Mars, God of War Club 'n' Tech Emporium

I used to play pinball with my late father. I remember clearly that we both enjoyed playing this game when it was new: Roman mythology, space ships, voice, ramp, 4 flippers. Keen! It has been on my wishlist ever since I got into pinball machines several years ago.

I picked one up recently, & I have a handful of tech questions & issues. I'll start with just 1 for now:

This machine previously had a mechanical bracketry mod to attach the inner glass to the swing-out backbox frame:

MGOW Inner BG Mt Scheme.JPG

For the life of me, I can't figure out how to remove the inner glass so that I can replace bulbs & clean it out.
- There are 2 prominent brackets at right, which accept the locks.
- There are 3 L-brackets (top right, top left, bottom right) that remove the lamp-holding wooden square frame and the inner backglass.
- There's a small aluminum channel at left that doesn't seem to have a hand in glass retention.

Anybody seen this glass retention scheme?

Thanks,
-Jason

Figured it out yesterday morning. Required undoing some screws & tweaking the backbox frame to weasel the glass out.

Without getting into gory detail, the inner glass is resting in an aluminum L-channel & tucked in another L-channel up top, sandwiched on the left by another Al L-channel, & sandwiched on the right by the 2 lock receptacles.

1: I needed to undo the 2 large bracket screws at right, manhandle the inner glass + chaser light frame out a little until the glass would clear the lock receptacles.

2: Then scooch the glass to the right, which uncovered a screw at top left.

3: Then, I had to remove the left end stop.

4: Then I had to scooch the glass left to reveal a covered screw at top right.

Glass.JPG

Then the top L-channel was freed & the glass came out. If only that top channel were just a little wider & had its screws accessible without needing to manhandle the glass back & forth. Unfortunately, both the top & bottom L-channels were cut to the exact width of the glass...

So, it's a relatively easy fix to redo that top L-channel, or perhaps replace it with a couple of offset mirror clips like these: amazon.com link » , so the screw is accessible when the glass is installed. The top clips need to just keep the glass from tipping forward; the bottom L-channel supports the glass.

Time to throw in a bunch of red LEDs!!! This game has lots of fussy lamp sockets--I'll give each one a good cleaning while I'm in there, so that I don't have to dig into it again...

Top right inner frame bracket that needed undoing in step 1:

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Top left screw from top rail, exposed after scooching glass right in step 2:

IMG_20150116_105015.jpg
IMG_20150116_110109.jpg

Left bump stop rail that needed to be removed in step 3:

IMG_20150116_110101.jpg

Top right screw from top rail, exposed after scooching glass left in step 3:

IMG_20150116_110106.jpg

2 closeups of right end of bottom rail that supports glass:

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Thanks,
-Jason

Yes, certainly fair enough all in all. Just needs a little upgrading to be more user-friendly...though I hope that my required entries are few & far between!

-Jason

Pics, please! :]

Thanks for the pics, hootowl. Nice machine. I especially dig your 1st pic, where you have some keen radial shadows around a particularly bright white light.

I couldn't get very good pics. With the flash off, the LEDs look like points of light, but they don't look that way in person. The pic with the flash looks better, but I can't tell if it's the flash or my LEDs that are illuminating the backglass art.

The last pic might be the most helpful.

I used Nifty LED diffused lamps pretty much everywhere:
- orange on Mars, the guy
- red on Mars, the planet
- white on the 3 shielded indicators
- white on the 3 Hoth Snow Speeders
- red on the chase lights around the frame
And
- cool white blinkers on the explosions (from Marco--Nifty was sold out)

I tried green behind the little planets, & they were just too green for me.

I do like your idea of red on the helmet plume. I might try that out.

On the playfield, I went all Nifty diffused again:
- cool white diffused for all GI
- color-matched for all inserts (w/ blue flex lights pointing down in the Launch candy cane cavity to match the blue insert at its entrance...so that they don't point up & illuminate the black & white plastic with blue light--they just shine blue down the hallway...this part's a bit too blue for me...maybe I'll try something else...)

