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Brian D. Deuel

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Posts posted by Brian D. Deuel

  2. Posted · Edited by Brian D. Deuel

    I'm working on repairing one now. Non-working left flipper and no sound. I've isolated the left flipper problem to a bad resistor. I can trigger the flipper by grounding the correct pin on the selector gate IC, and jumpering the leads of the resistor does the same.

     

    I'll try a new speaker before trying to trace that issue, and see if that works.

     

     

    Just got mine slowly back to life. Great little machine. Still have a problem with static sound through TV. Any thoughts on how to repair? Also in breakout the paddle has lines coming off it, fix? Thanks.

     

     

    If the game chip is socketed (as mine is), CAREFULLY remove the game chip and spray some electronic cleaner into the socket. Take an eraser and CAREFULLY clean the pins on the chip, then replace it in the socket and see if that fixes your Breakout paddle lines problem. Regardless of if it does or not, I'd go ahead and replace the socket anyway (this is on my to-do list as well), but the procedure I outlined is one way to attempt to isolate the problem.

     

    After fixing this unit it worked for a few days and I was enjoying it. Played it a lot. Then,suddenly, it broke. It thinks the button for the right flipper is being held. I checked continuity and there is no short. The trace runs to a small chip under the metal shield. I can only assume that chip must have gone bad.

     

    The chip is a Quad And-Or Select Gate, and is most likely quite easy to find (or, at least, a equivalent can be cross-referenced). Check the resistor(s) along that circuit as well. You're probably right and one of the lines on the chip is stuck, but it's possible that a resistor could be causing this stuck signal.

     

    The data sheet for the chip is here: http://doc.chipfind.ru/html/re/scl4019be.html

     

    Gotta love old electronics. Easy to work on, as long as the chips aren't custom.

  3. Posted · Edited by Brian D. Deuel

    I would have dreams of finding coin-op prototypes or nonexistent games in the strangest places. One of the places was a castle-like campus with a library, although I can't say if it was a college or not (you know how it goes with dreams). There was an arcade in one of the giant rooms with a tons of prototypes of black and white Atari arcade games. The one game that I distinctly remember was similar to Lunar Lander, with black raster graphics on a grey screen (a la Sprint), where the player would fly around and collect objects in order, avoiding walls and enemies. The cabinet was similar to a Midway Lo-Boy, with lights on the bezel and control panel that simulated a real cockpit. The gameplay is similar to a Playstation game I played called Mystery Planet, in a Japanese collection called Serofans (70s and 80s arcade game simulations; a great collection if you can find it). I'll never forget that dream. I even wrote a PC port of the game in my dream, with the graphics as best as I could remember them, but lost the code years ago. Maybe I'll write a Dreamcast port someday...

     

    Info about the Serofans collection here: INFO

  4. Posted

    I was an operator and a collector/seller ten years ago, and bought a pool hall/arcade in the small town I lived in (Greenville, MI). The problem that I had keeping it open was that I had to rely on kids for business. As you all know, kids don't have any money :) I attempted to get a tavern license so that I could serve beer, but the township wasn't having it (even though the county was happy to take my $350). I ran it for two years, making no money but sustaining it with weekend business, until the end of summer came and the recent graduates all left town. For some reason, the next group of kids decided not to visit the place, even though I advertised and did giveaways. Not even my weekends could sustain it anymore and I shut it down. Luckily, my game sales and route kept me alive during this time, and I didn't have to put any of my own personal cash into it.

     

    It was always my dream to own a classic arcade, and I was able to live that dream (even though my arcade had a mix of classics and modern games), so that's worth something.

  5. Posted

    It's been awhile since I've looked at the Fonz schematic, but I thought it used a lot of analog circuitry to generate the horizontal timings for different objects, rather than running them all from the same clock the way Pong does.

     

    Didn't Atari's Hiway use a similar design for the twisting of the road? Like you, I haven't looked at the schematics in years, so I've forgotten.

     

    I do know that the game was another Grass Valley design...

  6. Posted

    I refuse to see it. I think the douchebaggery and pseudo-drama would stain my memories of the games and the great times of my youth. It's like taking the arcade games of the early 80s, where we battled the machine for a high score, and turning them into the arcade games (i.e. fighters) of the early 90s, where you battled each other. Not for me, sorry. I'd rather watch Tron.

  9. Posted · Edited by Brian D. Deuel

    Yeah, Century Electronics is pretty lousy. The only thing that's entertaining about their games is that garbled voice that comes up whenever you first start them. I'd also like to nominate Epos and Orca for this honor... Orca did eventually evolve into Cave, which spares them from a good tongue-lashing, but there was nothing that could justify Epos, whose games all seemed like they were developed on an IBM XT with an EGA monitor. Suna and Strata were also some pretty big turkeys... Strata had the audacity to claim that they were the "new king of fighting games" (despite having designed Time Killers and Street Fighter: The Movie), while Suna is one big joke. An ass joke, if the name is any indication (just read it backward!).

     

    Hey now! Orca gave us the amazing Marine Boy! :)

     

    ugh... Time Killers. I still have nightmares of that damn attract mode blasting in my arcade, until I figured out how to turn it off. For some reason, whenever i set it to off, it would still play! I finally pulled the monitor to fix my Rally X.

     

    Jess- Did I give you that TK cab or did I end up torching it? I don't remember what i did with it.

