Adventures in arcade game repair!

Bowlingo - ME90 pinsetter

2007-11-15T18:31:00.000-08:00

Mendes out of Canada was manufacturing the Bowlingo mini-bowling systems, it's a real good earner. Mendes has since gone out of business, however the system was bought up by Qubica/AMF and has been upgraded.

For those of us with the older systems and ME-90 pinsetter, be advised that Qubica is doing a great job supporting the older pieces. In fact, chances are the tech you speak to is the one that probably installed your lanes.

Step 1- READ THE MANUAL

2007-10-24T07:14:00.000-07:00

Sega Top Skater- The game went down and I've been dreading taking it apart to fix it. The 'slide' volume went out, and I assumed it was where the curve volume is, down in the deep dark depths of the skate board assembly, where peoples shoes, feet, and everything they've stepped into collects. It's disgusting. Well, I just spent the last hour tearing into the board assy- getting dirtier and dirtier, elbow deep in grunge and crud.
I can not find the slide volume! It's nowhere to be found! So finally, I decided to consult the manual, which Sega has conveniently posted on their website for all us techs. (Along with all other manuals) http://www.sauservice.com/

Well guess what, the slide volume is conveniently located behind a service door, easily accessed by removing several screws. Serves me right, now step one will always be- READ THE MANUAL

3 easy steps to diagnosing a bad sensor on Dog Pounder

2007-08-30T10:36:00.000-07:00

OK, if you're reading this, you probably are having issues with the Bob's Space Racers Dog Pounder. The software constantly checks the sensor emitters and receivers for functionality, even when there is no game play. If it finds fault, the game "Barks" and displays "Get Help" on the LED screen. At this point the operator can open the game and press the "Program" button, which will display which sensor is at fault. For our purposes, we will assume the faulty sensor is #1-

3 easy steps-

1- exchange the emitter with the emitter on sensor #2, if the error code changes to Sensor #2- you have a bad emitter. If not, continue-

2- exchange the receiver with receiver on sensor 2, if the error code changes to Sensor #2, you have a bad receiver.

3- Clean the mirror and check continuity of wires to the emmiters and receivers.

These steps should resolve any Sensor problems with this game-

HINT- you can check the functionality of the UV LED's by looking at them through your cell phone camera! Although the naked eye cannot detect the UV light, a digital camera can.

Part pricing-

2007-08-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, distributors do things that make me say "What the...?" For example- pricing on game parts. Generally, they're very expensive. And I can see this on a custom made part, for a particular game.

But standard parts, say power supplies for example. I got a quote for a 12v 300a Power supply for a Spyro-mania. The distributor quoted me $652.00- that is NOT a misprint. However, a quick, VERY quick, Google search found the same part for $130.00-

So again, I say- "What the...?"

Bags

2007-08-19T06:35:00.000-07:00

There's a new upgrade kit for the IT Golden Tee cabinets- first came the Silver Strike Bowling kit (I prefer the Rock'n Bowl-a-Rama)- now, they've come out with something called 'Bags'. I haven't seen it yet, but I've heard it's very popular in the right kind of venue. Anyway, it's nice to see companies coming up with new ideas, rather than beating a title into the ground.

2007-08-11T08:52:00.000-07:00

The SW Trilogy power problem, is apparently a real problem now. See, it turns out thet Sega apparently used non standard connectors in our particular unit, so now the 'standard' harnass adapter does not fit. Soo off the the factory it goes, let THEM figure out the mess-

Sega Star Wars Trilogy

2007-08-07T15:33:00.000-07:00

I've decided to replace the power supply on this old game, Sega has introduced a new system that will allow the old huge power supply to be replaced with a new switching PS- The old PS has been removed, and now I have to figure out how to install the new one. For the most part, it's fairly simple, but there are a few connections on each side that don't match up- so now what?

Pac Mania

2007-08-06T18:14:00.001-07:00

Do you remember Pac-Mania? Pac-Man songs, Pac-Man shirts, EVERYTHING Pac-Man- Stories of games overflowing with quarters. If you do, and haven't viewed the video on the top right of my Blog called "Arcade 84", I suggest you do. It's a piece of art created by Dave Dries that takes you back to those days..the sounds and looks are right on- It's a great piece.

