It reset once you activated the Coin Set Up relay and pushed the credit button? Or did it reset spontaneously when you activated the Coin Set Up relay?

The Coin Set Up relay is usually fired by the 25 cent relay after the Score Motor has already started turning. I suspect it locks on because the motor isn't turning when you activate it.

The Coin relay should activate to get the game to reset. Here is the circuit (from IPDB.org):
Lucky Ace Coin relay (resized).jpg
When you activated the Coin Set Up relay the switch in red closed which I think is what let the game reset once you pressed the credit button. If that's the case Coin Set Up switch is bypassing the Game relay switch just above it which should normally provide the path to the Coin relay. If you clip an alligator clip test lead to the blue-white and white-grey wires to bypass those two switches does the game reset normally? If so your Game relay switch probably isn't closing.

/Mark

Are there credits on the game? Does the game start if you stick a quarter in the coin slot as you would do in an arcade? I just picked up one of these games and will be working on it next week.

I dont know if mine works I will find out next week when i break it out of storage it has been sitting a while so my guess it will have issues.
Joe

If the wire colors have faded you can always try to find the other end(s) of the wire for confirmation that you've identified the right wire. If you think you have the right wire on a switch, find the other end of the wire on some other device (as shown on the schematic) and see if there's little or no resistance between the two ends. That should tell you whether or not you've got the right wire.

The Game relay is an interlock relay with two coils that pull the armature and switches back and forth between two positions. Once one coil has fired briefly and pulled the switches one way the relay can mechanically hold its position until the other coil fires briefly to pull it to the other position. It can hold either position indefinitely without power even after the game is turned off.
Lucky Ace Game relay (resized).jpg
The Game relay in this game should reset or "Latch" at the start of a new game when the Coin relay fires and the Ball Count unit is at Zero. The Total Play Meter and Credit Unit subtract solenoid are wired in parallel with the Game relay Latch coil and should fire at the same time.

Shortly after the game starts the Ball Index relay fires when the first points are scored. The Ball Index relay will in turn fire the Game relay "Trip" coil to indicate that the game has started.

The schematic is drawn with interlock relays in their Latched positions. The schematic in reply #2 shows the Game relay switch open which means that the game has started but points haven't been scored yet. Once points have been scored that switch should close which would enable the replay button. Since this is a one player game you want to disable the replay button just after the game starts but enable it again once the game is in progress. Once the game ends the Game relay should still be in the Tripped position, even after the game is shut off, enabling the replay button.

Start by checking the behavior I described. Do the Game relay, Total Play meter, Credit Unit subtract behave as they should? Is the Ball Count at zero during reset? After that you'll need to check the circuits that drive the devices that aren't behaving as they should. Use a meter or an alligator clip test lead to check or bypass switches. If that's not familiar read up elsewhere in this forum on troubleshooting techniques.

Do the credits add in groups of five credits at a time up to eight?
Lucky Ace Credit Unit (resized).jpg
If so it could be that the switch on the 10 cent relay in the red box is stuck closed. The switch to the left of it on the schematic (Imp-C) is on the Score Motor impulse cam and generates five quick pulses for every half turn of the Score Motor. If the 10 cent switch is stuck closed the five pulses would get through to the Credit Unit Step Up (SU) solenoid which would add five credits until the switch just to its left opens up when the credit limit is reached, which could be set to 8 credits in your game.

If the 10 cent switch looks ok, start blocking other switches in the schematic with bits of paper to see which one is contributing to the extra credits.

Is Lucky Ace just the one player version of Dealers Choice?

They seem very similar.
Only played Ace once, but I loved it, and a Huge fan of Dealers Choice.

Cheers.

Yes...incredibly successful game.

Thank you sir, I was watching a vid of Lucky Ace, and it hit me, Wait! This is just like Dealers!
Cool.

My friends and I played the hell out of Dealers Choice every visit to Banning.
Such a great game.

IPDB has a ton of info on most every EM game. Lucky Ace:

https://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?any=lucky+ace&search=Search+Database&searchtype=quick#1483

Yep I was just looking at it.