The displays strobe wildly although the driver board and displays are fine in other games.

Displays strobe wildly in one game only

Cause: Cracked solder on MPU J1 header pins, or a failed capacitor (perhaps the large green one) around the MPU 555 timer U12 that sets the display update rate.

Checks

• Inspect and reflow MPU J1.
• Check the capacitors around U12.

Fix

• Reflow J1 or replace the timer capacitor.

Systems

• Bally MPU AS-2518-17

Games

• Mata Hari

Related tips

• All displays strobe or flash rapidly
• Flickering score displays
• Score display J1 to MPU J1 connections
• All digits on all displays show 2s or 7s
• First checks before repairing Bally score displays
• Display test counts out of order (0,1,0,1,4,5...)
• Only even-numbered score displays show numbers
• Same digit missing or stuck on every display

Source: Repairing Bally Electronic Pinball Games from 1977 to 1985, Part Three, Clay Harrell (pinrepair.com)