Thanks,
-Jason

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Hmmm...I just ordered a full set of 8 from PBR. My machine has plain red ones, which a pretty noticeable horizontal wear line from ball hits. So, I'll be swapping out all 8. I'll see how they look...

As an aside, I made a hi-res B&W scan of a MGOW pop bumper cap, which has the same art as the drops. If I don't like the PBR drops, I might look into getting stickers made.

Thanks,
-Jason

z28dan, Welcome!

You can indeed get into all self-tests without the start button. Just push the little red test button inside the coin door until 18 appears. Wait a few seconds, then you're in switch test mode.

If you need more details, let me know. I've been fighting the switch matrix for a few weeks, so I'm somewhat intimate with it at the moment...unfortunately...Bah.

Thanks,
-Jason

Tried. Liked. Kept.

Does everybody else's PF squeal like a banshee when you slide it forward on the rails to be able to tip it upright? Oy!

-Jason

Got my 8 MGOW drops from PBR today.

They look red to me. Perhaps crimson or maroon...a little darker than my pops & the existing drops, but who knows how faded those are...? These will look great when installed.

Thanks
-Jason

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Diodes, diodes, where are the diodes?

I'm chasing down a problem in the switch matrix. It centers on switch 43, the left bottom pop bumper.

In switch test mode, all switches on row 4 induce glitching or freezing or resetting or wrong values when pressed. All switches on column 3 are unresponsive.

All other switches react OK (except start & tilt, which also induce glitching etc.).

Switch 43 isn't closed.

I know which chips on the MPU control the switch matrix, to check/replace them.

The other item that I want to check is the diode for this switch. Most other games have diodes right there soldered to the leaf switch. On this game, the diodes seem to be spread out around the playfield, on little strips. I haven't been able to find which one goes with this switch, & I didn't see a diode map in my manual.

Any tips?

Thanks,
-Jason

Installed 8 new PBR drops today. Quite easy & quick. I used this guide: http://www.papinball.com/tips/gottlieb_drop_target_guide2.html

This guide was a bit overly thorough. It was simpler, quicker, & easier than I thought it would be, based on the guide alone.

Hellooooo, good-lookings!

-Jason

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Thanks for the tip. Where did you find this info? Hopefully not by just combing through the PF harness?

Alas, the far left diode on this strip is for the bottom left pop bumper's coil switch (the one farther from the PF, closed when the pop solenoid actuates). I'm seeking the diode for this pop's switch matrix switch (the switch closer to the PF, which is closed when the skirt pushes on the spoon).

I tried testing continuity from this switch's leads to all diode strip diode legs & don't see continuity...

Thanks,
-Jason

MGOW_Bottom_Left_Pop_Switch_Diode.JPG

Steve-

Not only do you have an eagle eye, but thank you so much for looking out for me.

I studied this spot closely tonight. The ground strap looked pretty good. I stuck a screwdriver under the staple, pried against the wood lightly, pulled it up a hair, & scooched the ground strap. It's not tight & scooching revealed that the portion under the staple is OK--just a little squeezed & deformed, but not damaged.

Thanks!
-Jason

Some work on the MGOW this week:

I put in a Swemmer MPU & backbox A11 chase light PCB (fixed my chase lights problem!), & also a Rottendog power supply board.

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This makes my MGOW is now much better, but it's not quite all there yet.

In short, the game plays OK, but none of the 4 pop bumpers reacts when balls hit them, the bottom left pop bumper ring switch doesn't score points or make sounds when manually moved, & the ramp tube chase lights don't illuminate.

So, my 2 main questions are:

a) Where do the wires for switch 43 (bottom left pop) go? I'm guessing it must be a bad diode, since I put in a new MPU? Hootowls, I know you pointed one out in a previous post, but that doesn't seem to be correct. See below.

b) I seem to have no 5VDC for the 4 pop PCBs & the ramp tube chase light PCB next to them. Where does the 5V come from? The Rottendog power PCB puts out a nice 5V on all 3 of its connectors. Grounds for these 5 little PCBs all check out OK.

