Getting dirty with Arena!

I am pretty sure this game has never been fully cleaned before.  Some of the rubbers were replaced at some point (including that tragic rubber that melted and coated the playfield with it's debris!) but some of the harder to reach rubbers are seemingly originals.


I took off the Pit playfield and worked on that separately.  Underneath...

dirty.

dirty dirty.  And that rubber on the right is obviously 28 years old.

cleaned!

I am not a game restorer.  I lack the space to even start collecting art supplies for paint matching, let alone sealing a playfield and all of that.  I clean to my best ability, but one of my goals is to preserve and diminish future damage.
I use plastic sheets to cover the high-impact areas and parts where there is flaking.  You can see by the green insert I have plastic down on that area to preserve it.   On the right, you can see the cut plastic  sheet with the film still on, laid down for sizing.

I am not fixing the paint job, but I do want to preserve it for the chance someday someone will swoop in on this machine and do that restoration, and it will be perfectly operational, and not in any worse shape than when it passed through my basement.  In fact, if I get the game playing super well, it might even serve to inspire someone taking that extra time in the future.

It's hard to see the plastic covering on the left, but that's kind of the point.

I forgot to take a Before picture of underneath the apron, but trust me it was gunky, and cleaned up nicely.

clean!

I have managed to trace down a NOS ramp, but I still wanted to clean that area since the intense dirty and debris there easily spreads to the rest of the game.
So with ramp on order, I will do what I can while with the old ramp.

dirty.

clean!

As you can see I have been working hard to get rid of those tiny white dots, the remnants of the disintegrated rubber that had fused to the playfield all over.


And here's a sneak peak of the playfield as it stands!  

I have put a few LEDs in the GI, in the LOK + Pit inserts, and for 3 of the hard-to-see main area inserts.  (blue spinner light, green pit light, and the center CYS CYS orange light)
New ramp is coming from Winnipeg.  A decal for it will be coming from Pinball Resource.
When it is time to say goodbye to this game I am going to do another thorough playfield clean.

How to play Arena...

Finally got the translite back on (had to fix one of the plastic channels) and got the playfield glass back on.  Took a bunch of Windex and elbow grease to clean the playfield glass.  Then I addressed the gunk hidden in the cab's channels and was able to get a bunch of filth out of there, so hopefully the glass won't stick any more.

But I also played a bunch and quickly got in to the winning combo and fully realize why you'll probably never see this machine in competitions.  This game is fabulous, but has one fatal flaw:  The Million Points shot.
There is litereally no point to go for anything else but that, over and over again.  It doesn't get any hard to go for it.
The game should have that as 200k or 300k, and allow it be boosted 3 or 4 times by the playfield multiplier or something like that.  Even if it was just 200k, it'd still be a great shot and somewhat lucrative!  But at a million, everything else falls to the back.

HOW TO PLAY ARENA:
Plunge the ball, preferably in to the lit million shot.
Ball feed out and over the "T" in PIT, to right flipper.
Shoot up center, hitting the "I" rollover, and ball will continue and hit "P", then return to left inlane.
Ball should have enough speed to bounce to right flipper if you just hold it up
Shoot the ramp.  Now that PIT is lit, you get to try that million points shot again.
REPEAT

This KILLS ME.  This game has SO MUCH going for it.  I want to hack the ROM so it only awards the 200k because this is SUCH a cool game, thrown  out of wack by that one value.  Ok, that might still make PIT lucrative as it is relatively safe.
So, maybe each time you make PIT you have to light it an extra time?  Oh to lost potential.

I GOT IT:  First, skill shot is now 250k.  Then after first round of PIT, you have to light both CYS targets to be able to recollect PIT letters.  BOOM.  There is some fine risk/reward.
Then the guard shots, which are AWESOME, have some lucrative value in lighting that extra ball.
And multiball, the other big goal, is still worthwhile to yield a bucket of points.

Introducing... Arena!

So Target Alpha is out and that freed up a spot and oh look what has arrived!

peek-a-boo!

