Uploaded March 2024 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
One of the most common problems pinball owners have involves the flippers. Here is a short video where I go over how flipper mechanisms work and the most common problems and solutions. From early EM games to modern games, the concepts are very similar.
One thing I wanted to point out that I didn't in the video: You will notice on the modern Stern games the flipper coil only has 2 lugs instead of 3. This is because in modern games, there is no need for a low-power coil winding or and end-of-stroke-circuit that switches to low power to hold the flipper up. The new architecture can reduce the power sent to the coil from the CPU. Earlier games did not have the capability of the MPU to control voltage levels to coils, so modern flippers have a computer-controlled end-of-stroke sequence.
Also note that the EOS switch on more modern games may not carry the voltage to the coil and may instead trigger the CPU to switch to the lower power circuit to keep the flipper up - this varies from different game architectures. One (non-foolproof) rule is if the EOS is normally closed and then opens when the flipper is up, it might carry the flipper voltage and bad contacts on the EOS may also reduce flipper power. If it's NC (normally closed) it might trigger a secondary board/circuit that controls which coil to fire. But this can vary. In a general sense, always make sure all the switch contacts are clean and not oxidized, for best performance.
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One of the most common problems pinball owners have involves the flippers. Here is a short video where I go over how flipper mechanisms work and the most common problems and solutions. From early EM games to modern games, the concepts are very similar.
One thing I wanted to point out that I didn't in the video: You will notice on the modern Stern games the flipper coil only has 2 lugs instead of 3. This is because in modern games, there is no need for a low-power coil winding or and end-of-stroke-circuit that switches to low power to hold the flipper up. The new architecture can reduce the power sent to the coil from the CPU. Earlier games did not have the capability of the MPU to control voltage levels to coils, so modern flippers have a computer-controlled end-of-stroke sequence.
Also note that the EOS switch on more modern games may not carry the voltage to the coil and may instead trigger the CPU to switch to the lower power circuit to keep the flipper up - this varies from different game architectures. One (non-foolproof) rule is if the EOS is normally closed and then opens when the flipper is up, it might carry the flipper voltage and bad contacts on the EOS may also reduce flipper power. If it's NC (normally closed) it might trigger a secondary board/circuit that controls which coil to fire. But this can vary. In a general sense, always make sure all the switch contacts are clean and not oxidized, for best performance.
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