The whole idea of needing a "reset switch" is lame. And obviously this start failure is not as rare as the great one believes if it happened to a couple of people within the last week or so. Someone - likely a kid - turns on the switch, nothing happens (computer is booting), and then they turn the switch off (and maybe on) as an instinctive reaction.

Someone at JJP should develop a watchdog board that whacks the CPU on the side of the head with a 2x4 - I mean, electronically presses the "reset switch" - if the mobo doesn't start running within a few seconds after power on.

Yes, really - three instances since Thanksgiving is not "rare", especially when you're dealing with a small sample size (at most a few hundred games across all Pinside owners). But please do go on deluding yourself that this is not a problem with the design ...

Stop thinking about home owners and starting thinking about games on location (NOT in a manned arcade like Lloyd's) with no access to the interior of the game. If a game on location gets into a "no start" condition for whatever reason and the operator has to send someone out to open the coin door to press a reset button, the first time it happens they'll be annoyed; if it happens again they'll be inclined to just leave the game alone until the next time they are out doing collections. The worst case condition (for JJP) is the operator calling his distributor and telling him take the game back.

All the explanations as to *why* the game can get into a no start condition are useless when the game on location is not earning for the operator. Arguments to "follow the procedure" are meaningless when dealing with games on location with no location owner access.

(And you *know* that once this sensitivity to manipulation becomes common knowledge there *will be* smart alecs who toy with games on location just to be a jerk.)