Gottlieb's 1987 ARENA!
My first Gottlieb Sys80b.

I found a few preliminary things even before even powering on:

hmmm.. original battery?  Thank goodness for no leakage

yeah that might cause an issue with the sound.  :)

the glass was dirty in the seams and was near impossible to slide out!

The game didn't start up readily, and the issue was it couldn't find the balls.  Hmmm where could they be?

2 balls were stuck in at the back.  I also found a manual and a big set of Gottlieb system80b documentation wedged in to the back of the cab!


Entering inside, let's check all of the cool areas in this very original playfield:

this bagatelle styled plunger shot comes in to play a lot in the game.  It has the coveted MILLION POINT SHOT, which is the key of the game.  Like bagatelle of yore, the ball can loop through twice on a good plunge.  Lots of fun.

 Oh but look:  missing that lower plastic, the upper right plastic, and the upper right cover that prevents some airballs.  Plastics are all disintegrating as well, and lots of caked on dirt.

Shot to the upper left rollovers is pretty much always ready for progressing the lock stages.  Lights can be rotated via right flipper.

checking boards online, this ramp (busted on the right) is unobtanium.  WANT.  It seems a new spinner piece had been installed at some point because it is in excellent condition.  Spinner shot sends ball up to upper-left lock area.

LOVE the wall and the guard.  The sounds here are AMAZING, and smashing your way though a wall to get to other targets is lots of fun. 

Once you get all 4 wall drops down, you have a timer to hit the 3 guard shots before the drops reset.  Luckily you can often hit 2 of the guard lights before the 4th wall target is down.  But DAMN what great satisfying sounds!

The game actually played fairly well!  Time to begin some initial cleaning:

ummm what's that white gunk?

 So turns out that white gunk it caked on pretty hard.  It wasn't until I got closer to that post on the far right that I realized what it was:  The rubber on that post had disintegrated in to some kind of sticky goo that had spread everywhere and fused to the playfield.  eep!

right sling with the plastics off.

 Right sling had one of the very few wear spots on this playfield.  After cleaning around it carefully I added a clear plastic sheet in that area.  I'm confused as to how that would be the high traffic damage area though.
This pic also shows the dual gate mechs that allow balls that come in to the shooter lane from the ramp to be redirected back to your flipper.
That first gate can also act as an outlane saver.

repairing the cracked with superglue and plastic sheets on the backside.

left sling area with plastics out:  just dirty.

Here are the right and left sling areas after initial cleaning and repairs:

Right sling area.  You can see the plastic repair at this angle, but not while playing.  Also put some plastic on the big wear spot on the inlane.

left sling area had no breaks and cleaned up easily.

A world of difference.  The old sling rubbers weren't really functional and/or in the right spots.  I also adjusted the sling switches so now the game plays a lot harder than before.

I will eventually start shopping the playfield above the slings.
I did some general playfield cleaning and found that non-mylared areas are EXTREMELY sensitive.  Saw a couple areas with preliminary paint flaking and so a LOT of care will need to be exercside to remove the muck but not strip any more paint.


First impressions:  This game is pretty fabulous, and reminds me of Bride Of Pinbot:  Great art, fabulous sounds, lots of fun...  but basically just one really important overly generous scoring opportunity to go for.

This is the third person that has loaned me a game for shopping.  I am loving this arrangement.  It works great for me because this is what I would normally do:  buy a game, shop it, and eventually sell it and hopefully recoup my material costs.  This way, I don't have to worry about money in any way shape or form (people pay for all parts needed, and transport,) and I get a steady flow of new games to play and tinker with.
Luckily I have discovered a well of people with more games in their collection than time to shop them all, so they're fine with me keeping a game for 4 months.

Dragon: further work

1st rollover light not working in the upper rollovers?  Just a loose bulb/socket.