     

    But yeah.... Orca sucked. Zodiack. That's all I need to say.

     

    What about Nutting Associates? I mean, not only did they make the terrible Computer Space, but they had the total lack of originality to name all their games "Computer <something>". I mean, Computer Quiz? Computer Space Ball?

    Then again when you're pioneers I guess you get cut come slack.

     

    Pioneers? I wouldn't go that far. Nolan was the actual pioneer. Nutting just built and marketed his game. As you said, if you look at their following games, it's easy to see why they failed.

     

    They supposedly gave us the first color video game, though (Wimbledon).

  10. Posted · Edited by Brian D. Deuel

    Tempest. Bar none.

     

    Nothing like playing Tempest in the dark, some 80s music blasting, getting into the zone. Nothing else like it.

     

    Tempest 2000 and it's annoyingly distracting visuals? Crap. Only the original for me, baby!

     

    Robotron followed by Star Wars (the stand up version, I just like the look of it over the sit down)

     

    Robotron would be my first if I hasn't played Tempest two years prior :)

  11. Posted

    The site is back, but the games are still missing. Weird.

     

    S'ok. I haven't visited the site since it was sold and our freely donated information was copyrighted and we were forbidden to use it to our discretion. I hope they die.

  14. Posted · Edited by Brian D. Deuel

    Unfortunately, that's a sight that's more common than it should be. Years ago, I was an operator, and I walked into a number of street locations (laundromats, etc) that had machines that were in terrible shape. I specifically remember a Xybots machine with so much accumulated dust on the underside of the screen glass that you could barely make out what was on the monitor. I asked the owner about the game and how he's making any money on it, and he just shrugged like he could care less about the wasted electricity. Needless to say, I didn't get his business, nor would he sell the dead Pac-Man he had there.

     

    Another one I remember is a sitdown Pole Position with the typical crapped out boards and garbled graphics. Again, the owner of this location didn't care either that he was just wasting electricity. The game was totally unplayable, yet he let it run constantly. I bet it's probably still there after all these years, having gone up in smoke ages ago.

     

    However, I did run across a working Tempest in a pizza shop locally. The guy maintains it religiously; having had the monitor bulletproofed and all of the minor problems with it fixed. I drop a good $5 in it a week. He won't let go of it at any price. Good on him :)

  19. Posted

    I've heard of this before but have never had a chance to play it. It's one of the many games I'd love to get for my arcade that I'm opening this summer though, it's something original and it looks like a lot of fun.

     

    It's the most beautiful game to run on the Hikaru board. Even better than Brave Firefighters. And the game is an incredible blast. It's too bad it never made it home :(

     

    Oh hey, Shaggy! Didn't know you hung out here too :)

  22. Posted

    Thanks guys! I pulled and reseated all of the socketed chips and now the game works. The only problem are the distored pixels for the trees. It seems like every 5th set is screwed up. It doesn't affect game play obiviously just a cosmetic issue. Is it possible its a corrupted eprom chip?

     

    Not sure what the problem is, but it's definitely a common one in Turbos. Mine did the same thing, and I've seen it in a few others. Eventually, the board just gave out in mine and I replaced it. It could be a ROM or RAM going bad.

  24. Posted · Edited by Brian D. Deuel

    Where were the Funway Freeways located? That was where I got my start in arcades here in Columbus, Ohio?

     

    Grand Rapids, MI, in the outlot of Woodland Mall. It later became Fun Factory until it closed in the 90s sometime. Lots of great memories there...

     

    There were a few other good ones that lasted a while. Someplace Else in Eastbrook (now Centerpointe) Mall, Alladin's Castle in North Kent Mall (now a strip mall with huge anchor stores), Putt Putt Golf & Games on 28th St (now torn down and lot used for an IHop and Bennigans), Fuzzy's Arcade (now called... get this... A DONG Market... I shit you not), Dave's Place (now a pizza joint), Dean's Cafe (now a Vietnamese restaurant), Meijer on 54th St (still there... arcade loooong gone), Showbiz Pizza (we all know what happened to those), Crazy Cone (still there, arcade loooong gone), and two of those Atari kiosk cabinets in Rogers Plaza Mall (had some bootlegs and some older Atari games. I also played a lot of games at Rollerworld (Skydiver, a couple of Atari pins, Crash, Steeplechase, Anti-Aircraft, Stunt Cycle, Circus, Space Invaders, and more older games), Woodland Skating (can't remember anything but Galaxian, but the arcade was quite large), Kentwood Arena (Crazy Climber, Tempest, Space Duel, Asteroids, Black Widow, Cosmic Monsters, Space Invaders, Atari Football, and more), Silver Castle, and quite a few more that slip my mind at this early hour (plus I just got out of the hospital... ugh).

     

    Sorry if this strayed offtopic. After my ordeal tonight, I cherish those memories more than ever now...

  25. Posted

    You may also want to check the video cable that goes from the PCB to the monitor. I had a problem with some of my (non-Atari) cabinets with the connector being loose. With a mirror in front of the game so that I could see the monitor, I wiggled the cable and some colors went out. On one machine I was able to take the connector apart and fix it, and in the other I ended up replacing the connector.

     

    That's a good suggestion. Sometimes, even the video connector pins on the chassis will have cold solder joints. This is a big issue with G07 monitors...

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