United bowler scoring.

TCrouch

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Hello,

I'm new here and enjoy reading all of the Q&A about all of the different machines everyone has. Each problem is an opportunity to learn.

I have a United Golden Triangle and it is functioning fairly well. The biggest problem is in the regulation scoring. It scores correctly unless you are really good at the game. If you bowl consecutive strikes, it doesn't score the carryover correctly. (A perfect game will only score 100 points because you only throw once per frame.)

I've cleaned the contacts on the c/u units. Everything else works fine. I don't know if there is a relay that I need to check first or what exactly controls that part of the scoring circuit. (I have the schematic, but can't wrap my mind around this issue.)

Any help would be appreciated.

Tony
 
i am not familiar with Golden Triangle. What year is it?

In many of the early games, it was not unusual for it to score that way. The early games just did not have the intelligence to realize that you had two or three strikes in a row. There is every chance that your machine is scoring exactly as it was intended.
 
It was built in 1974 and shows the multiple strikes when you get them. (The lights light up.) It just doesn't score as it should. I guess I'll put up with it until I replace the back door. While I have all the components off the door is when I plan on cleaning, tightening and checking each relay and stepper unit.
 
Yup. By 74 it definitely should be counting all the strikes.

For troubleshooting, can you make it count strikes by manually tripping the leaf switches in the back? A manual or schematic will be a big help here.

DONT start bending any leaf switches. As long as nobody screws with them, they should require not much more than a periodic cleaning. Once you start bending them you are in for a hassle.

Are the grounds good? A bad ground causes all kinds of seemingly unrelated problems.

Is there anything else that is not working correctly? If it is JUST a "math error" it helps to narrow things down.
 
Thanks for your reply. Sorry I took so long to see it.

I have the manual and schematic. I just can't seem to follow this all the way to the end. I'd guess this is the most complex part of the scoring circuit.

I'd bet you are on to it with the grounds, though. This machine was on a back patio by the pool for a number of years and there is definately some oxidation.

Everything else works fine as far as I can tell. This is my first bowler, but it all seems to work as I would expect it to.
 
My limited experience is with an older united, so not sure if they stayed the same in the 70's. Is there a "strike stepper"? On the older games there was a separate strike/spare stepper for each player. Have you tried the scoring on player 2-6?

If you can't find it one at a time advance a stepper one notch until you get the strike light to come on (without electrocuting yourself). If you can manually get it to light up, it's most likely a related switch or a stepper. Once you find it the stepper probably needs to be taken apart, cleaned, re-greased and assembled.
 
There is a strike / spare step unit for each player and they all work fine. This problem occurs on all players.

I did some work on it yesterday and found a couple of broken wires. They are in the large bundle that is on the back door. Those could very well be part of the problem. They are definately part of a problem. I'll go after those next weekend, I guess.
 
I had many problems with my United Seville (1976) until I spent 2 hours on the massive Switch Stack on the back door.

Make sure everything is adjusted properly and clean.

The only problem I have with the unit now is when I play 6th frame. After the game ends and the credit button is pushed, it will not advance back to the 1st frame.
Other than that I love my shuffle bowler!
 
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