Stern's NEW Simpsons Kooky Carnival!

2007-08-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

This game is a WINNER! It earns good and is very fun to play. The only problem I've had, I noticed the vibrator motor that shakes the tokens off was running-non stop- turns out the IO board was faulty, it was replaced by Stern under warranty-

Ah, the Cold War!

2007-07-07T08:08:00.001-07:00

Well, considering the arcade game craze was smack dab in the middle of the Cold War- Is it any surprise the Soviets were making games for the little comrades? Here's a great article on a group that is refurbing and displaying soviet arcade games!

Oh, and if you're like me who preferred the cold war over the mess we're in now- here's another great article "I miss the cold war"

Skee-Ball extreme

2007-06-30T09:20:00.000-07:00

Occasionally , these units go into a mode where the ball release solenoid it's constantly energizing. This is indicative a failure in the 68HC11 micro controller in the CPU. I usually carry 3-4 of these as spares, as a majority of the board level failures on these are solved by replacing the 68HC11.

As a plus, send your old ones back to Skeeball and they'll recompile them and send them back.

Time Crisis III I/O errors

2007-06-29T12:50:00.000-07:00

Namco has a really profitable franchise with their Time Crisis titles. We have the Time Crisis III version. It's been a real good bread winner for us- A few years ago it started having problems in the I/O system- Guns wouldn't shoot, switches wouldn't work, etc. This would even effect the test and service switches. Well, I fought, and fought, and finally figured out the problem was due to a short in the gun harnesses. We started using Happ controls replacements over OEM, based entirely on price. ($150ea as compared to $600ea) The only problem is the Happ ones are more prone to failure, as the pin to stop the guns from twisting is easily broken off. This in turn causes the wires inside the hose to wrap around each other and eventually short out.
This is a somewhat frequent problem, and since I just replaced another one, I thought I'd mention it here-

Updated

2007-06-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

OK, so, my original thought was that the switches were NO (Normally Open) well, they weren't, and this caused a lot of wasted time. My one replacements switch is a NO only, and since the switches are SUPPOSED to be Normally Closed (NC) I now have -0- replacement switches.

No problems, I jumpered the Gate Closed switch, and disconnected the Gate Open switch until I can get replacements. This will work fine until someone wins a prize and the gate opens. But I should have switches in way before that happens-

Stacker Giant Gate Error

2007-06-27T07:47:00.000-07:00

After the gate on this thing opened to dispense a customer's prize, the gate would not close. So I pulled the prize box out, and discovered that the gate limit switch had shattered- After replacing the switch, the gate would still not operate. I poked around a little more, and found that the the gate 'up' limit switch had broken too-

Now here's the thing, I only had ONE replacement switch-

Lake Geneva Gameroom

2007-06-20T07:17:00.000-07:00

We stopped in Lake Geneva, WI on the way home from Milwaukee this weekend, found an arcade. They have a lot of old classics in there, Tron, Pacs, Galaga, Asteroids, a BUNCH of stuff. A lot of the games weren't working, but a lot were! They had some old Chicago Coin EM stuff in there too!

I couldn't find a website, but they're in the main downtown area, if anyone's looking to play some classics.

I played the Tron, unfortunately, I didn't get past the 1st level, due to a bad trigger switch.

Jeep2000 played a Pac Jr, but apparently the monitor was a lot smaller than it should be-

What a day!

2007-06-13T07:05:00.000-07:00

Tuesdays are usually busy, just because I've been off for 2 days-

Where to start- OK, both cosmic bowlers were down, easy fixes though, the pins were broken, causing the sensors not to read 10 pins-

The giant stacker left prize box was acting up- so there goes another set of sensor boards. But I've since learned that the LED's on these boards are very prone for failure, LED's cost about 90 cents- so score one for a bargain repair next time!!

Skee-Ball, a recurring problem where the game counts more balls than are thrown- usually a loose connector or memory reset works on this case. This time I re-seated the connectors and everything is fine-

And there was a lot of other small little repairs too, I just can't think of them!

