Hj Lite On Slote Machine Flipper

3. What makes up the 'Power Supply'

There are actually 6 different 'power supplies' that exist in the game:

1. +5vdc regulated logic power
2. +12vdc unregulated (for the reset circuit)
3. +18vdc Lamp power (for game controlled lamps)
4. +28vdc Solenoid and Flipper power
5. +100vdc and -100vdc display power
6. +6.3vac General Illumination lamp power

Also, please note that the Sound Board has its own power supply, so if your sound is out, don't start tinkering with the main power supply.

Entries in this index: 884 If you have information about a coin-op machine that you are sure isn't in our database you can Add A New Game Entry. With thousands of manufacturers of pachinko machines out there each with many different models many parts will just never be available. We make reproductions of parts where we can such as playfield graphics, but there is no great warehouse out there with other parts such as flipper assemblies or dust covers.

The photo below shows a typical power supply setup out of a System 6 game. All of the components are shown. You have the power supply board, the transformer, the two bridge rectifiers, the fuse block and the lamp filter capacitor.

3.1 Check the Fuses!

Please, before doing any further troubleshooting, check your fuses! System 6 games have 9 fuses, with earlier games having a few less.

Here is the fuse layout for a System 6 game:

On the Power Supply board:

F1 - Display Fuse, 1/4 amp slo-blo
F2 - Solenoid Fuse, 2 1/2 amp slo-blo. Probably the most common fuse to blow, you should keep a good stock of these.
F3 - Lamp Fuse, 8amp (not slo-blo!)
F4 - Flipper Fuse, either a 10amp or 15amp slo-blo. If your game has 2 flippers, then use a 10amp, 3 or more then use a 15amp.
F5 - Logic Supply Fuse, 4amp (also not slo-blo!)

On the Fuse Card (left to right):

6F1 - General Illumination Fuse, 20amp
6F2 and 6F3 - Logic Supply main fuses, 4amp slo-blo

In the cabinet:

AC Line fuse - 7.5 or 8 amp

3.1.1 Fuses and General Illumination on System 3 and 4 games

Williams did a neat thing, they left the design of the power supply the same from 1977 through late 1980, but wired things differently through the power supply.

System 3 and 4 games (all games through Flash) do not have the fuse for the Flipper power on the power supply (F4). The fuse is located under the playfield near the flippers.

Fuse holder F4 is present on the power supply on these games, but the circuit isn't used on games from World Cup through Flash.

The first two solid state games from Williams, Hot Tip and Lucky Seven, use F4 as the GI fuse! (conFUSED yet?). These games routed the GI power through Power Supply board and the .156' connectors. The photo below shows the GI connector from a Hot Tip and the associated burn marks on the connector. Williams smartly removed the GI from the Power Supply board by World Cup, but had a lapse of judgment and put it back onto the Power Supply board in System 7 games, albeit with a larger Molex connector, but the same burnt connector results.

System 3 games remind me of looking under the hood of a '67 Mustang, not much there but what makes it go. Here is an early System 3 power supply setup with no fuse card. Later System 3 games and all System 4 games had a single fuse card to hold the GI fuse. The logic power supply was not fused before the diodes and filter capacitor as in System 6 and later games.

3.2 Lets start at the beginning

.. with the line cord. It needs to have its ground intact! That means all 3 prongs still on the plug. Most games that I've come across have the ground prong cut off to accommodate cheap extension cords or antique electrical wiring. The game uses ground as the return path for just about everything, so if you feel a little buzz when you touch the side rails of your game, that means you're the quickest path to ground!

If your line cord has been doctored, or is showing its age in any way (i.e., electrical tape wound around it anywhere), replace it immediately. Go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy a decent 10amp 15' extension cord and cut off one end and use it to replace your existing cord. Just make sure you wire the ground in properly. Its a good idea to replace the line cord on all older games anyway. The cord was subject to an excessive amount of stress where it comes through the backbox. Williams did not use any type of strain relief device here, and the cords will fail eventually.

3.2.1 The AC Circuit

In the cabinet is the AC circuit that consists of the AC fuse, a utility outlet, a Varistor, the off-on switch and a Line Filter. All of these components except the on-off switch are mounted on a white board on the left side of the cabinet.

The Varistor is a voltage spike protection device. Its what looks like a large red ceramic disk capacitor wired across the terminals of the Line Filter. Think of it as a one-time surge suppressor. I found this definition of a varistor through a Google search:

The varistor is a surge protection device that is connected directly across the AC input. When a power surge or voltage spike is sensed, the varistor's resistance rapidly decreases, creating an instant shunt path for the over-voltage, thereby saving the sensitive control panel components (hopefully). Because the shunt path creates a short circuit, the varistor and the line fuse are be damaged or weakened in the process

If you just see two metal leads sticking up off of the line filter or something that looks like a burned disk capacitor, then you know your game was subject to a power surge sometime in its life. The game will run fine without the varistor, but is no longer protected form surges and spikes (i.e., a surge caused by a nearby lighting hit).

Example of a blown varistor (photo by Jean - jmdb@rogers.com)

Should you use a surge protector strip like you would with a computer? If the varistor is intact, then there is no reason to use a surge protector. Most surge protectors (IMHO) that you buy at the home store aren't much protection to begin with, so make sure you replace the varistor if its blown.

