Finally a club member! I’d really like to future-proof this game as much as I can and make it solid and reliable. I’m not one who likes to mod, so I want to keep it mostly original.

The game currently plays decently, and I already know I need a new slot scoop and target, but is there anything I should specifically put in my next parts order that are good to have on hand?

Also, my clock is broken. It has a new aftermarket clock board luckily, and worked for a little, but the motor sounds like absolute crap, and it sounds like it struggles with moving the hands. Should I just rebuild it with all new gears and motor?

I’m also debating a playfield swap. Current playfield is actually good, except a small insert chip on the GREED door panel, and a screw someone screwed in too deep by the flippers. How are the offerings from Mirco?

Thanks so much!

I’m no stranger to WPC games. I’ve owned a bunch and I’m very familiar with all their idiosyncrasies. The power driver board was actually previously sent out to coin op cauldron for a complete overhaul, so that’s a least concern right now.

Good to know about the rocket bounce outs! My game has a real issue with that too. I’ll definitely look into that adjustment. Also, I have a flasher lamp board from Davi on the way as well (it’s the one mod I can get behind). Thanks for your insight!

Slowly building up a parts order for my game. What’s the deal with the plastic ramp? Seems like all (most?) came with smoked grey plastic ramps, but most or all of the replacements are clear. Is one a prototype/sample difference? What’s the consensus here: original smoke or replace with a clear ramp?

Just putting my feelers out there: gonna swap my playfield. Are there any “plug and play” 3rd magnet installation kits available anywhere?

Vibratory. Cleans and polishes better, generally holds more stuff and irregularly shaped objects.

Question regarding ball search and missing ball compensation:

Current ROMs are 9.4h

Scenario:

Ball gets stuck someplace (currently it likes to get stuck under the powerfield occasionally). I’ll power cycle the game, so only 2 balls are in the trough. I turn the game on, press start, and instead of the game recognizing there’s only 2 balls and doing the usually ball search cycle before allowing a game to start, it starts immediately, but will ball search indefinitely. The game will refuse to compensate for the lack of a 3rd ball.

Is this how 9.4h operates? A bug? No other switch problems in the game otherwise. Plays completely fine.

I’m actually running 7. 6 steel, 1 ceramic, and have the “4 balls in gumball machine” setting turned on.

Thanks! Will look into that. I’ll be swapping the playfield on this soon, so it’s not a huge priority to fix. I just want to make sure the game is electronically sound before I dig into things

The Casper clock board seems like another good option.

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Does anyone know if the Power Field Switch Kit is still available anywhere?

My game is having an opto related issue.

Column 8 is out, but “lower lock” (a non opto switch 88) functions, so I am pretty sure this isn’t a CPU or problem with the connector there, but instead isolated to the opto board? I’m very inexperienced with this sort of diagnosis, so any further guidance would be appreciated.

Multiball magnet grab only works if you have the 3rd magnet installed in the game. Here’s what it looks like:

Following up on my repair:

Turned out to be J4-1 on the opto board. Wire came loose. Punched it back in, and all is right again.

However the “middle lock” opto still isn’t working, so I’ll have to dig a little deeper. Hoping it’s just another loose wire.

Update: loose connector under the playfield.

Check those connectors, people!

All fixed.

Correct. J4, Pin 1 carries the 12v to the optos in column 8, causing all the optos to fail.

Easy to diagnose because the lower lock switch is NOT an opto, but still on column 8, and yet worked properly. Reasoning was that it was an opto board related issue and not a CPU one. Traced the (lack of) voltages back to that wire.

The third magnet also changed the way the balls are grabbed during “the spiral” mode as well:

A mod definitely worth doing if you’re ever in the position to do a playfield swap.

That is the correct ROM that'll utilize the magnet. The game's software automatically detects the presence of the extra magnet and opto, and will adjust the rules accordingly.

Reach out if you have any questions! I'd be glad to help anyway that I can.

I think so, but my original translite was trash, so it was an easy decision to replace mine.

I really like the mirrored bits. So far I’ve been happy with all of CPR backglasses.

Hope these help!

