mystic line extra ball design flaw - why it doesn't matter
discovered by ernie hite
It turns out that the extra ball unit itself does not allow single stepping from "extra" to "ball". The only way to get "ball" lit is through the multistep circuit, and the multistep circuit will step as many times as needed to get the "ball" lit. Thus, your odds of getting an extra ball are always determined by the multistep logic.
In other words, you are no closer to getting an extra ball just because the "extra" panel is lit....you just think you are - and bally has been lying to you since 1953 (and probably since 1951, but the early manuals don't show the contact plate wiring).
Let's see why:
super 7 |
| extra ball unit |
|---|
In the above pic, the wipers are shown in the reset position (step 0). When the machine is cycled for the first time in extra ball mode, the wipers will rotate at least one position clockwise because contacts 15 and 16 are initially connected together. This lights the "1st" panel (you don't see the wipers powering the lamps on this pic). At this point, the unit may single step because contacts 23 and 17 are connected together.
The other thing you need to know is that step 1 and step 2 are identical. Both just light the '1st' panel. After that, each step will light the next panel in the extra ball strip on the backglass.
So you can see that when the unit steps to position 3, the wiper on the middle row is connected to contact 17, but the wiper on the inner row isn't connected to anything. Thus, it's impossible for the extra ball unit to step from "extra" to "ball" via the single step circuit.
The only way to get "ball" lit is through the multistep circuit (not shown on above pic), and since the multistep circuit would have stepped all the way to "ball" anyway, it makes no difference if extra is lit or not.
I guess the mystic line games are actually more honest
about what is going on. They never lead you to believe that
you are getting closer by lighting the "extra" panel only.
