$1 or .25??? New Member with a New Slant-top

[pj]

Hello all.  I am a new member and this is my first post. This an absolutely fantastic forum!

A few days ago all I knew about video poker machines was that they are just mean.  Only thing I knew is a hundred bucks goes pretty damn quick sitting at PTs.  And if the old lady is with you...forget about it.  Even if you do hit, she's just gonna dump it all back in.  But now I have comparitors and hoppers stuck in my head and I can't wait to learn wtf an eprom is!!! 

You see a dear dear friend passed and I inherited a gorgeous pool table a couple weeks ago.  That was the beginning of a new game room.  So 'ole Mr.Bill, I blame you for this new obsession.  Getting to the point, I now have what I believe to be a Slant-top PE+ (I'd love confirmation on that).  After much research & figit-ing & frustration, I think I have it pretty well solved.  The thread titled "IGT 37700 manual" was the solution.  At the end of the thread there's a quote that all newbies like myself should take heed of.  I was looking for a big problem and overlooked the simple one right there in front of me the whole time.  A loose harness was showing the door not closed so it simply wouldn't reset.  That thread was my situation to a "T"!  To pour salt on the wound, it was my wife who found it...at the beginning of the Battle of Coin-In Timeout...and I dismissed it. Yup. Ouch.

But now its playing and I have just a few hiccups to sort out. I thinks it a hybrid.  I have a dollar hopper & chrome coin insert chute(not sure correct name of it).  But a have a 25 cent comparitor and graphics. I can drop in quarters & play, just dont hit cash-out cuz then we'll have problems. I would prefer to go quarters just for the nostalgia factor.  Remember when you got a beer & a roll at the bar.  So one question is can the dollar hopper be modified to accept quarters?  Or does it just have to be swapped? (incidentally - if anyone wants to trade I have a dollar hopper in excellent shape).  After that,I just need the correct coin acceptor.  I'm gonna make the top box & have a great graphic artist buddy do me some custom logo graphic for "my place".

Then where do I go???

Is it feasible/reasonably cost effective to have it be a multigame, multidenominational, bill accepting unit akin to one I'd belly up to at the neighbor bar?  How does that journey begin...suggestions?  input?  advise?  resources?

I'm a pretty handy guy, I have no experience whatsoever so I'm a blank page, and I follow direction well.  With that said, thank you to whomever is willing to point me in said direction and share their expertise.

Kind Regards,
Jerry

[knagl]

Welcome to the forum, Jerry!  I'll do my best to address all of your questions.

Yes, you have a slant top IGT Player's Edge Plus (PE+) video poker machine.

Congrats on getting your first errors resolved on your own -- nice job.

Yes, a $1 machine can be converted to quarters, but there's a couple of issues with doing that on your machine.

First, are you sure you have the small coin comparator?  It's tough to tell from the picture, but the easy way to tell is to remove the quarter from it.  If the part that slides (with the copper looking circle) slides all the way against the wall of the comparator with the quarter removed, it's the small coin comparator.  If there's any kind of significant gap when the coin is removed, it's the large coin ($1 token and the like) comparator.  If you can post the model number listed on there, that would also tell us for sure.

In order to convert the machine to quarters, you'd need:

- A new coin entry plate (the "insert chute").  As a side note, it looks like yours isn't installed correctly in the top picture, like it's only halfway in there.

- Small coin acceptance hardware (if you have the large coin comparator, you should switch it out to a small coin one, and also you'll need to change the coin-in optics "encoder" (a plastic guide below the comparator that guides coins correctly through the coin-in optics)).

- A quarter hopper and escalator assembly.

Note, you can change the hopper pinwheel, shelf wheel, and knife to switch it from a dollar hopper to a quarter hopper, but since you have a slant top machine you'd also have to change the escalator assembly (the large part that sticks up in the air) if it's designed for large coins, as quarters won't flow through it correctly to get paid out into the tray.  It'd honestly be easier to just buy a slant top quarter hopper with the escalator if you can find one.

Yes, you can add a bill validator, but it would have to be one of the side-mount validator boxes (you can see a picture of one in my reply #47 here).  The latest validator head you can get for it is a DBV-200 which can accept some of the newer "large head" style currency, but no new software updates are available for it.

Yes, it is possible to get a multi-game setup, although you're really limited to the five game multigame poker chipsets that were made for the PE+.  You can see a list of them here.  Those chipsets require a superboard which you may or may not have.  You'll need to post a picture of the MPU board (circuit board in the lower left side of the machine) for us to tell you what kind of board you have.  Always turn the power OFF before inserting or removing the board.

