I'm more familiar with working on Gottliebs and their little quirks regarding how things are drawn and labelled on their schematics - and find myself working on someone's "Fan-tas-tic" by Williams, who have a different way of labelling things.
In the picture shown, what is meant by the "O" outside the make-break switch circled in red? I understand that the "IND.-A" means that it's the "A" switch on the index wheel in the score motor (the other attached photo), but I don't get what the "O" is trying to tell me. In the abbreviations key (nice idea!), "O" stands for open, but that doesn't make sense here, does it?

Thanks for the help!

fan-tas-tic start circuit (resized).JPG

fan-tas-tic index (resized).JPG

Thanks Ken - why do they bother to do that? Elsewhere in the schematic (see photo), there is a normally open switch that has an "O" beside it. They obviously don't do that with all the switches....is it something they only do on index switches? Why would that be?

other motor switches (resized).JPG

I think it must be an "O" rather than a zero since there is no zero wheel anywhere on the score motor. I think the "5" to the left of that bottom switch must indicate that it pulses 5 times (being on the impulse wheel which has 5 teeth per half turn). It is the B switch on the impulse wheel of the score motor according to wire color.

There are "C"s on the left side of several switches (2nd photo)....which makes me lean toward the "open" or "close" interpretation. But I still don't understand why it's telling me that. I haven't learned to speak "Williams" yet.

score motor (resized).JPG

C switches (resized).JPG

Thanks, as always, Mark! I didn't drink enough Ovaltine to get the decoder ring, apparently....thanks for the link to the pdf.

So I'm still a bit confused as to what the letter "O" or "C" to the left of the switches indicates. I can understand the number and letter to the right, telling you when the switch changes states and where it is on the stack (and that IS helpful), but why the "O" or "C"? I can see on the schematic that only the score motor switches have the letter "O" or "C", or number "5" to the left of the switch.

And if they were being helpfully redundant and reminding you of what the opposite state of the switch is (is there a 3rd option?), why does that open switch (first photo post #3) have an "O" beside it - wouldn't it be a "C". Is that just a mistake?

Or should I just ignore those damned letters and get on with my life?

Also, I know that Gottlieb schematics are drawn with switches in the positions that they're in when: a 1-player game is started, the first ball is in the shooter lane, and the machine is unplugged.

Are Williams schematics drawn with the machine in the same state?

Sorry about all these questions, but I'm on vacation.....normally, I have a job to occupy my simple mind during the day.

Thanks Mark - that'll have to do then. I knew I'd have questions the first time I stuck my little head inside my first Williams machine. Thanks to everyone for the replies!

Thanks for chiming in, Rolf....good to hear from you. Yes, I like the plan where I just ignore the "O"'s and "C"s...I'm going with that one.

Don't forget to include those score motor sequence errors we (meaning MarkG) found in schematics for "Quick Draw" and "Solar City" for that German site that you're doing.

Otherwise, I like the way Williams draws schematics - I just have to get used to it, being a Gottlieb guy. The score motor is certainly easier to work on with that linear layout!

Hey MarkG - I was looking through that introduction to Williams games, and found this:

So...pretty much the same as Gottliebs.

williams switch states (resized).JPG

I have the equivalent document for Bally machines - I'll look through it for that info. In the meantime, I'll email you the pdf in case you don't already have it. I must truly be a nerd as I find that fun reading.

*laugh* They make it sound soooo easy! ...almost inevitable!

troubleshoot (resized).JPG

I noticed that identical wording too - couldn't remember which one I was reading half the time. I'm sure there was alot of cross-hiring going on at the time - it was a small pinball world in Chicago. Shoot, didn't Gottlieb and Chicago Coin operate out of the same building for a while (until Gottlieb built their own bldg), and didn't Gottlieb hire Chicago Coin employees when CC's business was slow? I seem to remember reading that. And I know artists were working for more than one company, designers were hired away from one pinball company to another because one of their friends worked there and put in a good word for them....all that kind of stuff. It wouldn't be too surprising if someone's intro to flipper games manual made it over to another company.

I don't understand those drawings, Mark - what does the "position" mean? Are these normal (2 leaf) switches? Does the position refer to "at rest" vs "energized"?