If I were you, I'd keep asking and waiting to see if a transformer shows up... or see if anyone feels confident enough to rebuild the broken one (assuming its present). Mystery Castle is a rare gem.

If you can snag a MC for $1000, do it. Especially if it's cosmetically nice. It's worth having as a piece of furniture for that price, until you can replace or rebuild the power supply. I know power supplies are really hard to find, but it could probably be rebuilt. If you had buyers remorse I'm sure you could find someone to take it off your hands.

Brian

Transformers can be rewound. Is it missing?

If you know the voltage and amperage of each winding, Antec can wind you a custom one that will be more efficient and quieter than the original.

http://www.antekinc.com/

Great pin, but like everything related to Alvin G. stuff..... there's zero plastics, ramps etc. out there. I'd still grab it though.~SpOoKy

Among other things.............
Would discourage me.
Have you been able to test the game at all?

Grab it for this price.
I bought some years ago also a MC with many missing parts and step by step I got them together.
Speaker grill, display, coils, 1 plastic ... Many items. It's just a matter of time and MC is worth it's renovation.
I love this machine.

I'd also be very surprised that the transformer is bad...They hardly ever fail unless subjected to serious heat that melts the insulation in the windings...That's about the only way to kill a transformer. If it failed I'd be concerned as to the event that caused the failure because there will be more significant damage likely elsewhere in the machine. But as a MC owner myself, I'd take a leap of faith on it considering how long I searched for mine.

Buy that sucker now! For a thousand bucks (or a little more as you say) it's definitely worth it. If you don't want it down the road you'll have no problem selling it for more than that. I own one already and I'd still take it off your hands....

I have a home made from the factory complete test fixture that has the transformer I hate to kill it .What should I ask for the fixture?? I have offered 1500 for the game..

If you opt to get a new one wound, I *might* be interested in one too. I need to check the machines that I have in storage, but I believe that one of the transformers is shot.

I would personally much rather have something new done then find another old one, especially if they seem to be prone to breakage.

Well, let's put it this way..the last MC that I sold I got 4200.00 for and it was by no means mint. 1k for a MC is well worth it, if not just for parts!

Doc

Actually there is nothing really bizarre or exotic about these Alvin G transformers. They were made by the same company that made the transformers for Bally, Williams, Gottlieb, Capcom, etc. In regards to appearance/quality/multi-voltage inputs, they're basically clones, and they hold up very well.

It's really strange to hear that the transformer is burnt/bad. As I said above, Alvin G transformers usually have no issues. Power supply boards....yep, those are toast a lot of the time, but not these. I'll have to check into the voltage outputs on these and some of the common B/W transformers....but it shouldn't be very hard at all to find something that will work.

Yet still every time there is a price check thread on this game, a handful of people instantly chime in that it's an $800-1000 title. As if you could get ANY dmd title for that price these days, let alone a desirable and ultra rare one. Did you bring that sucker home yet??

To be fair, you most definitely can still get DMD titles for less than $1000. Not desirable ones, but there is a Space Jam project that I think is listed on here currently for $800 or something like that. I managed to pick up three DMD machines under that cost so far this year.

key word.

Yes, I'm sure there are some rare deals to be had. This still isn't what I would consider 'market price', or what you would throw up as the value of a game you didn't know much about when someone asked.

I believe that DOn Murphy from Electrical windings made those transformers..

There were also people offering stuff in the $1000 thread for that price. I think that a lot of people on here are concerned about getting exactly what they want at the exact moment they decide they want it, and that definitely drives prices higher. If you're more willing to work on a game, it really isn't all that difficult to find games around this price, and to be fair, this is a game that is a project too.

OK, so let's say the blanket statement about sub-$1000 dmd games is debatable. That still doesn't put MC in the same group as Space Jam or other notable bottom-of-the-barrel titles. And yes, I have found A titles at ridiculously low prices from time to time as well, but that doesn't make it the going rate.

I wasn't really referring to this particular project MC either, so much as price check threads in general. If you can find a working MC for $800, I will double your money and take it off your hands so you can buy 2 of those other DMD games.

Yes, it was indeed Donal.

Transformers are simple devices...They use induced magnetic fields to generate various voltages on the secondaries (output side) from voltage(s) on the primary(ies).

