Piggy Bankin boot issue

[rokgpsman]

CyberPeres-

Have you downloaded the Williams 40X Service Manual from this website? It has a lot of good information, including a complete parts breakdown, a list of part numbers for all the circuit boards, bulbs, etc. Plus it has setup instructions, how to replace major assemblies, do a game change, and other very useful info. It is avail over in the download section:

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?action=downloads;cat=121

[rokgpsman]

Now that I am waiting for my power supply to be created, what can you guys tell me about how to figure out what reset chip is actually right, and how I can get my hands on backup game chips. Back in the early 2000's it looked like I could get any chipset I wanted from many sources. Today I can't seem to find any Williams dotmation sets.  When I find stuff it all seems to be IGT stuff.  What happened? Is there a software provider you guys use?

I'd love to find all the things I'd need to convert to a Big Bang Piggy Bankin Machine, as I already have the game chips on hand. I'd need the reels, sound chips and video chips from what I understand. Is a conversion even possible ?

As far as software/firmware it is still fairly easily available for most games from slot dealers and private sales from hobbyists. You can send a message to member blueridgeslots here on NLG for example and I'm pretty sure he can sell you any of the variations of Big Bang Piggy Bankin software on eprom. The variations for BBPB were 2, 3 and 5 coin, plus variations for denomination like nickel, quarter, dollar. He also has the ram clear chips that are needed if you do things like a game changeover or just need to clear a hard fault (which WMS calls a "tilt", I guess from their pinball days) after replacing boards.

From what I've seen the parts needed to convert from one Dotmation game to another are generally out there, you just have to search and ask around. These machines were made in 3 physical formats called 16 inch, 9 inch and roundtop. This refers to the size of the top box. So there are decorative glass pieces in these different sizes.

There is a sticky note at the top of this forum that details how to do a game change. It basically consists of changing up to 8 eproms (up to 4 sound chips and 2 chips for game OS, these are all on the cpu board; plus changing 2 chips on the Dotmation controller board in the top box for the game's dot matrix graphics/animation). There is a third eprom on the Dotmation controller board, this is for the Dot board's OS, but you can usually leave it alone unless it is an older software version below 5.xx. The last revision was 5.14 I believe.

That does the software, then you have to change the reel strips so you have the correct symbols. And the upper and lower (belly) glass pieces get changed. Sometimes the middle glass (payline glass) also gets changed due to subtle differences but many owners don't bother with that.

Even though they are older machines there are often parts still available and connections thru a website such as NLG is very helpful.

game change info:

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=805.0

[CyberPeres]

Cool thanks, I was just reading it. I also have one I got the last time I made an attempt at it. When the incident first happened I only found "pieces" of the manual on line. Today it's pretty open now.

CyberPeres-

Have you downloaded the Williams 40X Service Manual from this website? It has a lot of good information, including a complete parts breakdown, a list of part numbers for all the circuit boards, bulbs, etc. Plus it has setup instructions, how to replace major assemblies, do a game change, and other very useful info. It is avail over in the download section:

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?action=downloads;cat=121

[CyberPeres]

Fantastic !

Now that I am waiting for my power supply to be created, what can you guys tell me about how to figure out what reset chip is actually right, and how I can get my hands on backup game chips. Back in the early 2000's it looked like I could get any chipset I wanted from many sources. Today I can't seem to find any Williams dotmation sets.  When I find stuff it all seems to be IGT stuff.  What happened? Is there a software provider you guys use?

I'd love to find all the things I'd need to convert to a Big Bang Piggy Bankin Machine, as I already have the game chips on hand. I'd need the reels, sound chips and video chips from what I understand. Is a conversion even possible ?

As far as software/firmware it is still fairly easily available for most games from slot dealers and private sales from hobbyists. You can send a message to member blueridgeslots here on NLG for example and I'm pretty sure he can sell you any of the variations of Big Bang Piggy Bankin software on eprom. The variations for BBPB were 2, 3 and 5 coin, plus variations for denomination like nickel, quarter, dollar. He also has the ram clear chips that are needed if you do things like a game changeover or just need to clear a hard fault (which WMS calls a "tilt", I guess from their pinball days) after replacing boards.

