That happened on mine when I first got it and then never did it again..very strange...see if it keeps up maybe a bug?

The game runs ball search when no switch is hit for a predetermined amount of time. It can happen if you are sucking and not making any shots. It can be a problem with your switches where many are not registering. It is probably not a bug.

I've had this happen once or twice...

Not really enough info to help much. In switch test does it show all 4 of the trough switches lit. Nudge the machine or firmly smack you palm on the PF any change. It could just be a horrible game like markmon suggests or it could be many switches not working or the game is losing track of balls that it should know where they are. Like the ball lock switches or trough switches primarily #4 and VUK. Mine acted really funny right before the opto board receiver side went out. Reflow did not work bulb replacement did not work. New board worked =) around $35 for the pair but only needed one side at this time.

It would launch multiple balls and then sometimes the return timer would stay on forever. Then it would end a game in the middle. It also would start a game and not kick any balls into the trough.
Many symptoms to these switches. Hope that helps

Yea in my case it was random like while I hit a switch..did it once or twice never again. It was in a two player game maybe a ball lock wasn't sitting right or something as all swithces are working.

Couldn't hurt to try a factory reset. Even the latest and greatest can be buggy with Ripley's.

It won't be related to trough switches I don't think. When trough switches are bad, the game seems to end the ball early thinking the ball drained. In your case, its not getting switch input so it thinks the ball is stuck. That's not going to be a Sw bug I don't think. I suppose you could make sure you're in the latest Sw to be sure. But more likely to me is something like maybe the switch matrix plug loose on the board intermittently not making contact, or a set of switches not making contact for some reason. Think along the lines of what could cause the game to think not even one switch was hit.

Mine does this every so often and always has. I have never been able to figure it out.
Terry.

Same here. No real rhyme or reason, just randomly occurs.

mine also does this every so often

Mine too.

Your reading this Pat L or Gary S? We want a fix!

Mine never does it unless I'm playing terrible (when it's supposed to). I'm running software version 3.01.

3.01 has it's own bugs though. If you set Asia to more than 30 spins, the game will reset every time you shoot the vari-target. (don't set it over 30)

I'm running 3.00 and getting the random search. Anyone running 3.01 and getting the random search?
Terry.

Do you have me blocked?

Mine's been gone for a few years, but I never had any ball search problems on mine, and I was running 3.10

Here is the incremental changelog for all versions if anyone is interested:
http://www.sternpinball.com/downloads/rROMreadme.txt

Mine did that from time to time, maybe 3-4 times total in 6mos worth of play. We were on 3.10 as well.

Just another bug left behind in an otherwise great game.

Just guessing, but with a software change and the issue still there, I would look closely at all the switches.

With the game in switch test, pound on the playfield with your fist and see if any switches activate.

Check all the switches (optos) on the vari-target. With the balls removed from the trough, you should only see one vari-target switch closed in switch test. Is that what you see?

If you're getting any phantom hits at all from the shrunken head optos, the idol optos, or the super optos, replace both sides of each with new ones.

I would also check the connectors on the opto boards under the playfield. Remove balls, put game into switch test, raise playfield and wiggle each of the connectors to see if any are lose. Two small boards.

Also, do you have display version 3.0? Doubt that would cause these issues, but you never know.

Was this ever resolved, mine just started doing this - sometimes it will kick out multiple balls when it should just be ending a multiball, other times it will just ball search in the middle of a game for no reason - it has never done this, all trough switches show as working including the shooter lane.