Batman 66 is on my wish list. I play it on location whenever I see it. My wife and I stopped in to a local game (Stern) shop to check out the new Black Knight SOR. It was about 9 am nobody else was in there that I could see... (good thing). Jumped on a GI (because GI has been on my mind lately for some reason) moved over to The Black Knight and shot a couple... eh still want that BM66... OH look there it is over in the corner... (must have moved it since last time) Fire up a game, shoot a couple of balls.... RESET... WOE that shouldn't happen... Hmm... OH look there is a WONKA! Gotta check that one! Playing 1st ball, 2nd ball... Whats that smell? Wait I know that smell... oh well 3rd ball.... Damn, what are they doing in the back? Still playing 3rd ball... Extra Ball! cool Noticed my wife calling my name from across the room... (Damn it Man what now?) I am playing Wonka... (Leave Me Alone for a minute) Man it is really stinkin in here... Wait a minute.... That is electrical burning! WTF Now I am running around looking at all the games for smoke.... cough cough.... Look over in corner... Oh yeah the BM66 OH OH the glass is all smoked up! Still nobody around cough cough... I gotta get outta here! Ran into the parts area... "Hey Guys that BM66 is on fire!" HUH, come on? No really... don't you smell it? They shut all the games off..... cough cough head ache starts to creep in. I'm otta here!
Had to leave before we could find out what happened. It was a new game. The only thing that I can think of that would compromise a safety device is an Arc Fault! Dead Short wont do it. It would burn a fuse or trip a breaker. These things a commercial units with good safety devices but Arc Faults can compromise the best of them. Arc Faults, are what burn houses down. The question is, do I still want that BM66?

NO I didn't... we had leave Pronto. That smoke was starting to kill me.

Oh no the infamous Node Board strikes again!

Arc Fault : a condition when an electrical
Short is not completed but instead there is a gap between the positive and ground that creates a resistance. This condition creates lots of heat. Think of a spark plug that continuously fires and get hotter and hotter.

Ok so you just start a game and a wire becomes pinched?

Oh but it can... and did to me and my MM. March of 2016 I got an original MM. Got the game down stairs and switched it on. At the count of three I began to see the play field fill up with smoke. Shut off the game and raised the play field to see a small fire at the very back and bottom of the play field. A bulb holder had an Arc Fault and got really hot in about 3-5 seconds. Hot enough to start burning the bottom of the playfield. I just had to change the bulb holder and wipe off the soot off the bottom of the play field. But it certainly raised my heart rate, especially when I thought what if I had left the game on after leaving the house? hmmmm.... not good!

Yes it's a called a Node Board!

Uh HUH...

Now can you imagine the scene if that happened at the Showdown?

Yep they will refer to me as Sparky! Then quickly show me the door.

I hope those guys get her back up running.

Got it.

The LE looks really cool. Unfortunately I only had time to play the PRO.

I am supposed to do a Stern Factory tour in October... guess that's off the table now.

Smart!

Nah, still doing the tour... The bottom line here is that this can happen to any game new, old or otherwise. But there is complacency in that we tend to believe in plug and play with no issues 24/7 and that is a farce. Some say common sense in turning off your games when your not there, others don't understand the dangers in leaving them on.

I believe in the true purpose of Pinside in passing vital information on to Brothers and Sisters in the hobby. If I can help just one person with my experiences in the hobby then I have accomplished something. We can joke around and laugh about this event but there is a very serious undertone here about safety. I believe safety is a frame of mind not just a rule set.

Yes and this is very true for a business. However a home environment is a bit different. You have a lot riding on top of those games in your basement! Your family first and formost, all your stuff and your home. That is your largest investment in life! Is it worth destroying on a few games being left on with no one around. Locations have someone there always or almost always.

No doubt! Tell me where that landfill is, and I will head over and start digging!

Ah Yeah. Games are not air tight. Anyone that thinks a pinball machine cant start on fire is fooling themselves. I have seen it. Wood and electrical ARC Fault = Fire.

Where there is smoke....

I have always kept my games plugged in. I do have my machines on surge protectors and the outlets are Ground Fault Interupters. (GFIs) Pulling dedicated Neutrals? Never heard of that one. I just built a home with the ARC Fault Breakers due to the 2017 Electrical Code. I have to say that the ARC Fault Breakers are a joke and most of people remove them after the house has a CO. The breakers trip at random for no reason mostly where motors are used ( because a motor is really a continues arc) with heavy loads. Arc Faults are tricky because of unpredictability. I don't think we need to go off the deep end here though. Just make sure someone is around or in and out when your games are on.

Funny you should mention that, my MM has a shaker... wonder if that caused my bulb holder to Arc Fault and cause the fire.

Yep guys trust him.... He knows best

Hit him with his beer bottle.

^^^ Thats a good one LOL

Finally (since covid) I returned to GEX and noticed that If my name and pic was on the wall, I had been removed. I did take that Stern Tour during Expo in 2019. Met Gary Stern, but failed to mention the burning BM66 incident. (Probably for the best). I am still seeing threads with coil meltdowns and node board failures so this issue is still ongoing.

Just had a Mystery Smoke Event with my AFM that I picked up a few weeks ago. Yep you heard it right, mystery smoke. Turn it on and out comes a big puff of smoke with a sizzling sound. Almost blew out a kidney lunging to turn it off. ( probably would have suffered multiple contusions if it had been a BM66 due to the location of the off switch) I removed the PDB and was amazed at how it looked like someone had tossed it into an open camp fire. But I learned after studying it, that all the charred damage was from a previous event before I owned it. As I was dumbfounded I reinstalled the board and powered up the machine to find that the game worked fine. Head Scratcher is understatement here! It’s now a week later and my gameroom finally doesn’t smell like burned plastic. The machine still plays fine.
I have had to keep the machine turned off due to “the BuzKill” Whats the Buzkill?
Oh, thats the mystery LOUD dryer signal sound that happens at random due to a sound rom problem with the first version of software for AFM. Got the new firmware yesterday and the game is back up and running. Finally!

Define modern... I don’t know if the AFM PDB is flame resistant, but the section for the GI got so hot that the board warped. Someone replaced the diode section with jumpers. It is an electronic marvel that it even works at all.

Thats taking safe to a whole new level!