From what I've seen the parts needed to convert from one Dotmation game to another are generally out there, you just have to search and ask around. These machines were made in 3 physical formats called 16 inch, 9 inch and roundtop. This refers to the size of the top box. So there are decorative glass pieces in these different sizes.

There is a sticky note at the top of this forum that details how to do a game change. It basically consists of changing up to 8 eproms (up to 4 sound chips and 2 chips for game OS, both on cpu board; plus changing 2 chips on the Dotmation controller board in the top box). That does the software, then you have to change the reel strips so you have the correct symbols. And the upper and lower (belly) glass pieces get changed. Sometimes the middle glass (payline glass) also gets changed due to subtle differences but many owners don't bother with that.

Even though they are older machines there are often parts still available and connections thru a website such as NLG is very helpful.

game change info:

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=805.0

[rokgpsman]

CyberPeres-

http://www.pinrepair.com/arcade/wmsslot.htm

The website above has a good essay on the history and variations of the Williams (WMS) 400 series of slot machines. It was written by one of the members here and he has a lot of knowledge on these particular machines. You will find that there were several games in the Dotmation series made. Parts of his website have links that no longer work to navigate around, so sometimes you have to do a google search and let it find the webpage for you.

Basically, the Dotmations are WMS models 40S, they were based on the model 400, which was a 3 reel slot machine but without the Dotmation dot matrix display in the top box. I've seen pictures of a slanted Dotmation model slot machine that you sit in front of but I don't think it is widely available.

[rokgpsman]

It was bad when about 35 - 50% of the time I got parts that were just plain wrong even after telling them yes it's a Williams Piggy Bankin 40X reel slot. I got sold wrong I/O cards (a video one), wrong reset chips, wrong game chips, bad power supplies, etc.

If you have the Piggy Bankin' machine then that is the older, original game. Later Williams updated and changed it to Big Bang Piggy Bankin' so that is likely part of the cause of confusion you had with dealers when checking on parts. They are much more used to dealing with people that have the newer BBPB game. Plus they are used to selling parts for the WMS 550 model (video model), which is similar in many ways but not the same as the 40X models.

The older version you have is fun to play, and it has a different strategy involving the bank of coins award. The glass is different between the machines but you don't have to absolutely change the glass to play either version. If you get both sets of software you can switch back & forth. Not sure if the reel strips are different, my guess is they do have different symbols. Remember that the reel strips are just for the player's eyes, the slot will play correctly even if you have no strips on the reels. Just looks a lot better with the correct strips.

The ram clear chip you will need comes in different variations depending on the coin denomination of your game. So if you do convert your machine it might be good to keep the same denomination on both games so there would be less parts to worry about, like the ram clear chip, the coinage sign, the coin comparator, coin hopper, etc. You may be able to also keep the same max number of coins feature (2, 3 or 5 coin) so that the glass is somewhat relevant if you don't replace it. I'm not recommending you create a frankenstein but it is your machine, you can do things in phases and still be able to play it in the meantime.

[CyberPeres]

It was bad when about 35 - 50% of the time I got parts that were just plain wrong even after telling them yes it's a Williams Piggy Bankin 40X reel slot. I got sold wrong I/O cards (a video one), wrong reset chips, wrong game chips, bad power supplies, etc.

If you have the Piggy Bankin' machine then that is the older, original game. Later Williams updated and changed it to Big Bang Piggy Bankin' so that is likely part of the cause of confusion you had with dealers when checking on parts. They are much more used to dealing with people that have the newer BBPB game. Plus they are used to selling parts for the WMS 550 model (video model), which is similar in many ways but not the same as the 40X models.

