Top Score: more bonuses! more power! more fun!

More work done on Top Score!

I almost have all of the "add bonus" lights working.
I discovered there are 3 relays beneath the playfield, and on balls 3, 4 and 5 (or 1, 2 and 3 if set to 3 balls only) they activate, making more targets award a bonus ball.  A very cool progressive feature.
They are persistent, so the relay activated in ball 3 stays on for 4 and 5, and the one on for 4 stays on for ball 5 as well.

The three bonus switches, for balls 3-5, or 1-3 in a 3 ball game.

on ball 5 this lights for extra bonus!

Ball 5's relay wasn't responding but I seemed to have gotten it working with some minor adjustment.  The light for it still doesn't work (I think the socket is just too corroded, as I replaced the bulb,) but now it does add the bonus ball when it is supposed to.
I adjusted the screws in all of those switch-stacks and they seemed to have taken kindly to that extra care.

It is especially nice to have the inlane and bottom and mid-right standups all lighting properly, advertising their juicy bonuses.







I had ALMOST rolled the score over!  and it would have happened, too, if the bonus mechanism hadn't stopped working.  Devastating, I know, but I will fix it and earn my 100,000 point rollover fair and  square.  Things getting gummed are the way of life for EMs.
In a whiff of good design, the switch in the bonus section is easily accessible from behind.

peek-a-boo, I see you, bonus switch!

That switch let's the machine know bonus balls are loaded to be counted.  That solenoid is the one that smacks each down during the bonus count-up.


The left outlane switch was also being flaky again, so I will have to readjust that one.   A bit more severely this time.

The next part to dive in to will be the quirky "light special" rollover  star target at the top, which lights the "special" on the upper right standup.  I was thinking it might be good to modify this somehow, since how is a "special" interesting when the game is on free-play?
But I didn't notice something before:  I think hitting special also lights the "double bonus value" light down by the flippers.  That is exciting!

Some time next week I am going to start scanning in the Top Score schematics and manual.  I want to give it a proper treatment, like I did for Royal Flush.
I cannot wait to start showing off some of the neat schematic features this game has going on!
The FS relay is utilized in the special lighting, which is also an adjustable feature that allows for somewhat random-or-not ability in lighting it.  It's a pretty darn cool feature from a technical standpoint, and from an operator standpoint.

Right now the lights surrounding this Special business are a bit flaky, sometimes fading in and out, and all of this points to an FS relay that will need to be disassembled and cleaned.  This is a busy week, so I will most likely not tackle that until I get the scanner and get that task done.

This game is pulling together quite nicely!  I want to have it playing 100% by the time it leaves my basement.