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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 had a go at making some replacement backlit bands for Tensation a couple of years ago. They came out pretty good, but it was a lot of time and effort. Sadly, I no longer have access to the printer.

Yesterday I took the Win stepper apart to soak it in vinegar overnight, and today I cleaned it – it was just like slime that came off. I lubricated it where necessary and put it back together. It took a bit of fiddling about and fine-tuning.

So, I’ve made a bit more progress; I didn't have time for the project for a few days. The parts that had been sandblasted have now been painted. In the meantime, I started working on the mechanical score counter; I completely disassembled and rebuilt it. That was certainly necessary, as some parts were already wearing against each other due to stiff movement and a lack of grease. I also installed the coin tubes.

This one had be going for a while. Fault was no sound although on the bench there was sometimes and it was very dependant on humidity and temperature. What normally happens is the battery vapours contaminate the board surface and it becomes conductive. Any trace voltage around pin 2 of the audio output chip will cause the chip to effectively switch off and there will be almost full supply voltage on pin 8 which is the speaker output. It should sit at half voltage (6V ish) but this was more like 11v! After deep cleaning the tracks and components that connect to pin 2 it started behaving but still not quite down to 6v. I then left it for a while to work on something else and when I returned and powered on there was no sound again! The voltage measured on pin 2 was about 0.6v whereas it should be approx 0.02v. So it was leaking again somewhere? Next thing was to remove the sound output chip and the two little yellow caps that are connected to pin 2 and see where the voltage was coming from. Well lo and behold it was still there. There was nothing else connected to pin 2 so a lot of head scratching started. The next thing I noticed was that the track ran underneath the sound synth chip so this had to come out and look what I found underneath!!! The track runs through where it says R28-30 and this stuff was sticky and conductive, could be tobacco film who knows. Anyway a good clean on the board and the chip and no more stray voltage.

Does anyone have any other Summit Coin roms ? I Have Ultimate Nudge already, I am got the tech running on my JFruit emulator. If you are interested you can try it at Click to Play Ultimate Nudge

Here is my STOP THE CLOCK modded roms 1: all cash 3 pounds 2: nudge block uncapped to 12 nudges on random stop 3: character and checksum removed (so you can make a spare card like i did) MOD 7B - CHARACTER REMOVED - TO BURN TO EPROMS.zip

Thank you. I appreciate it's tough going but I hope it will be useful for someone. These gambling blocks seem to annoy everyone these days! Back in the day, they probably saved a lot of people some money 😄

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

MDM 1981

Pinball Heaven stock them on eBay. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371532527747

I’ve had a bit of time again, this time to work on the mechanism control sequence timer. This one was also covered in rust and grime. The gearbox was almost seized up; I could barely turn it by hand, but luckily a bit of penetrating oil did the trick. That could easily have cost me the motor. I’ve also started dismantling the door; I’d already taken it off. So that various parts can be soaked in cleaning vinegar.

It was time to clean the credit count sequence timer; it was dirty and covered in rust. It was quite a job to get it apart. Fortunately, I’d already replaced the AMP plugs on the switches. After a thorough clean, something wasn’t quite right when I was putting it back together – I kept losing the screws from the switch terminals. It turned out I’d turned the 4-sided rod the wrong way round, which meant the screws didn’t fit. So I took it apart again and paid close attention this time. Some new bulbs (6V 2W) had also arrived, so I replaced them straight away. I also fitted new film capacitors for the RC snubbers. The old ones were already starting to crack and their capacitance was barely there.

So, for the past 2 days, I’ve been busy further derusting the transformer. This was so much work that I decided to take various parts to a good friend who has a sandblasting cabinet. In the meantime, I had also contacted (pb) BF74 (Ron) for a piece of schematic for a Dutch cabinet, if he had one. I received a complete schematic of the Full House; I couldn't be happier. I also ran a test, most problems were some residual oxidation on the relays and some AMP connectors that have not yet been replaced.