Internally, transformers are made up of coils of wires (windings), much like your solenoid coils on your flipper. As Voltage is applied to a primary winding (115V eg), current flows through the windings and creates a magnetic field. This magnetic field is induced onto the secondary windings, and current is able to flow through the secondary windings (once a load is attached) that is proportional to the ratios of the turns in the windings between the primary and secondary. So, you'll often see ratings of transformers as 2, 3 eg. That means a turn down ratio of 2 to 1, will give 1 Volt on a secondary for every 2 Volts on the primary.

In the case of pinball transformers there are multiple primary and multiple secondary windings. Only one primary winding is used at a time, but there are multiples for different voltages around the world, and so different turndowns are necessary to get the same secondary voltages. The multiple secondary windings provide the various voltages to the game.

Also note, all the secondary voltages are still AC...Transformers are AC to AC...It's the rectifiers/bridges after the transformers that turn the AC voltages into the DC voltages used by the game.

@ betelgeuse - replying on phone and it sucks at quoting... Sorry... Anyway...

I agree that the going price isn't the rare deals that pop up, but I also find it frustrating that so many people on here think the going rate is whatever the most recent HUO game sold for, and that there aren't still a lot of fair deals out there.

Having said that, project or not, a complete MC is worth at least 1500 even blown out. The secret about this one is out, and there aren't enough out there to find deals often.

I agree with everything you said! Good debate.

^ Thanks

Anywho, for the topic at hand, if you end up deciding to get them rewound, I know a couple vendors that might be interested in buying the extras (to bring the price down) and then we get them at the lower price. If the difference is $100 per, we're not that far off from it being worth getting 10 of them if only two of us are getting them!

If game is worth 4200 then I will sell the test fixture with transformer AND complete set of ALvin g Boards for 1000.00 ?? so you will only have 2000 in game and extra set of boards Or again I will buy game as is for 1500

Mike, what is all in the test fixture? I'm wondering if it would make more sense to keep that as a test fixture?

I should know this more, but do Alvin G boards need repair much? I assume they are somewhat difficult to find?

I got it from factory. its just in a head just all wiring and all boards to power up has speakers

Alvin G boards run alot more High voltages then bally/ Williams boards, but just as easy to repair. Heck... the first boards that were rejected were based all to much off of the designs for Gottlieb system 3's. ~SpOoKy

Alvin G had basically 3 different board sets, and all the boards are pretty well designed. About the only things that are ever a problem are the PCA-019A, and PCA-006 PSB's, and that's not so much because of a flaw in the boards, but more due to poorly designed (overloaded) lighting circuits on a couple games (MC is one of these). Melted traces and burnt connectors are what you can expect to see on the GI circuit. Loose/broken fuse clips are one other thing that's not too uncommon.

Depending on which generation/type of boards you're looking for, they can range from super easy to find, to impossible to get. In regards to price, there are many that are still DIRT CHEAP, while others are fairly expensive.

Okay, I started to do a little checking, and a modern Stern transformer has secondaries that are very close, and could *probably* be made to work, with a little tinkering. I'll continue to do some checking on other manufacturers as well, but here's how these match up....

Alvin G secondary voltages (transformer TRN-003) : 6v, 9v, 13v, 16v, 51v, 60v, 98v

Stern secondary voltages (transformer 010-5012-01) : 5.7v, 8v, 13v, 16v, 48v, 88v, 100v

what about amperage on each voltage though??

Unfortunately there's no way to know info that specific without talking with the manufacturers. This is all a crapshoot....but if more of these will be needed in the coming years, we have to start trying somewhere. We could really use Donal's expertise right now.

All that said, most everything should match up pretty closely. The GI needs of stuff back then were pretty much what they are now, and the same goes for the higher voltage stuff for the DMDs, coils, etc. Anyway, all we can do is research and experiment.....

_{Post edited by MattElder : fixed a typo...}

I wouldn't worry about amperage....You can almost be assured that if the physical size of the transformer is roughly the same, so is the KVA rating on these style transformers. They were most likely 1KVA transformers.

MC sells for $6100 on eBay. This is the first auction I have seen for one in years.

ebay.com link: Mystery Castle Pinball Alvin G Co Excellent Condition Home Use only HUO

Holy shitballs! I sold mine for about 1/5 that price years ago and still have no regrets. That's just crazy...

And that was with no advertising or even a mention on pinside. That was a nice example. Would have gone for more if mentioned here or on RGP before the sale ended.