Best way to coin up machines without free play?

chuchunesme

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I've got a couple machines that don't have a free play option so I want to set up a simple way to coin the game up without reaching into the coin door. So far its my Simpsons 4 player and my Tron. I considered adding a small push button but I don't want to make any holes anywhere to install one. I had a Phoenix that someone wired the 2 player button to the coin switch, it worked well but I'm not sure if it will work with Simpsons or not.
 
I like the wire to the 2nd player start button and don't see why it wouldn't work for any game that has start buttons. But I'd like to find a solution for the games that have NO start buttons like X-Men.
 
I like the wire to the 2nd player start button and don't see why it wouldn't work for any game that has start buttons. But I'd like to find a solution for the games that have NO start buttons like X-Men.

Wire up some sort of joined button combination to trigger a relay to send the signal for the coin?

Example: Simpson's w/ 2 buttons. Wire something up to each button so that if BOTH buttons are pushed at the same time it credits the machine as if a coin had been put in? Just a random idea.
 
I always wired a pushbutton in parallel with the coin switch and mounted it so pressing the coin return would activate the switch.
 
I always wired a pushbutton in parallel with the coin switch and mounted it so pressing the coin return would activate the switch.

Yeah I've seen that and it's pretty cool. The one thing I don't like about it is that it's not obvious to guests. I'd like to be able to have people just go in and start playing the games without having to explain to them how to credit up the game. And without hacking the cabinet to add a big ugly button either. Not sure there is a good solution though.
 
Bob Roberts has a tutorial on how to coin up games that don't have free play, and without hacking up your cabinet. But don't ask me to find the link. His site is in such a way that if you read something you better copy the URL.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
 
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I like the wire to the 2nd player start button and don't see why it wouldn't work for any game that has start buttons. But I'd like to find a solution for the games that have NO start buttons like X-Men.


It works on most games but some have issues with it. Super pacman will lock up if the button is held too long. You have to barely tap it and release then it works fine. Not sure what causes it but it certainly does. There were a handful of other games that it wouldnt work on either. If you search you might be able to find the old thread on it.
 
Does anyone know how to get a machine to take tokens instead of quarters?

If you want to take a particular token, then swap out the coin mechs for ones appropriate to your tokens.

If you want to hack up your coin mechs to take just anything, then search around a bit - I can't find it right now, but I think it was cadillacman did a nice thread on how to alter your coin mechs to take anything.

AHHH! here it is:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=49181

He gives a lot of advice on how to do it.
 
Bob Roberts has a tutorial on how to coin up games that don't have free play, and without hacking up your cabinet. But don't ask me to find the link. His site is in such a way that if you read something you better copy the URL.

Ok, well, I'm not going to give you a hard time for forgetting how to use Ctrl-F on Bob's website, but the method he describes only works for games that actually have start buttons. Basically, you just run one wire from the credit switch to the Player 2 start button, and then when you press that button, it adds a credit. Press it again to add a credit and start a 2 player game. Or, press the 1 player button for a one player game. It's clean and elegant, but nobody will figure it out, you have to tell them how to credit the game. Also, there are a few games that don't like this, since two inputs are getting shorted together. Plus, there's the timing involved, and if you hold the button down it might not credit.

(For the search-challenged, http://www.therealbobroberts.net/freeplay.html)

Games like Simpsons don't have start buttons, so this really won't work. Also, the four coin slots on The Simpsons are separate, since they add credits for that player. So you really need four independent coin switches.

If you don't want to just use coins, you could do as mentioned above, mounting a switch behind the coin reject so that pressing it credits the player. I know it's not obvious to guests, but you could put a little instruction card on the machine. Of course, this assumes your guests can read. I have found that many cannot. Drilling holes in the cabinet is unacceptable, but sometimes you can get clever, replacing lockdown bar holes with pushbuttons, or replacing a control panel carriage bolt with a small button. Again, hard for guests to figure out.

Though, be honest, and think about it - even if you did the blatently obvious, and drilled four holes in the front of the cabinet, and mounted four color coded pushbuttons... would your guests figure it out? Probably not. That's not the standard method of coining up a game. You'd still have to tell them. So, I'd just mount switches behind the coin rejects and be done with it. Just, tell people how to use it. If you leave the mechs in the game, and people don't figure out how to credit it... maybe you'll make a couple bucks. Heh.

Personally, all my games are set to take quarters, and I have a jar of them in the arcade area.

-Ian
 
The best way to coin up games without freeplay is to use quarters! Oddly enough, this is also the best way to coin up games WITH freeplay. Just get a bucket with about 40 bucks worth of quarters and set it out for your guests. Or two buckets. I'm thinking about adding a third after the last party.
 
If you want to take a particular token, then swap out the coin mechs for ones appropriate to your tokens.

If you want to hack up your coin mechs to take just anything, then search around a bit - I can't find it right now, but I think it was cadillacman did a nice thread on how to alter your coin mechs to take anything.

AHHH! here it is:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=49181

He gives a lot of advice on how to do it.

I remember reading cadillacman's tutorial which is awesome, just couldn't find it with all the searching I did.
Then ended up over at rotheblog and found out how to modify an old Midway coin door, and it seems quite simple actually.

http://www.rotheblog.com/2008/11/arcade/tutorial-change-your-coin-door-to-accept-tokens/

File the coin slot a bit so make the mouth wide enough to accept tokens, then bend the trigger hook so it's hugging the left side of the curve. I'll mess with it tomorrow once I get my machine. I can't keep quarters around enough, but have tons of tokens laying around.
I don't want to set my game (wizard of wor) on free play because it gets rid of the attraction mode where the wizards says a few lines.

BTW thanks for the links Mhkohne
 
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This topic comes up every so often. Maybe we should sticky one of the threads to this forum.

There are several ways of accomplishing this and everyone has a different opinion about which way is the best/right way to do it.

I will let others give you those methods. I prefer software mods. But they are not available for all games and are not easy to do for non-software people.
 
tokens man.. tokens ftw..

I heard some a-hole made a tutorial on how to mod your coinmechs to take 25mm tokens and your only cost is a file and some freetime :D
 
I remember reading cadillacman's tutorial which is awesome, just couldn't find it with all the searching I did.
Then ended up over at rotheblog and found out how to modify an old Midway coin door, and it seems quite simple actually.

http://www.rotheblog.com/2008/11/arcade/tutorial-change-your-coin-door-to-accept-tokens/

File the coin slot a bit so make the mouth wide enough to accept tokens, then bend the trigger hook so it's hugging the left side of the curve. I'll mess with it tomorrow once I get my machine. I can't keep quarters around enough, but have tons of tokens laying around.
I don't want to set my game (wizard of wor) on free play because it gets rid of the attraction mode where the wizards says a few lines.

BTW thanks for the links Mhkohne



that is the same thing i wrote, jeff took the time to clean up my language ane typos lol

I pmed mclemore to let me post more pics because my old server went wacky ( this was originally on the old klov where we could post alot more pics) and so far no reaponse to the klov version of the tutorial is all messed up.
 
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