The older version you have is fun to play, and it has a different strategy involving the bank of coins award. The glass is different between the machines but you don't have to absolutely change the glass to play either version. If you get both sets of software you can switch back & forth. Not sure if the reel strips are different, my guess is they do have different symbols. Remember that the reel strips are just for the player's eyes, the slot will play correctly even if you have no strips on the reels. Just looks a lot better with the correct strips.

The ram clear chip you will need comes in different variations depending on the coin denomination of your game. So if you do convert your machine it might be good to keep the same denomination on both games so there would be less parts to worry about, like the ram clear chip, the coinage sign, the coin comparator, coin hopper, etc. You may be able to also keep the same max number of coins feature (2, 3 or 5 coin) so that the glass is somewhat relevant if you don't replace it. I'm not recommending you create a frankenstein but it is your machine, you can do things in phases and still be able to play it in the meantime.

That's good advice. The reason we have this machine is in the mid 90's my wife and I Love both Piggy Bankin and Big Bang Piggy Bankin. Really, we actually went on trips (Vegas, Atlantic City, Reno, Canada, etc) looking for just these two machines and not playing much else. So when they disappeared from casinos it broke our hearts. Just imagine the look on my wife's face when I destroyed ours only a couple of months of play. I don't think I'll ever forget that. Then to have the machine sit there nonoperational making random repair attempts, she's still not convinced I am going to win this time doesn't count the play I have done as real play or hope that I finally have this beat yet.   I am well aware of the broad game difference between the two, and some of the coin differences, it bothered me that the dealers did not and made getting help hard. They kept trying to tie it back to the piggy based video series (which I do not count as real piggy bankin). Although I did see in Reno couple of weeks ago that one of the WMS piggy themed games had the Big Bang Spinner in it.

I have thought about starting with a reel set and all the chips to support it and do swaps at will. I just have to be careful, my reel cages are not going to stand up to a change as they are brittle and damaged, the reel cards they hold keep them together and usable. I have to get a set of full reel hardware and swap the removable units.

At this point I am looking to be up and running and stable first. With good backups and maybe some other chip version variations of the non-big-bang game.

I do have couple video slot parts I'd be willing to trade or sell. Primarily an I/0 card and a video card (I think). When I got the CPU replacement it was attached and the I/O card it was sold with as a package deal with was supposed to be the one I needed. It turned out the CPU card was the same for what they confused it with but the I/O card even though it fit the slot and was similar was different than what I needed (No reel drivers). My guess is it would be for a 550.

[CyberPeres]

You guys have me thinking, My menu control trouble might be that I have a reset chip from the video 550 model. For some reason it will clear and let me play but doesn't let the system set the control interface up for the mechanical menu choices quite right. It will be interesting to see what I can and can't do once I get the power stable again. Right now I'm keeping it off so I am not exposing the system to wild power fluctuations.

[CyberPeres]

I have read their Piggy Bankin Page, I have tried to email them just before I found you guys. So far no response.

http://www.pinrepair.com/slots/wms/pigbank.htm

CyberPeres-

http://www.pinrepair.com/arcade/wmsslot.htm

The website above has a good essay on the history and variations of the Williams (WMS) 400 series of slot machines. It was written by one of the members here and he has a lot of knowledge on these particular machines. You will find that there were several games in the Dotmation series made. Parts of his website have links that no longer work to navigate around, so sometimes you have to do a google search and let it find the webpage for you.

Basically, the Dotmations are WMS models 40S, they were based on the model 400, which was a 3 reel slot machine but without the Dotmation dot matrix display in the top box. I've seen pictures of a slanted Dotmation model slot machine that you sit in front of but I don't think it is widely available.

[rokgpsman]

You guys have me thinking, My menu control trouble might be that I have a reset chip from the video 550 model. For some reason it will clear and let me play but doesn't let the system set the control interface up for the mechanical menu choices quite right. It will be interesting to see what I can and can't do once I get the power stable again. Right now I'm keeping it off so I am not exposing the system to wild power fluctuations.

