PC Based Slot question How do you put in cabinet

[samvong714]

I have an example of a game i want to put into a fully functioning cabinet and if it can be done at all

http://pokies4fun.com/spooky_spins.htm

is the game i want to try to make into a cabinet game with buttons and the whole shebang can anybody help?

[jay]

Knowing nothing of the software you want to load up - I can however assume that you have to press some button  on the keyboard to enter credits, and some other button to spin, another to cash out etc.
Just like any other PC software.

To put this into a cabinet you should take a look at the KE72 board by Hagstrom.

It can get mounted into a PC or used externally. Basically your PC connects to this board via-vi the keyboard output, then your keyboard (if desired) plugs into this board.

PC----KE72---Keyboard.

The KE72 then can connect up to 72 independent buttons ..... it has 72  inputs.
Each input is programmed as a different key on the keyboard.

[samvong714]

That sounds great what about the bill acceptor and touich screen. ?

[jay]

The touch screen is simply a USB cable from the screen to the PC. It acts as a mouse.

Bill Validator - is another beast all together.

There are several complications with this......
1. You need something that can close a switch xx times. So when you insert a dollar bill it perhaps pulses 4 times (assuming $1.00 = 4 x 0.25 and your machine is denoted in 0.25).
There are various makers of DBV technology but when they talk pulse they are not talking about closing a switch but rather varrying a pulse frequency.
I am not much of an electronics guy but you could probably get an opto-coupler (solid state relay) and have it react to the pulse and trigger the closure.
2. With a real slot they have a system in which you define the denmoniation so if you set it as 0.25 it knows to give 4 credits for a dollar.
This would not exist in this software so you would need to do something at the DBV / Hardware level.

You perhaps should query Stolistic who is working on some MAME emulations of PE+ and other slots. See hw he plans to handle dbv.

Coin in is easy enough as there are lots of sites that sell coin-mech equipment that uses a microswitch for each coin dropped which interfaces with the ke72 nicely.

[ruttrunner1]

I think you are going a little too far with this bill acceptor thing. Putting money in a home slot is just a pain anyway. I usaully load mine with thousands so I don't have to mess with it.

 Play the slots on your compter. Find your favorite available pc based games. There is alot of cool stuff out there. Get your self a touch screen monitor and install it into a slot cabinet. Sell all the parts out of the cabinet to fund your games. Put a decent pc inside the cabinet. Use the touch screen for everythiing just like a mouse. Buy a cheap keyboard at frys for 5 bucks.Take it apart and solder some wires from your slot buttons to your keyboard butons that are most common for your favorite games. All pc base slots do not use the same buttons for the same functions. All the ones I have are touchscreen. My pc is running everything in my room. It's screens are split between a 46 inch HD flat panel and the slot. you can drag things back and fourth or duplicate the slot on the flat panel. I added a gyration remote, wireless keyboard and wireless Karoake mikes. You can play slots in the same screen you are watching survvivor on in the background or you can sit down play video poker on your touch screen slot just like at the casino. There is no end to this. You can put a small lcd flat panel screen up as a slot topper. Run a screen saver program on it with whatever slot theme your are playing. space, fish or whatever.

Now go build something, take alot of pictures and let us see what you come up with.   

[klorvinborno]

The touch screen and the bill accepter should be accepted on the software side, if not, you will need to do the conversion yourself.  There are newer touchscreens that are supported by windows, however if you want to use an older version of windows you can use any monitor you want and get an touch screen overlay.  As far as the conversion, you would need to either use software to "teach" the pc that when you touch a certain area it is the same as hitting the letter s (for spin).  If you just want to do buttons instead of touchscreen you would do it with a keyboard encoder:

http://www.ultimarc.com/

I would spend more time looking for the right software that supports what you want to do and save yourself alot of trouble.  I know they make software for PC jukeboxes for exactly what you want to do, so I'm guessing that someone out there has something for slots.  This would be something fun to do with an old gutted slot that still has a hopper and a bill accepter.  I guess you could build one out of plywood and a touchscreen using some old glass too that probably wouldn't look that different than the real thing.

Something like this is what you need, but yikes @ the price ($279)
http://www.alljsoftware.com/

keep looking, I bet there is something reasonable out there.

[klorvinborno]

Check this out:

http://www.masque.com/cgi-bin/hazel.cgi?action=SERVE&item=littlegm.htm

Half way through the video you will see the above software:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/3rNvk-CZKJs&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/3rNvk-CZKJs&rel=0</a>

[poppo]

Knowing nothing of the software you want to load up - I can however assume that you have to press some button  on the keyboard to enter credits, and some other button to spin, another to cash out etc.
Just like any other PC software.

To put this into a cabinet you should take a look at the KE72 board by Hagstrom.

A similar unit that I use is the i-pac. It comes in several versions and is basically a switch contact to keyboard converter. It is totally customizable and can be used in combination with a standard keyboard. It's a stand alone unit, so it will work with any computer. I'm running MAME on an old laptop in my cocktail cabinet.
http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac1.html

Accepting coins is easy as you just wire the coin acceptor to whatever i-pac input you programmed as the credit key. A bill acceptor may be a bit trickier unless it can just pulse an output when a bill is accepted.

[stayouttadabunker]

Old bill acceptors like the 12Vdc Cashcode AMZ's or ICT BL-700's pass out
4 pulses per dollar, 20 pulses for a $5 dollar bill,etc.etc.
These were popular on old cherrymaster cabinets.
You would need the keyboard set up that poppo mentioned
however,  to connect the wires to.
These old bill acceptors are still around and are very cheap and do the job.

[poppo]

Old bill acceptors like the 12Vdc Cashcode AMZ's or ICT BL-700's pass out
4 pulses per dollar, 20 pulses for a $5 dollar bill,etc.etc.

That's good to know. I may have to add one to my cabinet.

[StatFreak]

Bunker, do those older bill acceptors take the newest color bills?
If you're not sure, maybe Rocket will know.

[poppo]

Bunker, do those older bill acceptors take the newest color bills?

It looks like the BL-700 will. There are update chips on e-bay like item 380165916665

"Update your ICT BL-700 bill acceptor/ validator to accept new $5 & $10 bills"

But maybe someone else knows for sure.

[stayouttadabunker]

My BL-700 hasn't been updated to the newest $5's but will take the newest $20's, $10's...
good enough for me considering I paid $9 dollars for the bill acceptor.
It's rare that I even have a $5 dollar bill anyways...lol