Pinball Test Fixtures

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1 Introduction

Pinball test fixtures were designed to aid in the testing and repair of circuit boards in pinball machines. These fixtures were originally used by distributors who performed repairs and operators who serviced their own equipment. These fixtures are now commonly utilized by individuals experienced with board repair and who perform repairs frequently for games.

Most test fixtures primarily emulate a pinball machine's lamps, solenoids, displays, switches, and sounds. There are also various test sequences available, plus the ability to perform repetitious tests in order to "burn-in" a board.

The downside to these fixtures is that they are big, bulky, and tend to be rather expensive. In some cases, there is little or no documentation for the fixtures. Sometimes, fixtures were modified to accommodate boards, displays, or features that they were not originally intended to support. There is also little or no documentation on these modifications.

Since these test fixtures are designed to emulate the guts of a pinball machine, some collectors/technicians have built their own test fixtures using the guts of actual pinball machines.

Additionally, there are now some diagnostic tools available to help aid with circuit board testing and diagnostics while in-game or on the bench.

2 Test Fixtures

2.1 Bally/Stern (Classic)

Bally took a different approach than most other manufacturers and built four discreet test fixtures for testing individual boards, which are commonly known as "Bally brown box testers".

2.1.1 Bally MPU Test Fixture

This test fixture can test Bally MPUs, however, the helpfulness of this test fixture in troubleshooting many problems is limited.

2.1.2 Bally Lamp Board Test Fixture

This test fixture can test both classic Bally and Stern lamp driver boards

2.1.3 Bally Solenoid Driver Board Test Fixture

This test fixture can test both classic Bally and Stern solenoid driver boards. It can also test early Bally sound boards, but that may require modifications.

2.1.4 Bally Display Test Fixture

This test fixture can test 6-digit Bally and Stern displays, and can be modified to also test 7-digit displays.

2.1.5 Bally Sound Board Test Fixture

This test fixture is designed to test some Bally sound boards (-32, -50, -51, Cheap Squeak, and Squawk & Talk sound boards)

2.1.6 Bally 6803 Test Fixture

This is a complete test fixture with switch and lamp matrices and is able to test the 6803 MPU, displays, and sound boards found in Bally 6803 games.

2.1.7 Stern SAM II Test Fixture

This is a complete test fixture with switch and lamp matrices, which can test Stern MPU-100 MPUs, lamp boards, solenoid driver boards, SB-100 sound boards, and 6-digit displays. It can also test comparable Bally lamp boards, solenoid driver boards, and 6-digit displays.

2.1.8 Stern SAM IV Test Fixture

This is a complete test fixture with switch and lamp matrices, which can test Stern MPU-100/MPU-200 MPUs, lamp boards, solenoid driver boards, SB-100/SB-300 sound boards, and 6-digit/7-digit displays. It can also test comparable Bally lamp boards, solenoid driver boards, and 6-digit/7-digit displays.

2.2 Gottlieb

2.3 Stern/Data East/Sega

2.4 Williams

2.5 Alvin G

2.6 Atari

2.7 Capcom

2.8 GamePlan

2.9 Zaccaria

3 Diagnostic Tools

3.1 Univeral/General

3.1.1 Switch Matrix Tester

3.1.2 Chip Tester

3.2 Bally/Stern (Classic)

3.3 Gottlieb

3.3.1 System 1

3.3.2 System 80

3.4 Stern/Data East/Sega

3.5 Williams

3.5.1 System 3-11

3.5.2 WPC

3.6 Alvin G

3.7 Atari

3.8 Capcom

3.9 GamePlan

3.10 Zaccaria

4 Custom/Homebrew/Bench Test Fixtures

4.1 Bally/Stern (Classic)

4.2 Gottlieb

4.3 Stern/Data East/Sega

4.4 Williams

4.5 Alvin G

4.6 Atari

4.7 Capcom

4.8 GamePlan

4.9 Zaccaria

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