Journalist Tool

Kineticist

  • HDashboard
  • IItems
  • ↓Ingest
  • SSources
  • KBeats
  • BBriefs
  • RIntel
  • QSearch
  • NName Review
  • +Health

v0.1.0

← Back to items

Part 1: 1985 Bally Cybernaut Pinball Project. Set up and inspection!

Pinball Shenanigans·video·22m 33s·analyzed·Nov 21, 2025
View original
Export .md

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.021

TL;DR

Cybernaut 1985 Bally restoration begins: blown fuses fixed, machine plays with issues.

Summary

Mike Dus acquires a rare 1985 Bally Cybernaut pinball machine (900 units made) via trade and documents the initial setup and inspection. After transporting it home with neighbor Jay's help, the machine is found to have blown fuses preventing startup. Once fuses are replaced and a loose soundboard connection is resoldered, the machine powers on and plays, though with some issues including weak sound output, display glitches, and upper flipper problems that require further diagnosis.

Key Claims

  • Cybernaut was made in 1985 by Bally and only 900 units were produced

    high confidence · Mike reads from the game flyer and reiterates this rarity fact multiple times

  • Cybernaut uses the -35 board set, which Mike is very familiar with and comfortable working on

    high confidence · Mike states: 'I'm very familiar with the -35 board set and very comfortable working on it' and later confirms by photos this machine has that system rather than the newer 682/683 systems

  • The machine weighs 235 lbs according to the flyer specifications

    high confidence · Mike reads directly from the game flyer: 'apparently the actual measured weight is 235 lbs'

  • The machine had multiple blown fuses causing the non-working condition

    high confidence · Mike discovers and tests fuses with multimeter, finding at least 2-3 blown 5-amp fuses that needed replacement

  • A loose soundboard connection was preventing audio output and was resoldered during the session

    high confidence · Mike finds and reattaches a loose soundboard connection after initial fuse fixes, restoring sound capability

Notable Quotes

  • “They only made 900 of these and I'm sure I've played it at a show once or twice, but I have very little to no experience on the machine. And that's what is exciting about it.”

    Mike Dus @ early in video — Establishes his motivation for the restoration project and the rarity of Cybernaut

  • “I'm very familiar with the -35 board set and very comfortable working on it. I haven't worked on too many 682 or 3 systems.”

    Mike Dus @ voiceover during setup — Technical expertise claim and relief that this machine has the system he knows best

  • “Just a fuse, they say. Eh, that is the running joke of pinball. When anybody has an issue, it's just a fuse.”

    Mike Dus @ after replacing fuses and machine powers on — Humorous acknowledgment of a common pinball repair trope that turned out to be correct here

  • “What the hell was that? Sounded like a knocker went off or something weird. So, a weird replay value. I mean, it was like maybe it happened at 100,000.”

    Mike Dus @ during first gameplay — Identifies an early anomaly in the machine's behavior during play testing

  • “Well, it was just a fuse. Can you believe that? Oh, wait a minute. It's not over yet. Five ball action.”

    Mike Dus @ during gameplay — Surprise at unexpected ball count behavior that requires further investigation

Entities

Mike DuspersonJaypersonJamiepersonCybernautgameBallycompanyPinball ShenanigansorganizationShack AttackgameFireball Classicgame

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Pinball Shenanigans produces detailed documentation content of restoration projects for community education and entertainment

    high · Entire video series format dedicated to step-by-step restoration with voiceover explanations of technical decisions and board systems

  • ?

    product_concern: Machine exhibits multiple issues even after basic fuse/connection fixes: display glitches, weak sound output, upper flipper non-responsiveness, unusual ball count behavior, and stuck tilt switch

    high · Mike observes 'wonkiness going on on this display', weak audio output even after sound is restored, non-functioning upper flippers, and a tilt ball that won't engage the switch properly

  • ?

    technology_signal: Documentation of Bally's transition from -35 to 682/683 board systems around 1985, with notable differences in control interfaces

    medium · Mike explains: 'Bali was moving from their older system, the -35 system into the newer system at around this time, which is the uh 682' and notes the 682/683 use handheld remote control keypads for diagnostics

