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    ⚽ Repair log: World Cup Soccer (Bally, 1994)

    1994 Bally Repair log World Cup Soccer

    Repair logs are quick summaries of workshop and on-site repairs. If your machine needs a service, πŸ“¬ Contact Us to discuss how we can help!


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    I sold this game to a customer about ten years ago. He still has it! Last week he asked me to give it a service as it wasn't working properly. When I got there I could see that its memory had been lost as the message on the display indicated that factory settings were restored. Unfortunately the batteries had not been changed in some time and were now toast. Luckily, WPC-S games had the batteries mounted to a small PCB above the CPU board. In this case the small PCB was toast but the CPU was fine. I removed the small PCB and installed a lithium cell instead. No more leak risks in future!


    Another issue presented itself once the game was booting up into attract mode. No sound or music. Sound board looked OK, so I tried reseating the ribbon cable. Next time I powered up, sound was back. A pretty good indication that the ribbon cable was on the way out. New one installed and sounds were back to normal.


    The only other issue I could see was a set of lamps not working. This was due to cracked solder on the lamp PCB. Once I fixed that, I played a few test games, and couldn't fault the game anywhere else. Just needed to replace the balls as they were getting a little pitted. A pretty good run for ten years! Maybe I'll see it in another ten. 😁 


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    Repair log: Rescue 911 (Gottlieb, 1994)

    1994 Gottlieb Repair log Rescue 911

    ο»ΏRepair logs are quick summaries of workshop and on-site repairs. If your machine needs a service, πŸ“¬ Contact Us to discuss how we can help!

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    This was a relatively clean machine with a couple of niggling issues. The main one was the beacon topper wasn't working anymore. The motor that turns the reflector was jamming. Gottlieb used a widely available toy motor for this assembly, which is still available to buy from many Chinese electric motor suppliers (part no. EG-530AD-2F). To couple the motor shaft to the reflector base, cap the shaft with a rubber post cap. Spins like a dream now!


    There were also some inoperative switches. The cave-in drop targets needed adjusting. There is also an optical switch pair by the pop bumpers that most people don't know is even there. These opto boards needed reflowing to get them working. A flasher wasn't working, too. This was due to a dodgy connector under the playfield.


    Game is now playing nicely and is ready for sale!


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    Guns N' Roses

    1994 Data East Guns N Roses
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    Many people consider Guns N' Roses (Data East, 1994) to be one of Data East's best pinball machines. One of the few rock music machines from the 1990s, it is a really cool game with some interesting design decisions incorporated into it. While a lot of people prefer the more modern music themed games such as AC/DC or Aerosmith or Metallica, I still prefer the older games, so Guns N' Roses scratches that rock theme itch perfectly.

    This will be a shorter blog post as this was not a full restoration by any stretch.  There was limited disassembly performed and pictures were only taken of the issues I was tasked with fixing. My customer had pulled the machine out of his warehouse for the first time in years and wanted it to brought back to working condition. No cosmetic fixes and no fancy stuff. I just needed to get it back up and playing. So, I won't bother with the standard descriptions of the machine's condition or nitpick the defects. However, I performed some interesting repairs on this machine which warranted writing some of them up. So, let's jump right into the repairs!

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    World Cup Soccer

    1994 Bally World Cup Soccer
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    World Cup Soccer (Bally, 1994) was the first machine I chose to restore from the eight machines I purchased during our recent pinball adventure. World Cup Soccer is a game that is approachable and a fun theme to play, especially for novices and non-pinball people.  Looking at the playfield, you can understand why. It's got a giant soccer ball in the middle of the playfield and a goal with a goalkeeper guarding it. Way cool! You can instantly understand one of the key parts of the game: scoring goals.

    Out of my eight new machines, I decided to start restoring World Cup Soccer first simply because it appeared to have the fewest things wrong with it. After the relatively relaxed and enjoyable experiences of getting The Getaway and Demolition Man up and running, I had some serious work ahead of me if I wanted to get all eight machines up and running. Getting a relatively easy machine fixed and out the door was my main goal (pun intended).
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    Demolition Man

    1994 Demolition Man Williams
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    I recently got in touch with a pinball machine collector in Glenhaven who wanted to sell his collection. He was moving house and was planning on selling his machines instead of moving them. He had a number of machines for sale, including The Addams Family (Bally, 1992), Demolition Man (Williams, 1994), The Flintstones (Williams, 1994), Rescue 911 (Gottlieb, 1994) and Guns N' Roses (Data East, 1994). This was obviously a guy who had an obsession with the year 1994. He sent me a few images of his machines and I spent some time thinking about which one I wanted to buy.