Star Tech Journal

STAR*ThCH JoURNAL
November 1994
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time for an evaluation. If there is
nothing wrong with the game it
is probably worth finishing. If you
did wind up writing down prob-
lems on your work order you will
have to evaluate them and see if
the game is worth the additional
investment.
Gauge this with the overall ap-
pearance of the game, if the game
is in rough shape it may not be
worth the extra work and ex-
pense. This will have to be de-
cided by you -weighing all the
variables involved. If the game
can be fixed for a reasonable
amount of money, then fix it.
Make sure, however, you get all
the problems solved no matter
how minor they may be.
This will help keep the game run-
ning (less service calls, less ex-
pense, more profit) and will help
keep players playing. Players get
skeptical about putting money
into a game that looks or plays
like it is going to "take their
money" and give nothing in re-
turn.
CLEAN UP TIME
If everything is working you are
now ready to perform one of the
most important steps: Cleaning.
Get your vacuum out and clean
the inside of the cabinet as best
as possible. This will keep the
game cleaner in the future be-
cause dust will not be attracted
to the monitor as easily. The high
voltage in the monitor attracts
dust like a magnet.
The rest of the cleaning process
should be fairly straightforward.
Clean the face of the picture tube,
the monitor Plexiglas, cabinet,
marquee and any other exposed
parts of the cabinet. A clean ma-
chine will never scare away po-
tential players.
If at all possible, it would be a
good idea to have someone other
than the person who checked out
the game fill out the checklist.
The second person may uncover
a problem that someone else may
have missed.
FINAL TOUCH
Now it is time to finalize the job.
If available, you should get a copy
of the dip switches and staple it
into the cabinet where it can be
seen by service personnel, usually
somewhere near the game board.
If the service manual is available
it should be put into an envelope
and stored in the game, so if the
game needs service at a later date
there will be no question as to
where the manual is.
THE UST
The last item I would suggest is
for you to design some kind of
checklist so you could go through
it to make sure you did not for-
get to check anything out as well
as to keep a record of how cer-
tain functions of the game are set.
This list should include at least
the following:
• Voltage measurements (taken
at the PC Board),
• Cleanliness,
• 3-prong plug,
• Instruction manual,
• Dip switch chart,
• All lights working,
• Player controls,
• Monitor picture quality,
• Coin mechs tested,
• Coin meter working (if appli-
cable),
• Price settings and
• Game difficulty level settings.
FINAL TEST
Play a final test game and see if
the game is satisfactory. If it
works the way you want it to then
it is time to put the game into the
"Ready Line" so it can be trans-
ported to your location.
Write the key numbers on your
checklist and store it in a safe
place so you can ref er to it in the
future if need be. If you have ac-
cess to a copy machine it may be
a good idea to make a backup
copy of the checklist and keep it
with the game.
BOTTOM LINE ANALYSIS
Although this sounds like an aw-
ful lot of work, in most cases it
can be done in about 15-30 min-
utes. This is not a long time when
you consider how long it can take
to go out and fix the game on lo-
cation.
Cleaning and maintaining the
appearance of the game and mak-
ing sure it functions correctly will
NEVER hurt the game's income.