Some Gottlieb AAB games have a “first ball relay”. It energizes when all the score reels are at zero. Its purpose is to open the circuit to the subtract ball count unit. Otherwise the game would subtract your first ball when it rolls across the trough switch into the shooter lane, which sounds like your problem.

Check to see if your game has one of these, which I think is the Z relay. It might not be energizing because of a misadjusted or oxidized switch on one of the four score reels.

P.S. The Z relay also has the unintended side effect of giving you a “mulligan” if you drain your first ball without scoring any points!

Hi Incomer Welcome to pinside.

Hearts & Spades has what the schematic calls the 1st Ball in Play (D) relay, which locks on while the score reels are on zero.

Beyond that, I sent you a reply in a personal message.

So the Control Bank is resetting just a little bit early.
Are you sure that the Ball Count's snow shoes (spring
loaded wipers) are pretty much spot on?

Yeah, in the 2/3 ball, the control bank coil must fire after the ball count only steps up once.
In the 5 ball, if the forth position rivet is worn enough, it'll fire in the 5th position, which then
will give 6 balls. Just a note: When this does happen, usually that snow shoe is quite worn, and
changing it more than not will do the trick. Of course that's not the problem here..
One time while going through a Subway, many times the ball count would end up on ball 4 at
the start of a game, but you were able to see the ball light kinda jump. The problem was in the DB (Reset
Relay). A make/break switch was too close, and at reset, they all 3 vibrated together, thus energizing
the ball counts step up coil as it should, but also slightly pulsing the reset coil which neutralized the
step up coil from energizing to the 5th ball. And actually, all the switches in the DB Relay were all
lower than they should have been which limited the amount of space to be between the switches.
I reset all switches upward, re-adjusted, and all was fine.
On the H&S DB Relay, there's an armature switch which is in the circuitry of the ball count's step up,
so the circuitry for the reset coil in that relay is only a pair of contacts, but I'd say it is possible that
those switches may be too close together and vibrating at reset, but also a set of switches at the
zero position Ball Count Unit would have to be mis-adjusted, or to close together. I know that may not
sound very likely, but maybe it's worth rechecking the DB Relay switches, and also the zero position
Ball Count Unit's switches..

What about if you loosen the wiper disc and turn it one step clockwise?
I believe "Hearts and Spades" actually is supposed to go up to 11 balls, even though only 10 are shown on the backglass. The reason for this is because you can win two balls on a drain, so if you're on ball nine, you don't get cheated. Obviously, if you're on ball ten, you wouldn't expect to be able to win any beyond that. I owned one once long ago (my first game) and I remember it working that way.

Okay, good deal, but eventually you'll want to set the wiper in the proper position.
Changing the snow shoe is no problem, but we can get to that after the weekend.
If you haven't already, for now it might be a pretty good idea to lube up those
grooved rivets quite well. (T)
P.S. for the later 60s Gottliebs, those snow shoes are quite plentiful, but for the
early 60s, (on a Flipper Fair anyways), they're thinner and after quite a long seach,
I ended up having to grind a thicker one thinner..
With the snow shoe (and rivet) worn, I can understand why it would give you 4 balls
on a 3 ball setting, but it should have gave 6 balls on a 5 ball setting..
I have a H&S set up. We'll get her figured out after the weekend as long as it plays
good enough till then..

I've had good luck repairing worn rivets with silver solder. It's much harder that normal solder and can stand up to the snow shoes better. You should probably clean the rivet well, fill any gaps or damage with silver solder, then carefully smooth or reshape the rivet so the snow shoes ride over it easily.
Contact repair (resized).jpg
Here the inner contacts have been filed down nicely. The outer contacts still need a little work.

/Mark

Sorry I don't recall what the melting temperature is. You may have to google that. I can tell you that I don't use a soldering iron for EM pinball work though. I use a manly 100/140 watt soldering gun.

/Mark

Yes, that's right. With worn rivets and snow wiper, I can't understand why it gave 1 less ball. Should
have gave 1 additional. It'll sort out easy enough..
I filled rivets with normal solder, but never with silver. I'll keep that in mind..

This switch on the Ball Count unit shouldn't close until the Add Ball Count coil's solenoid plunger is near the end of its stroke. Then the Control Bank should reset at almost the same time the Ball Count unit advances from 2, 4, or 7 balls to 3, 5, or 8.

Note that this circuit runs on full 120 volt line voltage.

Pinball (resized).png

My camera's not been giving the sharpest pictures lately, but it can be made out..
These were takin' in the total reset (zero) position. The switch that the arrow is on
should only be open at total reset. (This is the switch you asked about)

The inside switch: (closest to the nuts of the bolt) opens the reset coil. It opens at
total reset, and closes with one step up..
The second switch: Zero position control - opens at total reset, closes with one step up.
The third switch: Completes the circuit to the DB Relay - closed at total reset, opens
with one step up..

IMG_1322 (resized).JPG

IMG_1323 (resized).JPG

Did you check the wire colors to make sure you have the right switch?

My mistake. I just took a look at my schematic.
That's the problem. White on one switch, White-
Orange-Black on the other should be open, and
closed when in the energized position. The other
set should be NC, and opened when energized..

The schematic didn't mention EOS. I should have look at my schematic the first time..
Looks like it needs a long replacement blade along with an insulating strip..
The plunger arm is actually making contact with the second blade..

IMG_1324 (resized).JPG

That does explain why one less ball at start up. With that switch already being closed,
the Control Bank Reset coil would energize as soon as the wiper's snow shoes reach
it's position to complete that circuit..
Actually, not a metal strip, but that top blade itself suppose to be longer. What you see
in the last pic that I sent is the blade itself, with an insulating strip on top..
If you happen not to have the longer blade, I should have one..

One last thing is that you might want to check that spring loaded snow show.
I wouldn't be surprised if the roundness is worn flat which makes it close to 1/16"
shorter than the others which makes a huge difference..

I don't like disagreeing with the guide, but they're actually a piece of cake to change..
On some disc, the tail has a slit and has to be squeezed together just a bit. I've
done quite a few on the Gottlieb Ball Count wiper boards, and I'm pretty certain
all you have to do is de-solder the wire off and melt the remaining of what solder may
be left on the snow shoe, and it'll slip right out. Of coarse you'll want to lift up on
it so the spring is compressed as you're doing the de-soldering..
Most likely only changing the inside one (which is most likely the most worn) will
do the trick, but if both seem worn, might as well change the two..
The thing is, when soldering the wire to the new shoe, you'll want just a small
amount at the tail (end) to ensure that the snow shoe doesn't bottom out where
it's soldered..
This alone will cure the problem, but filling in those rivets would be double insurance,
then with lube, she'll surely be good to go..

Snow shoe, ACH! I could never understand that terminology. Much more like an ice skate than a snow shoe!

You're right. I have always referred them as spring loaded wipers (and still do), but also followed suit with
snow shoes after hearing it a few times. If they actually were formed as snow shoes, I'm sure not only itself,
but also the rivets would have worn much less..