Hi everyone,

I just picked up a Gigi from a fellow Pinsider and having some trouble. It was working when I picked it up, but I once got everything re-assembled, the playfield lights were not working. Everything else - flippers, bumpers, etc. seem to work fine.

I've worked on plenty of other arcade machines before but never pinball (and never something this old). This is my first venture - I appreciate you putting up with my n00b speak.

There are 3 fuses inside of the coin door to the left and 1 fuse under the playfield which all look ok. I have checked out the entire machine for loose wires and busted solder joints. I did find one which I fixed but no help. It was connected to what I believe is a coil, so probably not related to my problem anyway.

About 1 out of 20 times, the playfield will light up when the machine is powered on, but will only stay on for a split second.

The game is played so if you light up red lights 1-7 then hit the "speshul" the machine gives you a free game. When I do this, sometimes the playfield will light up, but only for a couple of seconds and then shut off.

I'm over my head here, and the guy that sold it to me lives a long way away, so any advice anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Wow, thanks for the overwhelming response and for everyone's suggestions. I've been at this for around 8 hours today but haven't really gotten anywhere.

I used a multimeter to check all the fuses for continuity - they are good. I also pinched the clips and they are making a good connection.

I tried reseating and cleaning the jones connectors. They did not seem to be that dirty to begin with but I did wind up blowing a lot of dust out of the machine. When I fired it back up, it worked! I turned the machine on and off about 5 times to make sure the play field would still light up, and it did. I used my finger to light up red lights 1-7, but when I triggered the "speshul" the playfield went black. Every time I tried to turn it on again, it didn't light up. Reseating again didn't help.

Can you tell me what this looks like, please?

I've seen this page of the schematic but I don't know which wires to look for. Do you happen to have pictures of where they are on the machine?

Thanks again everyone.