Issue with the game not starting up properly?  The player unit in the back has a HARD TIME getting warmed up and moving. 
I am going to bring someone in who knows a thing or two about european motors to take a look at it. 
The similar motor under the playfield moves fine.  That one is used for scoring multiples and such, so gets lots of activity.  The one in the head moves for players only, so far less activity.  I think it might be lagging due to ceased grease somewhere.

Then the other major issue is the sustained beeping of the sound board.  2 things could be at play here:  The sound and scoring are controlled by point-awarding solenoids.  Those could be sticking on:  CM, DM, ML, CE each connect to trigger a point sound, then release to score, which is happening.
I cleaned each of them and it definitely reduced the occurrences of the issue, but not perfect yet.  Apparently I can get some relevant contact cleaner to make sure they stick less.

in the head:  the scoring relays are easily accessible here, right up the middle.

Failing that, perhaps the occasional target switch is sticking on?  That would also cause the same issue.  Will remember to go clean those eventually.

Target Alpha: player 3 redux

Player 3 had a bit of a confounding issue.
All reel advance fine under normal circumstances, but when the 10k reel is NOT on zero (1-9) and the Score Control Relay (D) or Score Control Relay (C) are used to add points, the 10k reel advances each time as well.
So if the 10k reel is as 2 I can sit there and advance by 1000 points all day long and it will advance a-ok.
But if I hit a 500 point target or 2000 point targets, those are added via the Score Control Relays (to add a value >1 times) and the 10k reel advances.

If the 10k reel is at 2, and I hit a 500 point target, the hundreds will advance by 5 and so will the 10k reel.
If the 10k reel is at 8, and I hit a 500 point target, the 10k reel will advance to 9 and then 0. It will not erroneously advance when in the zero position.

This ONLY happens on player 3.

Here is the 10k reel:

Not many switches on it  At zero, the left stack is closed, part of the reset sequence.  On non-zero right stack is closed and left is open, so obviously I trailed that right cable.

click to embiggen

 So check the "Add 3rd Ten Thousand" solenoid.  Main option for incrementing is via the L relay and the thousands reel being in the "Carry" position, aka "9".
Other option is  Z2, which is part of the reset sequence, reseting it to zero during a game restart. 

The issue only occurs when the motor is chugging, via the Score Control Relays.  Scoring a digit a single time is easy, but to score a hundred 5 times, or a thousand twice, require these extra relays which advance the motor.

It turns out that Z2 switch needed to be regapped.  Each time the Score Control Relays advanced, the motor pulse traveled through the improperly closed switch and was advancing the reel towards zero.

Player 3, now perfectly working.


Still, player 4 issue is there:
As the thousands reel moves to "9", it is not strong enough to get it there completely in to the proper position, clicked all the forward. I think this is because in the 9 position the switch stack has flexed all the way to the right and maybe the spring is not strong enough to draw it back to it's proper position? That's all I can think of.
The result is that the next thousand fires the advance solenoid (and advances the ten thousand) but just gets the 9 to the proper position. Next thousand advance puts it to zero, but has also advance the ten thousand reel.

This machine is SOLD though.  I hope I can get it all working before it goes, but it was sold with the knowledge that only players 1 and 2 were currently A-OK.  Now, at least we have 3 that are aces!

Back to Corvette

Hey, remember this game?  I haven't written much about it.  Guess I've been too busy just playing it?
OK, kinda.  I had tried to get in to it at one point, but lifting it up I felt one side of the playfield wasn't properly supported at the tilt axis point.
I finally got someone in to help me and they quickly found the issue:  A bolt had fallen off and in to the cab.  Got that properly connected and in we could go!

oh hey we might need that.

ayyup, there it goes!

I had thought the "light kickback" diode needed replacement since it wasn't registering well, but that turned out to be cracked solder joint.  That got fixed.

I've written about the right inlane alignment before, and this finally got fixed in a more permanent way by threading in so toothpick wood.  Here is to hoping that holds!

