I’ve run into this problem at least 3-4 times in the last month with different early Bally/Stern solid state games: The game boots and appears to work but you can’t start a game and/or many switches/buttons don’t seem to work? Before you dive deep, try this simple, easy trick.
Be sure to subscribe: https://youtube.com/pinballhelp?sub_confirmation=1
I’ve been working on a new project that I’m very excited about. There’s been a movement to create an inexpensive, non-destructive and simple way to mod early Bally/Stern solid state games and add more features. In this video, I demonstrate an early prototype of the system used to modify a Bally Mata Hari pinball machine to include new features such as a skill shot, modes and even a wizard mode.
Want to learn more about this project? Visit: https://github.com/BallySternOS
As part of the ongoing restoration of a 1979 Stern “Trident” pinball machine, here’s a series of videos outlining how to replace the rectifier board on these games. This varies a bit between Stern and Bally due to wire color codes. References are here.
Let’s pull a game out of the barn and see what we have? Peer over my shoulder as I take a look for the first time, at a picked up game and see what it needs to be restored. From beginning to end, I will chronicle my progress taking a non-working game and making it play.
I’d never done this before and wasn’t sure it would work out, but this is the story of grabbing a game sight unseen from an estate auction in Arkansas.
Sometimes you make a pinball deal because the price is great, but you’re not sure if you can restore the game or even if you should. But if you’re patient, everything falls into place. This is one of those stories.
This is a common issue with Stern’s Jurassic Park pinball machine. The shooter lane throws the ball into a vertical up-ramp delivering it to the right flipper, but in some cases it doesn’t reliably do so and it messes up the skill shots. Here’s a fix that is based on what appears to be a manufacturing defect with the playfields.