As far as the $0.25 denomination listed on the screen, that can be changed with zero credits on the machine by pressing the white self test button (located near the MPU board and power switch) and paging through the menus until you get to the denomination menu.  (The process is a little more involved when you have a bill validator installed, but as of right now you don't.)

[pj]

Goodmorning! I was up late composing that post and researching things, and I am so excited and grateful to find a response already!  Thank you so much knagl!!

I'm pretty sure comparator is small coin as it does slide closed with sample coin removed, the plastic coin insert below on the encoder seems too small to accommodate something larger, and well...it recognizes quarters.  The coin entry plate in the pic is just laying there for the sake of the picture.  I had to remove it and made a temporary chute of duck tape because that one is aligned to right. (I assume for a large coin comparator flipped around.) I have found and ordered from rudysdeals.com a quarter version.

I am still on the hunt for a complete quarter hopper so if anyone has a lead on that I'd appreciate it.  After that, I believe I'll have a fully functioning 'stock' machine.

So then, the $100,000 question...what board do I have.  Here's the pic.

I will pose this question assuming it is not a superboard.  What EXACTLY do I want to start searching for?
  
1. A superboard. Is there more detail needed than that to find & order. Or just a superboard for an IGT pe+? Are there min. specs I should be looking for? RAM ROM kb gb?????

2. A multigame chipset.  Would that be one of the XMP0000x chips I have seen on the masterlist I found here?  You use the term chipSET.  That to me implies more than one...a set.  How many encompass a complete SET?

3. Anything else? (Again, of course, this is assuming I've already gotten hopper & entry plate, and it is functioning as a stock device.)

4. Do any of the preprogrammed multigame chips have a slot game as one the available games?  I like dbl dbl bonus, the wife likes dueces, and it would be great to have like the rhino (dont know exact name) one. Is there such a 'set'?

This bill validator is kinda a sidebar for me at this point.  I'd much rather have multiple games.  Besides I've been trying to teach my lil'uns to step on up & give their luck a try with their allowance....hehehe

Thanks again.  I'm anxious to hear back.

Jerry

ps-if anyone comes across that hopper, keep me in mind.

[Buzz]

Jerry     and   "Thanks" for filling out your profile.

OK here is my story, year/year and a half ago I had this working PE+ slant top in my house and got all pissed off one day because I had run out of room so I moved it to my patio. Like I said it was a working machine, hopper and the whole nine yards, I did pull the MPU out of it and gave it to someone. Here's the deal I'll give you that machine. Now ask yourself is it worth a 200 mile drive one way to get it " Hell no " but I will be in Bullhead the middle of April and would be happy to haul it that far. This one like yours doesn't have the top box, but I have one if you really want one. There is even a chance I have a piece of glass for it but I'm not sure. By the way I like them better without the top box.

If I was you I wouldn't spend a whole lot of money on this PE+ because now that your hooked, six months or less you will have a Game King.

I just took this picture and note there is still a quarter in the comparator,  the machine is worth at least 25 cents.

[knagl]

1. A superboard. Is there more detail needed than that to find & order. Or just a superboard for an IGT pe+? Are there min. specs I should be looking for? RAM ROM kb gb?????

You have a standard (non-superboard) MPU board.  It's still good, but its capabilities are limited to single games.  Multi-game sets and some fancier single-game sets require the superboard, which can also be used to play the older (non-superboard) games.  There are no specs you need to seek out, just that you need to buy a PE+ superboard.  If it comes with a tray (the metal half-enclosure for the board with the transformer mounted on it) for a slant-top game, all the better, but you already have a working tray, too, so you can swap that out easily enough.

2. A multigame chipset.  Would that be one of the XMP0000x chips I have seen on the masterlist I found here?  You use the term chipSET.  That to me implies more than one...a set.  How many encompass a complete SET?

In addition to the assorted other chips found on the board, the following chips are needed to complete a PE+ game, and you generally (but not always) need all of these chips to change the installed game on your board:

- Game (GMO) chip.
- Data chip. (superboard games only)
- MRO, MGO, MBO, and MXO chips (graphics -- red, green, blue, and black or transparent -- I can't remember exactly what the "X" chip does)
- CAP(X) chip. (non-superboard games use CAP chips, and superboard games use CAPX chips)

The CAP(X) chip establishes the color palette available for the game, and is paired with its accompanying set of four graphics chips to draw the graphics on screen with the correct colors.  You could run a game with the wrong CAP(X) chip, but the colors on the screen would be wrong.  Similarly, you could run a game with the wrong MRO/MBO/MGO/MXO chips, but generally you'd wind up with garbled graphics on the screen.

