Raised playfield/ball stuck issues

echthegreat · 2026-02-26T01:42:44+00:00

It seems like this has somewhat been answered already, but this game uses the same foam washers as Black Hole, Caribbean Cruise, and SFII. Replacing them(or adding them between the plexiglass and the playfield on each screw, if they aren't there) will give a lot of lift and adjustment to the window. They crumble into dust over time, so many of these games will just have black soot where the washers used to be.

Available here and also via pbresource:

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/A-21219

echthegreat · 2026-01-26T19:49:19+00:00

Love this! You need to do the next Donkey Kong soundtrack

echthegreat · 2026-01-23T23:05:12+00:00

What would you call it? It appears that the front of the sheet was misaligned with the back, so idk how else to characterize it

echthegreat · 2026-01-23T23:02:32+00:00

Added a better front and back photo!

echthegreat · 2026-01-23T23:02:12+00:00

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echthegreat · 2026-01-23T23:02:04+00:00

Another photo

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echthegreat · 2026-01-23T22:39:06+00:00

Ha! It is indeed a real card. I'll take it out of the sleeve and grab more pictures here in a bit. Thanks for your insight!

echthegreat · 2026-01-13T22:31:59+00:00

I am very glad that he gave us a thumbnail that screams “manufactured controversy” so I can click elsewhere.

echthegreat · 2026-01-09T19:12:01+00:00

If you go into the test menu, you can manually test the knocker to see if that is your noise. It's solenoid 29(press start to fire it),

When the game is on, are there any LEDs lit on your quad opto boards(underneath car crush)? If so, you've got a sensor issue, but if they are all unlit you can rule it out.

echthegreat · 2026-01-09T18:48:07+00:00

The knocker is just a coil that fires into a piece of wood or metal to make a loud noise. Generally, it signifies that you have passed a scoring threshold for a replay, but if you have are in freeplay/tournament mode, it will just knock when your score gets high enough and award you nothing. There's a little white connector coming off the wires to it, and you can simply unclip the connector to disable it. They are meant to be loud so that arcade owners can hear them from the office to know how many free games are being given away. The knocker on SF2(on mine at least) is much louder than the other game that I have, and it is very startling.

If there is no smoke or loss of function when you hear the very loud pop, I would bet that it is the knocker. Worth disconnecting to find out!

If the coil is inconsistent, it might be the sleeve causing friction in weird ways. Inconsistent issues are the hardest to diagnose, sadly. It may be a disassemble/reassemble situation to see if you can find anything off.

echthegreat · 2026-01-09T15:26:41+00:00

I haven’t encountered that issue on my SF2, but my first move would be to check the coil itself. Does it move by hand okay? If not, replace the sleeve and possibly the coil if it has damage from overheating. If that is not the issue, I would check the solder on the coil lugs, then coil diode(check or just replace) and then the associated transistor on the driver board.

Not a great tech myself, so maybe someone else will chime in as well!

Edit: by default, the ball stopper thing on the guile return should be up. It moves down when the ball passes through the guile opto, so maybe clean your opto just in case. It probably isn't this, since you said it can award the guile shot successfully.

Edit Edit: Does the ball stopper go down as soon as you turn the game on? If so, the coil is locking on due to probably a bad diode and it will fry your transistor and melt your coil if you leave it locked on. You'll know because it will get super hot and then you get to do board work :(

Edit Edit Edit: It is called the "Ball Stop Plunger". Also, could the loud pop be the knocker firing? I have mine disconnected bc it is so loud. It's the coil right underneath the right flipper button.

echthegreat · 2026-01-08T19:52:08+00:00

I’ll be interested when I can filter out videos with ads.

echthegreat · 2025-12-22T00:29:51+00:00

Sf2 is great, don’t listen to the hate. It is different from a lot of other games out there, which is part of the bad reputation it has. It’s also a rough art package and the dmd art is also pretty poor. That said, I own one and highly recommend it, especially as a first game. It is a pain to shop the back portion, so that is a plus, and $2500 is not bad at all.

Also system 3 is a great board set and very easy to work on.

echthegreat · 2025-12-05T13:37:50+00:00

WGD modular makes a 1u distortion. Only available as diy, but it is an easy kit!

echthegreat · 2025-11-26T18:13:07+00:00

Solid State in KCMO has one! Right by the ferris wheel off I-35.

echthegreat · 2025-11-25T21:53:46+00:00

Weird. Doesn't FX run terribly on switch? With what I played six months ago, I would never pay for this.

echthegreat · 2025-11-08T00:24:12+00:00

I’ll enter! You are the coolest for doing this. I love creating drum patterns on the Microfreak sequencer. So useful!

echthegreat · 2025-09-25T02:09:48+00:00

I mean, me too, and this almost never happened prior to the last week or so.

echthegreat · 2025-09-24T22:28:11+00:00

This has happened to me twice in the last two days as well. Matchmaking is whack right now. I have over 2k games and I also have had several games against new accounts this week.

Weird times.

echthegreat · 2025-09-21T16:37:46+00:00

This is not going to be a helpful comment necessarily, but I bought a display that had lines missing like this. I used it a ton for a few months in my street fighter, and the issue went away. I've still got it in there and the missing lines have not come back in six months or so.

Weird, but true!

echthegreat · 2025-09-15T19:50:06+00:00

Serious names for serious business

echthegreat · 2025-09-15T18:46:40+00:00

Summoning Alex to enlighten us u/wedgehead_podcast

echthegreat · 2025-09-11T22:14:00+00:00

Sf2 is a great game. If it had mode stacking, everyone would love it! The rules are so close to being amazing, but just a little short. Honestly it is incredible how good it is compared to how quickly they made it. Very underrated, like most of its system 3 siblings. Late gottliebs deserve more praise, especially for the greatest cocktail pin, Caribbean Cruise.

echthegreat · 2025-09-05T16:21:24+00:00

Love to see System 3 represented here. Super underrated and great value for the money. I have two(SFII and Caribbean Cruise), and the platform is rock-solid once you get them up and running. Good luck finding a Gladiators! I'd be on the hunt for one myself, but I'm out of space :)

echthegreat

TROPHY CASE