Skeeball Model S "CALL" displayed

DTaylor

New member
Joined
Mar 5, 2018
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Location
Texas
New to the group. I have a Model S Skeeball machine that I have gone through. Person before had it set up to Free play with several things disconnected. Most game functions are working for general play. I located and inspected most wiring front to back. I had to redo several of the wire connectors as they were lose or not connected. At first it was intermittent on the scoring and ball count was not working. Now it is scoring fairly consistently and counting balls. After the last ball (9) it goes into a mode that will not let me do anything other than restart by powering down. The display says CAL with a small L in the ball count display. Took me awhile to figure out that it was saying CALL. I was thinking it was CAL for Calibrate. My knock off button does nothing and the wire coloring was not a BLUE and WHITE as stated in the manual. I had the ticket counter plug in but have since unplug the ticket counter at the ticket dispenser with no change in operation. I do believe that the coin counter has been disconnected. There is the reset button that was located in with the coin counter mechanism and I have since moved it and added a button outside of the coin counter location for access reasons. I am thinking that the "CALL" is being displayed due to something with the ticket dispenser (as it is not dispensing and only has a couple dozen tickets in it) or the coin counter. At this time though I am unable to do any programming with the Knock Off button because it is not responding any anyway when trying to enter the programming mode. The Key switch that is located on the same lower left panel had the black wire disconnected. I reconnected it but it did not do anything so since have disconnected the black wire as it was when I got it. I did discover that when I touched the black wire back to the connection point on the key switch it also reset the game and released the balls (the same action that the switch that was located in with the coin counter mechanism does when I start the game up). So essentially I have two game start/reset buttons. The key switch on the left rear panel by the knock off switch and the button that was located in with the coin counter. Sorry if that is confusing.
Also most of the Green Ground wires within the entire game have been disconnected for some reason. Please help as kids are losing faith in Dad being able to make this game work just like in the arcade. Have pictures of most if needed.
 
Could you post your pictures. That might help with all of this as well. My first thought is your ticket mech is jammed or you didn't feed a ticket into it correctly.

Either way pictures would be more helpful.
 
SKEEBALL MODEl S "CALL" displayed

I certainly will. They are on phone. I disconnect the plug that is right below the ticket dispenser and it did not change anything. The game starts with rotating 000 and then goes to 000 and starts playing and scoring each ball with sounds and counting each ball till the last 9th and goes to the CALL and will not reset with anything and I have to power down the game and it will start right back up when I plug it back in and goes through the same thing. I will get some pictures up when I get to the house.
 
Here are a few photos. The key switch is right above what I believe to be the Knock Off switch and is in the same side as the ticket counter dispenser.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20180305_205900_hdr.jpg
    IMG_20180305_205900_hdr.jpg
    506 KB · Views: 27
  • IMG_20180305_210017_hdr.jpg
    IMG_20180305_210017_hdr.jpg
    411.3 KB · Views: 19
  • IMG_20180305_205505.jpg
    IMG_20180305_205505.jpg
    406 KB · Views: 20
  • IMG_20180305_205222.jpg
    IMG_20180305_205222.jpg
    480.6 KB · Views: 23
  • IMG_20180305_205134.jpg
    IMG_20180305_205134.jpg
    385.4 KB · Views: 20
My model S displayed help after the 9th ball was rolled, turns out that if the ticket dispenser isn't working properly or is out of tickets it generated the help message and I had to reset the game to clear it. Try to turn off ticket dispenser by using the dipswitches behind the scoring glass and see if that fixes the issue. Turn the game off when you adjust the dips. Sorry I don't remember which one is for the ticket dispenser.
 
It sounds like your ticket dispenser is hosed. I would just program it to not dispense tickets. You can do this via the knockoff switch. If it isn't working, just cut the wires and install a standard push button. Model S games are programmed by powering the game on and holding the knockoff switch until you hear a tone and then you will see the different functions in the ball display with the value in the score display. The manual is readily available on the interwebz and should tell you which settings to change. If I recall correctly, the game would usually display HELP and not call for a ticket dispenser issue but I could be wrong. I think it would display CALL for a stuck coin switch.
 
I haven't worked on these in a looong time (mid-90's? Wow..)

But I believe that "HELP" is a ticket issue. "CALL" is a coin issue. Check coin-switch wiring. Make sure that the computer is seeing "Normally open" contacts except when coin passes through, and that the coin actuator isn't getting stuck (locking the switch closed) at all.
 
I haven't worked on these in a looong time (mid-90's? Wow..)

But I believe that "HELP" is a ticket issue. "CALL" is a coin issue. Check coin-switch wiring. Make sure that the computer is seeing "Normally open" contacts except when coin passes through, and that the coin actuator isn't getting stuck (locking the switch closed) at all.

"CALL" is a ticket it issue and that is how the later model S lanes displayed it. The "HELP" sign is for model H lanes and the early S's.

But either way it is a ticket issue here I am sure.
 
Try this and see if it works this should be an easy fix.

