Star Tech Journal

Issue: 1985-December - Vol 7 Issue 7

SIAR1t IECHJOURNAI..
THE TECHNICAL MONTt:tLY FOR THE AMUSEMENTS INDUSTRY
P.O. BOX 1065, MERCHANTVILLE, NEW JERSEY 08109.
DEtCEMBER
MERIT
11111111111111111
Salle:
TRIVIA lltIZ
fffllllllllllllll
Problea: Sea TRIVIA lltlZ gaes
~ycle to ONt of several starting
pqints every ti• powr is tllffll!d off
arid then on.
!Cause: Weak or expired battery on the
CRT280 logic boardl hollever, randoa
question selection is not affected.
Corrective Action: Dleck battery for
3 volts DC ■ini■wa, and replace if
necessary.
tllTE: Further safeguards are dnigned
into softNare ■ods on later progr-■
ATARI
IUIIIIUHIII
Salle: IRIITlET
HHIIIIIIIIII
SubJect: Technical updatn.
PAT 9088 PRD&RAN PLlE9
Progra■ plugs for the Atari PAT 9118
are available for testing the IRIITlET
■ain PCB. Atari part IAM3376-t1
********************************
Fla.D IIIDS/PCB
Sy ■pto■: 6arbled speech - Rev. A ■ain
boards
Solution: Connect a 221 pf capacitor
(Atari part 1128112-221) fro■ pin 11 of
14P (74LS139) to ground.
********************************
Sy ■pto■: Fuse F2 or F3 (2a■p/251Y) on
12VAC opened. No ;audio or picture.
Solution: Check 01 Audio PCB. Nost likely it is shorted.
Replace Qt. Atari part 1137311-911.
Prevention: Cover the leads to R6,
C19, R4 & C17 with tape or R.T.V. to
prevent static discharge Nhen using the
self-test switch or volu■e control. Do
not cover the lead of Ci as this is a
ground connection.
********************************
STARITEDt JtlJIIR., Dece11bar 1985,
VOLUME
1985
Volae 7, Nu■bar- 7. Copyrill'lt (c) 1985
by Star Tech Joumal, In:. All rights
reserved. Address inquires tos Pm
7,
Sy■pto■: Loss of 12VAC Hi Voltage for
audio and coin return la■ps.
Solution: Check connector J15 pin 9
on audio PCB for broken connection.
Ju■per wire ■ay be run fro■ J15 pin 9
to the anode side of CR1.
Prevention: Make sure washer doN not
sit under pin 9 of J15.
ERICKSON
SERVICE TRAIL ...
By Todd Erickson
ON TI£
Su■■ it A■use■ent
St. Paul,
111N
AMOA '85
This wu one of the finnt shows I
have attended in this decade. The
showing of product was, by far, the
finest ever. Three reuonsl Quality,
Price and the Attitude of the
■anufacturers to work with the operator
on his proble■s.
Dedicated ga■es were excellent.
Atari's IRIITlET sets a ""' pattern fOf'
video ga■es. The 4 players with buy-in
is a first. Taito's 9IISTS n GOil.INS
looked real good. Segas ... - ■otOf'Cycle
ga■e, I-Re ON, is excelllftt.
Kits were al ■ost too llood to believe!
One year ago ■any of the ga■n would
have been good dedicated ga■n.
Kona■ i's RUSH n ATTID<, llanron's
MATMANIA, and Ro■star's 1942 are pri•
exa■ples.
The ■ost interesting part of the show
to ■e was the retro-fit ga■e syst-■
Nintendo has been vry aggressive with
their ~I kit for their old ga■-s.
Sente has now released a kit for PAC
ga■es. Their library of n111
ga■es has beco■e excellent. NINI 6(Lf
is ■Y favorite. Sente is now in a
position to ■ake a big pgsh.
MAN type
Atari has been slo. to davelOP ga■es
for their SYSTEN I. INDIN .nJES looks
good and PAPERBOY is doing fine now for
SYSTEM II.
NUMBER
In the end, the botto■ line is that
the operator ■ust learn to balance
kits, syst!IIS and dedicated ga■es for
■axi■u■ profit.