The Line Filter (the silver box), is used to suppress radio frequencies from making into your game. Your line voltage is at 60hz, however your house wiring acts like a big antenna picking up just about every television signal, cell phone signal, radar, what have you, that is in your area. If these frequencies made it through to the MPU board they could disrupt the operation of the CPU chip. The same thing applies in reverse, the filter prevents the high frequencies from your game's CPU from flowing back into the AC circuit.

The off-on switch is a standard SPST toggle switch. They can wear out after time, so if there is any 'give' in the switch when you turn your machine on, then it might be a good idea to replace the switch. They're readily available at Radio Shack.

3.2.2 The Transformer

The 120vac line current is brought up to the Transformer's primary windings via 2 white/red wires. While it is rare for your transformer to fail, its not unheard of. They tend to go 'all at once' in a nice puff of smoke and a wonderful smell, but I have talked with people who have had failures of some of the secondary windings. Its not the first place to check, but it shouldn't be overlooked.

3.2.2.2 Conversion from 220 Volt Wiring (System 6 and 7 games)

Starting with System 6 games, Williams wired the transformers so that the only backbox change required was a jumper change to switch the game from 120 to 220vac operation. Since Williams hard wired in the line cords, a new line cord would also have to be soldered in. The utility outlet in the cabinet was also specific for the country of operation.

Games of this era are still being imported back to the United States, so you could find yourself faced with a 220 volt wired Black Knight. To determine if your game is wired for 120 or 220 (independent of what type of line cord plug is on the game), look at the plug that connects the line voltage to the transformer. 220 volt games used a red connector from the factory (see the photo below) and 120 volt games used a blue connector.

(Early Black Knight wired for 220 volt operation - photo by Todd G.)

Look at the line voltage connector. If it has one jumper, from pins 2 to 5, then your game is wired for 220 volt operation. If it has two jumpers, from pins 2 to 6 and 4 to 5, then its wired for 120 volts (photo below).

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(System 6 line connector jumpered for 120 volt operation (left) and connector jumpered for 220 volt operation (right))

To switch your machine over to 120 volt operation follow these steps:

1. Cut off whatever line cord is currently on the game. Replace it with a good quality 14 gauge 3-prong (grounded) line cord. You can use an extension cord and cut off the female receptacle if you can't find a long enough replacement cord.

2. Your game probably has a very foreign looking utility outlet in it. Rather than attempt to replace this, it should be cut out of the circuit.

3. Wire your new line cord as follows:

- Solder the hot lead (if you know which one it is, usually the copper colored wire if there are two colors), to one side of the fuse holder.
- Solder the other side to one lug of the line filter (the line filter is rated 120/220 so it does not need to be changed).
- Solder the ground wire (usually the green wire) to the ground lug on the line filter.

4. Solder a short wire (at least 16 gauge) between the fuse holder (the lug without the line cord) and the other lug of the line filter.

5. Replace the line fuse with either an 8 (2 flipper games) or 10 amp fuse (3 or more flipper games). The fuse in the game will only be a 4 amp fuse.

6. Locate the transformer. In System 6 games it is always in the head. In early Black Knight games it will also be in the head. Later Black Knight games and later system 7 games have the transformer in the cabinet.

7. Remove the jumper between pins 2 and 5. If you have the proper tools, you can add the new jumpers between pins 2-6 and 4-5. If not, you can cut off the wires from the transformer side of the plug and solder and tape each pair together. This will make your game a '120 volt' only game, but I doubt you'll be selling it overseas any time shortly.

3.2.3 Blowing the Line Fuse

Your game's circuits are protected by a multitude of fuses and its rare that the main line fuse in the cabinet will blow. If it does however, then follow these steps to find the short:

1. Disconnect the transformer from the AC circuit. The connector is in the backbox near the transformer. On System 3 and 4 games this is a two plug Molex Connector with White/Red wires, on System 6 games it is typically a 4 plug Molex Connector with the 2 white/red wires and a small 'loop' of white/red wire on the other two connectors.

If the fuse still blows with the transformer out of the circuit, then your problem is in the cabinet wiring. If the fuse holds, reconnect the transformer and move to the next step.

2. Isolate transformer from the game by disconnecting all of the transformer's secondary outputs. There can be up to 6 connectors that need to be disconnected. There are two large Molex connectors in the lower center of Power Supply board, one connector that leads to the Sound Board and 3 GI connectors.

If the fuse holds, then start reconnecting these connectors one at a time until you locate your short.

If the fuse blows, then move on to the next step.

3. The two bridge rectifiers mounted in the backbox are 'hard wired' to the transformer. Sometimes the lug connectors can just be pulled off, but you may find that yours have been soldered. You need to remove one red lead from the left bridge and one blue lead from the right bridge. If your fuse blows with these connected, then you have isolated your problem to the transformer. First check all of the wiring carefully to make sure there are no shorts on the connectors, and if after this check the fuse still blows, you'll need to replace your transformer.

If the fuse holds, then one of your bridge rectifiers is blown. Reconnect the bridge rectifiers one at a time to see which one is bad and then replace that bridge.

