Rack 'Em Up (Gottlieb/Mylstar, 1983): faults, diagnosis and System 80A replacement boards

Are the controlled lamps on your Rack 'Em Up staying dim or dead while the backbox lights up fine? Has the general illumination gone out? Does the background music refuse to switch off no matter what you do with the dip switches? Or has the game stopped starting a ball at all?

These are the standard complaints on a Gottlieb System 80A machine, and Rack 'Em Up has been on the planet for over forty years. The good news is that the lamp faults in particular are usually mechanical and cheap — a single wrong connector pin can account for the whole thing. Where the boards themselves have gone, a modern battery-free replacement board settles it permanently.

About the Rack 'Em Up (Gottlieb / Mylstar, 1983)

See it: full photo gallery for Rack 'Em Up! on IPDB — the Pinside machine page has a second owner gallery with playfield and backglass shots.

Rack 'Em Up is a billiards game, and it arrived at an awkward moment in the company's history. Coca-Cola had bought Columbia Pictures in June 1982, and in 1983 it renamed the Gottlieb division Mylstar Electronics. Rack 'Em Up was among the first pinballs to go out under the new badge. That is why sources disagree about who built it: IPDB catalogues it under Mylstar Electronics, while Pinside lists it as D. Gottlieb & Co. — and period tune-up kits are still sold as "Gottlieb / Mylstar". Both are right in their own way; it is the same factory and the same engineering team.

The release date is disputed the same way. Pinside gives 1 October 1983; Kineticist's history of the Mylstar period puts it in November 1983 as the first of only six Mylstar pinballs. Both agree on 1,762 units, and the parts trade catalogues the game as model 691.

The design and software are credited to John Buras, the artwork to David Moore and the sound and music to Craig Beierwaltes. The Mylstar name did not last: Coca-Cola closed it down in September 1984 after mounting losses, and the pinball assets were bought out by a management group who founded Premier Technology, keeping the Gottlieb brand alive for another decade. Designer John Trudeau later said the renaming was a prelude to abandoning pinball for video games — it was not popular inside the building, where one veteran pointed out that Mylstar backwards reads "rat slime".

As a game, Rack 'Em Up has a reputation among the people who own it. You fill a rack of pool balls by hitting the lit targets, with the lane change on the right flipper and on the spinner. Only a few targets are lit at a time, so it rewards aim rather than flailing — Pinside reviewers call it a sharpshooter's game and count eleven distinct shots. The spinner, when lit, is enormous for points, which some find unbalances the scoring. Opinion on the art and the sound is divided, and more than one reviewer notes that the music loop wears thin. It is also a game that plays badly when it is out of adjustment: several of the shots are reckoned near-impossible unless the machine is set up properly, which is a point in favour of fixing the lamps and the switches rather than living with them.

• Manufacturer: D. Gottlieb & Co. / Mylstar Electronics (sources differ — see above)
• Model: 691
• Release: October or November 1983 (sources differ)
• Production run: 1,762 units
• Design & software: John Buras
• Art: David Moore
• Sound & music: Craig Beierwaltes
• Electronic system: Gottlieb System 80A (7-digit displays)
• Players: 4 — two flippers, 7 drop targets, 3 pop bumpers, one spinner
• No multiball, ramps or multi-level playfield
• Theme: billiards / pool

On value, be careful with the headline numbers. Pinside's current estimate is roughly $1,480–$1,720, but a 2017 Pinside price-check thread had experienced owners putting a clean, fully working example at $800–$1,100, and noted that a quoted average of $1,497 was skewed upward by a single $8,000 outlier sale. Low production does not automatically mean high value with this era of Gottlieb; condition decides it.