4. Do any of the preprogrammed multigame chips have a slot game as one the available games?  I like dbl dbl bonus, the wife likes dueces, and it would be great to have like the rhino (dont know exact name) one. Is there such a 'set'?

Not quite.  The PE+ is limited in its capabilities, and the multi game sets available are purely poker based.  I have seen pictures of a machine that had an interesting chipset with one poker game, one keno, and one slot, but I never saw the board(s) inside to see if it used different boards, or how exactly it worked.  In a nutshell, you're not going to be able to find that combination, and the only multi-game sets available for your machine are five pre-programmed poker games.  As I mentioned in my previous reply, you can see the list of the available multi-game chipsets by clicking here.  You can see that each set includes one fixed set of five player-selectable games.  Here's a screenshot from one of the multi-game sets, which shows the menu that the player uses to select a game (using the five hold buttons):

ps-if anyone comes across that hopper, keep me in mind.

Sounds like Buzz has a parts machine with quarter coin handling and your name on it.  I'd take him up on it if you can!  K+ to you for your offer to Jerry, Buzz.

[pj]

Not sure what K+ means, but if it means 'kind', 'generous','neighborly' then hell ya K+ Buzz. I'd be very grateful and gladly take that off your hands.

I hear you about not putting too many $ into this machine as it is so outdated. And I wont. Hell, I dont have have them to put in even if I wanted to. (all the more reason I'm grateful for your kindness)

But outdated is what I like about it. Its not a vintage antique nor is latest generation. Its 1989! The year I graduated from Valley.

Long before someone had the bright idea to make this town a "family" destination and use high-end finishes and decor.  Back when the more tacky, tasteless and gauwdy the better.  Back when you could get a room with a whole bunch of friends at the little motel with glass window pool and use it as base camp to cruise the strip in an old 65 ragtop Mustang.  When Freemont St. was an ENTIRELY different kind of "experience" and you could take a piss in the alley behind the Four Queens with fear of being charged with a sex crime. You could start off a Tuesday night at the Flamingo with dollar drafts & well. Vodka on the gun! Get a round of vodka based shots and it was on the gun. Now thats good gut rot right there. To shake off the previous night you could go out to the cliffs at the lake without needing 38 different stamps and licenses plus a pardon from the governor. 'Off-road' travel was permitted - its just desert! And you didnt need to drive to Nye to pop off some rounds.  Hell, I did my homework between classes on top of the drop-in bar version of this at the Sportspub across the street from UNLV. Yes. This world in which I misspent my formative years and why disspite any hazing or razing,  my newly found & steadfast love for my little darling, "Yvette", will not falter. Look at the pic again and tell me that doesn't scream 1989 Tropicanna Hotel.  Now I just need to find some hideous carpet for my new game room!

So looks like we're taking the boat down to river mid-april to see our new friend Buzz.  And keep in mind, I think Bullhead has gotta be over 100 miles. Whats a few more. We like BFE too. If you need it out of your way sooner. I'll load up the family & fourwheelers and call it an 'adventure.' Let me know. And in all seriousness, thank you again for the kind gesture.

Jerry

 

[knagl]

Not sure what K+ means, but if it means 'kind', 'generous','neighborly' then hell ya K+ Buzz.

More or less, yes.  The "K" is for Karma.  Once you have 10 posts you'll be able to increase (or decrease) another member's Karma score, which is listed by their name on the left side of their posts.  In a nutshell, you give out good Karma to someone who has posted something that is helpful.

[pj]

Hey I have what is probably a dumb question. At least I'm guessing it is. But why it is is eluding me. If the PE+ is the old datsun pickup and the game king is the new f350, and I am going to replace the board, can I just put in a gameking board rather than a pe+ super board? It seems to me (this is probably where I am missing something) that the board IS the machine. Everything else is just switches. The self test screen manifests itelf through zeros and ones. Open or closed circuit.
 
The caveat is the touchscreen, of course. But I can recall sitting at the bar using the buttons to play.

