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Can I just say again that these notes are taken from my perspective so I am bound to figure large in them. If this seems self indulgent or self promoting it's not meant to be so be honest, re-direct me if I drift off subject. The appeal of Development and creating new ideas and (truth is) actually being “recognised” for my abilities was beginning to appeal to me. It was here where I learnt how to create, wire and programme the analogue computer (for that was what it was) from the schematics prepared by Alan and Howard Parker. I never knew what a schematic was and the consideration that it bore no resemblance to the actual physical layout took a while to get my head around. As by way of explanation consider the London underground schematic is not geographical and gives no idea of the distance between two points! Constructing them as we did with a hole cutter, a plastic tray, a rivet gun, a soldering Iron and several rows of SAIA or Starpoint (more of them later) rotary switch timers, dozens of Omron relays and yards and yards of tri coloured wire. Bad Boys Race Our Young Girls But Violet Generally Wins Oh my lord where did that come from…. Black, Brown, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green Blue,Violet,Grey, White Isn’t memory a strange thing, I can forget anniversaries but that came from no where? Anyway, I digress (sounds Welsh?) Working for the first time with Alan and Howard and Ron (Watts) I learned how the machine was wired and constructed. I was also introduced into the world of ‘programming’ as indeed that was what it was, sequencing the operation of the timers and cams so that the various components operated in time during the game cycle. As a simple example the reel motor had to start momentarily before the reel stop solenoids were lifted or the reels would not start quickly and together. Oooh if I remember it was 10 degrees before, now where did that come from! All these little ‘sub routines’ would be recognised for what they were many years later with the introduction of the computer programme, perhaps it was around even then I don’t know. Furthermore I was also exposed to statistics, probability, chance, randomness and game structure and I eagerly started to read about them and found them fascinating. Although basic calculations could be worked out and a free running machine could be constructed to record the wins on meters without a player, believe it or not, the only way a machine was percentage tested was by sitting there with a black coffee (Nescafe) and a fag (Marlboro). Playing the machine over and over again and trying to get maximum return from the benefits offered via holds and features was second nature after a while, all the time recording on sheets of A4 paper the result of each game and what you had done to influence it with hold or hold after win etc. Example…. 6421 Gr | Gr | Or |.......|......|.......| 6422 Gr | Gr | Gr | H1 | H2 |.......| 20p | H 6423 Gr | Gr | Gr | H1 | H2 | H3 | 40p | HAW And so on. By the way I guess the payout amount is wrong but you get the idea hopefully, and the big number? That is the game number and until you got to around 5-6 thousand the results, apparently, were not very revealing unless they were really crazy by which time you knew there was something wrong with the design. With a 3 reel machine and 20 symbols per reel the full game cycle was 8000 games and until that number was achieved we sat there and played - and played. This was the boring bit but it helped that I had a colleague to share banter with and Charles Hazel or Bingham, was that man. One episode that was amusing was brought about while checking the percentage of a machine and realising that I had not recognised a 'Grape' win, or three grapes appearing in the win line. This was about 40p or some small amount and this appeared to be bringing the percentage payout down and certainly should have appeared more often than it had appeared to have done. I checked the spec and the glass and and there was the win symbol but looking at the third reel there were no grapes and the wiring had not accommodated the win either. It had been missed out of the design. I wont mention the guys name but he did go red from embarrassment! I mean 'what' are the chances eh? I found that I was really happy in the development arena. I began to notice that the later endeavours from the research area incorporated electronics, micro processors and plug in circuit boards some of which could be seen in the ‘extra secret’ development area. Plug in sub boards could be seen on a back plane and discrete components such as transistors and capacitors could also be recognised none of which I knew of at the time. So I decided it was time to get some serious studying done and I enrolled in Llandaff technical college for a course in Micro Processor Controllers and Electronic Circuitry and turned up in my Vauxhall viva HA ( to give a time reference). I was not alone as several of my colleagues decided that this was the way to go so we used to got to college and this was an excuse for another night out! Working with industrial research and development teams and being exposed to ‘cutting edge’ technology of it’s time meant that much of the stuff we were exposed to was ahead of the college’s mediocre supplies. I began taking orders and quite often delivered components, circuits and odd parts in to donate to the tutors which they were grateful for and helped me to become friendly with the tutors. All this was sanctioned by the company as it gave us an ‘in’ to the University. As an aside here it was during this period of development that we were working closely with Texas Instruments and as we were about to take a great deal of their products, particularly the TI 9980. This was to be the heart of the new system I was told. Anyway, one of their consultants came to work alongside us to help with the interface. The guys name was Peter Crow. I can remember some years later the hilarity caused as a receptionist in a hotel took down the names of myself and my colleagues. Martyn Stork, Frank Bird, Peter Crow and Ian Wingfield when we all booked into a hotel for the night. Cheeky girl laughed and her name was Abigail. Part of the development of the Electronic system for JPM was the adoption of a cutting edge drive for the reel unit, those spinning wheels that display the recognised symbols such as Oranges Grapes and Lemons etc. Again as an aside here, many people are unaware that the symbols or Icons of fruits, are actually supposed to be a hangover from the early days of coin operated machine in the US. Or at least this is what I have heard from many people both in this country and the states and it is the subject of much conjecture. Most people (well those not on this forum anyway) probably don't know where the term ‘fruit machine’ came from. The modern day ‘fruit machine’ is actually supposed to be a result of several American companies around at that time one of which was called Bell and they produced chewing gum, or so the story goes. They developed a machine along with the Mills company (again so the story goes) that dispensed the ‘Bell’ fruit flavoured chewing gum and sold them in early coin operated machines that used the reels as a gimmick. The game would play and the customer would get delivered a fruit flavoured gum! The ‘Bar’ symbol is again, supposed to be, a representation of a stick of chewing gum and the Bell symbol, well that goes without saying. Of course the typical bar owner would always have a little ‘book’ on the side and you could give the guy a dollar or two and bet him that you would win your stick of gum. If you did he would give you back a prize whose value was based on an arbitrary amount depending on the fruits that came up or perhaps the Bell or the Bar symbol would have been the top prize and gave perhaps 10 to 1 on your stake. Of course the odds were heavily in favour of the Bar (for Bar read Mob, of course). In any case enough of ancient history, the next step (sic) is into the future with the Stepper Reel unit!