Common faults across System 80 and 80A

Clear the family traits before you chase anything specific to this title — they imitate a dozen other problems:

• The NiCad battery on the CPU board. The number-one killer. It sits next to the 5101 CMOS RAM at Z5, and when it leaks the electrolyte travels along the traces and into the edge connector contacts. Lock-ups, nonsense scoring and intermittent booting start here. Remove the battery first, whatever else you intend to do.
• The logic. A 6502 at U1, the operating-system ROMs at U2/U3, and three 6532 RIOT chips at U4–U6 running switches, displays and solenoids between them. A 5101 error or a ROM checksum error in the self-test points at the board; Z36 (a 4069) is also in the memory path and fails.
• The 5 volt supply. The large orange 6,800 µF filter capacitor is well past its life, and the solder joints on the power supply header pins crack with heat and vibration, J1 and J2 especially. That gives you the sporadic reset with nothing visibly wrong.
• Grounds. Gottlieb daisy-chained the board grounds through the wiring, with the boards on plastic standoffs and no ground plane at all. As the connections age you get locked-on solenoids, dead lamps and random resets. The ground mods — a dedicated wire from every board to the power supply heatsink and the cabinet ground strip — are the best afternoon's work you can do on one of these.
• Connectors. Every signal between boards runs through a discrete contact, so a single corroded pin takes out several unrelated functions. Repin rather than scrub.
• Displays. The 80A runs 7-digit units. Missing segments are often only the J2/J3 edge connectors, but on the display board a failed VR1 zener (1N4737A) causes ghosting or dimness, and failed CR1–CR4 rectifier diodes burn traces that need jumpering. Never plug or unplug a display with the power on — and bear in mind the original Rockwell 10941/10939 display drivers are obsolete.
• Slam tilt that isn't. The slam switch shares the 8×8 switch matrix with everything else and is read through the U4 RIOT. A bad ground at the switch makes a healthy game insist it has been slammed.

Rack 'Em Up-specific issues owners report

Rack 'Em Up's forum is dominated by lamps, sound and starting — in that order. Here is what the threads actually contain.

Controlled lamps dim or dead — and the connector pin behind it

This is the signature Rack 'Em Up complaint, and it has its own thread on the machine's forum ("Rack em Up Gottlieb system 80a controlled lamps voltage issue"). It matters on this game more than most, because the whole point of Rack 'Em Up is hitting the lit target — if the controlled lamps are unreliable, the game is unplayable even when everything else works.

The crucial diagnostic clue is whether the failure is selective. In a closely related System 80 investigation, lamps L41, L43 and L45 were out while L42, L44 and L46 worked perfectly. That pattern rules out the two expensive explanations — a general ground fault and a failed driver board — because either of those would take out a whole group. What it was instead: one lamp had been fitted with a standard Molex edge connector pin in place of the correct bifurcated pin (Molex 08-03-0304). A bifurcated pin grips the board edge on both faces; a standard one does not, and the contact is marginal from the day it is fitted. Reflowing the solder on tired socket legs was the other fix suggested in the same thread.

So the order of work on dim or dead controlled lamps is: note exactly which lamps are affected, test them in lamp test, check the sockets and their solder, then check that the edge connector pins are the right type — and only then suspect the driver board. The driver board at A3 uses discrete transistor outputs rather than a matrix (MPS-U45, 2N3055 and 2N6043 types depending on the load), so a driver failure normally kills specific lamps, consistently, and never recovers.

All the general illumination out while the controlled lamps work

A different fault with a confusingly similar symptom, and worth separating. If the GI is dead — pop bumpers, slingshots, backbox — but the controlled lamps behave in test mode, the fault is almost certainly not on the driver board at all. The tilt relay under the playfield has contacts in the GI circuit, and those contacts are a known failure point on System 80A. Check them, and check that the fuses on the transformer panel (F1–F15) are actually in their correct positions — a previous owner swapping two fuses around is a surprisingly common cause of odd lighting faults.

Background music you cannot switch off

"How do I turn off the background sound on my Rack 'Em Up?" is one of the most-read threads on the machine. The dip switch intended to control attract and background sound does not always do what the manual says on these games, and with a music loop that owners find wearing, this turns into a real quality-of-life problem rather than a trivial one. Where the original sound board's dip switch behaviour cannot be made to work, a replacement sound board gives you predictable control.

