That blue splatter is really strange. Not present on my game at all. As to the svrrw as the drain it isn't too prevent damage to the switch it is to make sure the ball doesn't skip the switch. As originally designed once in a while the ball would drain and jump right over the wire. This would really confused the machine as it uses that first switch to know the ball has ended and also to know how many balls are in the trough. Once that count is wrong the game gets very weird and glitchy. The screw was the recommended fix from Stern. These games were only supposed to last a couple years on route before you bought the next one to replace it. They didn't really care if a screw looked ugly. Most players would never notice. Just keep it up and running and making money for 12 more months before you replaced it with newer game. Mine did not have the screw and it caused lots of problems. I didn't want to add one either as it looks janky. I did come up with another better looking solution. I will try to get a photo today.

Not the best pic through the glass but here is the what I did instead of the screw. I made a black card that essentially extends the metal of the apron. It is literally card stock with electrical tape on it if I recall correctly. I was going to make something nicer but it looks great and works. Hard to tell it apart from the metal of the apron and looks way better than a drywall screw!

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Keep a it and don’t forget you’re supposed to be having fun! It is totally okay to walk away when you are frustrated.