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

0:03
The sunset is freaking crazy. Look at this. That was amazing. Anyway, I have a little bit of voice left. I'm going to blow it out probably. But today is new pinball project day. I'm heading over to my storage to pick up my Cyber Knot. I just got it about a month ago. I traded my shack. I brought this shack all the way to New Market, Ontario, which is a good solid couple hours. He [clears throat] gave me some money and he gave me a non-working Cyber Knot and I'm going to fix it and I'm going to play it and I'm going to document it and it should be awesome. They only made 900 of these and I'm sure I've played it at a show once or twice, but I have very little to no experience on the machine. And uh that's what is exciting about it. I uh love kind of like just getting a new experience on a pinball [clears throat] machine because, you know, been to a lot of shows and tournaments. I've played almost every machine under the sun. So, not this one. So, I'm going to pick it up. I'm going to enlist the services of Jay the neighbor to help me get it into the basement and we're going to get this Cyber Knot project going. All right, Cybernot is loaded. Time to get it home and call upon Jay the Neighbor. There he is. Jay the Neighbor to the rescue. You ready to cybernot it up? Cybernot. All right, let's check this Cybernot. All right, let's check this bad boy out. I'm Mike Dus and [music] this is Pinball I'm Mike Dus and [music] this is Pinball Shenanigans.
2:13
Okay, I was going to do some time lapse here, but I just got a new microphone in the mail and thought I would try out some voice over action for the first time. So, I thought I would use this time to talk a little bit about Cybernot and kind of see what it is all about. Let's start with the flyer here. It says, "Conquer the future of pinball. When the mission is so dangerous humankind alone isn't enough, send in Cybernaut, Bali Midway's highpowered new pin game. Only a cybernetic ranger would dare a full frontal assault against the ion generator and its fearsome guardians. She's good, the best the humans have. She grips her awesome weapon with determination. She knows her companion is the very best there is. Cybernot. Come on, load up. grip the flipper controls and join them on the playfield of battle. Well, that sounds pretty exciting. So, Cybernaut was made in 1985 by Bali and they made only 900 units. I think I mentioned that in the intro there when I was picking it up. So, it's a pretty rare game. And uh oh, apparently the actual measured weight is 235 lbs, which is always fun to try and slough these machines down into the basement. And even more funner, moving them out. Okay, so Bali was moving from their uh older system, the -35 system into the newer system at around this time, which is the uh 682 it's referred to as and then I guess they moved from that to a 683 system. This is the board set I'm talking about. If you have no clue what I'm babbling on about, but uh I'm very familiar with the -35 board set and very comfortable working on it. I haven't worked on too many 682 or 3 systems. They're the ones that have the stupid little like handheld um sort of remote control controller that you pull out of the um coin door area and then it's a little keypad where you use to access the diagnostics and whatnot and it's kind of dumb and annoying. And um once I asked for photos of this machine and I found out that it was actually the -35 board set that I'm super familiar with, I was very happy. So, I guess this is just about the time B was transitioning from the old board set to the new board set. So, there's some fun facts for you. I'll show you that in the video shortly. In the meanwhile, uh Jay and I are going to set this bad boy up and see what happens.
5:35
Cyber ratchet. Everything's cyber now. All right. Before we throw on some head bolts, let's just have a quick peek at what Cybernaut is all about. We got like alien robot dude. This cabinet is in pretty nice shape. Got uh this chick here with some cool weapons. And then they're hanging out together on the back glass. Got the mirrored back glass. Looks to be in real nice shape. kind of Looks to be in real nice shape. kind of like Hollywood heat. Hollywood. Hollywood. It's got the seven digits. [snorts] It's got the seven digits. [snorts] Uh, but you know what? It does have Uh, but you know what? It does have freaking xenon tube. This is like xenon 2.0. It even has little rollover buttons. A little saucer here. A little saucer here. This is kind of a cool little ramp zone This is kind of a cool little ramp zone here. The balls in it the whole time. The balls in it the whole time. Yeah, I think I must have forgot to Yeah, I think I must have forgot to remove it. Uh, these look like um Flash Gordon drop targets, but to kind of suit the theme, so nothing wrong with that. We got a little like 2-in flipper. So, how do you feed that flipper? You don't. You just kind of like shoot the ball up here and then I hope it hits here and then shoot it up into here. This