All of thea have their good points.
ATARI IRM'LET
This ga■e is, without a doubt, the
■ost powrful !la■I! produced since
Atari's INDY 8. The 4 player OPtion
with buy-in is excellent!
The Joystick is an Atari 8--, that
is basically unproven. It has the best
player feel of any 8-,,ay ■ade to date,
ho.ever. The contact sets are not
interchangeable with any unit ■ade. The
■ounting 5Cr'llf is at a 91 degree angle
to any existing units.
With the aweso■e aaount of ■ol'leY
these things earn, I recc•1m:d stocking
the following parts or t. co■plete
• Joystick:
941588-91 switch
83n17-t3 plate
839714-81 actuatOf'
941287-91 lo.er baa
148932-91 upper housing
Ny ear y productiOft unit had bad
slip-on connectors on the control
panel. All units should be checked
before installing on location. The
screws that held the contacts to the
lower base are also too short on Nrly
■odels. These can be replaced through
your distributor or local hardware
store.
IUE BC-35
This changer has proven itself as
being ultra dependable. As with any
product, though, a f• illPl'i>\ieaot. can
be made. Dwning ■any of thne units has
yet to give • any PCB failUl"ft. All
failures have been ■echanical.
In a few cases, these faillll"fl can be
corrected in software. A pri• ex•l•
of this is the coin return button. If
the button is stuck in, the changer
beco■es inoperable. This situation can
be corrected in software. If the button
is in ■ore than 3 ■ inutes, the aitch
reading can be nullified. This would
■ake the changer operable ;again.
******
Cine■atronics baseball ga■e, WRLD
SERIES, for its Cineaat Systea looks
good.
1865, Nerchantvi Ile, NJ 18119.
Subscription rates1 USA t56, Canada
Other countries t98 (SUS).
STAR•TECH JOORNll. $63 ($US),
7
published ■onthly on the first of the
via 1st Class Nail in North
Alllerica, via Air Nail elsellhere.
Ja■es Calore: Publisher/Editor.
■onth
STAR* TECH J ourna 1 ***** *** ************* ********** • ******************* *
If a bulb that is behind the hoppers
goes out, the entire changer is out of
order. In the II: aocle, the llilchine can
turn off the hopper instead of the
entire aachine.
The softNire-aechankal backup idea
can be applied to other uuseaent
devices. A priae exaaple of this is the
switches on a pinball llachine. One
exa■ple of this is at start up, to
disable any N/0 SNitch that is closed.
NINTENDO 6lN UPDATE
The gun cable has been a constant
source of ■a,Jor proble■s fOf' Nintendo
and the operator. Nintendo has
responded Mith a gun-rebuild progr• at
a reduced price that helPS■
As the gaaes are being used, I see
the cables cracking and breaking Mith
the Mires the■selves, in sea cases,
the only thing holding the gun to the
cabinet!
Having contacted Nintendo again, I
i nforaed that the proble■s Nl!l"t!
relayed to the parent co■PanY in Japan.
The i ■pression I received AS that
Japan has been very responsive to our
problems over here. To date, tio.ver,
no further i■proveaents have been
employed.
NiS
ENNIS
OJfJERSim. TIPS
By
Ennis
Ennis Video Impair
Salisbury, ND
Ji ■
Ji ■
Let• start by correcting a ■ istake
in last IIOl'lths issue. The Ttf( III kit
by Kitkorp also requires a -5vdc luPPlY
in addition to the +5vdc and +12vdc
listed. Without this negative SuPPlY
there Ni 11 be no ga■e sounds.
Since the trivia gaES have becca so
popular, lets discuss TRIVIA Ifill by
Merit Industries.
This kit requires a horizOfttal
■oni tor and the board pUts out separate
+H & +V sync signals. Potier supply
requirements are +5vdc and +12vdc.
This kit does differ fro■ ESt kits.
One difference being the board uses a
65 pin edge connector. The reason for
this is the board Nill i1Jug directly
into Merit's poker gaaes. Since the
poker gaae's legality is being
questioned in sea states, a lot of
these are being converted to TRIVIA
liliIZs, Nhich are doing Nell.