I believe I've read or been told that if you have credits on the machine (i.e. something other than zero credits on credit meter) or if the machine was in the middle of a payout (hopper or credit payout) then the menu system will not allow you to change certain settings. Others here with more experience than myself can verify if this is true. That may be covered in the side notes in the WMS 40X Service Manual you've been reading, not sure.

[rokgpsman]

I have read their Piggy Bankin Page, I have tried to email them just before I found you guys. So far no response.

http://www.pinrepair.com/slots/wms/pigbank.htm

The guy behind those pinrepair pages is super-experienced on the Dotmation machines as well as other arcade/amusements machines. But he is often busy or away from home, somewhat elusive and generally a bit eccentric. This isn't meant to be a slam, just saying he sometimes doesn't reply to requests so don't feel slighted if you don't hear anything.

[CyberPeres]

I also consider that emails can get eaten up by the great spam filtering monster, I sometimes get emails to me zapped for no go reason at work. Besides, I don't expect an answer from every email I send fishing for help. People can be busy, or not active anymore. I could see with a nice site like his getting hounded pretty bad.

I have read their Piggy Bankin Page, I have tried to email them just before I found you guys. So far no response.

http://www.pinrepair.com/slots/wms/pigbank.htm

The guy behind those pinrepair pages is super-experienced on the Dotmation machines as well as other arcade/amusements machines. But he is often busy or away from home, somewhat elusive and generally a bit eccentric. This isn't meant to be a slam, just saying he sometimes doesn't reply to requests so don't feel slighted if you don't hear anything.

[CyberPeres]

You guys have me thinking, My menu control trouble might be that I have a reset chip from the video 550 model. For some reason it will clear and let me play but doesn't let the system set the control interface up for the mechanical menu choices quite right. It will be interesting to see what I can and can't do once I get the power stable again. Right now I'm keeping it off so I am not exposing the system to wild power fluctuations.

I believe I've read or been told that if you have credits on the machine (i.e. something other than zero credits on credit meter) or if the machine was in the middle of a payout (hopper or credit payout) then the menu system will not allow you to change certain settings. Others here with more experience than myself can verify if this is true. That may be covered in the side notes in the WMS 40X Service Manual you've been reading, not sure.

Right I have seen that also. Once I am stable I can see what is what then. Now it's all just guesswork and waiting....

[rokgpsman]

That's good advice. The reason we have this machine is in the mid 90's my wife and I Love both Piggy Bankin and Big Bang Piggy Bankin. Really, we actually went on trips (Vegas, Atlantic City, Reno, Canada, etc) looking for just these two machines and not playing much else. So when they disappeared from casinos it broke our hearts. Just imagine the look on my wife's face when I destroyed ours only a couple of months of play. I don't think I'll ever forget that. Then to have the machine sit there nonoperational making random repair attempts, she's still not convinced I am going to win this time doesn't count the play I have done as real play or hope that I finally have this beat yet.   I am well aware of the broad game difference between the two, and some of the coin differences, it bothered me that the dealers did not and made getting help hard. They kept trying to tie it back to the piggy based video series (which I do not count as real piggy bankin). Although I did see in Reno couple of weeks ago that one of the WMS piggy themed games had the Big Bang Spinner in it.

I have thought about starting with a reel set and all the chips to support it and do swaps at will. I just have to be careful, my reel cages are not going to stand up to a change as they are brittle and damaged, the reel cards they hold keep them together and usable. I have to get a set of full reel hardware and swap the removable units.

At this point I am looking to be up and running and stable first. With good backups and maybe some other chip version variations of the non-big-bang game.

