For vintage gaming enthusiasts, restoring classic slot and poker machines is both a challenge and a passion. In part three of his five-part restoration series, Lawton Barnes continues his work on an IGT Double Bonus draw poker machine, tackling the machine’s faulty candle and investigating its lack of sound.
Barnes begins by swapping out the existing candle—a visual indicator on top of the machine that signals errors or service needs. “When I parted out the slant top slot machine, it had this candle with it,” he explains. While the new candle has a gold finish instead of the original silver, Barnes believes the difference is negligible. “I don’t think anybody would really notice.” After assembling the candle and installing it, he powers up the machine for a test. “Hey, look, it’s flashing,” he says, confirming that it’s working as expected. However, the top button’s change light fails to illuminate, hinting at a deeper issue to be solved later.
With the candle addressed, Barnes shifts his focus to a glaring problem—literally. “EEEWWW. GROSS! That is filthy,” he exclaims while removing the CRT monitor, which has collected years of dust due to static electricity. Though functional, the monitor will need a thorough cleaning before the project is complete.
The real challenge, however, is the machine’s complete lack of sound. Barnes removes the MPU board to inspect the volume knob but finds no obvious issues. “Where I left off on this machine is that we have a functional game, but with no audio,” he says. To determine whether the problem lies with the wiring or the board, he tests the speaker using a simple nine-volt battery trick. “Okay, so the speaker is good,” he confirms. This narrows the problem down to a likely failure on the MPU board itself.
While the audio fix will have to wait until the next episode, Barnes is pleased with the progress so far. “Right now… my biggest issue with this game is that it’s filthy,” he jokes. As he wraps up, he teases the next installment: “In the next episode, part four, we are going to repair the audio board on this machine. Keep on rocking like Dokken.”
Stay tuned for the next step in this intricate restoration process, where Barnes will attempt to bring the machine’s sound system back to life.
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