Nifty Nudge Play Nifty Nudge

Ace System 100 - Early 1980s Clubbers, with thanks to the MPU Mecca for the resources Silver Machine Rainbows End

Yes i would love to have met someone who programmed them. My son designs games for children online and he has a programmer that makes the software. I am pretty sure i was told 20 years ago that the same guy that designed both SMASH AND GRAB and BIG SHOT moved to the states. There was also easter eggs programmed into alot of these so the programmers would go around the country if they lost their jobs and canned them. I think i heard an ACE prgrammer got caught out. Would have loved to have been about then. I was only 14 when sag came out , i was in the industry but was told i would never learn how to break into these programs. I said "HOLD MY BEER"

Its sounds good bernard but if you remove the gain code then what would happen on unlimited nudges 🤔. Id hate to fluff the jackpot and then think it doesn't matter as gain will nudge the bars in but, without the gain obviously this isnt possible unless its a different bit of code for the unlimited nudge gain .

Thanks for this, John. Exactly the same point was made to me verbally only a few days ago. The 'exchange for nudges' option ensures that you don't get a decent win and it doesn't offer it at all if the current win is too high. Ignoring the cherries is, I think, possible as the code stops looking for winning symbols once it finds a cherry. Telling it to stop looking appears fairly straightforward but you would then need to avoid the GAIN code which looks for an alternative when it finds a win. Obviously, it won't find one if the whole point is to ignore the lesser win. That is far more difficult. I'll take a look when I get some time. Please don't hold your breath 😊

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

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371532527747

Sorted thankyou both of you

Thanks, Sulzerned. Luckily, I was able to buy them from an online pinball shop.

Still very usable Mike. If you can get some decent hi res pics of a bottom glass for sag you could go down the perspex route which would be cheaper than glass printing.

Great work Pete, superb to see this tech running!

Good luck Pete with the emulator!

Good for you! It's not easy and requires a lot of time and effort. They'd certainly not be far wrong if they calculated that there would be hardly any people with the determination to persist!

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

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

Probably not me 😁

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

Layout NCU.rar

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.

Will do 👍👍

Cheers nick ,, I wouldn’t imagine there would be many of these around now,,,

IVE GOT A PROBLEM. THE new classic layout dont let you go into test mode the door switches dont work. i need to force play so i can see the memoyr debugger for the cash prixe as ive incresed it to 1.50p and ive increased the nudges from 4 to 12 instead of 1 to 8. the nudges work brilliant. the 1.50p will pick the 1 but the animation steps are still 20p to 1 pound. i will be there forever. is there no old version of this on older mfmes

Can't say I have. This was a time where everybody and their dog was making rebuilds. Some like this are quite tasteful. Some...not so much Nice to see it emulated maybe in the future. It probably runs the same tech Good find! Oldskooler

Thanks now with a happy new owner, razzle dazzle is next

Yes, of course, Daveo138 and Sulzerned, it is in the Netherlands. link : GE44 6volt 2watt 10mm bajonetlamp

Great work.again . Glad you managed to get hold of the 6v bulbs too.

I actually forgot that I have the top glass 😂 it's a bit ropey but okay

Newbie ... looking to delve into emulators, all fun (and games). Hello from North Yorkshire ...

Starting to take shape now! It's going to be good to see the end result 👌

Nice job on the shot blasting and really makes a nice difference

Started removing rust from various parts of the Reel today; disassembled the motor... but immediately spotted a problem. It clearly hasn't been looked after; there was hardly any grease inside. There is a worn bronze bearing, and there is significant play in the output shaft (can this be ordered? Otherwise, I'll have one machined). I'm not sure if the output shaft is supposed to be like that, though. Fortunately, the gears are still in good condition.

Yes it seems to credit no problem that way, thanks for the offer Graham I just ordered one from steve at swallow

