Beat The Clock: summarizing what needs to be done.

I've loved my time with Beat The Clock, but at this point almost all of the issues are beyond my current skills, and I will probably be returning it to it's owner.  Looking much nicer, and playing better, and with a checklist of maintenance items to eventually look at.  :)

I did a more thorough investigation to how some of the switches were causing the pops to fire.
I went through more methodically, with the glass off, trying each switch multiple times.  I found that there is a major problem with the switches getting triggered.  I noted all of the misfires, and went to the switch matrix in the manual.  We can see an obvious pattern:

The switch matrix, and I circled switches that when closed would sometimes close another switch.

Horizontal switch corruption!
First though: this wasn't perfect.  Not every single time did I press the "S" target did the right bumper activate, but often.
And Second:  I am not 100% if the inverses are true, it is just most apparent when a solenoid goes off, or the ball randomly ends. (see bottom row: so many things can trigger the outhole switch by accident)

I am guessing this switch corruption is also responsible for how when the ball goes in to the shooter lane, some points can be scored immediately, thus starting the clock prematurely.



Stuffed in with the manual I found a colour printout of a picture of someone else's Beat The Clock.  This confirmed what I had suspected:  That the guides to the left and right of the flippers were non-original.  The right one works great, but the left flipper's plastic is shaped odd, allowing the ball to rest within it's nook/cranny:

yeah that's a great place for a ball to nuzzle in.

Here is a rough zoom-in on the pic:

the original metal guide contours to the flippers' umm.. roundness?

So if a Beat The clock ever gets parted out in the future?  Those lane guides would be a great piece to snag and improve the game play with.

Other things  being done?
As said before I am ordering drops from Pinball Resource.  The "Star+Lines" drops.  And new springs.
A line cord with a ground needs to be installed to avoid shocks.
Replace/fix the 3 lights sockets that are still not working (50k drops bonus, 5k bonus count on bottom, B top rollover)
Also getting a new battery to replace the old old old one, and hopefully it will retain settings again.
On that note, here is a quick reference in how to get the machine back to working when in the test menu:
Option 27: set to 3  (turn on full sound)
Option 32: set to 65 (free play)
and then if the gain still doesn't start, check:
Option 10: set to 5 (if there is a corrupted value ended in 00, game will not start)

Beat The Clock: cleaning the shooter rod

Also!

I took some time to clean the shooter rod assembly.  This game requires a precision skill shot, and the shooter rod was very sticky and hard to adjust to the right tension.
So I took it all out, cleaned up some rust and gunk and now it plays much nicer.

The strategy, it seems, is to get the ball up towards the 4th (D) rollover.  Then it will bounce around in the S-T-O-P drops.  Then let it drain, shoot it up again and use the right flipper to align the lights for best being collected.    If done properly you can quickly get to a double playfield with the timer stopped!

Beat The Clock udpate

After having fixed the bonus kickout hole switch last time, I decided to add some protection.  I took off the surrounding plastics and cut some custom plastic sheeting to go in front of it.  Any place where the ball goes airborne and smacks down, that will inevitably wear.

right flipper switches:  bottom switch can close while the top remains open.  I need to correct this.

The right flipper can be used to alternate which of the S-T-O-P lights are lit, and which top rollover lanes are lit.
You'll see that even when the first switch is closed and the flipper is active, the change-lane switch is still open.  I want them in sync so that any flip rotates the lanes, so I adjusted the gapping to make them sync up.
This way you can reliably rotate the lights with the flipper without having to inspect to see if the lights actually moved.


Top left "A" lane was not registering when the ball would go across it too quickly, so again, fixed the gapping there.

said rollover switch

Then the other day I go to play it, flip the switch on and expect the glorious "BEAT THE CLOCK" squwacking speech.  Except... it just beeped.  And had no credits any more.  And the high-score was all 5s.  What happened?
It looks like the memory got wiped!  Battery was still there, but ummm maybe best to replace it.  Not sure what else could have caused it than battery issues.  So we have one of those on order.
But the game wouldn't play past booting up.  I couldn't coin up at all.   Was something amiss?  Why no "BEAT THE CLOCK" on bootup?  DID SOMETHING GO HORRIBLY WRONG?

our keypad technology is lightyears ahead of yours!

The answer was: not really, but kind of.  When the memory blipped, things went back to the "Factory settings".  I quickly found that "factory settings" contains a bunch of nonsensical register data that was hampering things.
This game has a tiny black button inside the door to go in to test mode, and to get all the way in you have to make sure there are no aberrant switches closed.  It signals them with a beep and a switch number.
Once all cleared, you use a quirky little key-pad on a cable to interface with the test modes.

the offending board battery?