3.3 The good stuff, the Power Supply Components

As I said in the introduction, a lot of people 'repair' the wrong part of the power supply based on a good deal of incorrect information and bad advice floating around the Internet.

Before we go over the different supplies, here is a photo of a Power Supply board with the major components labeled:

Rules Sheet: Jack*Bot
Last Modified: October 21, 1995
Written by Mark Phaedrus
(phaedrus@halcyon.com)

Jack*Bot, Multiball, and most of the other capitalized words Iuse are probably trademarks or registered trademarks of WilliamsElectronics, Inc., who disavow any knowledge of my existence.

Under Construction (yeah, and what Web page isn't?)

This document was written from memory in a poorly-lit room smellingslightly of damp paper and containing no pinball machines whatsoever.The facts and opinions contained in this document should be consideredfictional, and any resemblance to actual facts and opinions is purelycoincidental. (Of course, if you insist on mailing corrections tophaedrus@halcyon.com so they can be included in the next release, Idon't suppose I can stop you.)

Credits

This version was written by me, Mark Phaedrus. Nobody else was any helpat all. Scientists have speculated that this may be because this is thefirst version and nobody else knew about it. Further research isneeded.

Recent Changes
10/17/95: In the beginning the document was void and without content.And the Writer said 'Let there be text.' And there was, and it wasgood, or at least passable.

10/21/95: Tried a revolutionary new technique; brought pencil and paperto the arcade, and wrote things down. (I find that kneeling down andwriting things on a paper on the floor during Casino Run adds an extraelement of tension to the game.) Revised the Keno card rules, the MK3Hint and More Time awards during Casino Run, the Multiball Jack*botvalues, the Poker awards, and the bonus count rules. Added more bugs;added Neat Stuff section.

The object is Jack*Bot is to score points. Simple as that. Nextsection.

Well, okay, there are a few more things that can go here. There aretwo key ways to rack up points. You can do it the slow-and-methodicalway, by opening the visor, starting Multiball, and racking up thejackpots--er, Jack*bots. Or you can do it the quick-and-adventurousway, by playing the four casino games, preferably cheating on as manyas possible, then playing the Casino Run for big points (or no points,as the case may be). Personally, my advice is 'all of the above'.

If you've played Pinbot, you'll know your way around this playfield;it's almost exactly the same as the original Pinbot playfield--it'sthe rules that stir things up. As usual, we'll start from the lowerright and work our way around clockwise. It may help to look at theplayfield picture on the Pinball Archive at pinball.cc.cmu.edu.

• Plunger
  • An old-fashioned manual plunger. Balls shot up theramp can wind up here. Leads to theVortex.
• Hit Me
  • A touch target just above the right inlane/outlane area; shoot itfrom the tip of the left flipper, or hit it with a lucky bounceoff the slingshots. Each hit of this target deals a card into yourblackjack hand (don't confuse these with the cards in yourpoker hand). Normal blackjack rules apply(face cards count as ten, Aces count as one or eleven, etc.).Hit Me hits score 1M for each point in your blackjack hand; forexample, if you already have an Ace in your hand (11 points), andyou shoot Hit Me and get dealt a six (bringing your hand to 17 points),you get 17M. If you hit 21 exactly, you score 50M, and your handstarts over the next time. If you 'bust' (go over 21), you getnothing, and your hand still starts over next time.
    Hit Me also lights for Jack*bots duringMultiball, and for up to 75M points duringHurry Up.
• Inlanes/Outlanes
  • Talk about a trip down memory lane.. Inlanes and outlanes the samesize, with actual rubber on the post between them. Neat. Any orall of the inlanes/outlanes can be lit forExtra Ball; the flipper buttons move thelit lanes around.
• Flippers
  • The usual two, in the usual places. There's a center post, thoughthe gap between the flippers is narrow enough that it's usuallypossible to save the ball without the center post anyway.
• Slingshots
  • Standard, just like the flippers.
• Poker Targets
  • A bank of three drop targets, on the left side of the machine, belowthe ramp entrance. During regular play, one ofthese three targets is lit (the lit target changes every few seconds);hitting that lit target, without hitting either of the others first,advances the bonus multiplier. (If you hit anunlit target first, you lose the chance to advance the bonus untilthe targets reset--see below.)
    About five seconds after you hit a target, the target bank resets.If you can hit the other two targets before this happens, apoker card is spotted, and the target bankresets immediately.
    A rebound from here to the row targetsis a 15M 'BANKSHOT'.
• Cashier Target
  • This target is under the ramp entrance; duringmodes in which it's available, the ramp entrance flips up to revealit. It collects the bonus during Cashier mode,collects the Solar Jets award, doublessome Game awards, relights theGame Saucer (but not after the firstCasino Run), and can be lit for Jack*botsduring Multiball.
• Ramp
  • The ramp entrance is on the upper-left. The ramp is not alwaysavailable, since the ramp entrance can flip up to reveal theCashier target. Starts lots of modes;relights the Game Saucer.Lots of interesting things happen on the ramp. See therules section for more info.
• Game Saucer
  • A narrow lane between the ramp and theVisor, at the upper left. StartsGames, as you could probably guess from thename. Also relights Jack*bots duringMultiball, and spins the wheels duringCasino Run.
• Visor
  • A bank of 5 touch targets, dead center at the top of the playfield.It can be lowered to reveal the Eyes.Hitting Visor targets lights theKeno Lights to open the Visor and eventuallystart Multiball. Visor targets can also be litfor Keno awards.
• Eyes
  • Two locks, normally blocked off by the Visor.Balls are locked here to start Multiball, andthey score Jack*bots during it. Shots here also spin the wheelsduring Casino Run.
• Keno Lights
  • A 5x5 grid of lights, just below the Visor. Eachtarget on the Visor corresponds to one column of Keno lights; eachtarget on the other bank corresponds to one row.
    These lights are lit by Visor and row target hits. They open the Visorto start Multiball; they can also lightExtra Ball.
    In addition to these lights, there are five arrow-shaped lights, one foreach column on the Keno card; these give KenoAwards while filling the Visor.
• Row Targets
  • Another bank of five targets, just below and to the right of theVisor. This bank doesn't move, though, unless thegame is badly out of order.
    Hitting these targets lights Keno lights.
• Vortex
  • The plunger leads to this spiral, with three holes. At the startof the game, the first and third holes are worth 10M; the secondhole is worth triple this amount, permanently raises future skillshot values by 5M, and advances the bonus multiplier.
    Hitting the ramp, or collecting 'Vortex atMax' as a Keno award or duringCasino Run, can raise the skill shotvalue; 'Add Vortex X' awards from these same sources can raise theVortex multiplier. The second hole is always worth 2x more thanthe first and third holes; so advancing the multiplier changes theawards from 1x-3x-1x to 2x-4x-2x, then 3x-5x-3x, and so on.
    Unless you get the 'Vortex Value Held' award, the Vortex valueresets to 10M between balls; the only increase that does not resetis the +5M increases from made skill shots. The Vortex value cannever be higher than 50M.
    These skill shot awards change duringMultiball andCasino Run.
    Whether or not you make this shot, it leads to theSolar Jets.
• Solar Jets
  • A set of three bumpers at the top right of the playfield. TheSkill Shot leads here; so can theramp. These bumpers advance theRoll the Dice value, and build the pointsduring Solar Jets mode.

