Now that I read your suggestions, one thing I realize I neglected to mention was, that when I first obtained the slot machine, everything seemed to be working perfectly. The machine payed out correctly per the payout schedule, both in symbols and their associated coin quantities. Occasionally I would get a payout that did not match the payout schedule, and I attributed that to a “Mystery Payout”. As a result, I’m inclined to believe that the discs and reels are matched correctly, or at least they worked in an acceptable manner, and that something changed in the course of playing the machine over the last 1+ years.

Going Forward
I will follow your suggestions to learn more about how the payout fingers, reels, and discs interact to cause a payout Then I will investigate/characterize my payout fingers, reels, and discs to determine exactly what I have, and how they line up. At that point I will either have fixed the problem or have some more questions to ask.

Now that you know the machine, at one time, worked in an acceptable manner, you may have some additional suggestions that I will gladly add to my list of things to do.

Thanks for you help,
Frank Ambra

http://www.slotrestoration.com/2010/01/22/the-reel-assembly-in-situ/

http://www.slotrestoration.com/2010/01/23/reel-bundle-removal/

It’s important that you understand the way that the payout fingers and the reel discs interact to cause a payout. I hear people complain about two “random” payout situations: First, that the machine doesn’t pay when it should, and second that the machine pays out when it shouldn’t.

The first situation can be caused by a variety of problems, including incorrect reel discs/reel strips, stuck payout slides, broken springs, etc.

The second situation (which is what you are encountering) is very frequently caused by a mismatch between the discs and the reel strips. Once you understand how to find the reel strip symbols that correspond with specific places on the discs, it’s a simple matter to determine if there is a mismatch.

Now, the whole “mystery payout” situation gives us a certain amount of leeway here, and it’s really up to you whether the level of mystery payouts is acceptable or not. Originally, the mystery payouts were caused (intentionally) by a specific position on one of the reel strips (let’s say an orange) having more than one hole punched in the corresponding position on the disc, usually adding a hole in the “bar” position. Often this was done on the third reel, meaning that combinations like “plum-plum-orange” would pay, since the machine treated that combination as “plum-plum-bar”.

Over the years I’ve seen some machines that were downright crazy on the mystery payouts, and other machines where the reel strips and the discs were just simply mismatched.

If the extra payouts bother you, there are a few routes you can take:

1. Replace the reel strips. This can be tough to determine, since you’ll need to inventory each payout disc, recording the position of the holes and determining the correct symbol for each position on each reel. Then you’ll have to locate appropriate replacement strips. The installation is very straightforward, however.

2. Replace the discs. This installation is a little more involved, but it’s still not a particularly tough undertaking. You’ll have to inventory your reel strips and then draw yourself a diagram of what the correct reel discs will look like, or you can sometimes find a designation for the reel strip on the strip itself (something like “CC-118-2″) and that may assist you in finding an appropriate disc.

3. Replace both the discs and the strips. Find a matching set that you like, and just replace it all.

4. Plug the extraneous holes in the discs. Once you locate the holes that are causing the incorrect payouts, it is possible to plug those holes. You might check with Squires and Corrie (http://squiresandcorrie.com) to see if they can help… they have come up with some obscure parts for me in the past.

5. Live with it and embrace the concept of “mystery payouts”. This may be your best option. Home slot machines that pay out frequently are more fun anyway.

Everything seems to work great except it will payout coins & coin quantities randomly for various real symbols that line up across the center line, even if they are not listed on the payout schedule. This happens too often for me to believe it is normal. It always pays out when the symbols match the payout schedule.

Is there a way for me to reset the machine so that it pays out correctly for both the number of coins and corresponding payout schedule?

Your help with this issue will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Frank Ambra

I went through the process that you described and I can now match the payouts with the order of the slides. The only problem I have now is that what appears to be the safety slide doesn’t seem to fit under the cover with all of the other slides. The others when stacked and in order slide into the payout slide housing with no problem but I can’t fit in the safety slide. It appears from your photos that the safety slide is supposed to be on the bottom of the stack. Is that correct? Any thoughts about why it won’t fit? Also, where does the spring that is attached to the safety slide hook? Once again, thanks for the help.

From there you just keep stepping up the payouts. For example, if your machine’s payouts are (in ascending order) 2, 5, 10, 14, 18, and 20 coins (plus the jackpot on this last one) then your payout slides would hold the following number of coins from bottom to top: 2, 3, 5, 4, 4, 2. If you start with the bottom slide and start adding the number of coins that each slide holds, you’ll see that you end up hitting each of the possible payouts.

Does that makes sense?