The newly made small glass was fitted along with the missing button decals

It could be the motor on the main control timer is sticking, With machine switched on your can turn the end of the main control timer shaft by hand which might free it off OR, It could be the variator timer, specifically the variator's cam switch. First, when machine is in credit, two timer's should start clicking away on the main panel. One is the rotary hold/nudge selector with wires around it's board, the other is the variator timer with a red cam which operates a cam switch as it turns.. When you press the start button, the main control timer starts, the reel motor starts and the reel solenoids lift to allow the reels to spin, normally the main control timer would complete a full revolution without stopping but this would allow the reels to run in a sequence. To stop this happening the cam switch on the variator takes over the power to the main control timer motor and makes it stop and start as the cam on the variator turns. As this action also starts and stops the main control timer motor This 'Varies' the stopping time of the reels to prevent sequencing. Once the reels have all stopped in their 1,2,3 sequence, the control timer takes over from the variator and restores the circuit to it's own motor to finish the timers full revolution. Now if the cam on the variator fails either the switch collapses, any of the wires have become loose or disconnected even if the variator motor fails then there will be no circuit to the main control timer motor and as soon as it starts it freezes in the same position with the result your machine just sits with the reels spinning and won't do anything else. if you get stuck post pictures or better still a video of your machine.

Exhibitions, and one in particular! The first exhibition I ever attended was in Alexander Palace and it was an eye opener for me to be there and to be put up in a swank hotel in London alongside the directors! After Alexandra Palace the exhibition or the Amusement Trades Exhibition went to Earls Court and to Olympia and has since developed to be ICE or the International Casino Exhibition now that the Amusement Machine industry in the UK is a dim shadow of its former self. However around 1982 I believe, the organisers decided it would be a good idea to move the venue to the centre of the country and away from the admittedly archaic building which I guess looking back was not suitable at all because of the fire, and so it moved to the NEC in Birmingham. Unfortunately the organisers overlooked one of the main reasons why so many overseas visitors came to the exhibition and that was simply because it was in London. Fuelled with expenses, they could get from the exhibition hall in minutes, back to their hotel rooms and on the piss within the hour, if indeed they had not cleared out the mini bar before hand. The one thing about the exhibition and the trip from Wales was that we were all housed in the same hotel. Nothing had changed in the basic philosophy of the company and there was still very little us and them, that was to come but not from the original directors. I have to explain. Despite using one of the nicest hotel in London at that time, we were all housed there, the directors the managers the lorry drivers and the production workers that came up to assist with the moving of machine etc, everyone! The NEC was another thing altogether and Birmingham in those days was not the International Metropolis that it is (?) these days and it didn’t fit the industry and so it was that the exhibition was held there just the once. Again we were all in the one hotel, the whole team! Unfortunately and just some time before this historic move to the Midlands and this stage of the companies history, the original directors were trying to put “Names” in managerial positions. I believe this was to ensure that managers in top positions were seen to have pedigree and to prepare for the impending sell off which eventually happened although many years later and to Whitbread. And so along came four guys that we were introduced to over a short period, and who were taking or creating positions that had not really been recognised before and in some cases over individuals that had been with us a long while and that should have had the job. I will not name them here although their names still make me think of bull shit! The guys were all without question, from different ‘Blue chip’ companies and were all time wasting, egotistical toss pots. They were professional, disciplined, experienced ass licker's dropped into a highly flexible yet hugely successful company and they were actually like fish out of water, and their response was? Try and drown everyone else with their ill fitting methodology. I won’t go into the arguments, the show downs and the crap we had to go through or the number of stupid Memos that we started to sink under (no emails yet). I remember getting one that was on pretty, pre printed, letter headed paper and came from “The Desk of Toss Pot #1” (That’s my substitution to maintain anonymity by the way!) Suffice to say that on the morning of this particular exhibition, thanks to their cumulative cock ups and as the ‘Stand Manager’ of the exhibition set up I faced the following scenario. The first lorry arrived and having prepared our stand and that of our distributors I had all my guys bright eyed and bushy tailed ready and waiting as they started trucking in the machines on a procession of sack trucks. A long faced member of the production staff trucked in the first one and I glared at the sheet of A4 paper stuck to the front which went something like:- “The Print supplier had a problem - no reel bands - to follow” “Oh well put it in place we can deal with that