The Czarcade

The Czarcade Hi! I'm Frank Czar, EM Tech at the Las Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame. I'm a Pinball and vintage Arcade game enthusiast, collector, and hobbyist.

Well... Tuesday was pretty much a wash out, especially as far as Flying Turns was concerned. After plugging the chain dr...
06/17/2026

Well... Tuesday was pretty much a wash out, especially as far as Flying Turns was concerned. After plugging the chain drive back in, it immediately blew a fuse. I rechecked everything repeatedly and I think there may be a short in the motor. The gears were in good shape, and it moved smoothly, but as soon as motor 1 gets activated, the fuse blows. I spent way too much time on it and needed to step away from the Midway.

Of course, what I should have done was put the motor on my bench tester to make sure it was working before I swapped it out. I won't make that mistake again.

If I can't fix it, then I'll need to find another motor. Even at the HOF, there's no box of working motors just lying around...

There were other machines that were down that needed attention, mostly for minor issues. 4 Queens was being sticky, but seems good now. Hit the Deck had a broken switch blade on the 10s reel, but I couldn't find a match for that one, so that stayed down too, and it sounds like the relay issue in Flipper may be back again. Annnd the Woodrail Carnival is down again as well.

Looking like my Thursday agenda is already full!

A little weekend edition of the Czarcade for you this Sunday! I took some work home from the HOF, trying to get one of m...
06/14/2026

A little weekend edition of the Czarcade for you this Sunday!

I took some work home from the HOF, trying to get one of my favorite games, the 1964 Midway's Flying Turns, back up and running. With less than 500 ever made, this game is a rare find. Midway used Dinky Toy die-cast cars, a blue Ferrari and a red Maserati, that race around an oval track in the backbox, moved by under-playfield magnets. Pretty cool stuff.

After having fixed this game repeatedly over the last year to get it running flawlessly, and having been played well over a thousand times... the #1 Car motor gears became stripped, and the motor needed replacing. Tough to do in a crowded arcade, but fortunately the motor deck slides right out... so I took it home.

Below is a pictorial of the replacement process for people that dig the process. Not seen in the pics: prior to discovering the motor issue, I had already degreased the old chain grease and replaced it with the latest bike chain wax, which should repel the buildup of dirt in the chain over time.

Fingers crossed I did everything right, we'll see on Tuesday!

I came into the HOF on Thursday with a singular goal. It was time to finally get Flipper's flipper working again, so peo...
06/12/2026

I came into the HOF on Thursday with a singular goal. It was time to finally get Flipper's flipper working again, so people could keep flippin Flipper!

Tim found a suitable spare flipper stem for me, and I ended up replacing the nylon guide and spring, and I reassembled the hinge and coil along with a new nylon coil sleeve so this thing would be flippin smooth! I made sure I had good solder connections so we don't get any breakage either.

Even though it was in good shape (mostly from not being played in forever)...Once everything was back together and working again, I had to strip, clean and wax this one just to make sure it would be playing again for a good long while, and to minimize future wear on an already well-worn playfield. After a few test games, I cleaned the glass and moved it back into position.

I could not help but step back and enjoy the row of glowing '60's Gottliebs staring back at me. Satisfying, indeed.

It had been a long day, and I was hurting from the prior evening's activity playing the Open Mic at the Virgin Hotel (music being my "other hobby") so I opted for some homework instead. I removed the motor deck from the '64 Flying turns and grabbed the spare motor so I could fix it over the weekend, as I don't think I'd ever get to it otherwise, and I'm eager to see that one up and running again. It may be my favorite game in the whole place.

Well that's it for me this week. If, on the odd chance you are interested in my music/music videos, you can find me occasionally at The All Czar Band.

And with that... I'll catch you... on the Flipside!

This Tuesday I tackled some of the more challenging problems with a couple of machines. I didn't fix em, but I tackled e...
06/10/2026

This Tuesday I tackled some of the more challenging problems with a couple of machines. I didn't fix em, but I tackled em! 😆

First up, was a return to the 1960 Gottleib Flipper (the 1st wedgehead and the first game to feature an "extra ball" / Add-a-Ball feature!). The flipper hinge had a sheared off bolt making it impossible to remove the flipper post from the mech and coil. Since the post was a goner anyway, and easily replaced, Tim handed me a hacksaw and told me to get to it! There's a first time for everything, so I got to it! After finally removing the whole mech, the replacement was not as easy as we thought. Tim and I found a new hinge, we had to drill out the bakelite hole to make the plunger lever fit, but we made it work! Unfortunately we could not find a new flipper post that would fit, but Tim has plenty at home... so the final fix is getting pushed off until Thursday... but I'll be glad to finally see this historically significant game finally working reliably again!