Silent Scope EX

2007-06-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

Well, I got around to looking at this one this morning- as suspected, both ground wires had come loos from the connector on the gun IO board- an easy, quick, fix- Next on the agenda- why does the Star Wars Trilogy keep locking up?

Cascade of small repairs..

2007-06-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

I started out this morning, just by wanting to change out the gun hose for "Lost World" This becomes quite an ordeal, since the wiring harness is too large to go through the housing- I've always had this problem, and have solved it by cutting and the resoldering wires- this unfortunately shortens the life of the harness. This time I decided to cut a slot into the housing to allow the house to be attached without deconstructing it. Now the lost world is FINALLY tracking again, with both guns- PHEW!

Afterwards, I remembered I had gotten the 30$ potentiometer from happ controls in for the Midway's "Off Road Thunder" This pot for some reason is alot more expensive than others, the only difference I can see is the connection. Anywho, I switched out the pot and it's working just fine now.

About this time I noticed the "Big Buck Hunter 2" was rebooting non stop- I checked the 5+vdc on the power supply, and sure enough it was low- cranked it up to 5.2 and it's steady now. Of course, it's then O noticed that there were a bunch of credits on the game, sure enough, the start button was broken. After a few minutes, and a search for the right switch that problem was fixed.

Parts and Silent Scope EX

2007-06-05T16:26:00.000-07:00

Lots of parts came in today, a few potentiometers (Off Road Thunder), a hose for Lost World, now I'll have to start working on those 2 again-

On another note, our Silent Scope EX has stopped tracking- this game uses two pots for motion, since neither one are working, I'm assuming it's going to be a ground issue- we have a fairly large group in today, so I won't be able to tear this one apart just yet-

Update your website!

2007-05-31T07:25:00.000-07:00

I contacted one of my distributors to acquire a pool table called 'Top Brass' from Valley-Dynamo. Despite the fact that the table is still on the distributors AND manufacturers website, it apparently is no longer being made. That kinda perturbs me-

Holy flaming relays, Batman!

2007-05-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

Eolith El Dorado up in smoke!

So, as I'm perusing the game floor this morning, I notice that distinct electronic burning smell. Wonderful. I quickly find that our Eldorado is literally pouring smoke out of it. I quickly unplugged it and took it off the game floor.

During inspection- Found that the motor on the coin hopper had gone bad, jammed up. rather than blow the small 3a fuse that's supposed to protect this kind of problem, the 12v circuit on the SSR board is almost completely destroyed. The solid state relay is now a melting glob of plastic.

Oh and did I mention the fuse did not blow? weirrrrrdddd.

Tagged

2007-05-25T06:59:00.000-07:00

OK, I got tagged by Jeep2000
So, why do I Blog-, not really sure, I haven't really blogged for a long time, but I started this blog mostly out of boredom, and maybe on the off chance someone might find a answer to a problem they may be having with a game.

I also LOVE the old arcade games, and miss having a huge collection of classics- so, now I guess I have to tag 4 other people-

OK-

TAG!

Broch
James on the canal
Empress Nightshade
Halloween Hotlist

Efficiency

2007-05-23T09:32:00.000-07:00

One thing about having a very efficient and quick distributor, (In this case, AVS) Is that they usually get me the parts I need, way before I have the chance to replace them. As we speak, I have a set of sensor boards that need to go in a Giant Stacker, and a set of gun sensors for "The Lost World" Both sitting on my desk, just waiting...

Wheel Deal

2007-05-19T09:05:00.000-07:00

I've had a re-occuring problem with the Benchmark Wheel Deal. The wheels stop turning, and the displays show 'open'. So far, reseating the power connector seems to fix the problem. I suspect there may be a bad solder joint, but I've yet to pull the CPU to investigate.

ATV Track

2007-05-16T06:57:00.000-07:00

While I was working on the ATV track a few days ago, I figured it was just matter of time before there was an open in one of the control wires. These wires that run from the throttle pot and start button are thin, thin, THIN! To strip them, I use fingernails, but half the time I end up cutting through the whole dang wire. Anyway, I used the old wiresa and rethreaded a newere, more durable wireset for the start button.