is You can't feed that flipper. I This is You can't feed that flipper. I guess it just kind of happens naturally. blast. And this uh got like a little gate here. That's kind of cool. This actually is in real nice condition in a bit of a insert wear. Like the shoot again, that's kind of missing part of it. But all in all, like someone's giving this some love. Rubbers look good. Rubbers look good. Yeah, even like a new rebound rubber. Yeah, even like a new rebound rubber. and some pretty fun art. I can't say I hate it. It's pretty freaking cool. All right, what we're going to do is throw on a head bolt or two so Jay doesn't have to hold it. And uh we're going to turn it on. I know it doesn't work, but we're going to turn it on anyway and see if I can wiggle some wires and get it working. But who knows? Okay, got a headbolt on there. These are the super long headbolts. Good thing I had one in stock cuz it didn't come with any speaker wires. Standard solenoid driver. It's a real old Altech MPU that has battery holder on it. This is ancient. Wonder what year that is. And look, that's been repinned. That's not bad. And this one's been repinned, too. standard lamp driver,
8:42
soundboard, cheap squeak, and then some auxiliary lamp driver. It feels pretty cool. It's been cold storage for a little bit, so you can just feel the coldness coming out of it. Anyway, um let's push on some connectors just in case that's all it takes, but I doubt it. All right, shall we plug it in?
9:23
Fight with a little bit sometimes. You need the cyber key. Not working for you. [clears throat] Not working for you. [clears throat] Okay. Uh, let me give her a go. Cyber key. Cyber power switch. Here we go. Let's see what happens. We got lights. [snorts] We got some lights. Got a couple LEDs. Some red ones over here. Old school looking LEDs. Fully doors lit up. The uh back box is very not illuminated. No, these LEDs are not very bright. I feel these LEDs are not very bright. I feel like I'm going to be giving it an entire LED job. So, as suspected, it's not booting up and uh going to have to dig a little deeper before we get to play Cyber Knot, unfortunately. All right, let's have a look inside and see what we got going on. This coin door is kind of weird. Just like one Oh, there's two coin slots available, but
10:28
what is going on here? Like someone intentionally jammed the coin slot so you couldn't stick money in here or something. That's just seems weird. I got some tape here. Yeah, Yeah, we'll deal with that. Okay. Um, do you we'll deal with that. Okay. Um, do you want to lift the hood and I'll record. Oh, here. Let me grab this ball. It's not going to go too far, but All It's not going to go too far, but All right. Let's check out the inside. I have a feeling
10:56
our problem. Where is our little slot? Uh, it's not obvious, is it? Oh, wait. Here it is. Playfield support Oh, wait. Here it is. Playfield support cyber arm.
11:11
There we go. Okay. Oh, it's got these stupid linear Oh, it's got these stupid linear flippers. I hate those. Might have to change those out. And there's a speaker. No hidden goodies.
11:29
Uh, what's going on here? What the Why is this like this? Is that the old like service outlet? Oh, there it is. Here's our tilt bop. The Cyber Bob.
11:46
And any fuses look obviously blown. That one looks a little crusty, maybe. should bust out the meter. I mean, if there's a fuse blowing and you replace it and it works, you got to wonder why did it blow in the first place and actually address the issue. But look at this tilt roll ball is stuck to the end there, but it's not even touching the switch. I thought maybe it was just hopefully stuck in tilt, but don't think that's the case. Oh, here's an old capacitor. Well, you know, like just for fun, why don't we test some fuses? Why don't you hold that and we'll grab the multimeter out?
12:33
Let's just see for multimeter. Cyber knock. Cyber knock. Cyber meter. Cyber meter. Okay, what do we got? Okay, what do we got? Hey, look at that. Hey, look at that. One didn't. One didn't. Uhhuh. What is Uhhuh. What is 5 amp? 5 amp? What is that for? What's this? What? Another bone fuse? You serious? What the What happened to you, Cybernut? What have they done to you? For sure, these are uh blown. Okay, well, can change a couple fuses, but I would highly suspect that they're going to blow again. So, be right back. And this mess here, like, what the is that? Cyber garbage. Okay, got a couple new fuses in there. And I didn't even check this one. That would have been probably a good idea.
13:35
But uh All right. See if we can get some cyber action. Ready? Three, two, one.
13:44
I think I hear stuff and things. Let's make sure the fuses aren't blowing. Oh, I hear life. I hear life. Oh my god. Oh my god. We got Cybernaut. Yes. All right, let's put that playfield down. I'll grab that.
14:03
Just a fuse, they say. Eh, that is the running joke of pinball. When anybody has an issue, it's just a fuse. Oh, look at that. Attract mode. Throw the ball in.
14:20