Another picture from back in the day, looks like an episode of Sweeny. The Customer Service crew! Left to right Dave Mead, Russel Grimble, Huw Thomas, yours truly, Steve Bryant and Martin Stork. My guess 1980 ?, Just had the Fiat twin cam HTG79W.

Chris's fruit machine emulation boots are almost infinitely large to fill to be honest, he dedicated literally decades to FME, and was an lovely bloke to boot (from our private chats back during the mfme2mame times). It's a vibrant scene for the small numbers involved in comparison to other less niche scenes, but we have some dedicated hard workers in all disciplines, so I'm just hoping we can do him proud mate!

Hi folks, I've been pretty busy lately. Here's my System 5 repair I've just finished. Mega happy when this booted up

I'm on it. Sounds like a decent bloke, on the phone. He's going to ring me back. Curiously, I already have a machine called Zig Zag, but it's a conversion of a Bradley Challenger from pre-war days. That's for when I have my 'other' hat on!

Fuck me John looking through all the threads and numerous posts across all forums you have brought to life a whole new game since Chris left us, you, Andrew, Tony and many others across all sites have given hope to the scene, many thought and some may not like this that Chris's death was the end of everything but knew with the outcome of great people like yourself breathed life again into our whole realm, you have my respect mate and have done for a while just like a few choice others. Many including myself thought that when the main MFME man left us it was game over but talking to those on and off the grid I just knew that you would give us hope and pay it forward to keep the pot still boiling. @orchid obviously knows you better than everyone else and even though we have clashed at times he too has my respect (but still don't like him), it is not for just what you are doing with Chr's and AS but to know there are still good and honest hardworking people on the planet that keep the flame burning for what we truly love, is the main backbone to it all. Whether MFME or MAME the goal is to keep emulation alive and kicking, Chris will never be forgotten in my book but reality states that someone has to take the reigns for the greater good and I couldn't think of anyone better than you and would bet that he would say the same thing. **You all know I live off the sleeve and don't give a fuck what others think but if truth really be told my statement says it all** Take care all and @johnparker007 keep kicking fucking arse!!!!

