(Topic ID: 196818)

Playmatic, How good are their pinball machines?

By Grayman_EM

6 years ago


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  • 60 posts
  • 21 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 2 years ago by Grayman_EM
  • Topic is favorited by 3 Pinsiders

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10
#7 6 years ago

I have worked on both Fiesta and Fandango. When working, Playmatic games are fun to play. Playfields are always in pristine condition because they are all clear coated from the factory.

Pros:

Uses clones of mostly Williams assemblies and a few Gottlieb ones too.

Clear coated playfields.

Cons:

Bad light sockets. The sockets they used are all literally falling apart now. Be prepared to replace a bunch of light sockets throughout the machine. I had a Fiesta come in for service which had the light socket in the square pop bumper short circuit and melt some wires before it blew the fuse. On that machine I also had to replace 25 light sockets that had fallen apart beyond repairing them.

Coil wrappers. Invest in a roll of double sided Scotch tape. Many of the coil wrappers fall off because of the poor glue they used. Pay particular attention to the coil wrappers on the relays because when the wrapper falls off, it can jam in the relay armature and/or relay contacts causing problems.

Metric hardware. Every screw, nut, and bolt are metric.

Square pop bumpers that are sort of like Gottlieb assemblies. Zero parts are available for these. If the skirts are chewed up, your only choice is to convert the assemblies to all Gottlieb or all Williams parts. You'll also need to install Gottlieb pop bumper spoon switch assemblies too.

Playfield switch assemblies. The switch assemblies on the playfield use riveted together parts. Somehow, the factory over-crimped the rivets causing the ends of the rivets to shear off over time. This causes the switches to literally fall apart. You have to drill out or punch out the rivets, thread the holes in the brackets to 6-32 threads and install 6-32 machine screws in whatever length is needed for the particular switch thickness. Picture of a repaired target switch added.

Flipper assemblies. This is a really weird unit. Sort of a cross between a Williams EM and a Zizzle toy pinball. The Playmatic flipper assembly uses a large modern style sized flipper coil. Take my advise and convert the flippers to full Williams system 11 assemblies and reuse the Playmatic flipper coil in it. I've added a picture of the original Playmatic flipper assembly (this is a left flipper unit).

Invest in some time to fix the problems I mention above and the game will be reliable and fun to play.

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2 years later
#8 4 years ago

Here's a ball trough switch I repaired. I drilled out the broken rivets then re-threaded the holes in the switch mounting plate to 6-32. I used some 6-32 screws of the appropriate length (I think it was 5/8" long going from what I remember) to go through the switch stack and into the plate.
Fiesta trough switch (resized).JPGFiesta trough switch (resized).JPG

10 months later
#20 3 years ago

The Playmatic machines I have seen have particle board cabinets. So if the machines have been stored poorly (damp conditions), the cabinets could be falling apart or disintegrating. On 2 or 4 player machines especially, the "pedestal" which supports the backbox is made of particle board and is prone to falling apart enough to cause the backbox to snap off! If you get a Playmatic machine, take the backbox off and duplicate a new pedestal out of plywood (it just screws on). You'll be glad you did. Then reinstall the backbox.

#22 3 years ago

Do you have any pictures of the connectors Playmatic used on their electronic machines? I've only worked on their EM models not any electronic ones.

#28 3 years ago
Quoted from drsfmd:

Ken-
See attached. It's an unusual connector. Header pins are round, and 1.5mm (.059 inch) in diameter. Center to center, the pins are 4.96mm (.195 inch) apart.
The connectors from the cabinet to the head are standard Jones plugs, albeit the absolute worst quality ones I've ever seen. I replaced them with old EM ones from my stash.
[quoted image]

Looks like connectors that were used between circuit boards or modules in television sets of the time period.

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