F&F, Cosmic Bowler, ..

2007-05-15T14:26:00.000-07:00

Boring day today, I replaced a few broken pin strings on our Cosmic Bowlers by Design Plus, and replaced a feedback belt on one of the Fast and Furious sit down racers. I'm still waiting to see what my Ghost Hunter is worth on trade in to our distriutor.

Saturdays

2007-05-12T11:31:00.000-07:00

Saturdays are pretty busy around here, so no time to repair for the most part. I did notice that the LAI Giant Stacker is starting to open the prize gates again. This has been an ongoing problem, during game play the prize gate will open up for no reason. It usually indicates a bad sensor board. I've has this game about 8 months, and I think I've replaced about 8 sensor boards. Oh well, it earns it's keep.

Bromley Inc. Bad customer service-

2007-05-11T06:31:00.001-07:00

We made a purchase earlier this year, that included the Bromley Ghost Hunter- It's a neat piece that I really enjoyed when I saw it at ASI. That, unfortunately, is the only nice things I have to say-

When it was delivered, it was obviously a floor model, or show piece that had seen some use. The coin and ticket meters each had several thousand plays, the piece was "pre-assembled" (Usually not a GOOD thing, unless I ask for it) and parts had show some wear and tear. Most noteably, the coin shooter assembly had worn paint, and the assembly was dirty.

No BIG DEAL, I like the piece, and figured warranty would cover any issues, right? WRONG.

The gun shooter assembly will not reject ANY coins, this means, it accepts pennies, nickes, ANY size tokens, etc. My coin box is seeing more and more nickels and pennies. I brought it up to my distributor who said he would address it with Bromley. Apparently, they've gone back and forth, for several weeks, finally ending with an email today saying that they are refusing to cover it under warranty.

BROMLEY

ATV Track, #2

2007-05-10T11:23:00.000-07:00

Well, after the learning experience with the 1st ATV track, it went real simple. Undo a few bolts, a couple wacks with a hammer, and badda bing it's done. Although, apparently a bolt went missing, so I had to substitute. Now both games will be on the floor making money. Of course we had large group in earlier, now I'll go survey the damage.

Sega Lost World gun tracking

2007-05-09T08:42:00.000-07:00

OK this tracking system SUCKS, Sega came up with this idea, and it blows. Most companies use an optical gun, that uses simple optics and light sensors. Technology that is tried and true, works like a charm.

Sega came up with this compilation of LED's surrounding the monitors and sensors inside the guns. There's like 30 led's on this thing, if one of them goes out or gets dim? BAM the whole system is screwy.

Anyway, I have a problem where BOTH of the guns in this game will not track or calibrate, you can check the LED's just by looking at them and seeing if they're lit. They are, so since BOTH guns are acting up, I figure it should, SHOULD, be the sensor control board ($270.00). Replaced the board and the guns still won't track.

So now, I'm ordering two of the gun sensors and hoping they'll fix the problem. Although it seems odd that they would both go out at the same time..

Sega Lost World KLOV

ATV Track, handlebar continued--

2007-05-09T06:29:00.000-07:00

Well, after a few calls, I determined it was just matter of pure force to get the thing apart- Inside the bearing housings, are "DUH" bearings. Sometimes, they are held in with O-rings, but not this time. So last night, I took a big old hammer and smacked the shaft- it popped the bearings right out!

After a few bolts, switches, and other accessories, I was ready to pop the thing back together. A piece of wood, a couple of few wacks with the hammer, and everything is just fine.

The game is back together, and making money. Now I can do the other one- same problem, broken housing.

ATV Track, handlebar repair.

2007-05-08T14:38:00.000-07:00

NAMCO / Gaelco made a really neat game called ATV track. The ATV moves and everything, which of course means more moving parts. A few years ago, the tray that held the handlebar assembly snapped at the mounting holes. I bought a few washers and cranked it down good. Well, that repair worked fine. Now, last week, the bearing housing which holds the handlebar shaft broke. Turns out the damned thing is made of pot metal. Anywho, I ordered a few parts, and now I'm trying to rebuild this thing.

ATV Track KLOV Listing

More to come...