People who needlessly bash pins come off sounding petty. Mystery Castle is well known for its charms, and rarity. Just a quick peek at the ratings and it’s clear MC has a devoted following. Incidentally, my MC arrives tomorrow! And even if I ultimately decide it’s not a keeper for me, I know it will be appreciated by the next owner. Hopefully, it stays in my lineup!

It has arrived! Let the scavenger hunt begin…wish me luck, I’ll need it!
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I miss mystery castle very cool game, that music and doooooom is etched into my head

This game has serious “one more game” vibes. Question for you audio peeps, I have a bit of static emanating from my speakers. Do people usually update the speakers on MC, or is it important to keep it original?

I love the sound effects, with just about every shot, target, ramp, switch producing a sound effect. There really is something to the way this game sounds.

I took a few pics as I waxed and shopped this new game out. The playfield is really holding on very well.

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That's a very nice looking MC you got there! I like the look of that speckled cabinet. Mine is just flat black.

I haven't personally heard of needing to swap the speakers out. The audio quality in this game is one of the high points. I do get a minor amount of background noise from the DMD when it's in attract mode, but nothing that distorts the audio while playing. Maybe there is a loose connection somewhere, or there's a problem with the sound board, or a blown speaker?

It did just make a monthlong journey on trucks, I had a few loose cables in the backbox. I’ll reseat things and check the speakers. I do love the audio on this game. I just wanna maximize it if I can.

My best so far…collected 10 items and scored well on Doom. Only 3 balls too. I actually haven’t earned a single extra ball yet. The settings must be on difficult.

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On standard settings, collecting the crystal ball should light the extra ball shot at the right ramp.

just picked one of those and the flipper are a bit mushy, what's the best way to rebuild Alg flippers since they are one of a kind?

So i have been trying to install Rev3 software on my MC but i can't get the new DMD roms to work? The CPU v3 works fine but not the DMD ones.

The Rev3 has 3 eprom instead of 2 for the Rev2 so i am wondering if there are some jumpers or other changes needed on the DMD board to make it work?
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I am not sure what the manual information means for the jumper? Anyone has a picture of their DMD board with Rev3 installed?
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Are the new ROM chips the same as the old ROMs? It doesn't use the same DMD board, but I got all kinds of weird issues out of Al's Garage Band when the EPSEL jumpers were incorrectly set. Here's my thread on aussie arcade:

https://www.aussiearcade.com/topic/82810-alvin-g-amp-co-als-garage-band-goes-on-a-world-tour/

Near the bottom of the first page there's a bit about the EPSEL jumpers on the DMD board.

It's been an eternity since I updated my MC to Rev3, but from what I remember, I swapped the chips and it ultimately worked without changing any jumpers. I think I had also had issues with the DMD being blank at first, but then it started working after a few reboots and has worked ever since. I can't say why... it's a mystery! There was something about two different versions of the DMD rom existing tho, and some machines seemed to work with one but not the other.

Oh no...

changed the sleever, realingned plunger, plenty strong now. i am afraid it will break stuff actually :/

My comment was about you having the game...not the flipper being crappy. I'm used to that

yeah the Rev2 is one 512kb and one 2mb, the Rev3 is one 512k and two 2mb, using the third slot that is usually empty.

i tried 2 versions of the ROM from IPDB, same deal. Though i didn't try to reboot multiple time when getting blank DMD i assume it wasn't working. Any chance you still have the machine and can take a picture of the board?

Thanks! that looks a lot like mine, i'll compare side by side-

Can anyone tell me what these yellow tiny diodes or do-hickeys are? I believe my board is missing one at C26 or 27. DMD works fine, so I’m not sure if essential or not. Maybe I can replace it.

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maybe something like that?
https://actionpinball.com/parts.php?item=CAP0.1UF500VDISC

That looks correct! Pretty cheap too. Thanks for that info.

no proble. you look to have the same DMD board as mine and a working Rev3... I just can't understand why isn't mine working Seems unlikely there is an issue with the 3rd EPROM socket but i guess it could be?

Where those ROM factory or after market?

The Rev3 ROMs were factory. It seems that only late run machines had shipped with them installed. Most of the machines shipped with Rev2 and were never updated.

They are decoupling capacitors. They aren't essential, but do provide some function: https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/blog/what-are-decoupling-capacitors/

When they die shorted though, they prevent a board working, so often they are just pinched off if they become faulty.

ohhh interesting for sure. so can you use any 0.1uf capacitor as replacement?

Thank you!

To circle back on this, I finally got the Rev3 to work on my game.

I just got my hand on the 256kb u4 dmd rom and that fixed my problem, exactly like what was in the last few message of that thread
https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.pinball/c/j12axEbUjvQ?pli=1
The 512kb rom file from the IPDB rom set just didn't work for my game, not sure why.

Picked myself up a mystery castle this weekend. There are some issues with it which hopefully I can resolve. Pictured is what my display is. All orange with some numbers. I have the U4, U5, and U6 dmd Roms from Matt's Basement Arcade, but when I swap them from the ones on the board I get a blank screen. I swapped the originals back and same issue. The MPU U2 is from MattsBA. I read about different jumpers between the 256 and 512k roms, but no way to check what is which.
I also have no sound.. the game boots, plays and flips...Any help would be appreciated thanks!

Edit. U4 is 512 after peeling back sticker so I am going to order 256 for U4 and report back

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Have you looked at my issues and resolution for the DMD roms situation i had?

Yes, but now there are other issues happening. Yesterday the game booted but now it does not want to boot and the solenoid fuse keeps blowing on start up. No shorts anywhere I can see underneath, so the plan now is to send the boards out since I don't know what other underlying issues there are

Have you tried unplugging all the playfield harness connectors from the boards and booting up to see if the fuse continues to blow? You really need to be sure the problem is board related before sending them away.

my MC has been degrading into recurring "please wait" freeing/restart issue during this week NW pinball show. It happens as soon as someone start a game or soon after, also sometime when turning on the game the sound blast a loud buzzing sound...

I was told to look at the power supply board 5v/12v, and i adjusted to pots putting the 12v a little higher to 12.2v with some success but the issue returned. what is the recommended voltage? 5v was at 5.5v and 12v is at 12.2v.
That board is serious hacked and looked kind of fry. Anyone knows the best way to get a replacement? Any other troubleshooting i should do?

It was a hit at the show until it went down

Whats the price for one in 2023?

paid $7k for mine

From what I have seen, that power supply board is pretty difficult to find a replacement for and it's a common failure point. Clive at CoinOp Cauldron offers a rebuild service for this board if it's not too toasty.

yeah it's definitely pretty nasty but i think i'll have no choice and beg Clive to look at it. i got the last "PCA-019" (not the A one) from Australia and i'll see if that works in the interim.

Yes, but it is no complicated electronics. So every electronics guy should be able to work it over.
Mostly the fuseholders are crap , bridgeretriever and caps to replace. Its not a "nodeboard"

As I remember the layout is little different but all needet votlages will be deliverd. I have also some of them as spare but so far my electronic geeks could always rescue my boards.

thanks i appreciate the feedback, looking forward to get it from AUS.