The Sopranos

Bench check

Boards, playfield, toys and the trip home

Boards and batteries

The Sopranos runs on the revised Whitestar board, which holds its memory on three AA batteries mounted on top of the CPU board. Ask for a photo of the board. You want clean traces under the holder and the batteries moved off the board, because alkaline damage on Whitestar CPUs is often beyond economical repair.

Display

It's a high-voltage plasma dot matrix, so ask for a video of the attract mode and look for dead or dim rows. A swapped display needs checking too, since Stern's own LED panels don't render correctly in Whitestar games.

Playfield

Ask for raking-light photos of the flipper and inlane areas and the ramp entrances. Look for worn-through art and lifted inserts, which are the costly faults.

Toys and mechs

The toys are the pole dancers, a talking fish head, a safe and Tony Soprano's boat. Ask for a video of each one working in test. Each one should work every time without sticking.

Cabinet and art

Kevin O'Connor did the art. Check the cabinet sides and the translite in the photos for fade, scrapes and chipped corners.

Moving it

Stern advertised it at 260 lb in a 27 in wide cabinet. Take out all four balls, pull the legs and cover the glass before it moves.

Parts and code

A few early games were built on Stern's newer S.A.M. board, tested overseas, then converted back to Whitestar and sold, so the board set should be Whitestar. On Whitestar sound boards the TDA2030A amplifier is the usual failure.

Should come with it

• Backbox and coin door keys
• Manual
• All four balls

Hard to find if missing

• Fish head and pole dancer parts
• Original translite

Check the listing photos against these lists, and ask the seller about anything you can’t see. A missing toy, glass or key should come off the price.