Long story short, I finally figured out the issue was that the "Maximum Credits" register (register #10) was set to 8000.  The value is supposed to be betwen 1 and 40, so altering allowed for proper coin-door operation, and also let the start button work on free play (set register 27 to 65 for that).
I had to set the full sound and speech options to 3 to get to the point where it would say the wonderful "BEAT THE CLOCK" on bootup.

come on... say it... "BEAT THE CLOCK!"

I checked a number of the other registers, and definitely wonky data, even in registers that can't be overwritten.  Games played?  20,000.   Coins insert?  400,000.  Times the high score was beaten?  9,200,000....
At least I found the one bit of wacky data that was actually messing up the game operation.
After other power-ons, I noticed it is not holding on to sound settings or free play settings, but it is not a total memory wipe as it is holding the credits count.
The max credits raised up to something like 8010, but I imagine the system is only looking at the right 2 digits.  So when it was 8000 maximum credits, the system read that as 0.


Remember the small detail that the game is LIVE, and you could easily run current through yourself while touching the game and anything else?
Yeah.  That.
Unplugged the game and found the cord didn't have a ground plug!  UGGGH.
So new properly grounded plug coming.
So when the owner comes the priorities will be:  Line cord, then battery.

while messy, at least the standups work pretty well.

all different springs, and oh hey, one is missing!

So yeah:  new drops are coming.  See above.  :)

I tried putting in LEDs under the playfield but they don't handle the flickering animations well.  And with these old-style 555 sockets, I want to smash my head on the wall.  They are the WORST for accessing.  Give me the rotating bases for the 555s, or go have to 44s.
I swapped LEDs in to the GI but some sockets are a bit flakey though and might need eventual replacement.  This got me some spare 555s.
While I was swapped the LEDs I got some deeper cleaning in, and as well put lexan washers on the sling plastics.  I had hoped to put lexan under each of the plastics, but the rest of the plastics are half fastened by screws in to wood, and so the posts would be higher up, which probably bodes even worse for the plastics then leaving them unprotected.

With a salvaged 555 incandescent bulbs in hand I went to work replacing bulbs under the playfield, but then found a bunch of lights still did not work.  I will have to check voltages later, and see if I need to replace the sockets.

Also got some screws for the pop bumpers.  The pop assemblies snap together, but for when the snaps inevitably break there are little marked holes for where to drill.  I then had to go BACK to the store and get a size zero squaure driver because I've never owned one before.  But at least now the pop bumpers are 100% secured.

A  problem that is creeping up in importance:  The end of ball switch.  At least I think it's that switch.  Some times the ball is live and suddenly the game registers the end of ball sequence.  This of course is extra terrible when you have zero seconds remaining.
But also some times when the ball drains you have to hit the flipper buts for the end of ball sequence to initiate, so it might NOT just be a switch issue.


TODO
look in to end-of-ball switch issues
diagnose why the S-T-O-P standups can trigger pop bumper or right sling solenoids
replace drop targets
find why shooter lane eject can trigger left standups or right drop target
loose light socket
outhole lane: sometimes doesn't register until flippers pressed, sometimes signals end of ball when ball in play
adjust S-T-O-P standups to be more sensitive
GROUND THE GAME
replace board battery

DONE
cleaned shooter rod assembly
fixed bonus collect hole so ball doesn't get stuck
fixed "A" rollover sensitivity
lexan washers on pops
LEDs for GI lighting
secured pop bumperr plastics
right flipper now properly rotating S-T-O-P and upper rollover lights
repalced most lights under the playfield
deep cleaning + waxing
all new rubbers

Introducing... Beat The Clock

Dust doesn't get much chance to settle around here.  Top Score is officially on loan at a friend's place, and will get sold some time in August or September.
It was one of my favourite EM games, but I got an offer I couldn't refuse:  to borrow a 1985 Beat The Clock.
Yes, my first Solid State machine!!!!  I couldn't say no.



This game has a dynamite layout, and pretty much every goodie you'd want from a game in the first half of the 80s.
(If you can keep it a secret, I think many of the later 80s solid state games aren't as fun.  With the advent of multiball and ramps, EVERY game tried to shoehorn those things in, often with a sacrifice to design and flow.)

This game has some really great basic features:    A 6-bank drop target bank that protects 5 standups.  A wacky reversed left outlane.  A bonus collect hole in the upper left.  A channel to the top, protected by a single drop on the right.  An upper flipper.  4 rollovers and collect hole at the top.  And  standups in the upper right which are actually a strategic addition to the game.

