So after much troubleshooting, it seems opto#33 on my Star Trek LE from Stern is toast. I have a replacement part, but I can't get to the dang thing to replace it.

It's the receiver opto just in front of the ball lock magnet in the center lane. I came across a post from someone saying he "just" removed the alpha ramp that's blocking access to the screw holding the opto in, but how the heck can you get that off? I unscrewed everything I could on it, but it's still held on by screws that are underneath other features, or by bolts where the nut is totally inaccessible. I'm not confident enough in my abilities to disassemble the entire thing and put it back together... surely there's a trick to this, right?

Well, I did it... for others with the misfortune of needing to replace these optos, I found a low-profile 90-degree screwdriver and a magnetic stick to be essential tools.

This in particular saved the day: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GNPRRVZ/

Aim to just unscrew the opto board from its plastic bracket and just replace the board - unscrewing the bracket is next to impossible. But with that screwdriver you can get it out with minimal disassembly.