The usual pinball rules apply; one to four players, three balls perplayer by default, hit the start button once for each player, try notto slam-tilt, etc., etc. See the Funhouse rules sheet for more info.:-)

Each ball starts with a skill shot.A ballsaver activates for about 6 seconds at the start of each ball.Bought extra balls have a ballsaver for about 30 seconds.

There are basically two tracks to follow in this game (though both canbe pursued at once); going for Multiball, and going for Casino Run.

Going for Multiball
To start Multiball, you first have to complete your Keno card to openthe Visor, then lock two balls in theEyes behind it.

At the start of the game, and each time you finish Multiball, the 25Keno lights are unlit. (Actually, the game flashes them in prettypatterns, but if a Keno light isn't lit solidly, it doesn't count.)To advance towards Multiball, you have to light all 25 lights to openthe Visor.

The first time through (before starting Multiball in a game), the ruleshere are very simple. Hitting one of the five Visor targets lightsthat target's entire column on the Keno card; so only five target hitsare needed to complete the card. The five row targets are ignored.If you hit two Visor targets at once, the game will only credit you forone of them; on the brighter side, if you hit a Visor target you'vealready hit (so its column is already complete), but you haven't hit oneof the targets next to it, the game will light one of those columnsinstead. So you can only 'waste' a Visor shot at this stage if thetarget you hit and both adjacent targets are already completed.

The second time through (after starting Multiball the first time),things get a bit more complicated. Now, both the Visor targets and therow targets are used. Hitting a Visor target lights the bottommosttwo unlit Keno lights in its column; hitting a row target lights thetwo leftmost unlit Keno lights in its row. Hitting a target whose rowor column is already filled is a waste. So somewhere between thirteenand fifteen target hits are needed to finish the card. On the brightside, the game will count multiple target hits this time. The bestapproach is to bank balls from the left flipper off the row targetsand into the Visor targets; this can get the ball ricocheting aroundthe targets, racking up seven or eight of them before falling backout--I've seen the card filled with as few as three shots from theflippers this way.

Sounds hard? Well, there's a way out. At the start of each Keno card(when you haven't hit any of the targets yet), the game flashes one rowor column of lights at a time--first the rows from the bottom up, thenthe columns from the left to the right, then back to the rows. Hittingthe flashing row of column's target immediately completes the card,opens the Visor, and awards 50M for a job well done. (But there's acatch to this too: when the game starts requiring you to fill the cardonce for each ball [after the second Multiball], there is no flashingrow/column for the second card--you have to do it the hard way.)

Keno Awards
While you're filling the Visor, one of the arrow-shaped lights justbelow the Visor will usually be lit; the light works its way from leftto right, then skips back to the left. Hitting the Visor target that'slit gives a 'Keno Award'. The award is displayed on the scoreboard,and some of them are announced through the speaker as well; it's a pitythe rest of them aren't, because the moment when a ball is reboundingoff the Visor is a bad time to be looking at the scoreboard. :-)

The Keno awards I've seen are: 25M; Add Vortex X; Vortex At Max;Vortex Held; Add Poker Card. Before you start Multiball the firsttime, if the Game Saucer is unlit, the Kenoaward will always be 'Game Saucer Lit'. If your score is below 300Mon ball 3, head for the Keno awards; the first one you get willnearly always be 'Extra Ball'.