First, I would disconnect the wires you have on the key switch. The game might be getting a mixed signal from the switch if it is "on" thinking you are an operator fixing an empty ticket problem. Then I would make sure all your connections for the ticket dispenser are plugged in check both of the plugs. I see in your picture that is has pushed 3 tickets so I would assume that it is working fine.

Next play a game with the black ticket cover off and see if the game functions properly. If so then it might be as simple as the key switch sending the wrong signal or the cover being misaligned. Try these 2 things and let us know if it works.


Also before you start the game. Use the feed button on the dispenser board to make sure that you didn't have a small ticket jam. I have attached a picture just in case you do not know where it is.
 

Attachments

  • wire.jpg
    wire.jpg
    480.6 KB · Views: 14
  • 20180306_104136.jpg
    20180306_104136.jpg
    562.1 KB · Views: 14
This is a picture I took at lunch of the CPU board on the ticket dispenser. It looks like there are 2 plugs for the dispenser. One I traced back to ticket counter and the other is for the ticket dispenser. I had the ticket dispenser unplugged but left the ticket counter plugged in. I thought that I had moved the dipswitch for the ticket dispenser to Off and I had unplugged they ticket dispenser but still had the ticket counter plugged in. It doesn't go into CALL mode until the last ball is played which is kind of strange. I would think that if it was because of the ticket dispenser it would never reset even if you unplugged it because it would still be out of tickets when plugged back in. But the game is being started by "hard start" by pushing the coin up reset button then it probably can't prevent the restart. It does let you play all 9 balls though before it goes back into CALL. It pays out before you play all 9 balls if you score high enough so at that point I would think it would go back to CALL mode immediately. I agree though I think that it is to do with the ticket dispenser. I do know that one connection on coin counter has been cut and I think it is a two wire.
 

Attachments

  • Ticket Dispenser Plug.jpg
    Ticket Dispenser Plug.jpg
    517.1 KB · Views: 3
I didn't get to upload my photo of the ticket dispenser PCB and the wires.
 

Attachments

  • Ticket Dispenser CPU and Wires.jpg
    Ticket Dispenser CPU and Wires.jpg
    261.1 KB · Views: 13
Posted a long reply earlier only to find out that the website timed out and it was deleted. Did what was recommended with ticket dispenser and it resolved the issue partially. The ticket dispenser did work and it did not go back into CALL mode. However when the game is restarted by pushing the button in the coin mechanism side the ticket dispenser dispenses two or three tickets right after the ball release. Then when the score is reached for the "Winner" the machine lights up "Winner" but no tickets come out at that time. I think that the tickets that were getting dispensed were the tickets that we kicked out at the beginning of each game. I was trying to use the dipswitches to turn off the ticket dispenser but it was not working. I do not think that the Knock Off switch is working. I am pretty certain it is not because when I put the game in Programmable mode with the dipswitch and start the game up the game does go to the 990 but when I hold the switch it does nothing and starts into the "rolling program mode" where it counts the stages in the ball count area and rolls through the scores to 950 then advances to next program.
So I am unable to use the Knock Off switch at the moment to try and program. The schematic shows that wiring to be BLUE and WHITE. I do not see any wiring that is BLUE and WHITE coming from any cables in that area. I do see the BLUE and WHITE up at the control box. I can tell you that there are wires cut that are in the Coin Box area and that is where the button was that is being pressed to start the game up and release the balls. Since that is how the game is being started I would consider that a "hard start" so I am not sure if that affects the tickets being dispensed automatically or not.
 
Well, I am glad that so far everything has worked out the way it should and your machine and ticket dispenser are working like they should.

It sounds like you are now just working on a programming issue and what the payouts are set to.

That is a pretty simple fix but it can be a headache at times. Don't give up on the programming sequence right away. Sometimes it takes a few tries to get into the program mode and even then it is a pain in the ass sometimes. There have been members here on the board over the years who have had all the programming options on their games reversed or out of sequence from the manual. It is what it is but if you get into program mode with a little bit of trial and error you should be fine.

One more thing all of the older skee ball lanes like this have to be hardwired for free play. Just like other games of this era they didn't expect people to put them in their homes. They were strictly pay arcade games. So a wire cut or spliced off of the coin acceptor to a switch or button is pretty much a given.
 
Last edited:
Sounds good and thanks for the help. I did notice today at lunch that the ticket dispenser is spitting out a couple two or three tickets every time the game is reset for the next game. I haven't paid close enough attention as to be certain that the game is not paying out during the game when "winning" score has been reached. Would certainly like to figure out how to stop those tickets from coming out. The ticket mechanism does look like it can easily be knocked out of position by removing that cover and or cause them to Jam. The other reason is because I only have a 100 or 200 tickets and I know eventually they are going to get torn off by kids, stepped on, torn or jammed and crammed then I will not be able to do anything about the game going into CALL mode when I don't have enough tickets together for them to keep feeding 3 at the beginning of every game. I do seem to have a problem at least every 2-3 games where the ball counter counts 2 balls when only one was played. Seems like it is around the 5 ball every time. Still have to get the Knock off Switch functioning so that I can get into the programming mode.
 
Back
Top Bottom