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Details of what I've done & checked:

1 - On power-up, the LEDs on the 4 pop bumper PCBs don't light. Is this correct behavior? I'm guessing not, since I don't read +5VDC on 5 of each pop PCB's connector.

2 - During gameplay, when I manually pull down each pop bumper flange ring (which the solenoid is supposed to actuate), the game does react properly for 3 pops (sound effect & points added to score). The game does not register when the bottom left pop flange ring is moved down.

3 - In self-test 18, all switches seem to register OK except for 43, left bottom pop bumper.

4 - In self-tests 16 & 17, all other solenoids fire OK. There doesn't seem to be a self-test that triggers the 4 pop bumper solenoids.

5 - I checked continuity between all 4 pop bumper's "upper" leaf spring (the one that the skirt closes, not the one that the flange ring closes) & pin 4 of the A8J1 connector on each pop bumper A8 PCB. Good for all 4. So, all 4 pop skirt switches are still connected to the 4 pop bumper PCBs (so I don't think the 43 switch diode is bad).

6 - I also confirmed continuity between each A8 pop bumper pin 1 on A8J1 & each pop's coil. All good.

7 - Grounds all check out for the 4 pop PCBs, ramp tube chase light PCB, & the ground strap under the PF.

8 - I studied the bank of 5 diodes at bottom right of the PF (when open & propped up), next to the tube chase light A12 PCB. Using my multimeter in continuity mode, the left one seems to be open whether I put my COM probe on top & + probe on bottom, or vice versa. The 4 diodes at right show continuity when I put my COM probe on top & the + probe on bottom & show open when I reverse the probes, so it seems as if these 4 diodes are good. But I can't find continuity from these diodes' legs to anything pop-related on the PF or PCBs...

Thanks,
-Jason

Thanks for your help & replies. For those with short attention spans, my Mars God of War is now 100% fully functional. Woohoo!

For those who have a little time to kill reading, here's the scoop:

1 - At the risk of losing my pinball cred, I had people over last weekend, & the MGOW chase lights & pop bumpers were functioning. I'm embarrassed. Either, I was overlooking something, flaking, or some shorting something-or-other worked its way unshorted... In any case, those are all A-OK.

2 - The bottom left pop rarely activated from a gentle ball contact from above. WITH THE POWER OFF THIS TIME, & using a multimeter w/ alligator clips & continuity mode instead, I fussed with the leaf switch until it registered nicely.

3 - I took time to trace the white w/ purple & blue wires from this pop's scoring switch down to the aforementioned diode strip at bottom right of the PF underside (when propped up vertical). That diode was indeed no good. I don't know what flavor of diode it had, but I have oodles of 1N4004 diodes, so I just went ahead & figured out which way that goes in, soldered it in, turned up the volume, & then played for about 1.5 hours straight.

Thanks for your input & for your patience w/ my floundering. Much appreciated!

-Jason

Finally sat down & read the How to Play Mars, God of War flyer: https://pinside.com/pinball/archive/mars-god-of-war/gallery/promotional

The very next game, I finally squashed the 770k default high score:

a.JPG

Well, I did at least squeak by it, if not squash it...

Next game. Crushed it. Rolled over & was just shy of another half million:

b.JPG

This picture shows my modded display, letting me track my awesome millions points:

c.JPG

But...the game still thinks that the high score is that measly 784k:

a.JPG

Darn. Should have tilted at 999,990...

-Jason

I was wondering why my bonus never got above 19k...I could never light that darn 20 insert...it mocked me...

Then, I read on the flyer that 19k is the max bonus that you can achieve with the 5-ball setting.

Which leads me to inquire: is 3 or 5 the default balls setting? 5 feels better, in my opinion, based on the age of the game...but I like to have my games set to factory, or at least close...

What setting are you guys all using?

Thanks,
-Jason