I do have couple video slot parts I'd be willing to trade or sell. Primarily an I/0 card and a video card (I think). When I got the CPU replacement it was attached and the I/O card it was sold with as a package deal with was supposed to be the one I needed. It turned out the CPU card was the same for what they confused it with but the I/O card even though it fit the slot and was similar was different than what I needed (No reel drivers). My guess is it would be for a 550.
[/quote]


That's similar to myself and others. Players from that time period missed playing these games after they started getting yanked from casino floors to put in the newer video based machines. Up until a couple of years ago you could still find the Piggy dotmation slot machine and its sister Jackpot Stampede at the Las Vegas Club in downtown Las Vegas. But I haven't seen one anywhere in LV on my last few trips. So as they came up on the resell market we looked into getting one or two. Some of the folks here have several of them. Williams was an early developer of improving the slot machine experience with better sound, graphics and player interaction. So it made an impression on people back then, add in some nostalgic feelings today and a little disposable income - people look to own them.

As I get more familiar with slot machines I see that certain game themes are reused over & over by the same company. I guess once the slot company licenses or develops a theme then they roll it out on a new platform whenever they think it will be popular, saves costs on coming up with or buying a new theme. So you will see the Piggy theme on new machines in a casino today.

As you say the reels can crack from too much handling. Many owners get another set of reels and just leave the strips on them, then swap out the complete reel when you do a game change. The reels can often be bought for a reasonable/low price if you watch for them. The reels come off the reel driver assy easily, have just a spring clip (e-clip) holding them on. On startup they automatically initialize to the correct position.

Any extra parts you don't need can be listed for sale in the Classifieds section. Just include the part number info of what you have, or a picture that clearly shows it. Folks will be able to tell what it is from that, you don't really have to know yourself. Put a good short description in the message header so people can quickly get an idea of what you have. If you aren't sure of pricing just ask for offers or opinions.

[CyberPeres]

Thanks, I did not think about the classifieds here. That's a good idea.

That's good advice. The reason we have this machine is in the mid 90's my wife and I Love both Piggy Bankin and Big Bang Piggy Bankin. Really, we actually went on trips (Vegas, Atlantic City, Reno, Canada, etc) looking for just these two machines and not playing much else. So when they disappeared from casinos it broke our hearts. Just imagine the look on my wife's face when I destroyed ours only a couple of months of play. I don't think I'll ever forget that. Then to have the machine sit there nonoperational making random repair attempts, she's still not convinced I am going to win this time doesn't count the play I have done as real play or hope that I finally have this beat yet.   I am well aware of the broad game difference between the two, and some of the coin differences, it bothered me that the dealers did not and made getting help hard. They kept trying to tie it back to the piggy based video series (which I do not count as real piggy bankin). Although I did see in Reno couple of weeks ago that one of the WMS piggy themed games had the Big Bang Spinner in it.

I have thought about starting with a reel set and all the chips to support it and do swaps at will. I just have to be careful, my reel cages are not going to stand up to a change as they are brittle and damaged, the reel cards they hold keep them together and usable. I have to get a set of full reel hardware and swap the removable units.

At this point I am looking to be up and running and stable first. With good backups and maybe some other chip version variations of the non-big-bang game.

I do have couple video slot parts I'd be willing to trade or sell. Primarily an I/0 card and a video card (I think). When I got the CPU replacement it was attached and the I/O card it was sold with as a package deal with was supposed to be the one I needed. It turned out the CPU card was the same for what they confused it with but the I/O card even though it fit the slot and was similar was different than what I needed (No reel drivers). My guess is it would be for a 550.

[/i]


That's similar to myself and others. Players from that time period missed playing these games after they started getting yanked from casino floors to put in the newer video based machines. Up until a couple of years ago you could still find the Piggy dotmation slot machine and its sister Jackpot Stampede at the Las Vegas Club in downtown Las Vegas. But I haven't seen one anywhere in LV on my last few trips. So as they came up on the resell market we looked into getting one or two. Some of the folks here have several of them. Williams was an early developer of improving the slot machine experience with better sound, graphics and player interaction. So it made an impression on people back then, add in some nostalgic feelings today and a little disposable income - people look to own them.

