I have a Williams Gulfstream that I have set to play five balls per game. One of the features of the game is a numbered tic-tac-toe grid in the center of the machine. The top row is numbered 1 -3, middle row 4-6 and the bottom row 7-9. If you light up three numbers in row and then land in a kick-out, you will get one extra ball.

The machine has some adjustable extra ball reward settings. Mine is set up so that if you get the four corners of the numbered tic-tac-toe grid lit up (lights 1,3,7 and 9), you will get three extra balls. There is a dial that can be set to one, two or three balls. My machine is set to three and this works flawlessly.

Something new has started happening regarding extra balls and the tic-tac-toe grid. For some reason, if I get three particular corners of the grid (1,3 and 9) lit, it will give five extra balls. It only happens when 1, 3 and 9 are lit. No other corner light combination will trigger this extra five ball situation. This is baffling to me because there is no setting that I see in the instruction manual that would allow you to choose five balls (other than the number of balls per game) and a setting for three particular corners seems odd to me. Also, it doesn't matter when this happens in a game so it is not tied to any high score setting.

This is a recent change and I have not done any setting changes on my machine for months now. I noticed it for the first time about a month ago when my nephew was playing the machine and he went from three balls to eight all of a sudden. I just thought is was a fluke thing because it's an old EM and maybe some vibration during play caused it. Then it started happening to me regularly and I finally realized it was when I had those three corners lit.

If anyone has any idea what might be causing this and what I can do to stop it, please let me know.

As always, thanks in advance.

David, in response to part of your post copied below:

"Regarding the award of 5 balls: first of all, I am going to guess that if you activate switches by hand, you can make 3-7-9, followed by 1, and also get the 5 balls. Likewise for 1-7-9 followed by 3, and 1-3-7 followed by 9, right?"

The answer to the above is no - this will NOT result in the award of five balls. Each of those combinations lights the four corners resulting in the three ball reward (per my "four corners" reward setting in the backbox).

I've been messing with this all afternoon by hand and the "four corners" reward works as it is supposed to by giving the three balls every time but the five ball reward only happens with the 1-3-9 combination. Every time I have the 1-3-9 combination, the machine adds five balls.

Also, since the 7 needs to be lit for the "four corners" reward and that reward is working properly, I feel there is nothing wrong with the No. 7 relay. Do you agree with that logic?

I do appreciate your time in looking at this, David.

Thanks.

Thank you, HowardR. I will check that switch on the No. 7 relay tomorrow. If I go back downstairs again tonight, I think my wife will kill me.

I did want to add to my previous post. I forgot to mention that after lighting the 1-3-9 combination and getting the five ball reward, if you then light up the 7 (therefore lighting the four corners) you will also get the "four corners" reward of three balls. That's eight extra balls.

Again, since the "four corners" reward works, I think that the No. 7 relay switch settings are fine but I will check switch 13B first thing in the morning.

Thanks.

I checked that switch and it looks like it got bent and was always closed ...

I'm not sure how it got bent because this just started happening in the past 3 to 4 weeks.

Just for fun, I slid a piece of paper in that contact to see what would happen if it were open. With the relay energized, the "open" switch prevented the "four corner" reward which is what I expected. With the relay not energized and with that piece of paper between the contacts, the "open" switch prevented the five extra ball reward. This pretty much confirmed that 13B was always closed whether the relay was energized or not.

I gapped the switch so that it is normally open and it seems like the five ball reward is a thing of the past.

I will keep an eye on this for a couple of days and mark this resolved if the five ball reward doesn't reappear.

Thank you, HowardR. I wish I could read schematics like a lot of you on this forum can. I will keep trying to learn.

HowardR,

I've been wondering if you can explain why it was giving five balls with that switch always closed. I am guessing with your expertise with schematic drawings you can explain it.

If it will take too much time to look at it, forget about it. I am grateful for the time you have already spent on this to help me get things squared away.

Yes, it does help. I have a lot to learn.

Thanks again.