Locking Balls
Once you complete the Keno Card, the Visor will open, exposing the twoEye locks. For the first two Multiballs, all you have to do then is tolock a ball in each Eye to start Multiball. From then on, things getharder; locking the first ball closes the Visor, requiring you to fillanother Keno card to reopen the Visor to lock the second ball.

In multi-player games, the rules can get a bit more complicated. Ifyou're trying to lock your first ball, but another player has alreadylocked one, you have to lock yours in the Eye he didn't use; the ballin the other Eye will then be kicked out, and you need to lock that oneas well to start Multiball. If you lock one ball, then another player'uses it up' by starting Multiball or CasinoRun, the game still remembers that you had one locked, andMultiball will start when you lock another ball in either Eye. (Thisstill may not be the best thing for you, though, since 3-ball Multiballsare impossible this way.)

While you're trying to lock balls, hits to the row targets will stillfill in two lights at a time in their rows on the Keno card. If youactually manage to fill in the Keno card a second time this way beforestarting Multiball, you light one of the more tediousExtra Balls in pinball history. :-) (Fifteenhits are needed--or ten if you take advantage of theKeno game.)

Multiball
Completing the Visor, then locking two balls in the Eyes, startsMultiball.

The first Multiball is a two-ball affair; the two balls in the Eyes arekicked out. If only one ball is locked when you start Multiball,because another player stole one from you, the second ball is served tothe plunger instead; this is a bonus for you, since it lets you startthe Multiball with a skill shot instead.Making the skill shot, by hitting the second hole on the Vortex, awardsa Jack*bot instead of the usual skill shot value.

The second and subsequent Multiballs are three-ball affairs (unlessanother player stole a ball from you); a ball is always served to theplunger for a skill shot to start the Multiball.

During Multiball, Jack*bots are lit at the Eyes, at theCashier target, and atHit Me. The first Jack*Bot you score in a gameis 50M; future Jack*bots increase in value by 25M each time, so thatthe eleventh Jack*bot is 300M. Then the value starts advancing by 50Mfor each Jack*bot, so that the fifteenth and final Jack*bot is 500M.

Collecting a Jack*bot unlights that location; at least one location willalways be lit--if you collect at all four places, the Cashier targetwill be relit, and the lit location will move from left-to-right (tothe left Eye, then the right, then Hit Me, then back to Cashier) eachtime it's collected.

Hitting the Game Saucer relights all fourJack*bot locations. If you hit it when all four are already lit, itscores a Jack*bot instead.

Collecting Jack*bot at one of the Eyes, then hitting the other Eye(lit or not) within a second, scores a Super Jack*bot instead--thistriples the points (so a Super Jack*bot can be as high as 1.5B).

Multiball ends when you're down to one ball in play; there's about athree-second grace period during which a Jack*bot can still be scored.If you lose a Multiball without scoring any Jack*bots at all, there'sa 10-second restart period; hitting the Eyes or the Game Saucer beforethe time runs out restarts a two-ball Multiball with a skill shot atthe plunger. Sorry, only one restart per Multiball.

Hj Lite On Slote Machine Flipper Game

After Multiball is over, the Visor will remain open until the gamesatisfies itself that the ball's in a place where it won't get caughtbehind the Visor when it closes. The ramp, the Cashier target, theGame Saucer, the rubber below the Game Saucer, the Poker Targets, andthe Solar Jets will all trigger the Visor to close. As soon as theVisor starts closing, the Keno card will reset (with a row or columnflashing for an instant Visor re-open), ready for you to startrefilling it.

Mega Visor
Once you score 15 Jack*bots, with Multiball still in progress, youenter the Mega Visor round. The Visor closes; the object now isto re-open it. The row targets are ignored; only the Visor targetsthemselves count, and each hit spots one light in the column youhit, with 50M awarded for each light spotted. Twenty-five hits areneeded to complete the card--on the bright side, that means 1.5Bpoints scored along the way.

What happens when you fill the Keno card again and re-open the Visor?I don't know, okay? I had to drive thirty miles uphill both waysto the nearest arcade with a Jack*Bot just to write this rules sheet,and between the gas money and the leg braces for little Bobby, Ijust haven't been able to afford to get the darn thing open, allright? Fine, leave me wallowing in my shame. Geez.

Going for Casino Run
To get a Casino Run, you first need to play all four Casino games.You start games by hitting the Game Saucerwhen it's lit during single-ball play; if it's not lit, hitting theramp or Cashier targetwill relight it, as will the Keno awardsthe first time through. Before you get your first Casino Run, theGame Saucer will always be lit at the start of each ball; for yoursecond and subsequent ones, you'll always need to hit the ramp orCashier to relight it. (Also, the Cashier target stops relighting theGame Saucer; you need to make actual ramp shots.)

The Games
There are four games to play. The left flipper changes which one islit, so if you can trap the ball on the right flipper, you can choosethe game you want before hitting the saucer to collect it.

