TOTAN cages are a thing that grabs the ball - when it is lit and when it recognises the opto switch has been broken, a coil is supposed to fire, sending some spikes up to trap the ball in a cage.
the right one works fine, the left one i never saw working (though others told me they saw it working a few weeks back at a shindig in my living room). in switch test, the opto registers just fine, but in coil test i cannot get the coil to fire (the right one i can make it fire ok and they both use the same fuse so it's not a fuse issue). in game play the game even recognises that it messed up, as (when the cage is lit) when the ball triggers the opto but then triggers the outlane switch, the game gives the ball back as a temporary ball save. 73V at all three lugs of the coil, same as on the right.
i pressed the start button during this coil test and it told me the wire colours, connector and pin numbers, fuse number and type, and transistor numbers:
L cage violet-brown and red-brown, fuse 104, J116-1 and J133-1, transistors Q72, Q60, Q56
R cage violet-red and red-brown, fuse 104, J116-2 and J133-1, transistors Q68, Q64, Q55

now here's the problem - a month or so ago, just before my little party, i had the board out and tested all those transistors and all seemed fine, so i'd decided to leave it ..... then later that day i heard it was working (i never saw it, but this was someone who understands pins) so i forgot about it. now i just want to sort it out.
so. ..... is there anything i should check on the playfield?
should i get the board out again, retest, and get replacing those transistors even if they test good again?
and what is that clever trick to distinguish between a problem on the board vs one on the playfield?
here is the switch matrix (the opto switch is on the matrix) and the coil chart (which by the way refers to J133-2 and not the J133-1 reported by the game itself). all help gratefully received, and if you can explain your reasoning as well, i'll be super thankful.

edi
the right one works fine, the left one i never saw working (though others told me they saw it working a few weeks back at a shindig in my living room). in switch test, the opto registers just fine, but in coil test i cannot get the coil to fire (the right one i can make it fire ok and they both use the same fuse so it's not a fuse issue). in game play the game even recognises that it messed up, as (when the cage is lit) when the ball triggers the opto but then triggers the outlane switch, the game gives the ball back as a temporary ball save. 73V at all three lugs of the coil, same as on the right.
i pressed the start button during this coil test and it told me the wire colours, connector and pin numbers, fuse number and type, and transistor numbers:
L cage violet-brown and red-brown, fuse 104, J116-1 and J133-1, transistors Q72, Q60, Q56
R cage violet-red and red-brown, fuse 104, J116-2 and J133-1, transistors Q68, Q64, Q55

now here's the problem - a month or so ago, just before my little party, i had the board out and tested all those transistors and all seemed fine, so i'd decided to leave it ..... then later that day i heard it was working (i never saw it, but this was someone who understands pins) so i forgot about it. now i just want to sort it out.
so. ..... is there anything i should check on the playfield?
should i get the board out again, retest, and get replacing those transistors even if they test good again?
and what is that clever trick to distinguish between a problem on the board vs one on the playfield?
here is the switch matrix (the opto switch is on the matrix) and the coil chart (which by the way refers to J133-2 and not the J133-1 reported by the game itself). all help gratefully received, and if you can explain your reasoning as well, i'll be super thankful.


edi
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