10
STAR*TECH JOURNAL/FEBRUARY 1983
School For
Electronic
Games
TWO-WEEK COURSE
COVERS VIDEO AND
PINS. BY SCHEMATICS!
OUR 11th YEARI
Cals
Coin
College
P.O . BOX 810
NICOMA PARK, OK
73066
405/789·5343
CRIM electronics
VG-1
Color and Black & White
·Scan Monitor r:
* NATIONAL LOCK-OUT!* K-TRON SCALE SAVES TIME
* WILLIAMS' "JOUST' ROM REVISION
By Todd Erickson, Summit Amusement, St. Paul, MN
NATIONAL LOCK-OUT!
Warning!!! Rowe has been using a National lock on their bill changers. This lock is also used by
other companies, but the only contact I have had with it happens to be with a Rowe bill changer. In
the past month, I have been locked out of two of my changers due to lock failures.
When I contacted the local National Lock dealer in Minneapolis Vendors Exchange, he gave
me quite a shock. His insistence that only two locks had come back and the fact that they are
selling a lot of them surprised me. He rationalized the reason behind my failures as having been old
style locks. One lock that I showed him had been on a location for only one day when it failed. It
was on a new BC-35 changer. He admitted that they had a similar problem a few years ago when
they had to replace 400-500 locks in this area. It appears that they haven't solved the problem.
These locks may fail in one of two ways. First, the lock may break internally so they key can be
rotated 360 degrees without unlocking it. Secondly, if the key is removed when the lock is not in the
starting position, you are now locked out.
I feel this problem may occur in only 10-20% of the locks. Getting into a Rowe changer is not
the same as getting into a game. The BC-35 changer is much more difficult to get into than their
earlier models. Drilling the lock will take a long time, probably several hours.
I strongly recommend replacing all National locks on the bill changers. The lock I have been
using is a Abloy with a B key. I have tried to get a key made locally for this lock but the lock dealers
don't even have blanks or a machine to cut them. Due to the large amount of money in each
changer, they must have a high-quality lock. There are also high security locks on the market, but I
have had no experience with them.
Anyone wishing to comment on this problem or offer solutions, please write me c/ o Star* Tech
Journal.
K-TRON SCALE SAVES TIME
The gross per game will not be as high in 1983 as in prior
years. Operators who wish to show a strong bottom line in ' 83
must cut their operating costs. Preventive maintenance and
moving games more effectively are becoming a necessity.
Wrapping coins for the locations takes a tremendous amount
of time. With smaller locations, this can't always be avoided.
Most of the larger locations justify using a Rowe BC-35
changer. This machine has a life of at least ten years, yet will
normally add over 10% to the gross. With the short life and
high prices of the games today, this increase can sometimes
double the bottom line of a location. I feel that the changer
must have a payback of less than one year. Many times, the
location will pay an extra charge to have the use of a changer.
With the bill changer in the location, all money is collected, and then weighed on the K-Tron
scale. This scale has a memory, so each game can be collected and then totalled. The time it takes
to collect with a K-Tron scale is about½ of the normal. This system will save the operator a lot of
valuable time collecting. This scale will weigh any coin plus bills. I use the bill function to verify
bills before sending them to the bank. I will place one pack of counted bills on the scale and then
add zero to it. I will then compare the remaining packs of bills to that for verification.
The scale can be charged with 120 or 110 volts. It will last about eight hours on one charge. I
feel the scale should be checked every few weeks with a known amount of quarters. I strongly
recommend that each operator take a close look at this product. It has been quite an asset for me.
Complete with operating
instructions, interfacing cables,
and schematics. Also: complete
pin-out information for constructing
your own interface cable for
virtually any raster-scan monitor.
Star*Tech Journal has a few units
left of this versatile video generator.
First come, first served at this low,
low price ...
$69.95
Please make checks payable to:
Star*Tech Journal
P.O. Box 1065
Merchantville, NJ 08109
Your test unit will be shipped
immediately upon receipt of payment.
WILLIAMS' "JOUST'' ROM REVISION
Some of the early" Joust" games had a minor problem enabling the player to receive a larger score
than he should. Games below serial number 598096 are the ones that are affected. The player
could position himself in the middle of the rock and the pterodactyl would be defeated. If you check
the bookkeeping for long playing time, this will tell the operator if a problem exists. A sudden drop
in income will also be an indicator. All ofmy "Joust" games are in the top 3 and normally are the
number 1 game. They were all purchased early in the production run, so they have been on
location for some time.
The problem is solved by changing ROM 7 and ROM 10 to Version 2. They must be replaced
in pairs. Note that there are white label (2532) and green label (2232) ROMs.
Williams has been very responsible in correcting this problem immediately. There are only a
few games out that have this problem. Contact your Williams distributor and he will have the
necessary parts.