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Hi Road Runner Thank you for replying. Excellent to hear that the Give Us A Break SWP machine has survived and that you managed to get hold of one. I imagine you are aware that several editions of the 'Give Us A Break' SWP game have been successfully emulated in MAME, e.g. 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th but, to date, there have been no successful emulation of the two original editions. Apparently, MAME has all the relevant driver software and roms, but the question datasets for each edition were stored on 3_5" double density floppy discs and MAME emulation requires a rom dump of these datasets in the form of a guab_edition questions.dsk image file in order to run. I don't know if the reason that the MAME development team has not emulated the first and second editions because they don't have any verified rom dumps of the questions.dsk datasets for either of these editions, or if there are other reasons why they have not been able to replicate these editions of the game, but I would be very interested to hear if you have the facilities for creating an image disc of the question dataset for the second edition, or if you might be tempted to contact the NAME development team, and ascertain if they might be able to make such a disc image. Apparently, I understand that there is a subcommittee of members in the MAME community, called the MAME Dumping Union, who are tasked with making disc images of any rare romsets of old legacy games, so that these can be emulated for prosperity. Good luck with your restoration project for the 'Give Us A Break' second edition. Would be fascinated to hear if and when you get it 'up and running'.

well done bernard. i will probably do NIFTY 50 today to rid the petty 50p on the solid silver so you at least win a pound. I unblocked the nudges and cash prize on STOP THE CLOCK so the nudges go to 12. it so far runs good. I think the club machine blocks were more aimed at the DOUBLE OR NOTHING gambles so the machines didnt get smashed up. can you imagine having 50 quid and do a double all or nothing and it lands on lose

Brilliant, thank you for doing it Bernard.. 🤩 Another challenge for you if you get time.🙏 This is an issue I think spoils the fun on Royal Exchange for home use.... When you exchange for nudges there's always a pesky cherry that stops you getting a better win, would it be possible for the software to ignore the cherry and nudge in a better win? John

I had already signed up on both DadsFME/Desert Island Fruits, though for those who haven't seen me around already on those... "Retro gamer (mainly Nintendo) and old school arcade. Born in the late 80s 🌻♾️"

Great work Bernard. Can't say that I understand it. Impressive though 👏. Thanks for sharing and explaining 🙂

Probably not me 😁

Thank you, sir - I do agree, but I also wonder who would have risked a gamble of £50 or thereabouts forty years ago? 🤣

Very possibly - I'll add it to the list! They're very similar machines so it shouldn't take too long when I get to it.

Amazing stuff bernard and.hats off to you for this great work which definitely adds a better game to these mpu3 clubbers.

Sweepstake next?

A wee update on this the machine is all back working albeit it needs a new alphanumeric display,a thank you to everyone who commented on this post especially netdent and midibob who helped alot. Cheers Brian

Sorry forgot to add this. And believe it or not it’s still in storage(I really do need to restore this next year)

Hello and welcome I hope you enjoy this site :))

hi everyone im new to this forum so hello

I have a few threads on this tech. Try this for starters.

Gentlefolk, I've uploaded a new set of ROMs for Barcrest's Royal Exchange. The original imposed a gamble limit of £20 for all initial wins less than that. The new version will allow a gamble of the current win up to a maximum of £100. Here, I've attached a Word document explaining how this was achieved for all folk who, like me, used to think "How did they do that?!". Please be aware that it is not for the faint-hearted 😊 I'd like to thank chris217 for reintroducing me to the wonderful world of 1980s fruit machines, Sulzer Ned for drawing my attention to the idea the the emulated ROMs can be tinkered with and Eddie Coxon, who advised me of the programming language used and provided me with a huge manual and lots of helpful advice and hints. Now that you all know exactly whom to blame, I hope you enjoy the new version together with this documentation. Best wishes, Bernard ROYAL EXCHANGE GAMBLE BLOCK REMOVAL.docx

I have the manual for it…

Hello everyone I am an enthusiast of old retro pub and arcade fruit machines but I have a particular interest in old pub quiz machines, the so-called SWP (skill with prizes) machines that were abundant in the mid to late Eighties, but sadly, appear to have disappeared without trace in the 21st century. Does anyone remember the Eighties pub quiz machine game called 'Give Us A Break', manufactured by JPM? When playing this quiz machine, you would compile a snooker break, consecutively potting red and coloured balls by answering general knowledge questions? I understand that several editions of this pub quiz machine game have been successfully emulated in MAME and that romsets exist that enable the 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th editions, plus a couple of later editions to be played in MAME. I understand that, to run the MAME emulated game, you need the relevant romsets, together with a guab_ questions.dsk file, which is a ROM dump in the form of a floppy disc image of the question database for whichever edition of the game you are trying to run. Apparently, there are files available on the Internet Archive which enable the aforementioned editions to run successfully in a MAME emulator but, as far as I am aware, the 1st and 2nd editions (i.e. the original versions) of the game have not yet been successfully emulated on MAME, despite the MAME project having been up and running for several years now. I am particularly interested in finding out if the 2nd edition, which was my favourite edition when I used to try my luck on the pub quiz machines almost forty years ago now, is being developed for emulation on MAME. Alternatively, I would be interested to know if anyone is aware of a working edition of an original 'Give Us A Break' quiz machine cabinet, in any retro arcade or private collection, which is running the second edition? Perhaps there is a collection somewhere in existence of the floppy discs which contain the question datasets for the different editions. If so, is anyone aware of such a collection, and are there examples of these working floppy discs with the questions for the first and second editions? Any information gratefully received. triviachris

Reel bands could probably be reproduced, using a suitable printer and a roll of photo paper. I was looking at doing this for my old Fruit Drop, a couple of years ago. I photographed all of the symbols and mocked up the reel bands using MS Paint, but never got around to completing the project. As for the glass, keep an eye on eBay and specialist auction sites. I’d be interested to know how you get on.

Layout NCU.rar

I released a classic of this years ago, i am sure i upped it to the releases, if not i will up it when i get home tomortow

Good stuff. Think I might have lost my birthday money in a stop the clock at my local train station when I was young. Drop reg a message over at Desert island fruits if you are struggling to sign up as it says https://www.desertislandfruits.com/forum/index.php?/topic/4901-welcome-to-this-site/

thankyou. Ive modded STOP THE CLOCK so it has between 1 and 12 nudges and nut 1 and 8. it meets percentage and plays a much better nudge game

Should have that file when I did some 10 years ago. Will have a look... But the chip on my board was not locked so I just read it with my dataman pro.

Hay @jane.sharpe7 the buttons are not set right in the background on this game so test mode wont work... but you can add the right ones for back door (I'm not very good at this but you'll get the idea I hope)... Go to design then select Edit Mode right click & Draw a checkbox - Right click on it & change it to value 23 - this is the back door and when checked gets you to back door open repeat and draw another and assign value 22 - not sure on MPU4 but this gets you to this state when checked - VPT on the display and the start button cycles through in & Out. Draw another button and call it 21 (I think) and that when checked and un checked gives test plays - not sure what value the test switch is as I don't really know MPU4... think this is Refil. When you've worked out what the switch numbers should be, un check them all and update switches into the Game configuration area (think this is right for service, refill and test???):- you can work it out by trial and error... Uncheck Edit Mode and the buttons work as you think they should. Save on exit Enjoy