Help with Igame button deck

[smileman83]

Hi all. well I am trying my first "project". I usually have purchased games, but wanted to play with one. It was a 17" Gameking. I am converting to a video slot. It had the 044 board and backplane which I have swapped out for 1302? ( I cant remember the  number right now). I have been working on cosmetic issues as this was a pretty beat up cabinet and was wood grain. Has been prettied up and veneered with black vinyl and really looks much better. CRT was swapped out for LCD, new bezel and am awaiting key chips to start playing with the electronics.

In the mean time, I had a question about the button deck. I know I can use the one row deck as seen in the pic, but I noticed all the extra buttons inside the door and also that the upper portion of the deck ( which you can see has some damage in the chrome, looks like it is removable in and of itself. This made me wonder if I could get a new upper deck chrome piece that had button knockouts an convert to a 10 button game so as to not have to use the touchscrteen?

The questions are this:

If there are unused buttons rubber banded inside the cab, does that mean this machine can support a deck with the additional buttons? I keep reading about I/o cards and that 2 are needed, but cant really see where to look for those.

Secondly, is this an easy thing to do, or not at all worth it since you can play the game by using the touchscreen?

Lastly, if its not worth, is the chrome piece easily replaced simply for cosmetics with a new chrome part?

Thanks to all. Pics attached.

[4 Deuces]

Having the buttons already there is definitely a step towards having a set of functioning 2nd row buttons. 

If I remember correctly, the IO card you're looking for is usually found inside, under the monitor and tray, attached to the left side of the cabinet (when looking in).  There would be two of them stacked on top of each other, about 4 inches square by 1.5 inches deep. 

Finding the chrome deck is a toss up.  You could post a WTB and see if anyone has one or check out the websites of the vendors on this site.  Some folks have drilled their own holes ... that's a lot of work.

For me, I think adding a new chrome deck and installing the buttons is an easy thing to do and looks good, especially if you swap the bulbs with LEDs.  The only downside is, different games have different play lines, so you may have to change the button legends from time to time if that bothers you.

I have one machine with two rows of button and one without.  Honestly though, I never use the 2nd row of buttons.  Ha ha!

:Dave

[smileman83]

Thanks Dave- yes this was a Gameking, and all the buttons say now is hold cancel and then a max bet button and a deal button. This will be a dedicated video slot so I am not even sure is I need a second row of buttons. I wonder if the buttons can even be used for a slot theme. Is your one row game a slot theme? How are the buttons configured and labeled and does the game even map to the buttons? Is that something configurable in the setup? If I dont need the buttons, it would very easy to simply take the piece off and rechrome. I am a dentists so drilling the holes wouldnt be hard-LMAO, but I would have no idea where they went and how the panel would have been configured with a two button deck. It honestly looks like this top part of the deck would simply have a similar piece that had button cutouts and they would put one of for 5 button games and the other on for 10 button games.

Bruce

[4 Deuces]

Bruce,

The button legends do depend on the game.  Both my GKs currently have poker-themed games in them.  When I do put in an i-Game, the top row of buttons light up along with the bottom row.  The top chooses the number of lines and the bottom chooses the number of coins per line.  You do have a little bit of control when configuring the game to decide if max bet is 50 vs. 150.  So, for example, for a game where you setup a max bet of 50, the legends would be something like ...

PLAY 1 LINE
PLAY 2 LINES
PLAY 3 LINES
PLAY 5 LINES
PLAY 10 LINES

BET 1 PER LINE
BET 2 PER LINE
BET 3 PER LINE
BET 4 PER LINE
BET 5 PER LINE

These are static legends.  The new machines have what are called OLED decks where the buttons have small displays that change with the game.  For these older GKs, you have to keep changing the labels or just accept them as-is.

As for what a two-row deck should look like, I believe it's laid out like this ...

Top row: 6 buttons (CHANGE plus the five PLAY X LINES buttons)
Bottom row: 9 buttons (CASHOUT, BET ONE, five hold/cancel, MAX BET, DEAL)

Note that when you play an i-Game, the BET ONE button doesn't function or light up.  That's because, to bet one, you press PLAY 1 LINE and then press BET 1 PER LINE.  Vice versa, when playing a poker game, the top five buttons don't work, but the BET ONE does.

I have also found that the 2nd row of buttons don't always work with the Game King multi-games (mix of poker and slots).  You have to choose your lines and bets with the screen or bottom row of buttons.

Hope this helps!

:Dave

[smileman83]

Dave as you look at the picture of the deck I have, it doesnt look as if 5 buttons will fit next to teh current red one on the left and teh cutout for the coin slot. Underneath this top plate I see cutouts or larger hold areas, I wonder if this top plate has been added to this machine to close off the top holes or are these convertible into have 5 more holes on this top panel.

[4 Deuces]

Take a look at the deck of this i-Game for sale ...

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=27336.0

In that picture, the BET ONE button is covered with a chrome cap since it's not used on an i-Game.  The top chrome cover is a separate cover held on by nuts.  You would need a chrome cover that includes the extra 5 button holes.  The coin slot is optional, but I haven't seen a cover plate for that model of the i-Game that doesn't have a coin slot.  You can reuse the coin slot cap though.

I did find a chrome plate one time with the 5 extra buttons.  However, it was missing the CHANGE button hole, so I drilled the extra hole.

[smileman83]

Where would I find one of these chrome pieces with the 5 holes. Thats exactly the type of deck I have. Then I could just change legends