September 1997
STAR*TECH JOURNAL
Enzo's
Tech
Tips
"Hey Enzo, I can't find the self-test button on this Captain Fantastic!,,
Douglas 'Enzo' Mccallum • Shiawassee Technical Services • Lansing, Ml
L-E-A-R-N-1-N-G
KEEP THEM INFORMED
The Journal is not inexpensive,
but if it even once helps you keep
a game going over the weekend
at a hot tavern spot or the like, it
pays for itself -in just one issue.
Information is valuable. Getting
information to the troops or at
least making it accessible is also
valuable. Like any currency, you
can't spend it if it ain't in your
pocket. So, some thoughts on
keeping the techs up to date.
To be effective, a good tech needs
two things:
The background is the accumu-
lated knowledge of experience
and study. It is the general infor-
mation that pertains to everyday
situations. Ohm's Law, why
there are =#=!, =#=2, and =#=3 Phillips
screwdrivers, NPN, PNP,
Darlington, TTL, CMOS, flip-
pers, playfield wax, green felt,
coin acceptors. The learning
comes in when specific informa-
tion becomes available, such as
service bulletins, tips and sugges-
tions from others sharing the ex-
perience, etc. Learning also be-
comes important when a new
technology arrives. This indus-
try, being as competitive as it is,
incorporates new ideas as quick
as it can. When it does, we have
to roll with the punch. When
juke boxes shifted over to CDs,
we needed to learn about CD
players. They are fundamentally
different from phonographs.
I remember other changes. Evel
Knievel jumped the canyon of
mechanical pins and landed us
on the digital bank. Kicking and
screaming, we were made to
learn about digital systems, neon
displays displaced the score reel,
programming replaced jumper
wires. Then color took over the
video game world, composite
video became RGB. Redemp-
tion showed up, we had to learn
about ticket dispensers, motors,
and stuffed animals. It goes on,
as it always will.
Some thoughts on keeping up to
date. Make sure all your techs
see this magazine, and if you sub-
scribe to other trade magazines
like Replay, make sure any tech-
nical information there is also
available. Wherever you go or
do business, your distributor for
example, find out if there are any
technical/ service mailing lists to
get on. Also get any manufac-
turer info you can the same way.
Take advantage of any seminar
opportunities you can. Institute
an in-house service bulletin. I
have done that in the past and
found it very effective. Bulletins
can be a way for individual techs
to share solutions to problems
they solve in the field, saving the
next guy some time. Game pro-
gramming guidelines can be in-
cluded. Bulletins are an effective
way to insure that policy and
operational changes are brought
to the tech's attention. Consider
a master set of manuals for each
tech and a book of general refer-
ence. The manual set might in-
clude a set of common monitor
schematics, general program-
ming and codes and service in-
formation for the models of juke-
box on the route, dollar changer
service data or at least fault codes,
if you operate redemption in-
clude diagrams for the brands of
ticket dispensers in use.
For me the general reference is a
thin three ring binder, but it can