Video:

Backlit:
5D6A6C78-E9D0-4821-B19F-05BDEC1C9C47.jpeg
Backlit:
D5513876-36C4-448B-A69E-1E12162A2EE1.jpeg
Game off:
EC89410E-4E48-41E5-87F4-DF0B28FF71F1.jpeg

If you want a nice original, I may have one I can part with.

Lift the playfield, and right on the inside of the cabinet you'll see 3 screws that hold a metal plate down right where the plunger is attached. Loosen the screws and then you can move the whole assembly to your liking before tightening everything back up.

Following up with this:

Even after a full restore, I can even start a game with 0 balls in the trough. I can start a game, but then goes into a ball search when it realizes a ball hasn't been delivered to the shooter lane. It seems like there's absolutely no missing ball compensation, which really surprises me. Can anyone verify that this is proper game operation?

Yes. The game plays flawlessly otherwise. No credit dot, no switch errors.

If your sample has the 2 opto boards, instead of the single 10-opto board, wiring in the additional opto for the magnet should be as easy as running new wires and punching them into the existing connectors.

Did you read my guide? A template really isn’t necessary. Just measure an approximate location with the lanes installed with a ruler. Measure twice, cut once.

Remember, this is pinball, not rocket science, so you don’t have to sweat millimeters.

I have the same wire. It's not plugged in to anything either. Is yours an early production game with the green lock light? I'm thinking it's just a "leftover" wire that doesn't have a purpose.

I also have a casper board and have had no issues with it.

It'd be nice if the LEDs were replaceable to match the game (to me, they're too harsh white), but it's a good consistent backlight with no hotspots.

Yea, they're a cool white. They're not blue by any means, just a very white light. I'm a purist and keep my games all running incandescent bulbs, so it stands out more in my game. I'm sure if you're planning on putting in LEDs everywhere else, it'll likely match the rest of the game's aesthetic just fine.

You’ll need 2:

LEDOCD for all the insert lighting, and the GIOCD for the general illumination smoothing to allow for flicker free dimming effects.

Coils always have power at all times in WPC games. The transistors on the driverboard simply ground the voltage, completing the circuit and activating the solenoid.

Assuming this is an electrical problem, and not a mechanical one where it’s simply binding, Start by checking the associated transistor on the driver board. If good, check the associated pre-driver.

I get errant #26 errors just enough to annoy me. It’s always the little 2 pin connector that shakes itself loose. Has anyone ever just soldered the wires directly to the board, or is that considered a hack?

This is how the game operates as designed. There’s nothing to fix.

Addams Family does the same thing with balls locked in the swamp, and BSD does the same thing with balls locked in the castle. Not sure why designers chose to keep balls locked game-to-game, but they did.

You’ll probably get a ton of opinions, but mine is that it’s not worth it. My TZ has all new upgraded speakers, and the quality isn’t $200 better sounding than the white water with stock speakers sitting right next to it.

With batteries in the game, the CPU has a “real time clock” that can keep track of the time and date even when powered down.

TZ has a fun feature that uses the real time clock during attract mode to show the correct time when idling.

When you switch over to NVRAM, the real time clock doesn’t run, so the time won’t be correct when the playfield clock sets itself during attract mode.

What?

Spannerhead, post a few pictures of the game here first. Lots of good knowledge that can get you started. What’s the serial number on the game?

I've been a fan of Marco Specialties rubber rings and kits for a long time, but I have white Titan rings installed in my TZ, and I think they're significantly better. I'd go with them. Kits in all sorts of fun color combinations are available on their website.

As my games need refreshing and new rubber rings in the future, I'll be converting them all over to Titans.

Grab up the classics while you still can!

I'm pretty sure that feature is activated by holding in both flippers for several seconds before starting a game, so I doubt that's your issue.

1000% worth it. If you’re already swapping a playfield, the hardest part is drilling into the stainless ball guides. I have a few guides that are key posts if you want to see the process.

It might be subtle, but the whole “show” of the game loading up all 3 magnets with a ball before dumping them all out simultaneously just adds to the build up of multiball start.

