Check the RTC time. make sure it's set to the correct time and holds after you power off... you may need to replace it (U1 in marker in your photo) if the system won't hold a time.
while not knowing specifically this machine, lot's of games like this scan the RTC chip for game timer data. if it's always zero (DEAD), your counter won't work properly (IE the system checks the seconds, sees 0 for the data and then goes ahead and displays the question. the game then continuously checks for the appropriate amount of time to go by...lazy programmers often program 10 seconds to go by because lazy programmers will queuey the seconds bits of the RTC chip for it to be the same data again to reduce the amount of code that needs to be written....but it already is.)
the solution to this lazyness (why still being lazy) is to do whatever the bit data is -1 (which coincidentally is why alarm clock snooze is 9 minutes) if the RTC failed though the timer would never change.
RTC chips when they fail, default the clock to OFF (to save power during shipping after it's manufactured). when the clock is set, there is a bit that gets set that makes the clock begin counting. in this off state, the data can still be read, but will not change. (seconds won't tick by)
TL;DR - check your system time is properly set and holds the correct time when powered off.