My first post and new to owning a pin. I'm clueless here, but am quite a handy DIY around house & cars. My new '78 Gottleib Joker Poker SS worked perfectly for 2 weeks then while playing the 3rd ball the the flippers stopped working, and the ball will not load back to the plunger.

I went from hero to zero in the eyes of my 7 & 8 year old sons. I gotta get this back up. Through reading, I purchased a can of DeoxIT D5 and so far have only cleaned the power supply contacts.

Fuses look ok
Machine is all original
All the scoring lights work...in back everything works except the game won't start
Before the flippers stopped working...it would require a quarter to start the game upon power-up...but only then
If anyone can give me the top few things to check..that would be great
Finally, the seller is a great guy who offered a 90-day guarantee. He's already offered to dispatch a tech to my house at his expense but I don't like wasting money; even other people's money. I'd really like to learn and try my hand at fixing it.
I plan to take in hours of reading/you tube vid/and of course this site. But for now I'm looking for the most likely items to check. I'm desperate! LOL
Chas in Bloomington IL

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wow! that was a fast reply! Ok..I will test them...thanks for the advise. I did order a "kit" of 9 fuses for this game. They are not yet here...but I have a few spares. I will check the fuses once I learn how. Told you I am clueless!

OK thank you I will post results later today fwiw... played this game in college and these last two weeks have been the first time I've played it again in 40 years. I'm telling u...I got emotional. My father passed while in college in '80. To play again with my sons...(gulp...)

Great advice about pins being different that cars/homes...I'll acquire tools over time after I get schooled up. Mr. Hankey; I will try reseating the game rom once I research where to find it. Thanks!

Geez guys! Talk about a warm welcome to the community from my first post! Excellent advise about a tech to learn the basics! I will do that. THANK YOU for taking the time to guide me!

Ah-ha! I found 1 fuse blown. I can see it is blown but I tested them all using the meter (after unplugging power from wall) and I have a dead fuse. I'll replace and if it blows again I have a short. See below culprit:

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Yeah..I should have. Gottlieb was really thinking back in '78. Imagine the insight to know to write blown below the fuse holder set..pointing to the blown fuse.

Exactly! Great feeling to fix it. But I will ID a professional and come look the game over and make suggestions. It is mostly original with a few key upgrades like battery (so it won't seep) and some other items on the power board.

Someone said.."you won't get one"...tomorrow I'm driving 2 hours to pick up a Williams "Hot Tip" for $1,000.

I did...I pulled each one and set the multimeter to Ohms...and was able to ID one dead fuse. I checked them all. Great advice. I've spend about 3 hours reading this site today. Addicted.

UPDATE: Solved! While I did find a fuse blown, the game did the same thing (lost flippers) and the fuse that I had replaced was ok. So something else was the culprit. I used the DetoxIT D5 to clean the contacts of the CPU & Power board. Works fine! Note: I could not find a tech in my relatively remote area in central IL. I'll have to ID how to find a tech.

My friend (an electrician) came over out of pure curiosity and assistance. He noted that occasionally he heard a hum coming from under the play field...under the right lower triangle bumper. It was coming from a capacitor...one of the green chiclet looking things. But it would stop and hum every 1 minute or so...and only for a few seconds. He said maybe that caused the blown fuse. Look at me...talking pin talk! I have a lot to learn and wanted to thank everyone for all the help. Tonight we played troubled free Joker Poker for an hour. Very happy.