Hey Y'all .. the wife has wanted a pin for a long time, and we stumbled across a Gottlieb Playball from a guy right around the corner from us, functional, and good price. So, we took the plunge. First order of business was to order the manual and schematics, a new ball, all new rubbers and we went with Super Bands for the flippers. After scrubbing off 50 years worth of nicotine, cleaning and waxed the playfield, and worked through a few bugs.

Everything is working except for one minor annoyance that we can't track down. There's *always* a man on 2nd base. The light comes on at game start, and the scoring works like there's a man on 2nd .. meaning the "100 when lit" pop bumper lights up when there's a man on 3rd ... because there's already a man on 2nd. I've cleaned the 2nd base relay and the hit counter. I'm gonna pull and clean the hit counter one more time. Any other suggestions?

The flippers are, in my opinion, a little weak. I'm going to get a rebuild kit. I can get the ball to the top of the playfield easily enough, but I can never score more than a double when hitting the variable targets. I cleaned those up so they are nice and smooth now, I just can't score more than a double. When I do the rebuild of the flippers, what's your thoughts on going to the "yellow dot" coils for a touch more power?

I've been reading here for weeks, and everything has been super helpful.

Thanks, everyone. I'll wait on changing the coils for the flippers and just get the rebuild kit and see where we land. I've cleaned contacts and adjusted EOS. Garrett , I'll check the return spring. I don't think it's too tight because it is a nice smooth return when reset.

HowardR , the relay seems to be functioning properly.

Last night I made it worse. I marked the discs on the hit unit so I could align them back, and I marked the metal clip on the front so I could get the screws back in the same positions. I cleaned all the contacts on both discs again, and applied a thin coat of dielectric. Now all the bases are lit, all the time. So it appears my problem is definitely in the hit unit and I just don't have it aligned properly. When I cleaned it before, I didn't remove the front disc, I just cleaned the contacts on the 2nd one by working around the front one. Now that I've removed it, even though my marks line up, I'm guessing something isn't quite in the right spot.

I read a blog from an Aussie who had a similar problem and even 1-2 mm of play was causing all sorts of problems with the base runners.

I'm a total n00b, so I don't know *how* to be specific. This is my first pin.

I'll tear into it again tonight after work. First thing, figure out what I screwed up when cleaning the hit unit to make all the lights come on.

*heads to YouTube*

Mikala - Honestly, I have not measured the angle. The book says to set it at 3.5 degrees. We simply put the legs back in the same positions as they were before we moved the machine. It "feels" right, in that the initial launch goes to the top of the playfield, but not all the way into the corner for a triple. Hits off the flipper can make it to to the top and don't feel too fast/slow. Hits off the flipper after a hold will only score a single on the vary target. If you get the ball rolling from the top of the playfield and hit a zinger into the vary ... it scores a deep double every time. Thank you for sharing how it should behave. It makes me feel more confident that it's just the worn out bakelite and a rebuild kit should do the trick.

--Update-- I adjusted the hit unit again and am back to the original problem of always having a man on second. That's progress in my book.

I did notice that the hold relay buzzes, like the coil is energized. Touch it and it stops buzzing. I'll be checking the schematic to see if that should be energized or not.

So now I feel like I'm back to the Man on Second relay. I cleaned the contacts. I'll see if I can find a YT video showing how it's supposed to work. Evidently it's not doing something correctly.

Thank you paulace ... we'll make that Man on Second relay our goal for the weekend.

I've been watching Joe's Classic Video Games channel on YT where he has about 4 or 5 hours of footage of him going through a Home Run version of this same pin, and it's been very educational ... as long as I can stay awake.

I can move the metal plate by hand, things move, and the light goes out. Move the other plate and the light comes back on. Looking at the schematic, the only thing that can trigger the BR is the Hit Unit.

So now which rabbit hole do I go down? Tear into the Hit Unit? Or start suspecting a bad BR coil? The Hit Unit seems to function properly. Stopping in the right place, moving smoothly. I assume my next step should be to put a meter at the BR and see if the hit unit is sending power to reset it.

I'll also add that I was looking at some video from when we first got it home and playing after getting it cleaned up ... the base runners were working flawlessly.

Thanks, y'all. I kinda took a little break from it. Did a flipper rebuild, cut new BAT decals, etc. After the flipper rebuild, the right side is awesome, left side is still weak. So I'll be going orange dot coils. I'll get back on the 2nd base thing. I don't think it's the hit unit.

Thanks for the caution about power. I'm very aware of the line voltage and high voltage sides of the transformer, as well as what parts inside are high voltage vs low voltage, and even the low voltage can give a good tingle.