My Hokus Pokus 2nd player scoring was known not to work well at purchase. I used some of the methods in other posts (such as cleaning a few things and adjusting a switch, nothing groundbreaking) to fix some of the issues, but I have one issue left:

- The 10,000 point wheel will incorrectly increment by 10,000 points, and I think I observed it giving out an extra 20,000 once or twice.
- Occurs only on Player 2
- Observed when the hundreds digit flips to zero (e.g. 14900 + 500 will end up at 25400)
- Occurs regularly

I figured that maybe the 1000's wheel switches might be off and sending a constant signal that the 1000's digit was 9, based on the schematic, but I've attached a pic of that switch and I don't think it is that. Any ideas? Thank you in advance.

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I guess the angle is not the best on the pic, but that is my 1000s reel, and the lower switch is what I think is the 9th switch (only closed in 9th position). When it is not in the 9th position, there is a lot of room between the contacts - it seems like you could drive a truck through it.

I had not thought of your troubleshooting step with the paper - I will try that later today on this switch (and also P1's switch for a control) and report back. Thanks for the tips.

Here are the results of the test: I put the paper in the 10's reel 9 switch, hit the 10 point bumper 10 times, hundreds did not jump so I went back to zero. That worked as expected. I tried this on the 1000's reel, but it did not have the same effect, the 10,000's digit (as well as the 1,000s digit) is still sequencing when the 100 digit flips.

I am uploading a couple more pics of the 1,000s switches. (On the second pic, I moved the plastic a little so you could see underneath.)

Any ideas what to try next?

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Hi Mark, I am badly color blind but I believe it was the right one, not just my eyes but also by doing it with a different wheel. Just to be sure, I circled it on the attached pic.

Here are the results: Repeatedly hitting the 1,000 point target resulted in normal expected scorekeeping, 8k->9k, 9k-10k, etc. I did not notice any errors.

I re-tried the 500pt targets and they are still incorrectly incrementing. ( 10,900 -> 21,000)

Not sure if this helps: There were a couple times when the 500 target did not result in extra scoring. Just a few, but I noticed them.

I am extremely grateful for your help.

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Tried an experiment on my own: Put the paper in the 100s 9 switch. The thousands did not increment, but the 10,000s did, e.g. 10,900 -> 20,400 after a 500pt target.

I've attached a pic of (what I think to be) the scoring relay just to make sure I'm giving you what you need.

Repeated the experiment of the paper in the 100s 9 switch, and yes, you are correct, there is a lot of activity (and some sparks) on the 100 point relay as it gives out the points of the target being pressed. The 1,000 point relay does not appear to do anything.

New information: With the paper still in there, I went around front and slowly incremented the score using the spinner. (100 points each, instead of the 500 points of most of the targets.) When the hundreds digit turns to 9, I noticed a slight movement in the 10k wheel - not enough to change the score but it definitely moved slightly. With the digit still at 9, I tried to move the 10k wheel with my finger and I can increase the wheel as much as I want, it never snaps into place. (i.e. it will move freely in a positive direction, just isn't being pushed on its own.) I could not go backward, however. When the hundreds digit moves to zero after hitting the spinner again, the 10k wheel digit then attempts to snap in place like it is tightening back up, and that's when it moves to the next digit.

I can take a video of this if that didn't make sense.

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Have been playing around a little bit, cleaned up some things around the 10k wheel. It is not sticking/sitting in free fall much any more. But the extra points are absolutely happening at the 9 digit in the hundreds, not the flip to zero. I have verified this by looking for the pulse in the back as well.

I will try to explain it better, because I have this down to a repeatable and reproduce-able pattern now.

First experiment: Hit 1000 pt target repeatedly. Each hit, 1000 pt relay fires. Each hit increases score by 1,000. Everything works as one would hope, there are no errors.

Second experiment: Hit 100 pt target repeatedly with no paper blockers:

Target hit, 100 pt relay fires, 100 wheel activates, score moves from 000 to 100.
Target hit, 100 pt relay fires, 100 wheel activates, score moves from 100 to 200.
(fast forward)
Target hit, 100 pt relay fires, 100 wheel activates, score moves from 700 to 800.
*** Target hit, 100 pt relay fires, 10,000 pt wheel activates and 100 wheel activates, score moves from 800 to 10900.
Target hit, 100 pt relay fires, 1,000 pt relay fires, 100 wheel and 1000 wheel activates, score moves from 10,900 to 11,000.
(back to top)

Third experiment: Hit 100 pt target repeatedly with a paper blocker in the 100 9's switch.

Results: The same as #2, except the 1,000 relay never fires and the 1,000 wheel never moves. Same 10k errors.

I do not think the machine is intending to add points. I noticed from the back that when the hundreds digit turns to 900 and the 10k wheel starts to move, it seem like the solenoid of the wheel (hope that is the right term) is pulling in but it does not let go. It holds it there. This is in contrast with all the other wheels that I observed that quickly pull in and then let go. The 10k wheel sometimes gradually lets go after a second or two, or it lets go when the hundreds goes to 0 after another 100 pt target is hit.

Very weird, it doesn't make any sense. Could there be something about a 900 score that would apply a stead connection to the 10k wheel to activate the solenoid and pull it in, but not let go? (I'm a beginner, chances are that's not it but if I were to guess...)

Mark - you rock; success! I went down your checklist, nothing really seemed out of the ordinary to my newbie eyes until I got to dimming the lights. I noticed that there was arcing twice as the hundreds digit went from 800, 900, 000. The arcing was in slightly different places. As for the unexpected arcing - I think the bottom part of the 9 switch, even though it was not touching, must have been close enough to the side of the metal bracket to make a spark when the wheel pushed the switch down. After a bit of fiddling with that switch to give it some breathing room from the bracket, no more extra points!

I did run into a snag in my test game where, all of a sudden, I could hear the motor running, and no points/chimes were being awarded. I shut down, manually hit the Score Reset and 100 pt relay a couple times, and screwed in the 100 pt relay a little tighter. Played two games and did not experience the problem again. Hopefully that was just related to my poking and prodding and a one time thing!

I can't thank you enough for your help - I appreciate all the time you donated to my game.