As I get more familiar with slot machines I see that certain game themes are reused over & over by the same company. I guess once the slot company licenses or develops a theme then they roll it out on a new platform whenever they think it will be popular, saves costs on coming up with or buying a new theme. So you will see the Piggy theme on new machines in a casino today.

As you say the reels can crack from too much handling. Many owners get another set of reels and just leave the strips on them, then swap out the complete reel when you do a game change. The reels can often be bought for a reasonable/low price if you watch for them. The reels come off the reel driver assy easily, have just a spring clip (e-clip) holding them on. On startup they automatically initialize to the correct position.

Any extra parts you don't need can be listed for sale in the Classifieds section. Just include the part number info of what you have, or a picture that clearly shows it. Folks will be able to tell what it is from that, you don't really have to know yourself. Put a good short description in the message header so people can quickly get an idea of what you have. If you aren't sure of pricing just ask for offers or opinions.




[/quote]

[CyberPeres]

Well I got the latch chips today. I'll probably make an attempt at a meter board repair long before I see the power supply. I just have to think in the long run do I just not use the meter (but still fix it for the sake of being able to be complete if wanted) or put everything back to rights. I think I have a while to decide before I see my new power board. It's going to be a hard wait to find out if I finally win here.

I'm thinking however (and studying), It looks like the PU-110-31A and other similar boards seem to be some kind of cross vendor industry standard power supply.  I wonder by getting them the way I have with 3rd party vendor being original specified part based, maybe I have eliminated the "40X power supply weakness" long term. I am thinking maybe  the original vender made batches of these things a little too cheaply thus the issues. Only built to last the "lifetime" million pulls and no more.

Maybe by buying industry standard factory fresh units (my upper one was a purchased about nine years ago just like the lower one I just ordered) and not new (old) casino stock, I granted the immortality I seek to the pdu systems.

I just hope the board is not deemed "obsolete" by the factory and I stay in backorder/lead-time hell without feedback forever. Newark is a very good supplier and I have to trust them right now that they would indicate the phase out and order suppress.

I went with the real  PU-110-31A  part on this and not their indicated substitute (which they did have stock), The data sheet looked like it was missing the smaller second connector, and I could not confirm I would not need some mods to wire it in.  If it comes to it I'll get them on the phone and get a pin match to confirm it should I not be able to obtain the actual specked part.

[knagl]

Up until a couple of years ago you could still find the Piggy dotmation slot machine and its sister Jackpot Stampede at the Las Vegas Club in downtown Las Vegas. But I haven't seen one anywhere in LV on my last few trips.

As you noted, the Dotmations in the Las Vegas Club finally disappeared.  There are still three or four of them in operation inside of Mermaids, a slot-only dive casino on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas.

[rokgpsman]

CyberPeres-

Did you read this interesting message thread about a lower power supply problem on a Dotmation machine that caused lights to flicker, booting problems, erratic operation. He specifically tracked it back to the 18vdc and 5vdc called "5vi" that is produced by the lower power supply. Interesting to read.

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=337.0

[rokgpsman]

Ha - check this out!  

While I was laying on my back peering up into the back of this Dotmation slot machine to see where the door switch ground wires go I saw the bottom part of a large token stuck tightly between the rear corner of the slot chassis and the heavy frame of the bill validator. I didn't want to remove the bill validator so it took me several minutes to encourage the token to drop out of there. This machine is setup for quarters, and has been for several years according to the previous owner. But this is a large 50 cent token from the Greektown Casino in Detroit. Either it somehow got inside the machine like thru the air vents, or maybe this slot was a 50 cent denom at one time. I think I remember the casinos in Kansas City using tokens many years ago, they did it to try to control how much a person could gamble in a certain time period, eventually stopped trying to do this. Before you could buy more tokens to use on the machines they checked to see how much you had already spent on tokens, the state had set a limit ($500 I think) of how much you could spend every 2 hours. They had to use tokens because if the machines took real money people would just bring their own in from home to get around the law. This was when the casinos were first allowed to operate in the state, I guess the legislators were wanting to watch over & protect us from ourselves.

