Zen and the Art of Slot Machine Maintenance

Changelog

Rev Date Changes
v1 First GPT draft
v2 Coin-routing corrected to the priority/overflow cascade; forum cross-checks
v3 2026-09-11 Restructured into reference / diagnosis / documentation / record; identification step; triplication method; access levels
v5.11 2026-09-12 Added the coin-entry model (models/escalator.html): gauge, magnet, escalator and pawl, detector, reject cup; slugs and a quarter on a string. Referenced from §3.1. Touch orbit on both models. The site wraps the models as Appendices B and C.
v5.10 2026-09-12 §3.6 corrected from observation: six vertically stacked slides holding 2/3/4/4/5/2, pays made by pulling sets of slides together; lever→slide-set mapping marked VERIFY with assumed values. 3D model Part 2 rebuilt to match. Lemon added to reel 1 in the model.
v5.9 2026-09-12 Added the 3D hammers-and-wheels model (hammers_and_wheels_3d.html), referenced in §3.5.
v5.8 2026-09-12 Added figures 3.5a–c (discs/fingers/levers/slides; exploded no-pay and pay) in figures/.
v5.7 2026-09-11 §3.5 corrected: three discs, one per reel, multiple holes at different radii. Open question narrowed to one-finger-vs-several per reel.
v5.6 2026-09-11 §3.5: hammer count — comb-per-reel vs depth-per-reel models, with the freeze-the-clock test to decide.
v5.5 2026-09-11 §3.6: added "How the count actually happens" — hammers pick the win, slide pockets set the count.
v5.4 2026-09-11 Award card transcribed from IMG-03 into §3.6 and §8.4. Header line still unread.
v5.3 2026-09-11 Added what we know about the vault feed: looks random, fills slowly, share is small.
v5.2 2026-09-11 Coin routing corrected from observation: the jackpot is progressive — a splitter after the till, not a fill-then-overflow cascade. §3.2 rewritten, master diagram and §7.4 updated, split-count experiment added, §8.2/8.3/8.5 updated.
v5.1 2026-09-11 Story corrected: Dad's (Terry Smith's) machine, to Dan with the estate; jammed, 17 years in storage; the two of us got it going. Dan fixes engines, built a go-kart and mini bike from junkyard parts.
v5 2026-09-11 Tone tightened around how we work. Chapter 1 now carries the timing baseline from VID-01. FILL IN callouts through Chapters 1–4. Chapter 7 rebuilt as a prioritized fill-in-the-blanks list (identify → orientation & discs → quarter trace → truth table → reset survey). Chapter 8 populated from IMG-01, IMG-02, VID-01 (P 2 stamp, strip text, rear-view mirroring, stop timing). Inventory moved to an Appendix. Video: send raw clips, Claude extracts frames.
v4.1 2026-09-11 Ownership and roles clarified: Dan's machine, going to his kids; Matt grew up with it and leads diagnosis.
v4 2026-09-11 Rewritten in our voice. Added Chapter 0 (how we found the missing click), the song (§1.2), the breakpoint trick (§1.4), hammers-and-holes and the operator's plug cheat (§3.5), quarters as fuel (Ch. 5), first bug logged (§8.9). Metaphors throughout for engine and code. Debugging reference sheet moved to Chapter 1.