The cabinet isn't sturdy, but the splice fails with the cabinet disassembled and unmoved - and not under normal play. Under normal play, I've walked the machine out from the wall. I think that's what cut the ribbon.

I had another look at the schematics someone posted who modded their machine, and it looks like I've been splicing a ground. So there must be another wire shorting out somewhere else.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=62024.0

It's not anywhere near a real arcade game, but Clay Cowgill programmed it, so it plays like the original.

I have a pretty good idea
the ribbon needs to be replaced.

The ribbon is soldered on both ends - I can't just unplug it and plug in a new one.
I'm thinking it may be a bad ground - maybe somewhere closer to the controller.

Hi, I'm new here and to game repair. I have a tacky Midway 12-in-1. I only use it to play Robotron.

It's been working great, then the 'move left' went out. I cracked it open and found a cut in the ribbon cable. I spliced it, and it worked - yeah! Then... it didn't work - boo! So, I spliced it a different way, and it worked - yeah! Then... it didn't work --- you can see the pattern here.

Every new splice works temporarily - I can play it for a while, but when I come back, no left movement. I have no idea what's going on here.

I posted a video on YouTube when I did the first splice. It shows the setup. Any idea what's going on here?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHLnzWDt-30