Anyway it was funny finding this after who knows how long its been in there.

[rokgpsman]

Up until a couple of years ago you could still find the Piggy dotmation slot machine and its sister Jackpot Stampede at the Las Vegas Club in downtown Las Vegas. But I haven't seen one anywhere in LV on my last few trips.

As you noted, the Dotmations in the Las Vegas Club finally disappeared.  There are still three or four of them in operation inside of Mermaids, a slot-only dive casino on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas.

Those Mermaids girls get bored standing around all the time, so they can be friendly!
[guy in the middle of that Mermaid sandwich isn't me]


knagl- do you remember which Dotmations they have in Mermaids? I'll have to stop by there next time thru, maybe they'll have one I haven't seen or played.

[knagl]

knagl- do you remember which Dotmations they have in Mermaids? I'll have to stop by there next time thru, maybe they'll have one I haven't seen or played.

I know they had one of the "different" Jackpot Party themes -- either Country Party or Beach Party.  Probably a regular Jackpot Party, too.  I don't remember what the others were.

I'll be in Vegas in a month -- I'll try to remember to swing in there and report back on the lineup.

[CyberPeres]

Last time I was out there I noticed a few "small" casinos on Fremont that had really old machines I bet that was one of them.  I like that those places exist. They can sometimes be a lot of fun kind of playing with the past.

Up until a couple of years ago you could still find the Piggy dotmation slot machine and its sister Jackpot Stampede at the Las Vegas Club in downtown Las Vegas. But I haven't seen one anywhere in LV on my last few trips.

As you noted, the Dotmations in the Las Vegas Club finally disappeared.  There are still three or four of them in operation inside of Mermaids, a slot-only dive casino on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas.

[CyberPeres]

No, but I am certainly going to now, Thanks !

CyberPeres-

Did you read this interesting message thread about a lower power supply problem on a Dotmation machine that caused lights to flicker, booting problems, erratic operation. He specifically tracked it back to the 18vdc and 5vdc called "5vi" that is produced by the lower power supply. Interesting to read.

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=337.0

[CyberPeres]

cool. I just got back from Reno myself, hit the National Air Races and Hit the slots. I have to say the newest slots take psychological warfare to a new level, especially to the unwary.

knagl- do you remember which Dotmations they have in Mermaids? I'll have to stop by there next time thru, maybe they'll have one I haven't seen or played.

I know they had one of the "different" Jackpot Party themes -- either Country Party or Beach Party.  Probably a regular Jackpot Party, too.  I don't remember what the others were.

I'll be in Vegas in a month -- I'll try to remember to swing in there and report back on the lineup.

[CyberPeres]

That's actually really neat, but holy cow on the laws, that's tight. Although much like when work Christmas parties use drink tickets to control drunks, they always find away around it.

Ha - check this out! 

While I was laying on my back peering up into the back of this Dotmation slot machine to see where the door switch ground wires go I saw the bottom part of a large token stuck tightly between the rear corner of the slot chassis and the heavy frame of the bill validator. I didn't want to remove the bill validator, so it took me several minutes to encourage it to drop out of there. This machine is setup for quarters, and has been for several years according to the previous owner. But this is a large 50 cent token from the Greektown Casino in Detroit. Either it somehow got inside the machine like thru the air vents, or maybe this slot was a 50 cent denom at one time. I think I remember the casinos in Kansas City using tokens many years ago, they did it to try to control how much a person could gamble in a certain time period, eventually stopped trying to do this. Before you could buy more tokens to use on the machines they checked to see how much you had already spent on tokens, the state had set a limit ($500 I think) of how much you could spend every 2 hours. They had to use tokens because if the machines took real money people would just bring their own in from home to get around the law. This was when the casinos were first allowed to operate in the state, I guess the legislators were wanting to watch over & protect us from ourselves.

Anyway it was funny finding this after who knows how long its been in there.