Being the resourceful and morally corrupt robot that you are, you cancheat at all of these games (or at least try), by repeatedly hitting theExtra Ball button during the game's title screen. The results vary fromgame to game. The quotes when the cheat succeeds are worth the priceof admission. 'LOOK--HALLEY'S COMET.' 'Where?' 'FOUR ACES.'I saaaw thaaaat..'

Many game awards can be doubled. After the game's score is determined,the 'Double or Nothing' screen is displayed. Hitting the left flipper,or sitting there frozen in the headlights for ten seconds,lets you keep the current game score; hitting the right flipper insteadgives you about 20 seconds (a slow count of 10) to hit theCashier target to score double the game'svalue--you get nothing if you miss. StartingMultiball before the timer runs out will alsoaward the doubled value.

• Pinbot Poker
  • This game uses the poker hand displayed at the center of the playfield.The Poker Targets,Keno awards, CasinoRun, and Slot Machine can all lightcards in this hand. (Completing the hand the first time lights anExtra Ball.) Points are awarded based on thevalue of the hand--10M for a measly single deuce, 15M for an ace orace-deuce, 20M for one pair, 30M for two pair or three of a kind, or50M for a full house (all five cards). In addition, a flat 50M is scoredfor each hand that you've already filled. The resulting total can bedoubled.
  • This game is one of the easiest to cheat at; Pinbot pulls an extraAce from his sleeve. ('Ace of Clubs?') This can give you the normally-impossible four Aces, worth 149M! (Yes, you can still double this to298M.)
• Slot Machine
  • This one is about as straightforward as it gets; the slot machine reelsspin and spit out a random (or is it?) award, which is what you get.Awards I've seen include: Multiball; Add 10 Cards (adds two completehands to your Poker total); Hurry Up (shoot HitMe for 75M, with the value counting down to a minimum of 15M); CollectBonus (exactly as it would be at the end of the ball, includingcheating); Vortex at Max; Hold Vortex Value.
    Occasionally, the Slot Machine decides to screw you, and generates arandom 'big points' award, generally between 25M and 40M. At leastyou can double these.
  • This is the hardest game to cheat at, for reasons that should beobvious when you see what the cheat does. The initial spin brings upa lame award (usually Add Vortex X; occasionally Hurry-Up or abig-points value); Pinbot slams the reels, and they jump toExtra Ball Lit. It's extremely rare forExtra Ball Lit to come up without cheating.
• Roll the Dice
  • This game revolves around your 'Dice Game Wager', which starts eachgame at 3M, and goes up by 100K for each hit of theSolar Jets. Two dice are rolled; the lawsof mathematics being what they are, this gives a number from 2 to 12.This number is multiplied by your Dice Game Wager, and that's howmany points the game is worth. This value can be doubled.
  • This game is the easiest to cheat at; Pinbot simply flicks thedice to 12 ('BOXCARS..').
• Keno
  • This game revolves around your Keno card. Six random squares arepicked; you get 5M for each of those squares that you have lit, plus5M just because you're you. If all six squares are lit, you get 50M.25M is added for each card you've previously filled.
    If you have five or fewer squares filled in when you start Keno, thegame spots the entire center column, to give you a reasonable chanceat some matches. (However, Keno still isn't a good mode to shootfor if your Keno card is empty; not only will you not get manymatches, but the spotting of the center column will eliminate yourchance to hit a flashing row/column to fill the card immediately.On the brighter side, Keno is a great game to play if you're actuallytrying to get the extra ball from fillingthe Keno card while the Visor is already open; if you play Keno whilethe card is still nearly empty, the center-column spot reduces thenumber of hits you need to fill each row from three to two, savingyou five hits.)
  • This game is moderately difficult to cheat at. If you cheat,Pinbot simply slams the entire card, resulting in '25 MATCHES--99M',plus 25M for each filled card. (This does not actually spot all theKeno lights..)

Casino Run
As soon as you play the fourth Casino game, theGame Saucer lights for Casino Run; youdo not need to relight it. Hit the Game Saucer to start the Run.

A pretty impressive animation sequence starts the Run off. TheExtra Ball button 'lights for cheating' during the entire sequence,but the only effect I've noticed is that the cow moos if you hit thebutton enough times at the start of the animation--pressing the buttonafter that does not seem to have an effect.

Casino Run is a 1-ball timed mode, lasting for 45 seconds (more orless). The object is to build your Casino Run bank as high aspossible before cashing it in, without letting time run out andwithout being bombed out of the mode.

Your Casino Run bank starts at 100M. An extra 4M is added for everyswitch hit during the Run. (So those SolarJets can actually be pretty lucrative--but don't forget, thetimer is running..)

During the Run, the ramp is flipped up; the Cashier target doesn'tdo anything unusual. The object is to hit the holes (the Eyes, orthe Game Saucer); each hole shot, including the shot to the GameSaucer that starts the Run in the first place, gives you a spinof the wheels. (If you've ever watched The Joker's Wild,you'll feel right at home here..) After each spin, you havethe option of taking the current contents of your bank (which endsthe Run), or risking it and letting the Run continue. (Don't sitthere too long and think about it; if you take more than 10 secondsor so, the game will automatically choose the 'Collect Bank' optionfor you, and the Run will be over.)