There was only 500 of these made, and a lot of people just aren't in to this game, which might be a head-scratcher on the playfield glances alone.  But it is a timed game, and what that means is essentially it is a 1-ball game, except you have a long Ball-Saver that can freeze and extend.
I think many people are turned off by this aspect, but it forces you to rethink how you normally play pinball.   Not only are you going for points, building bonus and collecting, but you are also strategizing your risky play against the clock, trying to find ways to stop it, build it, prevent it from starting again.
Personally, I think it adds a lot of depth to the gameplay and forces you to constantly tweak your strategy and respond quickly.


First thing to do with a new arrival?  Get cleaning with the Novus 2 and then 1, then wax all of the main areas up as best possible.

the results of my initial clean, displayed in rag-form...

Then I played a number of more games with a pen and paper by my side and started taking notes of everything that was going wrong and/or needs to be looked in to.
I also put down some custom low-tack plastic sheets in the areas with wear to make sure the game doesn't get any new damage while with me.
I replaced the bottom flipper rubbers, since they were getting stale, but will eventually get new rubbers for the entire game.

I was warned by the last player that the collect hole was occasionally having a hard time detecting a ball in it, and thus not rewarding bonus and kicking it out.  This severely hampers game play, as you have to lift up the machine, or take the glass off, to get things moving again.

This collect hole is a huge part of the game, and it needs to be 100$

The collect hole from beneath

I didn't really need to remove the kicker mech, as I later found out, but it did allow me to give the switch a good cleaning and adjusting.
I reassembled it and realize I could have adjust it around the solenoid and bracket, but hey, live and learn.
Oh, and:  PROBLEM SOLVED!  I made the tip of the switch more prevalent, and reduced the gapping on the other half of the switch.  It was also a bit crooked, so I tried to bend them to be more parallel to each other.

These are hard-to-fit standups, but if you can nail them all they stop the clock.  The right flipper also rotates which ones are lit.

In my tests I found that some of these standups, when hit hard, would trigger a pop bumper or the right slingshot.  Definitely need to look in to that.  (At least from a playfield standpoint, I don't touch boards)
Also, most of the snaps on the pop bumpers are busted, so not much to hold the plastics on top.  I found one screw, so will take that in to a hardware store and see if I can buy replacements and secure all pop bumper parts.

with this rag-tag- band of drops, how can we go wrong?

The drop bank needs a lot of love, but let's take another moment to appreciate how cool it is to have a bank of standups offset behind the drops for extra scoring features!
I might replace all of the drops, but my immediate area of concern is the standups in the rear.  I noticed that sometimes when the ball ejects in to the shooter lane, the clock has started and some points are on the board.  Even if just first plunge.
What is supposed to happen is that, like the gun fire at the start of a race, the clock starts when you go through the gates at the top after your skill shot.  That sometimes is the case, and I feel it is very important to the race aesthetic of this game.
About 50%+ of the time, the ball goes in to the shooter lane and you hear a noise and get points, and the clock also starts.  I matched that noise up with what happens when you hit a standup, so most likely eject solenoid firing is tripping a switch over on the other side of the playfield.

Plastic just before the left flipper

Notice how the clear plastic tapers in the same manner as the top of the left flipper?  That allows balls to just sit there.
Ideally, and this is how it is on the right flipper, you want that plastic to come up to and hug the flipper's curves, creating a seamless path for the ball to roll.
I will have to look in to replacing that, or having a custom one fabricated.  It will greatly improve the gameplay.



More stuff:

Grounding is an issue on this machine.  I noticed a familiar tingle when touching another machine and also the key in the coin door slot, or some of the trim.  This is not something I will be doing, but I imagine the owner of the game knows how to fix the issue.

Many lights are out in this game.  Poking under the playfield, everything is bracketed like the old #44 bulbs, but all 555s.  THAT IS WEIRD.   It is super difficult to access any of the bulbs, but I am determined to at least get all of the sockets lighting again.  The difficulty of access probably means I am too annoyed to install full LEDs.
The left pop bumper's light socket is loose and will need re-securing.  The right flipper doesn't rotate the lights reliably, and probably needs a switch adjusted
Outhole is sometimes not registering until you press flipper buttons. 



TODO
find screws to affix all pop bumper plastics
diagnose why the S-T-O-P standups can trigger pop bumper or right sling solenoids.
replace the drop targets
find why standups behind the drops can be trigger by shooter lane eject.
Get grounding fixed:  get tingle when touching another cabinet.
Loose light socket in left pop bumper
Right flipper not doing a great job rotating the lights, check switches.
outhole switch sometimes not registering until you press flipper buttons
Many lights out
Fix/replace/adjust plastic to the left of the left flipper.
All new rubbers.

DONE
fixed bonus collect hole switch so ball doesn't get stuck.
clean + wax



LET'S GET TO WORK!

this generic action art is the legacy of old Atari game box design, no doubt.