The categories can be changed by
replacing 2 R(MI, For instance, there
is a sex category available Nhich is
suitable for SOE bar locations.
***
Another difference is the square
buttons require a 1- hole instead of
1-118• hole for round type buttons and
s..itch brackets. There is a little ■ore
wiring involved because these are
lighted s..itches. The control panel
will have 5 buttons.
A couple good candidates for this
conversion MOUid be Atari's NISSLE
001N1ND or 6ottleib' s REACTOR, since
the power supplies are adequate and
they have horizontal ■onitors.
But to do the top aarquis on these
ga11eS, you ■ ight ..ant to order an extra
control panel overlay instead of using
the plexi. This particular type of top
header (like Atari's TEMPEST> uses an
overlay instead of plexi.
See you next ■onth.
December 1985 (2)
After all, if you make the ■illion
point shot on the 3rd ball, Nhere do
you go fro■ there?
aJ£T by Willius; one great machine!
Play on. ... Root
MURPHY
If the facts do not confcn to the
theory, they ■ust be disposed of.
BRENNAN
T' !HXITINB PCl.E POSIT Im. PCBs
By Dennis Brennan
Active A■use■ent Coapany
Philadelphia, PA
The follCMing is a list of the ■ost
and solutions found
with Atari Pole Position I and II board
sets.
eoa>n · sy1pto■s
ROOT
1l£ P'LAYER
By John •Root• Pilarchek
Pennsauken, NJ
aachines, currently out on play,
a players point of vie..).
fro■
CtJET by Williams
This llachine is a true player's drea■
if ever there Mis one. aJ£T has ■ore
shots for the player to go after than
I've seen in a llilchine in a long Nhile;
maybe the ■ost ever.
The playing field is si■ply
fantastic, Mith all the action one
could ask for. The ■achine is set up
Mith the standard tNO flippers; Nhich I
personally prefer. With these flippers
you can shoot for 2X, 3X or 5X point
values, free balls and specials. Hold
on though, because here ccas a
first! ...
On the third ball by shooting out the
1986 shots, located at the top of the
field, the player has a chance at the
1,808,808 point shot located on the top
right side. I have to admit, I love it!
Here is a aachine Nhere I feel it is
a ■ust to maintain its flippers in
tip-top NOrking conditions, Mith plenty
of PQNer --enabling the player to go for
the big shots.
My only co■ plaint Mith regard to this
machine, hONever, is once again, as I
have previously co■plained about in
other machines, is the score setting of
1,200,808 points for the one and only
gaae. I realize this is a factory
setting, h0111ever, smeone should put
the NOrd out to add tNO ■ore !iC01"e
settings in order to ■ake this a top
players gaae!
***
Sy1pt01: Driver's car flashes on and
off Nhen in lotion, starting gate
graphics bad or ■issing, Pole Position
logo at the beginning of attract aocle
broken up.
Solution: Replace Pro■ 136814-146
(Pole Position I) or 136814-192 (Pole
Position m, at location 12H on the
Video PCB.
********************************
Sy1pt01: Horizontal lines through all
road..ay and background video (cars,
signs, alpha nu■erics and high score
table look ok).
Solution: Replace 2148 Ra■s at
locations 9F and llf on the Video PCB.
********************************
Sy1pt01: Cars and signs have double
images.
Solution: Change Epro■ 136814-231 at
location 11N on Video PCB.
********************************
Sy1pt01: Horizontal lines through
cars and signs.
Solution: Check horizontal address
counters at locations 9H, 9J, 11H, 11J,
lit<, and !tll on Video PCB.
********************************
Sy ■pto■: 6a■e Non't retain high score
■e■ory after PQNer has been turned off.
Solution: Battery voltage on
Pin 24 of 6116 Caos Rall <7E> should be
between 3.5vdc and 4.lvdc with flQllel"
off. If voltage is lCM, change battet'Y,
Make sure Juaper next to battery is in
W1 position.
***

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