might grab a slightly working alien poker. Thoughts?

beerorkid

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might grab a slightly working alien poker. Thoughts?

A friend of a friend is looking to get rid of an alien poker. They have started a family and need the room. Apparently they are into vintage stuff and can wheel and deal. No price has been mentioned yet. They invited me to come over this Sunday to take a look at it.

I have researched the game and played it in VP and it is quite fun. Saw a thread on here about converting it to multiball too. Not sure it would be a keeper, but if I can get it at a good price and fix it up it might be worth it.

They left a voicemail after I replied asking what condition it is in. It lights up and plays, but the displays and pop bumpers do not work. "One of the bumpers has a copper coil that looks burnt".

this thread

System 6 games are fairly easy to fix especially if they're booting up OK and just have problems past that. The solenoids fuse may be blown; flippers are separate from that so they can work while all other solenoids are dead. It's fairly common for these games to blow the solenoid fuse on power-up if the 40-pin connect between the MPU and driver is flaky - bad signals on bootup can cause all solenoids to fire at once, taking the fuse out.

. . . . . . . . .

If the backglass and playfield are decent, cabinet isn't too bad, game boots up, and all displays are good (especially the 4 digit credit/match display) then you're looking at a $200-$400 game since it's a little bit of a project.

I am worried about leaking batteries, and those displays.

Boston ebay prices show it at $475. He said it looks good, but who knows what shape the backglass is in. I figure I can get it pretty cheap since it is not fully working. Tonight I will look up the pinrepair guide on system 6 machines tonight. So I know what to check before I head over there.

At $199 for new displays scares the crap out of me. I think I can handle the shorted coils and any board work that might be needed. Any thoughts?
 
I would go look at it atleast. But of course I am pin crazy right now. Man having 0 at home and 0 in 40 miles of my house SUCKS.
 
Honestly, I'm less worried if NONE of the displays work, than if SOME of them work, or if they work with a lot of issues. NO displays is likely a connector/power/data issue.

Like SOG said, if a system 6 game boots up, the rest is normally easy to track down, though time consuming sometimes. It's when they're not booting at all that they become headaches.
You will definitely get up to speed on your diagnostic work real quick either way, as it's a lot more hands-on work than your WPC machine with its better built-in diagnostics.
 
Thanks for the replies. I talked to him tonight and his wife earlier. They were under the opinion that it was some little part that needed fixed. I geeked out a bit and tried to put it in normie terms.

His wife got it from a friend who has moved away 15 years ago as a present for her husband 15 years ago. The guy fixed it all up and it worked for a good 5 years and broke. Said it is a beautiful machine. But has not been played for 10 years. He fired it up a month ago and the speech was there, all the lights, but the flippers do not work anymore and all of the displays are out. He thinks it might be from when he moved it. Has only turned it on a long time ago and noticed the problem, and just a few days ago.

When I called tonight to talk to him he went down and used a flashlight because it is currently stored in a unlit and not windowed area of the basement. Asked if he had ever changed the batteries. Nope. He cleared the stuff off of it and pulled the backglass. Said he saw no batteries at all and saw a big area where they prob were and there was some big battery looking thing there.

Asked about condition of the whole thing by telling him where to look. The playfield still looks really glossy and not dirty, rubbers look beat and dirty, but none are broken, some have cracks. Asked about the launch area and he said a bit of grunge but no paint missing. Said the backglass has a crack through the A and P, but no peeling, mirrored part has no waves. Took a bit bit for him to explain, but it seems a side of the back box has lost paint and has a crack. Said the whole thing has been covered with boxes of crap for 10 years and he would like $400 for it, but understands it is not in working order and would work with me

(Insert huge smiley face here)
 
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Went and checked it out tonight.

Cabinet is in very decent shape. Some minimal scratches on the side and wear on the backbox, but colors are very rich.
Playfield has some cracks, but colors are rich and there is mylar on the right places. I could find no wear.
rubbers are new and still white
Plastics are very nice. No chips, but some are a little warped from GI
Backglass has some cracking on some spots and a few scratches.
Boards show no signs of burnt connectors or electronic bits.
Batteries are Dec 97 and corroded. It looks like it follows the connectors through the board, but only two of the batteries were fuzzy
The knocker coil by the tilt bob is burnt and there are some loose wires on the coin door. He powered it on before I could stop him. All GI was working, but the MPU was not booting.

For its age it is in very decent shape. It has been sitting in a dark basement for 10 years not working and covered. I got work to exempt pinrepair.com from the filter and have been reading up a ton on williams sys 3-7. I will pick up all the bits and kits I need from GPE and go through that sucker as one hell of a project to keep me busy this winter.

I have been researching how to use my DMM and following pinrepair guides. I feel confident I can get this machine running and not beg you guys to baby step me through using my DMM. Sorry about that.

He wanted $400 for it, but he agreed to $350. For the shape it is in I feel I got a decent deal if not a steal. Will see how fixing it up goes.

There is always the rottendog board as a last resort, but I feel confident I can get these boards working.

Bummed I did not get pics, but am picking it up sat and will get a ton once it is in my hands.
 
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So this morning I headed out to get a new keg

Then went and picked up an Alien Poker pin

It is in pretty decent shape. Cleaned and waxed it. Put in a new ball.

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Had a burnt knocker coil so I disconnected it

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Replaced a blown fuse, pulled the boards to cut out the corroded battery holder and install a remote pack. The board has been worked on some. Seems all the header pins have been replaced. The female end of the 40 pin board connector is made up of four 10 pin connectors. There were some replaced chips as well.

Figured it would be safe to power it on since the guy had done it for me when I came over to look at it and that I had done some repairs. It went into audit mode and all the displays were working.

There was one of the door buttons that was snapped off and it was stuck on. I used a knife to move it and it booted up ready to play.

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It will need some work, the flippers are lame as heck, the drop targets seem slow and gummed up, that knocker coil and corresponding transistor will need work, but it is a beautiful machine that I got for a steal. Very happy.
 
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