We got 36 credits. Got some wonkiness going on on this display here. Not too concerned about that. Oh, I heard it. I heard it. But wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Oh, we need more volume cuz that was weak. Where's the volume on this? Where's the volume on this? Oh, I hear it. Maybe it's in the back box. Oh, wait. Yeah. What the Oh, no. Flame's gone now. Okay. Have to address that. That's too bad. There was at least some
14:59
just barely hear it. All right. Okay. We don't have All right. Okay. We don't have sound, but we have cybernut.
15:09
Oh, you can kind of hear it. Oh, we're not working. Oh, no upper flipper action. Hey, there's the first tube shot.
15:27
Look at that. It flips and it plays. Slingshots I think are working. Let's get those. Nice. I was just right on Q. I was going to say let's get those drop targets. This right sling does work. The gate is working. That just opened at some point. So, can you never get it back up to the top zone after you come down? There's no way back up there. Stuck in lower playfield land.
16:00
Got some cool Oh, another gate over here. Interesting. What the hell was that? Sounded like a knocker went off or something weird. So, a weird replay value. I mean, it was like maybe it happened at 100,000. Ball and play two. That doesn't feel like ball and play too, does it? No. No. Okay, that's that's a bit weird.
16:32
Xenon not trying to flip the upper flipper. Of course, I have it.
16:47
All right, ball three. Get some rollovers here. Nope. Well, it was just a fuse. Can you believe that? Oh, wait a minute. It's not over yet. Five ball action. There's one. There's two.
17:26
and the weird ball count and the weird fuse thing are what's on the to-do list so far. Oh, nice backhand on the fly up the xenon tube.
17:44
So the question is why did those fuses blow in the first place? That's that's the real issue. Well, I'd say that is quite a success Well, I'd say that is quite a success for a match. match. Wait. Wait. Oh, that would have been the ultimate Oh, that would have been the ultimate cyber success. Cyber match. [laughter]
18:06
Oh, I can hear that end of game sound. That is the same as another game I had, which is really cool. Fireball classic. It's the greatest sound. So, looking forward to getting that sound working. Anyway, uh that's some cyber action. uh that's some cyber action. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cybernaut. Cybernaut. Cyber not. Well, we're still puttering Cyber not. Well, we're still puttering around down here and uh look what I found. That could be the solution to get our cyber sound. All right. Well, that's uh soldered back on. Let's see if we got some cyber sounds. Sounded kind of weird. Huh. Is it booting up? Oh, it is.
18:49
I don't really hear anything, though. Maybe it's Maybe it's Oh, it could be on nothing. So, let's Oh, it could be on nothing. So, let's hit start and see if anything happens.
19:05
Oh, wasn't that simple? No, No, we got nothing. Well, apparently that is not the problem. Okay, look. We did crank it to the max. And listen, [groaning]
19:24
you can hear a little bit. So, maybe there's a volume pot on the soundboard. Do you see anything?
19:33
It's in the middle there. It looks [sighs] What does that say? What does that say? Says Says volume control. volume control. All right. All right. Oh my god. We have cyber sounds. Let's crank that up some more.
20:01
That sounds awesome. We got cyber sounds. Oh, free game.
20:14
Let's Oh, there's Jamie. Okay, the wife is calling. I probably got to go pick her up. No more cyber sounds. Okay, I just had to pull in the car for Jamie. Uh, I hear some cyber sounds. Oh, you saved spelling blast for when I got back. I want you to hit that L. I want you to spell blat boom. The L didn't load up. The Nope. We got The L didn't load up. The Nope. We got one bulb out there. But uh that's pretty cool. Okay, I'll But uh that's pretty cool. Okay, I'll play a ball here. You film. [clears throat] Let me close the back door. Big figures in the way. No, it's here.
20:57
Well, I know I can throw the machine around cuz adjust that. So, what is objective here? I generation.
21:26
What? What? Don't come up here. I Don't come up here. I I already I already agreed to that. I already I already agreed to that. We have the basement door off. We have the basement door off. And Jamie's telling us not to go up the And Jamie's telling us not to go up the stairs cuz she's peeing.
21:46
We're That's fine and dandy. We're cybernoding. Okay, this is last ball. Okay, this is last ball. I wanted to hit the xenon ramp.
21:59
Those targets up there don't seem like they're working. No, we're not generating ions. No, we're not generating ions. I We need to generate ions. What the I We need to generate ions. What the hell? Oh, no. Oh, no. Okay, listen to this. Listen to this end Okay, listen to this. Listen to this end of game sound.
22:22
cool, eh? Sounds hungry. He Sounds hungry. He wants more quarters. wants more quarters. What you drinking over there? What you drinking over there? Cyber beer. [laughter] Cyber beer. [laughter] Cyber smoke.