Also, catching a ball with each magnet during the spiral mode is a nice touch.

The door panel flashers are super cool, but I can see why they removed them from the Lock 1 & 2 panels early on. When they flash, especially during powerball, or when the ball is in the pops, kinda throws me off sometimes with how many locked balls I have. Draws attention to the wrong thing.

But the flashers under GUM and BALL are super rad no matter what. Personally, I’d have bought a board that just restores the incandescent flashers there, but alas.

I am incredibly happy with the board! I absolutely love it, and I think it’s a must-have mod. I absolutely value your work and dedication to the hobby.

That said, if you do ever decide to make an incandescent version of the board, I will 100% buy it. I keep all of my games incandescent since I prefer the look.

If you don’t have the 3rd magnet installed, this setting can either be on or off. It doesn’t matter. The programming automatically senses if you have the magnet and opto wired in and only then will it matter what that setting is.

Otherwise, it’s completely ignored by the software.

I used radcals on my cab within the year. I'm happy with them. No issues that I can tell. Colors and fitment are accurate. It's a good product.

No. It inhibits serviceability down the road.

Pull out the bolts, apply the decal, and then drill small pilot holes in the decals, reinstall all bolts.

Sure, it won’t be as clean looking, but you won’t be permanently covering anything in case you need access or to replace something in the next 20 years.

This is the correct answer, however, I can be lazy, and I almost always just slap the radcals over the existing art after a good deep clean.

Here’s my attack from mars (left the protective layer on):

6BB6BDC7-AB42-4D0F-B866-7A61B5B4C57F.jpeg
2F3906A3-6FE9-4236-9D24-95D7E5744A18.jpeg

My TZ:

57944922-CA69-4859-9E2A-AB4AC8FF3089.jpeg

In both scenarios, the only prep work I did was deep clean the cabinet so the adhesive would stick properly.

100% a drill.

For smaller bolts, just a sharp wood bit works.

For the larger holes, like flipper buttons, start button, and the plunger hole, start it with a drill bit, then take a drum sander attachment on the end of a Dremel and gently sand the hole diameter wider until you hit wood. Kinda like a router.

Utility knives and Xacto knives are such a pain in the ass, not sharp enough, and you’ll never get a perfect shape.

I closed up my left outlane as much as the adjustment allows, and I shot to the pops—along with skill shots—is far less risky. It’s kinda fun building the town square bonus and nailing dead ends. On a good game, dead ends can be worth more than multiball jackpots, plus it builds towards an extra ball.

I have the mirrored TZ cpr backglass. It’s great. The mirrored effect is subtle, but noticeable, and the stars beside the logo at the top are clear cutouts, so they have a nice little twinkle effect.

IMO, it’s a fantastic upgrade to the translite.

Nothing is a “must have” but imo, the CPR glass is a worthy upgrade. I’m a huge huge huge purist too when it comes to pinball. It takes a lot to impress me, and I’ve been consistently impressed with the CPR glasses. So much so, that I replaced the translite in my white water with one as well. It’s a great “finishing touch” after a restoration.

I like exposed bolts. It’s just a more authentic look.

I've also had mixed results with gulf products, but I will say, they've taken care of me each time I've had an issue. As far as I can tell, it's a one man operation, and he does a good job with customer support/warranty/returns.

Pro: 7 ball wizard mode.

Con: takes more shots to the gumball machine to start powerball mania.

Opinion: I run 7 balls because loading the gumball machine isn’t hard, but also getting the powerball out of the gumball machine feels like more of a “treat.”

There’s really no wrong answer here.

Like LTG said, the whole purpose of the fliptronics board is to prevent this. EOS switches are more or less redundant in this case. You can play the game just fine and trap balls all day long.

No kits, but DIY is very possible. Check my keyed posts for details and guide of my recent install.

Just out of curiosity, has anyone followed it schematically? It'd be interesting to know where it connects to.

I think a great “LED niche” to fill would be a 2700k or even a 2200k LED to better match incandescents. Even “warm white” bulbs at 3000k are often too cool.