Coming up for Corvette, I am going to have a support for the entrance gate on the LT5 fixed up.  Right now it's kind of sloppily tied to the VUK wireform since the LT5 ramp is cracked.
This is and always will be a player's copy, but I will do whatever I can to have it playing as 100% as possible!

Introducing... Dragon!

 No no, not the Gottlieb one from 1978, the InterFlip one from 1977, duh!
I was loaned this machine to take care of it's various issues.  This copy is HUO, I think, and is absolutely beautiful, inside and outside.
The game itself isn't that incredible, but it is fast and furious and would be great in a larger lineup.

The owner was complaining of prolonged squeals from the digital sound card, and scoring that would jump between reels on a single player game.
I went through it as well and came up with a list of issues and tasks:
- sound sometimes pulses on, stays on squealing until a flipper is hit
- bottom right dragon's corresponding rollover lights is always on
- "Ball In Play" reel seems to struggle a bit at times
- add LEDs in backglass
- swap LEDs in playfield
- Top #1 rollover light is off.  Should turn on at start, off when collected.
- Polarity of power probably incorrect, resulting in "live" playfield when turned off.
- Left flipper flutters slightly when compared to right
- lockdown bar is very difficult to move

Apparently this machine was under a blanket in a workshop for 30 or so years.  The counter on it only has 5000 games registered.

you could eat a meal off of it, it's so clean.

OK, new rule, no food on the games.

I went straight to the issue of scoring.  The game had no lights in the head, so tossed in some vital LEDs.  I could then quickly see that in a 1 ball game it was proceeding as:
P1 B1
P3 B1
P1 B2
P3 B2
P1 B3
then over.  I guess that after P1 B3 the game does a scan to check if that was the last ball, and since only 1 player registered, it ends.
My assumption was correct:  J1 to J4 are latch relays that indicate if a player is in.  I tested the latches, and manually unlatched P3.
The game then played through a 1 player game no problem.  My guess is that this is something that was just heavily unused and needs some love.  I heard the biggest problems with EM machines come from disuse, so after sitting for so long, J3 just couldn't unlatch without help.
I plan on having many more 4-player then 1-player games to stress it a bit and see if the issue reoccurs.

There are 5 rollovers on each the left and right side.  100 points each, 1000 points when lit.  Each corresponds to one of the 5 dragons.
The schematic is kind of cute, using this odd symbol to indicate "hey this happens on the dragon".
Checking that bottom right dragon's assembly, it was easy enough to spot the always-closed switch stack and regap them.  Problem solved!

I brought someone in to look at the power issue, since I am actively trying to avoid line voltage in my body.
We quickly found that it wasn't that the polarity was swapped (as was the case in my Out Of Sight,) but that in the plug itself the ground had detached.

yeah that's not quite right.

We also worked on the lockdown bar, which was really binding, but got it to loosen a touch.

Does this photo add anything to this post?  No, not really.

Next up?  I think the top rollover is solved via the P relay assembly, but dang that one is going to be hard to get to.  It is all the way at the back of the cab!
And the sticking sound issue?  I think I've isolated it to physical rollover switches sticking on the playfield.   Will get around to cleaning those eventually.

Note the "& advance" at the standup target...

Oh and I think this machine is also a prototype.  Note the "5000 & Advance" on the far left and far right standups.  There is no bonus add for these in the schematics.  They do not advance bonus.
Checking IPDB, all other machines just have "5000" for them.  I can see the "5000 & Advance" in the advert for this game on IPDB, and it even mentions the advance as a feature.  I am unsure if this is a prototype that was also used as the basis for advertising, or if a bunch of these exist and they then realized they had forgotten the bonus circuit, or something like that, and so changed the playfield.


This game has also been made somewhat notorious for it's hilarious Classic Games Room review...

And this funny gameplay video from PAPA pros where they are probably a bit drunk and the machine basically eats them alive.


More cool shots:

A simple plug allows you to adjust flipper voltage!

The Gottlieb score motor is not here.  We have this really cool motor in the cab, and a similar one in the back.  Very nice designs.