If you lose a ball during the Run, or even within a couple ofseconds after the clock hits zero, don't panic. You'll get theball back at the plunger, for the low price of 5 seconds off theRun timer. If there's at least 10 seconds still on the timer,making the skill shot adds another 10 seconds; if there's 9seconds or less, making the skill shot collects your bank and endsthe Run.

Having a ball already locked in an Eye when the Run starts is adouble-edged sword. On the one hand, as long as it's there, itblocks a potential shot to make a spin. On the other hand, ifyou drain with a ball in the lock, you don't take the usual5-second penalty; instead, you automatically get another spin,and then the ball is kicked out of the Eye to continue play.

In addition to the normal high scores, there's a single high scorefor 'Casino Run Champion'; it defaults to 1B. Being the CasinoRun Champion awards an extra credit; so know the Casino Run Champvalue, and when your bank reaches it, mentally add a special tothe bank. (Generally, this translates into 'Take the bank, you fool!')

Unlike the Slot Machine game, each ofthe three reels gives its own award on each spin during the Run.Possible values of each reel are:

• Points--anywhere from 15M to 50M (in 5M increments), or 75M,or 100M, 125M, or the occasional 150M. The points are added toyour bank.
• Light Extra Ball--this goes into yourbank too.
• Special--this also goes into your bank.
• Vortex X--adds a skill shot multiplier immediately.
• Bonus X--increases your bonus multiplier immediately.
• Vortex at Max--raises the skill shot value to 50M immediately.
• Poker Card--adds a card to your poker hand (which can wind uplighting the extra ball as well).
• Jack*Bot--The points are scored immediately; they don't go inyour bank.
• More Time--adds 15 seconds to the Casino Run clock. Will notraise it above 45.
• Cow!--yes, an actual Super Stunt Cow is added to your bank,shipped straight to you from the Williams dairy. (Actually, thispromotion was found to violate certain federal laws concerningshipments of assault cattle across state lines, so you'll have to settlefor an automatic Special instead. Sorry.)
• This Award Intentionally Left Blank--blank spaces often come upon one or two reels. Very little excitement potential here.
• No Bomb--A bucket of water. No cash value. Just like thoseadventure games, you'd better pick it up; it's bound to come inhandy sometime.
• Bomb--This kills your Casino Bank, ends the Run, spits inyour face and laughs at your car. Well, unless you happen to haveone of those buckets of water lying around (see? Told you it wouldcome in handy), in which case the Bomb and No Bomb cancel each otherout and leave you with no damage beyond a vaguely nervous feeling. Orunless you were prudent enough to hit the Extra Ball button like therewas no tomorrow while the reels were spinning, in which case Pinbotwill reach out and thwack the offending bomb into another award.Be careful! Cheaters do occasionally fail to prosper--only bombs onthe center reel can be bonked away (though that's where the vastmajority of them turn up), and I've never seen it work more than onceduring a run. If you hear 'I'M BUSTED..' or 'Oh no..' while thewheels are spinning, you'll know that you've worn out your welcome..
• MK3 Hint--This award may only come up if you hold down bothflipper buttons while the wheels are spinning. (There's a code in MK3that displays the text 'HOLD FLIPPERS DURING CASINO RUN', and I nevergot the MK3 Hints until I started doing this. Actually, I hit theExtra Ball button until just before the first wheel stops, thenswitch to holding down the flippers.) Immediately after the spincompletes, the display briefly shows a single position from a MK3 code,which is probably for the upcoming Ultimate version; so far I've onlyseen two positions: blank--Raiden--blank--blank--Yin Yang--blank.Those of you (like me) who barely recognize the characters in MK3 willstill want to root for these hints to show up; in addition to showingthe hint, it also awards an automatic ExtraBall. So I guess an MK3 Hint is like a Cow, but not quite asvaluable. :-)

Ramp Rules
The ramp leads to a maze of posts. While the ball is in theseposts, the skill shot value goesup by 1M every 2 seconds, with a maximum increase of 8M per tripthrough the posts, and a maximum skill shot value of 50M.
From the post maze, the ball can go one of three places (notcounting the occasional unlucky bounce back out onto the playfieldwithout hitting anything):

• Solar Jets hole
  • If the ball falls through this hole and into the bumpers, ittriggers Solar Jets mode. The ramp flips up; you have about 20seconds (a slow count of 10) to hit theCashier target to score the SolarJets value, which starts at 40M and goes up by 4M for each bumperhit. Starting Multiball before the timerruns out will also score the Solar Jets award.
• Plunger lane
  • This triggers another skill shot.
• Return lane
  • This track returns the ball to the right inlane. It gives one of fourawards, whichever award is lit at the time the ball hits the rightinlane switch. The first lit award is normally Light Extra Ball, andthe lit award normally changes every two seconds; since the ball usuallytakes somewhere between three and five seconds to clear the maze, thismakes 25M and Cashier the most likely awards, with Mega Ramp lesslikely, and Light Extra Ball least of all. However, if you're doingbadly on ball 3, the machine may start with Cashier lit instead, makingMega Ramp and Light Extra Ball the most likely awards.
    • Light Extra Ball
      • Pretty self-explanatory; lights one of the inlanes/outlanes forExtra Ball.
    • 25 Million
      • Again, pretty self-explanatory.
    • Cashier
      • Lights the Cashier target to collect 2xyour current bonus value. (This 2x replaces the bonusmultiplier; it doesn't add onto it--so your bonus multiplier doesn'tfactor into the Cashier award at all.) You have about 20 seconds (aslow count of 10) to collect; starting Multiballbefore the timer runs out also collects.
    • Mega Ramp
      • Lights the ramp. Shooting it within five secondsor so awards 50M. The return lane award is automatically frozen atMega Ramp again; if you collect it again and shoot the ramp again,you get 75M, then 100M, and so on.