later” or words to that affect I guess I must have said as the second machine came towards me again bearing another A4 sheet of bad news. “No Eproms - Programme to follow” Um…. Third one came in “No power supply - to follow” And so it went on. By the time we had unloaded the lorries and taken the machines and furniture etc to our own and the various distributors stands we had 46 machines that had parts missing from the 95 machines we were exhibiting. Just under 50% and the worst of it was that we couldn’t even begin to test some of them. I made it to a phone (no mobiles) and of course being Saturday it was difficult to raise anyone, however I did manage to get hold of Toss Pot#2 and gave him a discrete but fair assessment of the situation and politely requested, with due reverence that he please put every effort into assisting me! Did I buggery; I called him all the snivelling little s**t bags under the sun and told him to get his sorry arse on a train and get up to Birmingham with the missing bits for the poxy machines and as fast as his fat f*c**in legs would carry him. But of course, there was no way he could. The parts that had been delivered, in some cases incorrectly designed, had to be re-made which meant that suppliers would be working the weekend and the parts would be up Monday morning, just before the start of the exhibition and, this was a big AND, hopefully functional. There was nothing for it but to try and swap parts around from machine to machine and by mixing and matching, robbing our own machines for parts and making sure that all the distributors stands were as complete as they could be, we stabilised the situation by isolating and concentrating the problems as far as was possible, rightly or wrongly, to our own stand. Finishing at around 10:00 pm on Sunday night we tried to get a beer but there was not a lot around so we got back to the hotel all ordered room service and robbed the room bars We had already arranged to get back on the stand by 08:00 the next morning as we still had a of of work to do and just over 3 hours before the exhibition started. To say I was stressed is a slight understatement. When Toss Pots numbers #1 #2 #3 turned up they walked in and were all smiles as they felt their job was done. They were obviously happy in the knowledge that they had the answers to the current problems, accompanied as they were with all the parts necessary. They further made their accomplishments known, with knowing smiles and winks to the directors who had also turned up early having gained wind of the problems, from me. Eventually after brown nosing everyone of importance they came over to me and in suitably loud and condescending voices, and looking to the directors, said! “Right Frank, now what can we do to help you and your team put YOUR problems right” like it was my teams fault! MY PROBLEMS! WTF! Without a moments hesitation and I suppose quite improperly in front of all my staff, my colleagues, the directors, staff on other stands and whoever was passing, I practically touched noses with Toss Pot #1, lets not forget, ex of a large Blue Chip Company and shouted in to his ugly podgy face. “F**K OFF - Get off my stand and leave me the f**k alone” Numbers #2 and #3 turned to Ernie Beaver, Sales Director, who simply said… “I really think you should do what he says.” With that I emptied the boxes of parts on to the carpet tiles and issued instructions quickly to my team who took those new parts and fitted and fully tested each machine before moving on to another one. With only a few minutes to spare Adrian and I pushed the one machine that we just could not persuade to work into the back room. As we shut the door the speakers announced ‘the show is open’ and crowds started to pour in. I left for the Cafe after quite loudly giving my notice to Ernie and Jack and, I am ashamed to admit, broke down in tears. Sitting, shaking and weeping over a Coffee is not a good place to be at the start of an exhibition but I had honestly reached the end of my tether. I couldn't continue to fight against these odds, don’t forget this wasn’t the first altercation where they just would not listen to common sense. Whatever happened I could not work under that sort of pressure especially as it was brought about by such a bunch of w**k*rs and that is exactly how I put it to Jack, Alan and Ernie when they eventually came to find me. They pleaded with me to forget what I had just said as they had apparently already done so. They suggested that I should go back to my hotel room and chill reassuring me that things would change and soon. I finished my coffee, went for a walk, had a Marlboro or two and then went back to do my job, running the stand, meeting customers, answering their questions and leading my team. A week or maybe two later, many people went including Toss pots #1, 2#,#3, and #4. As an addendum to this tail. Toss pot#1 had once taken me aside after I had confronted him in an emergency meeting called as it was about product safety which needed immediate answers. I had both questioned, and then proved his judgement to be wrong, in this meeting that was with many of the senior managers and directors. He had said to me, while looking over his shoulder to make sure he was not overheard, that I was a nothing. The words he used were ‘nothing but a jumped up untrained nobody who was actually very clever at twisting the truth’. He told me over his pointed podgy finger and in no uncertain terms that he would see me out of the company if it was the last thing he did. Most mornings thereafter, as I lowered my arse into his comfortable leather and teak chair, possibly the most expensive chair in the building, I couldn't help feeling just a little sorry for him. No honestly. No seriously! 😉