A minor ripoff on Lord of the Rings. Gottlieb thought about releasing a "Wizard" game, AAB 5 years earlier. it had some neat scoring.

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pinhead52 built a beautiful display box for the Gottlieb Wizard backglass a couple of years ago.

For any who may not have seen it previously, here is a link to a video I made of which the first minute focuses on the lighting patterns he applied, and the balance of the video highlights the box, the contrast of Wizard vs. Abra Ca Dabra, and the artwork.

Please note that the video also contains an audio song track, so both full screen viewing and loud volume are recommended

https://vimeo.com/173113051

Here is also a link to the original thread where pinhead52 detailed the display box build, and which includes a surprise backglass handling error

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/display-box-for-gtb-wizard-bg

How can this backglass exist if GTB only thought about making it? Anyone have more detailed knowledge of history or link to detailed explanation? Do these exist? Has anyone ever tried to build a working one?

IPDB suggests "very few units produced", probably as samples, for export. the backglass came up on ebay and it was a nice snag. a shout out to Pinball Pimp who made modified stencils.

Wow! Nice find, Pinhead52! Thanks for working to hard to properly preserve, but also display that backglass. I'd love to see the whole game in action some day. I wonder if it was the atypical flipper arrangement that killed it. Gottlieb didn't make too many layouts like that in the 70s.

If you look at the flyer for Wizard they had a wacky cab design

https://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2802&picno=49610

So I took poetic license to use the Abra design for the Wizard glass display box.

If anybody would like a display box they are relatively easy to build. Ive got a Lucky Strike glass I need to build a box for.

Wow super rare and pretty wild layout too!

Questions on scoring:
1) how do the pops “1000 when lit” get activated? Mine are lighting up with flipper hits. Doesn’t seem correct.

2) average game scores. I am scoring 80-90,000 points without dropping all the targets and hiring bonus bullseye. Something must be off. Where should
I be looking?

This is my first EM....

Are you getting points (10 pointers or pop hits) just by whacking the cabinet around and/or pushing the flipper buttons? If so, check the gaps on the scoring switches nearby...

Are your pops staying lit and scoring 1000 more than 50% of your game time? They should be alternating on and off with 10 point hits in 5 ball games...

Set to 3 or 5 ball?

Set to 5 ball. Both pop lights are staying lit whole game and always scoring 1000. Only get 10 points when ball hits the two slings up top.

When you hit the 10 point switches, do the spots behind the targets move? Spot target lights and 1000 when lit bumpers are both controlled by the "Target Bank Spot Relay" or the "I" relay, located on the underside of the playfield near the left pop. Is that relay firing and rotating when the 10 point switches are hit? If so, maybe the switch stack that rides on a cam in the center section of the I relay has a short or bad gaps - this center section controls the 1000 point bumper scoring and lights.

Do you have a schematic?

I do have a schematic and owners manual. The lights behind the drops aren’t moving. Just played a game and the pops are lit 100% of the time and either scoring 1000 or nothing. Being new to EM, what is best reference to look at as I dig into switch stack and relays?

The tilt is soooo sensitive, I can’t even nudge the game a little bit, or it Tilts out

As background, @ccotenj has a great thread - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/gtb-as-match-stepper-rebuild-step-by-step . It's a good reference for this type of relay - the match relay is a slightly simpler version of Abra's spot relay.

You can search for topics such as EM repair, safely working on pins, schematic reading, etc.... many great references on these boards.

The simplest explanation may be that the "I" relay is not firing, there is one switch to check on the "N" (ten point relay). Both that and the 3-5 ball jones plug are in the circuit that fires the "I" relay solenoid. The relevant portion of the schematic:

Spot Relay (resized).png

Could this loose wire in the backbox be the issue? Even if not, where should it belong?

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should be soldered to the top of the shoe

There is probably an AS style relay that drives the lights above the drop targets to change. It will probably be on the bottom side of the playfield and be totally removable for maintenance via a jones plug. It is probably gummed up which is why the lights don’t index and the pop bumper doesn’t change on and off.

This is all experienced speculation as my ACD is on end in a corner of my garage. Look through what others have pointed you to regarding refubish instructions for AS relays.

Since the sheath is missing, what would be recommended to protect the bare wire?