PCP - RunnaRoundTech: System 1Fancy going for a run, then give this 2p game a run for it's money.Keyboard shortcuts in the notes.Thanks to:Wizard (RIP) for MFMEThe rom provider@innfection for the image used@AK45 for testing.Play using MFME V20.1 only RunnaRound.zip

I’m trying to understand the point of this zippy? It it so you can play two machines in the virtual arcade at the same time? J

I have to explain first of all what brought me back to this forum. During a long lunchtime exercise walk around the ex WWII aircraft hangers in Llandow, my colleague picked something up from the grass verge... would you believe it!

Hi there, happy to be back. I was (eventually) the project manager for the SWP Product and that will certainly be mentioned in time, I am trying to be as historically correct as I can.

awesome thank you

Haven't posted here for a while although plenty of boards have gone through the workshop, no time as per usual. Anyway one today had me head scratching for a few minutes. The board came in with 'no boot' as the fault which is usually most of the transistors, resistors and track around the battery area. In this case someone had been here before and had done quite a few repairs. On first inspection I noted the volume pot was missing and on boot up there was nothing although the RESET was good and there was activity on the ADDRESS lines. The DATA lines however were very low, under 2v. First suspect was the CPU which was innocent. Fitting the volume control just gave a continuous farting noise? So where does one go from here? The DATA lines go to all the support chips, RAM, CTC and the Synth chip!! A bit of luck intervened here before I started socketing everything. Checking the waveform of what there was on the DATA bus by the SIO chip showed about 2v p to p. Travelling back towards the CPU I noted it got slightly less per each chip ending up at the Synth chip where it was the lowest. Probably only talking about 0.2v per chip but that made it about 1v difference. Now the synth chip looked like it had been removed and replaced but probably not swapped and it hadn't been socketed (grrrr!) Anyway, once removed, socket fitted and replaced it then booted first time and ran as it should. The chip in question is the AY-3-8910 and these are now becoming difficult to source at a reasonable price. prieces on Ebay seem to vary between approx £18-40 which is ridiculous. I don't even look at the Chinese rubbish as the phrases fingers and burnt spring to mind! Even the Yamaha equivalent YM2149 is getting scarce although I have ordered a couple.

I doubt I’ll be the only one googling Colin blunstone.

Yes I would be correct in saying your machine was built first.😁

Another on the Facebook marketplace. Great game It it's original condition and looks complete inside, still on old money but the main glass has just about had it. Although electro machines are steadily increasing in price, Whether this one will get the £350 asking price could be too high. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/370202454763222/

Not quite the same as mine...

So many 70s machines had the same name used by all the companies which is great to get the pictures to match the name to the actual machine.

No worries John thanks to both for the reply.

welcome back frank and for contributing further and letting us share a insight into what happened and the process youve gone through etc happy days p.s cant beat a jpm token randomly found to trigger a memory , amazing how such little things can spark us back up again , i look forward to seeing and reading more from you

Great write up frank and fascinating stuff and truly enthralled by it all.

sorry mate i was waiting for some blanks to arrive im all out of blank 64kb roms 😁or i would of messaged you

That 10p token reminds me of the great machines JPM were producing that accepted not only that but the 5p tokens too. The playing card symbols, the coloured roundels with the JPM logo and the JPM embossed start button.

Great machine I remember when I was at MAM Inn Play we had to do an update on all of ours out on site with a new disc as someone had all of the answers on a sheet of paper doing the rounds in the pubs !

Had the frames re powder coated a while back but I can’t remember the ral code, after putting it back together I have a fault on one of the lamp holders list interest in at this time so I get shot of it

REDTCS17S.BIN Hi See if this is any good....

Oh my god, that takes me back!

Actually, I managed to find V5.1 now - so happy days. I can't get hold of v19 or v20 anywhere though? - any pointers? Also - I tried registering on desertisland fruits - and it is telling me that I need to make an introduction post - and I need to do this, before I am approved - ok no problem, except it won't let me make an introduction post, until I approved. So bit of a chicken and egg, I can't be approved until I make a post, but I can't make a post until I'm approved. So I am at a loss as to what to do to get access to this forum - any help on this? Sorry to hear about Wizard, such a shock, been using mfme for many years.