Better yet, is the CRI (color rendering index) ever published on these small LED bulbs? I’d love to see 90+ become the standard. Anything less, and color washes out, regardless of color temp.

Does TZ really not have any missing ball compensation? If a ball gets stuck somewhere, it’ll just endlessly ball search. If I turn the game off, and back on (without freeing the stuck ball), it’ll start a game, but it won’t eject a ball. It’ll just sit there endlessly.

BSD will compensate. Hell, Even my System 11 games will adjust the rules to work with fewer balls—down to 1 if you press start enough times after the “missing pinball” warning. (TZ doesn’t even warn the player!)

Am I missing something? Running 9.4H

Edit in some text boxes over the video periodically that explain the process.

Also, check the continuity/connectors at the fliptronics board. I had a flipper issue on my TZ. It was weak and intermittent, and I tracked it down to a bad crimp at the IDC connector on the board.

I ran into the same problem when I bought the kit from pinball life as well. Here’s a good write up. Click the photo for the pdf install instructions:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tz-tech-glm-mini-switch-kit-installwrite-upimpressions#post-6684431

I had the exact same problem with mine. Super tight wiring and it just wasn’t as reliable as I wanted it to be in a game that gets played constantly. One of the surface mounted diodes broke after some playtesting because everything is so tight.

I ended up pulling out the left and right switch brackets and just using the front ones. To me, it’s the best of both worlds: unobstructed view of the powerfield, but reliable.

IMG_5890 (resized).jpeg

I wish I knew. I’m betting it was human error (me). It was a real challenge to install, and it worked for a hot second before I started getting all sorts of switch issues. I pulled it all apart again and noticed a cracked diode.

I’m having an issue with the clock:

In test, the clock operates perfectly. All optos register fine.

In game, when a timed mode starts, the clock will set itself to count down. About 5 seconds in, regardless of the mode, the clock “cancels” the time and quickly resets itself back to 12 o’clock position. Almost as if it’s being overridden.

Thoughts?

It also happens in clock chaos. Doesn’t matter the mode. After a few seconds, the clock will reset itself back to noon.

Good insight on it being a “soft failure.” I’ve had issues with the connector that goes to the clock (idc issues). I’ll see if vibrations are having an impact.

The clock works fine (shows the proper time) in attract mode as well. No issues there.

I have an aftermarket board. Casper, I believe. I bought the game with it installed and it never had any issues until now.

Ah, really excellent thoughts.

Another puzzle piece: running the clock test “clock fwd fast” while “chimp flipping” and banging around on the game caused the clock motor to just stop. It happened too fast for me to see if it was an opto issue or something mechanical.

I can do this reliably. Literally stopping the clock just by flipping the flippers. Doesn’t matter what time it is. It stays stopped and won’t run the clock again until I manually select it.

Here’s a quick video. It stops at 9 in this example, but it’ll stop at any time.

Visually, the cap looks fine. Any way to test it electrically?

Zero mods on this game, EXCEPT, for the 3rd magnet. I have victor’s daughterboard connected to it to provide power/signal for the additional opto.

IMG_7964 (resized).jpeg

I’ll order a new cap and replace it and report back. Regardless of its visual condition, it’s definitely primed for failure at some point.

Yes, the small surface mounted diode on the board the switches are also soldered to.

The only thing I would change is the scoring for the 5 million greed targets. The inserts say "5 million" but they actually score 10 million. That always bothered me.

Other than that, nothing. I think the game is pretty perfect as is.

Of course, I'd defer to Ted's expertise in the matter, but I think the 10 mil per target gives them a little too much weight in score, especially when a door panel for "big" points is 10 million. Just seems silly to me.

Still, not a big deal, since a difference in 5 million points is hardly noticeable or game breaking in any way. It's just been my OCD that bothers me about the discrepancy.

I suspect I’m missing these standoffs. Do you (or anyone else) have a picture of them installed? I’m having a hard time visualizing the proper assembly.

And whirlwind, with stickers to show little toll booths.

I’m out of town until mid next week, but I’m almost certain I have a pair of these I can send you. I’ll check when I’m home if you haven’t found anything by then.