I would first like to confess that my primary love lies with my 90s games, which led me to overfilling my space and forced SO out into the garage. It was fully working the past few years, and I play at least a few games a month in an attempt to keep the contacts working well.

Today it was kinda warm out, so while spending some time in the garage, I played a game. Went to start asecond game and nothing. Lights are all still on, just no game starting. I made sure I wasn't out of credits ( I leave the back off and reach around spinning the credit wheel every 30 games).
I cleaned the contacts by pressing a business card in between and pulling it out. Did that on the start button contacts and the contacts associated with the score reel. Checked fuses. I reseated every jones connector. I stared in wonder as I drank a beer and even THAT didn't fix it!
Any simple things I might be missing, or did I foul everything up by neglecting her in a garage?
Thanks for any ideas.

oops....credit wheel is what I checked...mistakenly said score reel. and yes....I deserve a little attitude for putting her out there

lol...well a garage in jersey has a bit more temperature fluctuation

??

just went out and looked around a little and realized that the swinging target, usually operating in "attract mode", isn't swinging either. I removed and tested fuses again. Is there some kind of link between the swi ging target and credit wheel?

thanks, I must have been mistaken. I guess I am overthinking a little.

I was thinking about this...lying awake at 3 am last night....and thought maybe the contact was cruddy that senses the ball under the apron and that wouldnt allow a game to start. Nope, that wasn't it.
So I was thinking: If I remember correctly, the game should reset the reels and make the "I'm getting ready" sounds just by powering up, right? Or does it wait til the start button is pushed? I have played hundreds of games on her, but now I can't remember. S.O. is my only old school game and obviously I am not very familiar with the inner workings. I actually found another fuse mounted underneath the playfield and got excited but it tested fine. sigh.

Thanks. Every little bit helps. This is driving me nuts because I am afraid to do too much for fear of screwing something else up.

Thanks. I am not sure which is the reset coil...is it easy to explain it's location? On bottom of cabinet, right? I see lots of labels but not a "reset" label....

awesome, gonna go check!

Thank you guys so much. All I did was manually activate a few of those coils and she is working. My family simultaneously rolled their eyes at me as I came upstairs and yelled "SPACE ODYSSEY BACK IN SERVICE"!
I appreciate the help