There is a hardware dimension too. The era's sounds-only boards are built around a 6503 with a scarce 6530 RIOT; the sound-and-speech variants depend on an LM379S amplifier and an SC-01 speech chip. All three parts are effectively out of production, which is usually what decides owners against a component-level repair.

Will not start a game, and the switch test

Two more recurring threads on this machine — "Gottlieb sys 80A game will not start a game" and "Interpreting the result of switch test Gottlieb Sys80A" — belong together. A game that boots and sits in attract but refuses to start a ball is almost always a switch matrix problem: the start button, the outhole, or the slam switch reading as active. Learn to read the switch test before changing parts; the test is the fastest route to the answer on these boards, and the codes that are missing from the manual (06, 07, 16, 17, 27, 37, 47 and 57) cover the advance buttons, play/test, the coin chutes and the replay functions.

One System 80A diagnosis repeated widely on the forums points at the 7432 at Z15 on the CPU board, which gates the switch enables and can make a healthy game look as if the slam switch were stuck. Check the switch and its ground before you touch the chip.

Smaller things worth knowing

• Shooter and pop bumpers not firing comes up on this machine's forum. On System 80A that is solenoid-side: grounds, the driver transistor for that coil, and the coil's own diode.
• Broken 7-digit display tubes and boards are a live topic for owners of this game. With the original Rockwell drivers obsolete, the sensible answer is a known-good replacement display rather than a component repair.
• "No sound, no display, no solenoids" all at once is not three faults. It is the power supply or the grounds. Start at the 5 volt rail.
• The spinner carries a lot of this game's scoring, which means its switch does a lot of work. If the spinner stops registering, treat it as a worn switch in the matrix before anything else.

Replacement boards compatible with Rack 'Em Up

• GottFA80_Plus (Light) — all-in-one CPU + driver + power supply board, without sound.
• GottFA80_Plus (Full) — the same with the sound board integrated.
• Gosof — replacement sound board, with or without speech. The answer to the dip switch and the obsolete 6530 / LM379S / SC-01 problem above.
• Godri80 — replacement driver board, where a lamp or solenoid output really has failed.
• Lisy80 — CPU board with web-based diagnostics, which makes the switch and lamp testing above a great deal quicker. Lisy80 is a ready-to-run build of LISY, an independent developer's free DIY project — full credit to its author.
• GoPOP80 — pop bumper driver board, replacing the original MA-922 / A-19741.

One caution specific to this title: the Gottlieb and Mylstar badging makes no difference to the electronics. Rack 'Em Up is System 80A whichever name is on the cabinet, and the boards above fit regardless.

All of them are battery-free, which removes the Z5 corrosion problem for good, and install Plug & Play — a few minutes, no soldering. Every board is bench-tested here before it ships, and support afterwards is free. If you are unsure which you need, send us the references printed on your boards and we will tell you.

Step-by-step diagnosis

1. Power off, eyes first. Look for battery residue and corrosion around Z5 on the CPU board. Remove the NiCad if it is still fitted.
2. Check the 5 volts and confirm it reaches the CPU board. Reflow the power supply header pins and replace the orange filter capacitor if that has never been done.
3. Do the grounds. One dedicated wire from each board to the power supply heatsink and the cabinet ground strip.
4. Repin the connectors, starting with the CPU-to-driver link.
5. For lamp faults: write down exactly which lamps fail. A scattered pattern means sockets, solder and edge connector pins — check for standard pins fitted where bifurcated ones belong. A whole block failing points at the driver board.
6. For dead GI: check the tilt relay contacts and verify the transformer panel fuses are in the right holes.
7. Run the switch test before touching the CPU board when the game will not start a ball.
8. Displays: never plug or unplug one under power; test with a known-good unit.
9. Final test: start-up, credits, switch test, lamp test, coils, displays, sound. If you are stuck, ask us — the support is free whether or not you buy anything.

