amplifiers and the board is labeled BLU, GRN and
~ D where each wire connects to it. Figure 3 shows
their exact location.
.....
1..i .....
=~~\\'
•
ILU
•
GkN
FINAL CHECK
Now reinstall the X-Y deflection board into the game
and tum it on. You should see a big difference in the
graphics. That is because the computer color signals
are now driving different color amps. Figure 5 shows
a schematic version of the mod. The computer doesn't
care, but does the game ever look different! You
should now see the following:
•
I.ED
Red
f;;,
Q'l.S
Qt4
T.I.E. fighters and trench.
Oa'l.l
Green
~
High scores, logo and player's laser fire.
Blue
Flight instructions and bunkers.
Figure 3
Appearance Of Deflection Board Before Modification
Now that you have found these wires, unsolder them
(do not remove their black ground wires, as they are
all connected together on the board anyway). With
solder braid or a solder-sucker, clean the empty
holes. If the bare ends of the wires still look clean and
,,-,,neat, you can go ahead and proceed to the next step.
Otherwise, cut, strip and tin the ends. We are about
to resolder them.
Using Figure 4 as a guide, solder each wire into its
denoted hole:
Green wire goes into RED hole.
Blue wire goes into GRN hole.
Red wire goes into BW lwle.
~,\ \
G-,..e,,
. . .
ILU
Cl~
t;R.N
lU)
CIT
00
Flgure4
Appearance After Modification
cu.
.........
Figures
Bock Diagram Of Color Amps After Modification.
JAMMIN'
This is by no means the only color pattern to use.
You may want to swap only two colors instead of
three. At Six Flags Over Texas, we arranged all five
of our Star Wars games so that no two have the same
color arrangement! It keeps the regular players
guessing and brings in new ones who know what the
game should look like and play it because of its
different look. If you have a supply of working X-Y
boards in the workshop, you could rearrange each
one's color pattern and simply swap out the board
whenever you want to change its appearance. This
can be done in less thanftve minutes and can be done
from month to month.
TECH NOTE
An Atari technician said they used.Amplifone color X-
y monitors in Gravitar, Space Duel, Quw-ttum. Mqjor
Havoc and Black Widow. He said they used both the
Amplifone and the Wells-Gardner, depending on
availability. This mod should work on all those games
that use the Amplifone model. It yours doesn't, I'll be
back later with a color mod for the Wells-Gardner.
That will cover Tempest and others.