearing. I'm guessing some mylar on both side will be the prevention for further damage but what is the best way to fix the appearance? Are there decals available for this or do I need to look into water slides which I've seen mentioned?

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A Cliffy switch slot protector would cover some of that. For the rest some touch up painting, clear coat and mylar would do it well.

Joe sold me a decent fish tales for a fair price and he's a nice guy and reached out and tried to help. I was able to get the reel working properly. A combination of unsetting the screws a little, bending the plate and lubing the gears and it works great now. I had not realized he had modified it but what he did works and probably stronger than the original. I still have a problem though. Some times when the ball ends the game goes dark like it should before it gives bonus but a ball then launches in the shooter lane and continues the ball. This is long past ball save and happens about 1 out of 5 times. There does not appear to be a problem with any of the trough switches so any other suggestions on what to look for?

Amazing new alternate translite by Brian Allen is now available. Ordered one last night! He also has art blades and limited prints on his site.... flylandesigns.com

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Sure sounds like some kind of trough error. Sometimes when the micro switches get old they get stiff and the ball does not fully press them down or a loose solder joint will make an intermittent connection at a switch. I would sit in switch test mode with two balls in the drain and drain the third and keep watching for any switch not reacting the same every time.

Also bang your hand on the playfiled and see if any trough switch flickers in switch test mode.

Thanks for the information... thought I'd point out that you left a "d" out of the web address.

www.flylanddesigns.com

All the switches were fine so I took off the apron to get a good look at them and after sending several balls from the outhole to the trough it finally kicked a ball straight through from the outhole to the ball shooter like it was firing too hard. It turns out it had a AE-23-800 coil instead of a AE-27-1200. Should I assume the AE-23-800 is stronger and is too strong?