All cash Super Nudge Gambler with some companies own glass and reel band change. BF symbols replaced to remove it's identity. Is what it is really and another version of SNG to collect @ £220 https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/596056861414378/

Yeah I was sensing it going that route mate. With Epoch you need a decent tested board or you just going to go around in circles

Many thanks for this larger update of this superb Jpm system 80 machine. Super stuff Vectra.

I can't imagine why the management would do that.

No no no, no boot filling you have your own boots (mine has got pink frills on it😁), no-one can fill anyone's boots as we all have our own styles. This is the difference between keyboard text and irl, anyway I have a question AGAIN... Would AS be able to be split/multi-screened i.e. have two AS running at the same time (would have to have some crazy specs though) like with MFME, half MFME half AS lol that would be insane?

Thanks mate.

This all sounds great 😃 but for a newbie like me I haven’t got a clue what your all talking about.

Apologies.. Been a strange couple of years hasn't it? I have some more to add ( at last ) for anyone interested - let me catch up what I have done before.

whoever buys this one has work to do to get it up and running again. Main glass is a re-print and has a burned out reel solenoid then there is the rust. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265303049761?hash=item3dc54b4621:g:OjAAAOSwuslhN4KK

I've added it to the list I can't get it running in MFME though, says "NO DATAPORT COMM", so I'll need to get it working with help from the layout whizzes over on DIF first (so I can test the patch when it's done).

Great to see Plenty of these still about. Working and a cheap auction start but expect it will end up for silly money. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185014793167?hash=item2b13bdb3cf:g:mLEAAOSwdNBhJRda

Looks like it on this video

On and done... Seem to work ok. Happy days Thanks for the support and encouragement and replies Thanks to all those that helped. You know who you are

franks friend has just shared with me his promo mug from his "jpm drawer" wow video-1613559491.mp4

A friend of franks and co worker has just told me that jpm had there own inhouse magazine i wonder what interesting stuff it has inside, i am hoping we will hear from frank and his co worker on the mecca again , if not and i am sent anything i will share it here its so awesome ... got me fingers crossed

Well done, all, on getting it worked out. Looks like another 'unique' machine will soon be emulated. Don't remember seeing another ACE machine on system 1 with a flipper reel, except for Flip A Note. Picture attached. No roms available for FAN.

Untitledtopofthebill.txt

Press Adverts Criss Cross in November 1985 Treasure Trail January 1986 Give us a Break October 1986 Suit Pursuit October 1987

Yes very true. It would be nice to get more info. I actually thought one person was behind JPM though Im starting to think I must be wrong because somebody else has also mentioned that there were three. originally. Seems to be very little online about the history of Jpm sadly.

There must be people still alive that worked on the production line that may know. Or how about the founders J.P. or M?

******** Project Update/Correction *********** I thought i would post this on the end of the project to keep everything about this machine in one place Machine has been fine for nearly a year now and running without any problems but i always thought from playing this back in the day that in attract mode(look at the final video bit in post #76) that some of the snooker balls on the top glass flashed with the "Give Us A Break" logo but when bulbs where placed in all the holders you could just about see the light though the artwork and in wrong place so i left it there thinking it maybe an older type glass or something and enjoyed the machine without any problems. Since then i got a spare top glass of Riche100 with no lamp mask on and could see that 3 of the balls should be illuminated. So first job compare glasses << The one of rich is the bottom one Penny dropped instantly The bloody mask is on upside down but as it was firmly fixed as machine was being restored i assumed it was correct and left it alone.Also having no spare top glass back then i was reluctant to rip the lamp mask off if you know what i mean So i managed to take off the mask with no probs and the double sided sticking foam was quite new so the previous owner(s) was at fault for this but that's life. << Lamp mask back in the machine and also cleaned up << Blue ball on top glass was not working under test.It just turned out to be a faulty output driver transistor Q42(ZTX600) which was replaced << At last now all working as it should be << And from the outside Now just another quick vid of the machine working as it should be as i will delete the old finished video soon << Its nice to have a spare << I now also Suit Pursuit from the machine i bought last year and The Treasure Trail of riche100 (maybe needed one day you never know) I also have 2 more MPU's to go at next year and i will just add them to this post as they are done. I cant believe i missed this first time round :headache: :headache: Some MPU restorations next year