Gameplan Repair

Note: This page is a work in progress. Please help get it to a completed state by adding any useful information to it.

1 Introduction

GamePlan made pinball machines from 1978-1985. The first pinball machines were cocktail size. The first full-size pinball machine was SharpShooter in 1979 that was designed by Roger Sharpe. The last pinball machine produced by GamePlan was ironically called the Loch Ness Monster and only one was produced, making it a difficult machine to find. The machine still does exist today. GamePlan also made one widebody pinball machine called Global Warfare which was designed by Roger Sharpe as well, and the artwork was completed by John Trudeau. Only ten Global Warfare machines were produced.

2 Games

• Agents 777
• Andromeda
• Attila the Hun
• Black Velvet (cocktail)
• Camel Lights (cocktail)
• Captain Hook
• Challenger
• Chuck-A-Luck (cocktail factory conversion of Real)
• Cyclopes
• Family Fun (cocktail)
• Foxy Lady (cocktail)
• Global Warfare (widebody)
• Lady Sharpshooter (cocktail)
• Loch Ness Monster (prototype)
• Mike Bossy the Scoring Machine (never produced)
• Old Coney Island!
• Pinball Lizard
• Real (cocktail)
• Rio (cocktail)
• Sharp Shooter II
• Sharpshooter
• Star Trip (cocktail)
• Super Nova
• Vegas (cocktail)

3 Technical Info

GamePlan utilized the Z80 microprocessor as their CPU of choice for all of their games. The early cocktail pins used the MPU-1 board, and the full-size machines used the MPU-2 board. The only difference is the amount of RAM. GamePlan used individual driver boards for the solenoids (the SDU-1 board) and lamps (LDU-1 and LDU-2 boards). The displays on all GamePlan machines are LED displays and hold up quite well because of this. The sound system did change frequently, starting out with Chime units in the early cocktails, to solid state "hard-wired" sound boards, to sound boards that were designed using the Motorola 6802 processor (MSU-1, MSU-2).

4 Switch Matrix

GamePlan Switch Matrix

5 Problems and Fixes

With GamePlan using individual boards for everything, interconnects tend to be a culprit for problems. Before you do anything, you should first unplug all boards, and check the voltages on the power supply.

5.1 Power Supply Issues

First and foremost, replace the big capacitor! This fix a lot of issues with GamePlan pins. The actual capacitor value in this PSU-1 power supply varies, as some machines were shipped with the 25v 11,000 capacitor (typically the silver color) and some were shipped with a 15,000 25v capacitor (typically a blue color). Make note of the polarization of the capacitor, cut off the screw mounts (or desolder them), and replace the capacitor with either another screw mount or through-hole design. If through-hole, just use some hookup wire to jumper the capacitor to the circuit board.

5.2 MPU Issues

The #1 problem found on gameplan machines is the 3.6v NiCad battery mounted to the MPU board exploding, causing acid damage to the traces around. Early GamePlan pinball machines (SharpShooter, ConeyIsland, SuperNova) mounted the board vertically which the battery fluid would damage mostly the reset circuitry. For the rest of the games that have the board mounted horizontally (Attila, 777, Lizard, Global Warfare, Cyclopes, etc.), the damage tends to be worse, as the traces and sockets for the roms, cpu, and ctc are damaged. If you have an acid damaged board, it is possible to recover it, but it takes lots of time and patience. The best place to check out the procedure is John Robertson's page Battery Leakage Repair

6 Game Specific Problems and Fixes

Example would be servo controller on Independence Day pinball

7 Repair Logs

Did you do a repair? Log it here as a possible solution for others.