I'm stumped on this issue. When I hit credit/start button once, plays fine, full game, every time for player 1. But when I try to get more than one player at the start of a game, there's no action. So I lifted the playfield and manually activated the start relay, and it advanced nicely to 2, 3 and 4 players, then plays fine for all 4 players. I studied the schematic but just can't see where the problem might be. I did service the player stepper, and it works cleanly. Thanks for any hints.

Thanks DaMoib. I'll have a close look at that 3rd Pos Coin Unit switch today (if I can locate it.) Never would have thought of that just by reading the schematic.

This is strange. The contacts on that switch were closed very snug and tight thru the 3 cycles (1-3 player) and they separate as they should into the 4th player mode. As such, that switch evaded my initial suspicion as the culprit because, mechanically, it worked fine. So I cleaned the contacts well and tried again. Lo and behold, all 4-player functions returned to normal. So much for the theory of self-wiping, self-cleaning contacts. Never assume anything in EM troubleshooting. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Crocus cloth? That's a new one for me. Thanks. BTW, I should have added in my last post that this issue was silent for over 18 months because: a) it was in storage for over a year, and b) since it was re-activated a few weeks ago, I don't think any games were played beyond one-player. So today, after the fix, I ran the game through rigorous paces: five 4-player games (with the glass off), triggered all functions to get all 4 score reels to turn over several times. All functions performed perfectly. No hiccups anywhere. For EMs, I think this is an exercise and physical therapy that should be performed on a regular basis, especially if they sit for long periods. Play it!

That says it all for me. Just as happy fixin' as playin'. Hence my screen name.