New and completely oblivious

[Oisterboy]

OK, sorry if this is the wrong forum, but it sounded the closest to what I needed...

I just bought this because I'm an impulse buyer. I collect video games, and I saw this sitting in the store...I couldn't resist. It was $40. I have a small bar in my house, and I know if I can get this working my friends will LOVE it, so I'd like to do what I can. Problem is, I know almost nothing about these things.

When I bought it, I was told "everything works, except the ball doesn't shoot up high enough anymore".



Here is what I know - when I plug it in and turn it on, it lights up. When I open the front of the machine and drop a ball into where it says "start", it makes a lot of fun noises and the screen changes the cards that are being displayed. The balls then drop into area "A" on the back in this picture. When I wiggle the lever on area "B", they fall out of the bottom of the machine.



After carefully picking up all the metal balls off the floor, I loaded them into slot A in this picture. They sometimes didn't shoot up at all, sometimes 2 at once...but at any rate, they never quite made it all the way up (spot B), and would fall back down and land in spot C. Interestingly enough, I learned that this isn't the same as pinball, in that the launcher is completely electronic - simply turning the knob was enough, and I didn't have to actually "spring" the ball, the piston inside is triggered by the knob which is pretty neat.




I'm sorry to be such a noobie here...I'm really hoping I didn't just waste $40 and that I can get this thing running I really appreciate any help you guys can offer...I can take as many pictures and try as many things as need be. I tried to clean it up to the best of my ability, but I want to make sure it works before I put some hours in with a toothbrush to clean her out completely. I'm not great with soldering...I'm hoping it's just a spring that needs some tightening, but I doubt if that could be it. I'm happy to buy more balls, but I'm already $40 in on this, so I'd like to make sure it works before dropping much more into it.

Thank you in advance, you guys will really make my day if you can help me get this working!