Searching for a Ball Count Unit (and advance if we get that far) for my Williams Blue Chip. It's an Add-a-ball, 76, and it's slightly obscure. Fun game though! Just wish it would give us EXACTLY 3 or 5 balls, not 4, or 7, or sometimes 6!

Thanks in advance..

I'm sure someone will ask, but Yes, we checked with Steve Young, and his words were I'm told, "Good Luck with that one."

-Brian

To be honest, I am not the one doing the repair. Harold told me that the stepper unit had been hacked on by previous people, and apparently been filed in such a way that it can't be repaired. Yeah, I too would like to look at it and give my two cents, however this guy has been doing this for 30 years, and if he says it can't be fixed, I"m inclined to believe him.

But as far as actually FINDING one of these, it's going to be slim pickins huh? I mean, even if it did give random balls, it's not like it's going out on route or something. And, it almost adds to the randomness of the game! Um, no. If possible I'd like that to work.

He told me tried to make whatever the piece was that the people had over-filed on but whatever it was, I guess that didn't work either. I'll see if I can't get pictures of it.

Is there anyone ELSE besides Steve Young/PBR that might have some crazy part like this? I mean, people are CONSTANTLY ripping apart games and selling the guts on Ebay becuase they're awful terrible scum of the earth- wait, I'm sure they know not what they do to the soul of the collecting community- But I digress.. I guess I'm still pissed about that Contact in pieces. Grrrr..

Well, once the thing is "fixed", eventually I'll want to sell the thing. What is a good price for this one? Even though it's not a popular title like say Captain Fantastic, or Fireball or something, but as a few people have pointed out the game is a fun play! Lighting all the lights, especially those hidden ones at the top, is fun! It's stuff like that that made those games different, and maybe slightly more difficult to play. I was playing my Flash last night and noted how hard it is to get all the lanes lit since they hadn't invented lane switch back then. What I'm saying though is sometimes they'd make shots more difficult, or even almost impossible!

I hope I can find that Ball Unit, or at least the part he needs.

-Brian

-Brian

I have a Honey I could use for parts-

I looked at his picture and the advance unit looks like the same unit that is in 50 places with different configurations.

The advance unit however is a different story.

IMG_4785 (resized).JPG

IMG_4784 (resized).JPG

I am at a bit of a disadvantage since I don't actually have this game in front of me. My guy Harold has been working on it, and sent me the picture of what he said it needs. I'm not sure his lingo is going to be same as what you guys are calling things either. I know he can fix them, and really is the only one I know within- Well, that can fix them at all.

He was telling me that the Alternator (switcher, or whatever y want to call it) was also the same unit that controlled the Matching. He said something was missing though, and for some reason he wanted to set it to match on 60. I'm not sure exactly WHAT he was talking about, but I'll know more when I see the game.

I'm supposed to go get it, maybe tomorrow, Possibly this weekend. Once I get it in my hands I'll be able to answer - or ask the correct questions.

-Brian

I'm supposed to get the game back in a few days. I'm sure it's more of a translation thing, because if he doesn't know what he's doing mechanically he must be some sort of magician, because I've given him two other dead games that he brought back to life and are out in some kid's basement right now. The Amigo, and um.. the other title escapes me presently.. but he has some talent at fixing this type of thing. I guess he worked at the phone company in the 70s.

Anyway, no sense in guessing any more about it. I'll have him show me the part, take pics of it, and then you guys can tell us what the real names of the parts and springs and levers are or whatnot.

Thanks guys, I'll
Post pics when I get it back.

I wonder if the little tab is the problem he's having. I know he said he tried to manufacture one part or another, but he said that his repro wasn't "tight" enough to work properly.

Regarding SS... Yes.. And then introduced that damned interconnect problem. Along with those $#$%&^ molex plugs!! Hahaha.. But, they were on their way.. When SSR got there, things REALLY took off!

-B

Okay, I got the Blue Chip back. he's got it working pretty good. however:

1) The alternator unit doesn't work at all. It needs to be replaced. it's the small one, with just one single small coil that triggers the wheel to go around.

2) The problem that it has involves the ball count unit. apparently the wheel itself had been ground upon by a previous owner, and the teeth don't catch properly. In addition to this, one of the two latches, that catch the teeth, apparently was filed also, so badly he made one himself and threw the other one away. He tells me that if we DID replace the latch, without replacing the wheel as well, that it'd have the same problem. As it is, the game gives a random number of balls. Usually between 4-6, but sometimes 10!

This ball count unit is count up / count down unit - and it's one of the "dueling" floating catches.

I remember the first time I ever examine the mech being impressed for how the unit sort of glides back and forth depending if it's counting up or down. Anyway, that looks like the standard counting unit like in all the other count units, although this up-down is a little special. Seems to me that honey must have two of those types. I've pulled the old head for the Honey out to compare, and I have the Blue chip here to look at as well, however putting this BC in with the rest of my games has removed all the room to move around to fix anything!

I'm worried that spending much more time and effort making this game work perfectly will make it "upside down."

How much could a Blue Chip in good shape bring? 1200?

I would gather many people who play it wouldn't notice the alternator not working, and the ball problem, that might not be a problem for some people either. How do you decide when to stop making something "correct?" People who work on used cars, go ONLY as far as absolutely necessary to make the thing roll. I'd say the game rolls, and it's pretty much a fun game to play, however a collector is not going to be happy about these issues. Thoughts?

-Brian

I never thought of having BOTH alternator sides lit at once!

Maybe 12 hundred is wishful thinking, but geez.. sort of like any car that will roll is worth $500, I sort of feel like $350 is pretty bottom of the barrel- I mean, if the game plays, and is any fun at ALL, I should think the game would be worth five bills anyway, and since I have a slight affection for the game, If it doesn't fetch 8 bills or so I think I'll keep it. It's a fun little play!

I was rolling the game for a second time and though, "Why didn't they have an Over the TOp?" or even better- A MIllionaires club!

I found a swtich in the Honey that has the 9's switch in ithe stack, and grafted it onto the 100,000 switch on the blue Chip. I played the blue chip to confirm I hadn't put it bback together incorrectly. Nope, it's fine.

The way that switch works, the "Millionaire" light would need to come on when the 9s switch releases after it makes. And I will also need something triggered by a new game telling it to reset the Millionaire light.

I found a couple of circuits that would be able to accomplish this. I thought about doing it with an arduino, but I tseems like a shame to waste a whole computer on a little flip-flop circuit that could be written up with 3 capacitros, 2 resisters, and 2 transistors.

Anyone have any ideas?

-Brian

Well.. My Parts Honey must have 5 of that type of relay on it.. Would doing it with a relay be that easy? I thought doing it electronically would be easier, but I suppose doing it with a relay would preserve the authenticity of the game..

-Brian

Sorry,, I was going to have it lite up some sort of a "Millionaire!" topper or something. Nothing too elaborate, but It seemes like the game is pretty easy to roll, so to keep track of it is reasonable.

-Brian