I swung over to the '69 Road Race to re-examine the spinner issue and resolve the short. I broke out the schematic and traced it to the C1 stepper-relay, which has it's own Jones plug and was easy to remove, though Tim insisted on fixing that himself as these stepper relays are pretty tricky to work on. Meanwhile, I believe we resolved the short that we traced to some light sockets, but the stepper was still not working correctly, so Tim will spend some more time on that one and with any luck, will be back up on Thursday. We're getting close though.

I used my remaining time for a number of relatively quick fixes... the '73 King Pin had some broken rubbers, so that got a new double set (recommended for these types of drop-targets to prevent breakage), tracked down a playfield lights short on the '77 Golden Arrow, it's intermittent, so hopefully I got it... made some quick adjustments on the '74 Sky Jump to keep a slow ball from sticking at the top, and lastly a "quick fix" replacing a bad flipper post on the Bally '74 Twin Win, which ended up taking an hour after a hunt for a replacement flipper. Hundreds of spare flippers... but not that one!

Overall, the EM collection is in pretty great shape at the HOF these days, and I'm looking forward to getting on some new projects soon!

06/06/2026

Tim Time!

It was another great Thursday at the Hall of Fame! I had a number of action items left over from Tuesday to tackle, so a...
06/04/2026

It was another great Thursday at the Hall of Fame!

I had a number of action items left over from Tuesday to tackle, so after a great morning chat with Tim, I was off to fix stuff, but before Tim left for the day, I got him to take a look at the 1960 Flipper to see why I couldn't get the coil out. As usual, Tim spotted the issue right away... a sheared off bolt was still holding the flipper stem tightly. As long as that stays in, that coil is going nowhere. Tim's plan is to cut the stem with a hacksaw, and replace. Before I do that, I'm going to attempt to use my extractor bits, but I didn't have my powered screwdriver today... so that'll be top of the list for next week.

Before moving on, Corral had a coin mech issue from Tuesday that still needed resolving... once again, Tim spotted the issue in seconds... a broken torsion spring on the mech. That was my first time replacing one... so it was great to get the instructions from Tim, so I could do it myself. Minutes later, the Corral was OK!

I still had a to-do list on Bally Ave. On-Beam has an easily corrected stuck reel. The only downside is that they must have made On-Beam out of LEAD because for a small game, that thing weighs a TON, and I really hate having to move it to get into the head. Big Flipper has a similar issue, and is almost as difficult to get into the head, but that was done quickly enough.

I had enough time to circle back to Woodrail Row to take a look at Carnival. Fortunately it was just a sticky ball reset switch, so the Carnival was back up again too.

That was all for me today, but keep an eye on the Pinball Hall of Fame - Las Vegas page this weekend for some breaking news about the HOF's two-of-a-kind Williams Pinball Circus! You won't want to miss it!

Thanks to all who follow... and I'll catch you... on the flipside!

Today was a short day for me as it's my wife's birthday and we got stuff planned! Still, I was able to knock out a few p...
06/02/2026

Today was a short day for me as it's my wife's birthday and we got stuff planned! Still, I was able to knock out a few problems, and at least identify a few more that I'll have to tackle Thursday.

On Gottlieb St, Flipper AND Flipper Parade were both off. Parade was an easy fix as it was just the shooter rod spring adjustment. At least, I hope that's all it was. After Dr Scott fixed the 1960 Flipper score relay... it appears the right flipper coil got stuck on and melted. That's typical of a game that's been off for a long time, you fix one thing, and something else goes. Frustratingly, I could not find a way to remove the melted coil without breaking something... and the flipper stem wasn't moving either! Going to see if Tim has a better method before I do some permanent damage. Saved for Thursday.

On-Beam appears to have a sticky thousands reel, but this game weighs a TON, and I didn't have time for that today... Also saved for Thursday. And the same thing happened to Big Flipper... also saved for Thursday. The 1970 Galahad has a ball kicker coil that had a coil stop pop off... that was an easy fix and that game is back up.

Just as I was leaving, Corral developed a coin mech issue that I assume will also get resolved Thursday. And I'm also trying a new method of blocking bad coin slots (dollars, bad mechs etc) using chrome tape. The big, ugly, haphazardly applied yellow electrical tape looked AWFUL. Even Tim agreed the chrome tape looks much better.

Lastly, Clay Harrell of Pinrepair.com and the Ann Arbor VFW Pinball Museum fame was visiting, and as he strolled onto Gottlieb St, I took the opportunity to formally introduce myself. We had a nice conversation before he took off.