FAQ — Rack 'Em Up (Gottlieb / Mylstar, 1983)

My Rack 'Em Up controlled lamps are dim or dead. Where do I start?
Note precisely which lamps are affected. If the failures are scattered — some lamps out, their neighbours fine — it is not the driver board and not a general ground. Check the sockets, reflow the solder on the socket legs, and make sure the edge connector pins are the correct bifurcated type (Molex 08-03-0304) rather than standard pins, which is a documented cause of exactly this fault. Only suspect the driver board when a whole block fails consistently.

How do I turn off the background sound on a Rack 'Em Up?
The dip switch that should control it is unreliable on these games, which is why the question comes up so often. If you cannot get the original sound board to respond, a replacement sound board gives you predictable control over attract and background sound.

My Rack 'Em Up won't start a game.
Run the switch test before anything else — a start button, outhole switch or slam switch reading wrongly accounts for most cases. Then check the CPU board battery and the 5 volt supply. The 7432 at Z15, which gates the switch enables, is the known chip-level culprit if the switch side proves clean.

All my general illumination is out but the controlled lamps work.
That is not a driver board fault. Check the contacts on the tilt relay under the playfield, which sit in the GI circuit, and confirm the transformer panel fuses (F1–F15) are in their correct positions.

Is Rack 'Em Up a Gottlieb or a Mylstar?
Both, in effect. Coca-Cola renamed the Gottlieb division Mylstar Electronics in 1983 and Rack 'Em Up was among the first pinballs out under the new name. IPDB catalogues it as Mylstar; Pinside lists D. Gottlieb & Co. The electronics are identical either way — it is a System 80A.

What is a Rack 'Em Up worth?
Pinside estimates roughly $1,480–$1,720, but experienced owners in a price-check thread put a clean working example nearer $800–$1,100, and noted that one $8,000 outlier sale has inflated some published averages. With only 1,762 built it is scarce, but scarcity alone does not carry this era of Gottlieb — condition does.

Should I remove the original battery from the CPU board?
Yes, straight away, whether or not you plan to change boards. A leaking NiCad is the most destructive thing on a System 80A and the damage accumulates.

Does a battery-free board keep the settings and high scores?
Yes. Modern replacement boards use non-volatile memory, so settings and scores survive a power-off with no battery and no corrosion.

Useful guides

• Leaking battery on a pinball machine: damage and the permanent fix
• Gottlieb System 80 ground mods: why and how
• Pinball electronics explained: MPU, driver, power supply and sound
• GottFA80_Plus: the all-in-one board for System 80/80A/80B
• Installing a replacement board: the Plug & Play guide
• How much does a pinball repair cost? The price guide
• What is my pinball machine worth?

See also

• Amazon Hunt (Gottlieb, 1983) — the last game before the Mylstar renaming
• Ready Aim Fire! (1983) — the other November 1983 Mylstar title
• Jacks To Open (1984)
• Alien Star (1984)
• Touchdown (1984)
• El Dorado City of Gold (1984) — the last Mylstar pinball
• Super Orbit (Gottlieb, 1983)
• Q*Bert's Quest (Gottlieb, 1983)

Sources

• IPDB — Rack 'Em Up! (#1902, catalogued under Mylstar)
• Pinside — Rack 'Em Up machine details (production, design credits, playfield data)
• Pinside — Rack 'Em Up reviews (gameplay, lane change, spinner, sound)
• Pinside — Rack 'Em Up forum index (controlled lamps, background sound, will-not-start and switch test threads)
• Pinside — Rack 'Em Up price check
• Pinside — Gottlieb System 80 controlled lamp issues (bifurcated edge connector pin)
• Pinside — Gottlieb System 80A lamp problem (tilt relay contacts, transformer panel fuses)
• PinWiki — Gottlieb System 80 (chip locations, driver transistors, displays, ground mods, switch codes)
• Kineticist — Mylstar Electronics: Gottlieb's forgotten year (renaming, the six Mylstar titles, production figures, closure)
• OPDB — Open Pinball Database

Own a Rack 'Em Up? Send us a photo and we'll add it here with credit — get in touch.