Question: I’ve encountered an unusual problem with the first player 1’s score reel on my Gottlieb Paradise. It advances 1 to 9 just fine, but it stopped signaling the 10’s reel to advance when it turned to zero.

I’ve spent many hours over the years disassembling, cleaning and adjusting the “rat trap” score reels on these games. I checked for disconnected wires. I made sure the contacts were functioning properly, and I took the time to clear the carbon/dirt buildup on the contacts and the wiper board.

So here’s the unusual problem: when the score reel (and the accompanying wiper disc) is removed, the game scores properly — the ones unit pulses the 10s unit as it should. As soon as I reattach the rat-trap score reel, the scoring goes from 9 to zero without advancing the 10s unit.

Something is clearly shorting out the reel’s ability to pulse the 10’s reel, but I cannot figure out what’s causing the problem. Everything is seated properly and nothing on the rat-trap reel is contacting any wires or parts besides those it’s supposed to touch.

The second player scoring works as it should, so I feel like I’ve isolated the problem to the Player 1 single-digit score reel unit. To check, I took a score reel from Player 2 and tried it on the troubled Player 1 spot. Same result. When the reel is off, the game scores as it should. Put any part of the score reel back on (I tried just the flimsy tin wiper disc and just the score reel for kicks) and the machine refuses to advance the 10’s unit. I feel like I’ve tried all the tricks I know. Not sure what to try next.

Suggestions? (Thanks for reading)