I wish I'd got more done today... but such is life.

See ya Thursday.

It was a busy Thursday at the HOF, but we had an extra EM tech visiting today, so that was handy, annnnnnnnd productive!...
05/28/2026

It was a busy Thursday at the HOF, but we had an extra EM tech visiting today, so that was handy, annnnnnnnd productive!

Tim had a preference as to what I worked on today, so I stayed on Gottlieb St and tackled the '75 Abra-Cadabra with a bad score reel. After cleaning and rebuilding the reel 3 or 4 times with no success, the issue was literally staring me in the face. The coil stopper had been sheared off and could not push the reel past the Nine. After spending way too much time looking for a replacement, I found a spare in the "graveyard" and swapped it out. After swapping that out, Abra-Cadabra was working like magic!

Next to it was a '69 Road Race that had been untouched since I started working at the HOF. Tim had led me to believe that it had significant issues. He was not entirely wrong. The center spinner is not clearing the numbers when it lands on them, and does not score points... but it does register the hit and awards a Special as intended IF you clear all the numbers via the rollovers... I would have been satisfied with this (for now) but as I replaced the playfield, the playfield lights fuse popped. I had it on a circuit breaker and it was fine (of course), but as soon as I lower the playfield again, it blows again. I did not have time today to locate the short, but at least we've turned a corner! It WILL work again soon.

In the meantime, I helped our visiting EM Tech Scott (I missed his last name) work on a couple of other machines. Ship Ahoy has now been worked by myself, Tim, Herman, and now Scott... and not ONE of us has been able to figure out what the deal is there. This one may be a good candidate for Mark Gibson's "Fun With Pinball" EM troubleshooting group. This one's a mystery.

I had Scott take a look at the Palace Guard that I ran out of time on Tuesday... It was a little embarrassing as Scott found the issue immediately. The coin mech was jammed full of more junk than I'd ever seen in a single mech. We found nickels, dimes, mangled and dented US Quarters, Canadian Quarters, a UK Pence coin, and a token from some arcade, ALL JAMMED IN ONE MECH! Dude. IT'S ONLY A QUARTER! Just use a quarter!! And people wonder why it's so hard to keep these games working... 🙄

I also had Scott take a look at the 1960 Flipper that had an unresolved relay issue. I'm not sure what he did, but I am excited to announce that the first of the Gottlieb "Wedgeheads" ever made, and the beginning of their "Flipper" Series, is finally available for play again! Great work Scott! 🥳

I'm still getting over a bad cold, so that was about all I had in me for today. I'm gonna rest up, and I'll catch you... on the flipside.

Hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend! Mine was exceptional, filled with fun and friends. The holiday was hard o...
05/26/2026

Hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend! Mine was exceptional, filled with fun and friends. The holiday was hard on some of the older games at the HOF, but most held up really well! I started my Tuesday back on Bally Ave.

Jumping Jack had debris blocking a ball drain and the ball was stuck, now it's not. Next to it was the '69 On-Beam, and I'm not sure how it happened, but all four of the Pop Bumper EOS switches were misaligned and kept the pops open! I'm not sure who messed with it, but once I got everything back to good, the Beam was ON again!

I'm still avoiding Flipper Clown for a less busy day, but I did tackle the '70 Chicago Coin Big Flipper, which had an easily adjusted stuck ball stepper. After a clean and adjust it was Flippin Big again! Except for my poor Flying Turns, things were looking good on Bally Ave.

Things were also pretty good on Gottlieb St too. I hopped on the '68 Palace Guard and fixed a number of things... but not the actual problem. The ball stepper is counting up to 5, then back down to one, and it keeps cycling. Nothing I did seemed to have any effect, and wanting to get to a few more before I left, I packed it up for another day. Moving over to the '69 Mini Pool with a stuck score reel. Luckily nothing was burnt, so just cleaning and lubrication to fix that, though, it's still being weird, but it's working so for now....Onward.

Last up, I went to Woodrail Row to see what was up with the '57 Ace High. This one has a sticky score stepper, so it got a good cleaning and after that, it was all Aces again! That's 5 up, and one not-up-yet. Not too shabby.

Also, if anyone is interested in seeing my all-too-brief Sea Wolf game play before it glitched out and stopped booting up, there's a video in there too. Looks like the reset circuit on the Power Supply is not working... Oh well, I know a guy. See ya Thursday. ;)

The '75 Seawolf's journey to it's new home at the Czarcade!
05/24/2026

The '75 Seawolf's journey to it's new home at the Czarcade!

Address

Las Vegas, NV

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Czarcade posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category