As long as the wire doesn’t touch anything the sheath isn’t necessary. Also, it is serving as a redundant path as the adjacent wire in the picture is doing the same thing.

Once that wire is soldered back on (and assuming it doesn't fix the issue), I think you should observe the "I" relay (pic below) while hitting one of the 10 point switches. Lift the playfield, start a game and hit a 10 point switch repeatedly (there's a small rubber directly above the pop that's 10 pts). Does the relay move? Is the arm with the points (red arrow in pic) moving smoothly from segment to segment on the circuit board?

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Ok. So I soldered the wire and it made no diffference. The two slings, when hit, advance the 10 point scoring reel, but no chime and the “I” AS does nothing. The coil doesn’t fire and the arm doesn’t move. I pull the AS assembly and manually moved it. The gears and the arm move, and it doesn’t seem overly dirty. Dead coil?

There's a switch on the 10 point "N" relay that fires the "I" relay, it's the lowest switch in the N relay's stack. Can you see if that is gapped correctly? You can also *momentarily* short the two wires going to that switch (YellowBlue and BlueWhiteRed) and listen for the I relay clicking.

No 10 point chime either? We want to look at that N switch stack for that as well... do you know how to simulate the N coil firing by pushing on the white switch armature on the relay?

What's the thread etiquette for the ACD'ers - should we open up a dedicated repair thread or keep going here?

Club threads often help other owners with game-specific issues, and it allows people with a specialized/intimate knowledge of the game chime in.

What bulbs belong in the monster’s eyes? I put in LED bulbs but they are steady on. Should they be blinking?

yes 455 blinkers..

I want in the club!! Can’t wait to put it together tomorrow..after driving most of the day, and ordering in, it’s time to relax n watch the hockey game..

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Congrats hwyhed - welcome to the club !

Very nice! A little "Wipe on Poly" on a rag will make that flipper drag almost disappear.

What is “Wipe on Poly”?

Will it improve the ball wear in the shooter lane? Will need to be reapplied as it wears?

yes! and top arch ball track I first lightly sand with 400 grit sandpaper to smooth it out, with a touch of alcohol then apply 2 or three coats. It might be 5 years or longer before you reapply

Can I be part of this club?

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i believe i sent you one of those heads for free

You did, to replace the water damaged head cabinet on an ACD, which is not included in this photo. Thank you very much.

you should bring it to tpf

We should create a Vancouver ACD owners sub club

Warren

Would we be a club of 3?!?

I think there's another ACD in North Vancouver too. But three would be a good start

Gotta have a secret handshake for your Vancouver club

Pinside has 4 ACD registered in the Lower Mainland, there could be a few more.

What are the correct pop bumper caps for Abra?

My scores were creeping up on Abra these past few months (and not because of my ever-increasing pinball skills). The 1000 point pops were staying on waaay too long. Traced it down to an armature issue on the “I” Target Bank Spot Relay (an AS style relay with an additional 1 : 1 cam).
I took it apart and cleaned it this week and, when putting it back together, noticed that the armature had too long of a travel due to the relay coil pole mushrooming. This increasingly caused the drive pawl to travel TWO teeth on the ratchet spindle, skipping ahead two positions and leaving the 1000 point pops active. Correct operation in a 5 ball game turns off the 1000 point pops after a 1000 point pop hit. Now, no more machine gun 1000’s, sigh… I’m back to the time honored technique of running up the bonus and sniping at the lit spot targets.

Incidentally, Pinball Resource has a great tech note “Gottlieb AS Style Relay Adjustment” in their AS relay parts section. It gives all the tolerances and alignment instructions for correct operation.

I suppose I should also confess that I haven’t gotten around to ordering a new relay coil yet, I just raised the existing mushroomed coil with a piece of fish paper (a washer was too thick) so the armature now travels the specified tooth and a half on the ratchet spindle. I know, it’s a bit of a LEP man fix, maybe this post belongs in that thread.

Also, some obligatory AS relay porn (dirty):

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The standard Gottlieb white caps with a red "1000 POINTS WHEN LIT"

Wade is shipping hooray!

Just got my email also!

A few pics of the finished playfields:

https://pinballplayfields.wordpress.com/