Bonus
At the end of every ball, you get bonus from three areas:

Hj Lite On Slote Machine Flipper Machine

• Cards--3M for each Poker and Hit Me card you've collectedduring the game.
• Vortex Value--whatever the current skill shot value is(without the multiplier), that's what you get. This will bebetween 10M and 50M.
• Dice Game Wager--whatever your current wager is, you get.

The entire bonus then gets multiplied by the bonus multiplier;this will be between 1x and 5x. (Remember, the bonus multiplieris raised at the Poker targets.)
If you press Extra Ball repeatedly during the bonus count, Pinbotmay cheat on the bonus multiplier; this gives you an extra bonusX. (Yes, you can go to 6X this way. Yes, you can cheat here onthe Collect Bonus award from the SlotMachine too.) Your bonus multiplier must be at least 2x forcheating to have a chance to work; if it's 1x, you just lose.

Extra Balls
Extra balls abound on this machine. With two exceptions, allof these light an inlane/outlane for Extra Ball;use the flipper buttons to move the light to where the ball is.

• Completing the first Poker hand.
• Completing the Keno Lights with the Visoralready open.
• Collecting one on the Slot Machine,usually by cheating.
• Collecting 'Light Extra Ball' in your bank inCasino Run.
• Collecting an MK3 Hint during Casino Run. (This one is automatic;it doesn't light an inlane/outlane.)
• Pity Extra Ball: Collecting the first KenoAward of ball 3 with your score under 300M. (This is automatic too.)
• Collecting 'Light Extra Ball' from the return lane on theramp. (The Return of Pity Extra Ball: This ismuch easier on ball 3 with a score under 300M.)

Bugs/Misfeatures

The software I've seen for this machine is extremely solid. There'sonly a few minor glitches I've run into:

• If you start Multiball while the animation for an Extra Ball is inprogress, the Multiball animation is never displayed, and Multiballstarts immediately. If this is the second Multiball, this isn't so bad;but if it's the first, if you've stepped away from the machine to watchthe show, your first sign that something is amiss may be the sight ofthe balls streaking towards the drain..
• If you cheat on a Casino game, and take the resulting points(without doubling), and make replay as a result, the Replay animationis sometimes skipped, and the ball winds up just sitting in the GameSaucer for ten seconds or so--presumably waiting for the nonexistentReplay animation to finish.
• If you get Collect Bonus on the Slot Machine, and you successfullycheat during the bonus count to get the extra multiplier, the ballsometimes kicks out of the game saucer a few seconds early--as if itwere kicking it out at the time the bonus count would have been over ifyou hadn't cheated. It doesn't sound the usual 'here it comes' effectwhen it does this, so it can catch you off-guard.
• If you hit the Poker Targets just after they've been reset aftera time-out, the game will assume that the target reset failed and justreset them again, without awarding any points (or any bonus multiplierincrease, if you hit the lit target). This happens even if the targetyou hit wasn't one of the targets that needed to be reset.
• A few people on the net (myself included) were complaining thatthe buy-in screen doesn't show you the information you really need toknow--the replay score, or the high score you're shooting at. Someoneat Williams was obviously listening; the buy-in screen now shows that.Unfortunately, it doesn't show it until there's 1 second left on thebuy-in clock. If there's no credits in the machine, this isn't as muchof a problem (you can just hit the Extra Ball button without insertingany money first, to reset the clock); but if there are credits there,you just have to read the replay/high score, compare it to your currentscore, and make the decision of whether or not to buy-in in the 0.8seconds you have left. :-)
• Normally, if a ball drains without hitting any scoring switches, youget it back. On most machines, it's easy to tell--if your score isflashing, you haven't hit any switches yet, so you can let it drain safely.Unfortunately, on Jack*bot, the screen is filled by the skill shot graphics,and you can't see your score. So you can plunge a ball, have it come upshort of the Vortex hole, dribble back through the Solar Jets while onlyhitting the rubber below the Jets (which doesn't end the skill shot orremove its graphics), drain, and go straight from skill shot graphics toFun with Bonus. Disconcerting.

Neat Stuff

Here's some neat things to try.

• During the attract mode (which tells you about cheating--'REPEATEDLYPRESS EXTRA BALL WHEN FLASHING'), wait for the 'IN MEMORY OF JIM JOOSJR.' screen (it can take a few minutes). Notice that the Extra Ballbutton is flashing. Press it. Watch. Very classy.
• Get a high score. Wait for the initial entry screen to come up.Watch the Keno card as you enter your initials. Very nice. Reminds meof the old Stop-and-Score days. :-)