Here's what i am driving at: rather than put money into this pe+, then like Buzz says, end up getting a gameking, can I convert the one I have?  I pointed out at length in what I thought was quite a colorful narrative why I am so partial to this slanttop.  But is not the slanttop just a box to bolt the components to?

Or would EVERYTHING have to be replaced? Hold buttons, door sensors, lights, coin-in/out sensors.....etc. etc. etc

Like I said, there's just gotta be a reason its a dumb question, I'm just spit-ballin here, but in my new quest for a pe+ superboard I'm coming across a lot more gameking stuff than my quarry.  More of it and cheaper.

[CVslots]

Your question is not dumb, whatsoever. You don't know, so you simply asked. No shame in that.

Your logic is right. Why upgrade to something that is still outdated (like PE+ to a PE+ super board), however, IGT threw a curve into the plan...somewhat of a marketing ploy, IGT began switching MPU and backplane combos. SO!!! Your PE+ board, cannot be used in a newer platform, and vice versa, due to the backplane/motherboard. It's a smaller board typically located on the floor or back wall of your machine. As IGT advanced with their platforms, the MPU compatibility changed, as well as the backplane/motherboards.....wherein lies the problem!

As you progress through the generations of MPUs and backplanes, you will see that they are all not compatible. Like with like, pretty much. As they progressed, other components changed as well. That's why we can't install the latest and greatest (avail to most anyway), such as 039 or 044 boards) in the older cabinets. They changed almost everything as they went along, with each platform (I.e. backplane/motherboards, door I/Os, even general wiring), even the simplest things.

So, your resolution? Depends on your wallet I guess, while the latest and greatest are available ( as with almost everything, got enough $$$ and its yours), the older platforms have a lot to be desired. Like the upgrade from 039 to 044 boards/platform, some say to is not worth the extra $$$, as the "improvements" are nothing to write home about.

Bottom line, it all spends on how many bells and whistles you require.....but NO, you will not (without MAJOR reconfigurations) be able to install the latest and greatest on your PE+. Enjoy it for what it is! (of course, that is my advice only (which is not worth a hill of beans, I know)).

[Buzz]

Jerry I've gave your question here a long and serious thought ( about 30 seconds ) and came up with one part you can use on a PE+ and a Game King, the candle, but s**t your missing the top box so you are missing the candle. Truth is nothing will interchange between the two machines,

OK here's what I have going as for as getting this machine to you. I will be in Bullhead the 12 or 13 of April, one of our members Coyboygames will be there and I want to meet him, so the date is up to him. I will also be back over there two weeks later for the slot machine drawing ( the 26th ) It will be a pleasure to meet you but it's not a necessity that we actually meet. I can leave the machine with Joey at the shop and you can pick it up anytime.

No I'm not hurting for room, I needed more room in the house but I live of 5 acres, and I have (3) 40 foot trailer to store machines in. There was no reason for me to let this machine sit out in the weather I just didn't care. But if you get a wild hair and feel like taking a ride you will be more than welcome. it's about 20 miles West of Victorville.

[pj]

Well then....I guess I've come to a resolution with my inner turmoil.

The quarter coin head should be here in a few days and with Buzz's generosity I will have a fully functioning pe+ for about nine bucks. Think I'll just be happy with what I got, enjoy my good fortune, and be looking to get a second machine over the coming months. Give up the notion of upgrading this one.

And Buzz, that's great about just dropping it there if our two(three) schedules cannot intersect. But I would be remiss to not take advantage of the opportunity to meet you, to shake your hand and thank you.  And quite frankly, when I get a notion in my head, I tend to run with it. My wife would say obsess, I say run with it. I'm gonna be biting at the chomp waiting a month and a half. If that invitation stands, I'll probably try to run out and see you sometime in the next couple weeks. Preferably a Mon or Tues if that would work. I will pm you if it looks like I'll get a chance to. See if your free & get some directions.

 So thanks so much to all of you for your help!

My lessons learned:

1. If and old pro tells you first thing he'd do is check for a loose wire, you ought check for a damn loose wire!

2. Sometimes, try as you might, you just can't sew a silk purse out of a sow's ass!

And lastly for whatever its worth, I don't know a thing about slots, but if I can repay yalls kindness, I know just about everything there is to know about swimming pools. Feel free to message if u need help there.

[knagl]

Jerry-

I don't think you'll be unhappy with spending a little bit to upgrade to a superboard.  It's been a while since I bought one, but I can't imagine a board should cost you more than about $40.  That's a small price to pay to be able to have the 5-in-1 multi poker game setup.