Coin Mechs

Yeah. When we bought our MK and KI and others, the coin door could be specified (2 slot, 3 slot, etc) but they came unpopulated. We put in our own mechs.

Edit to add that sometimes the distributor would put mechs in if you asked them, and they'd charge a lot more for it than if you did it. :D
 
Yeah. When we bought our MK and KI and others, the coin door could be specified (2 slot, 3 slot, etc) but they came unpopulated. We put in our own mechs.

Edit to add that sometimes the distributor would put mechs in if you asked them, and they'd charge a lot more for it than if you did it. :D

Ok with that said what mechs do you recommend plastic or metal ones? I could buy both for the same price. Which ones last longer and are more problem free overall?

To add to that would you happen to know if you got them to put it in what would they use plastic or metal ones?
 
Ok with that said what mechs do you recommend plastic or metal ones? I could buy both for the same price. Which ones last longer and are more problem free overall?

To add to that would you happen to know if you got them to put it in what would they use plastic or metal ones?
I'm sure they put in whatever they had on hand. Does it really matter?
 
Sounds like factory condition was no mechs. :)
 
We put in whatever we had.

Usually, we ordered a box (24) of them at once, usually when we had to make another order, and ordered whatever was on sale at the time. (Coin Controls, NMI, Happ, etc.)

Define 'better'. Better for what? Metal ones usually jammed more, but didn't accept nearly as many slugs as plastic ones did, from memory.

Honestly, find the cheapest ones you can, wash them and drop them in. Unless you're gonna be putting this game on location (which I doubt, because then you wouldn't be worried about being 'original'), any mech will do. :)

Completely subjective, I personally like the metal ones, but there's no previous-operator and tech experience speaking there. :001_shappy:
 
We put in whatever we had.

Usually, we ordered a box (24) of them at once, usually when we had to make another order, and ordered whatever was on sale at the time. (Coin Controls, NMI, Happ, etc.)

Define 'better'. Better for what? Metal ones usually jammed more, but didn't accept nearly as many slugs as plastic ones did, from memory.

Honestly, find the cheapest ones you can, wash them and drop them in. Unless you're gonna be putting this game on location (which I doubt, because then you wouldn't be worried about being 'original'), any mech will do. :)

Completely subjective, I personally like the metal ones, but there's no previous-operator and tech experience speaking there. :001_shappy:

What is a slug?
 
I would think during that time frame more plastic ones would have used compared to metal ones.

The issues I had with plastic is once they are weather beaten by the sun. The plastics parts become brittle.

Metals one tend to rust..
 
all our stuff was metal back in the day. I remember a time when it was fashionable to FIX coin mechs.

this machine should be pretty immaculate if you're debating over coin mechs.
 
I would think during that time frame more plastic ones would have used compared to metal ones.

The issues I had with plastic is once they are weather beaten by the sun. The plastics parts become brittle.

Metals one tend to rust..

Metal ones can be adjusted for token sized coins. Plastic ones are usually(in my experience) Quarters Only.....
 
Metal ones can be adjusted for token sized coins. Plastic ones are usually(in my experience) Quarters Only.....
They're all made in various coin sizes, and *if the cradle is removable* can be upgraded/downgraded.

Remove cradle, insert cradle for correct coin. Adjust width with a coin in against the magnet. Then, if the mech has one, adjust the bounce pin so that a proper coin bounces into the accept channel.

I've seen some that were completely changeable and adjustable, and then I've seen some - like in my PC10 - that are good for nothing but what they were made for.
 
Anyone know if the original factory OEM coin mechs in Mortal Kombat 1 were made of metal or plastic?

I used to purchase hundreds of games in the 1980's and 1990's and I always received new coin mechs in new games.

Midway in the Mortal Kombat era almost always used Coin Controls coin doors. The factory spec mech will be a Coin Controls mech that is a combination black plastic on a metal frame mech. Very common mech. The Coin Controls all metal mech (generally made in England) is an earlier mech and would not be factory standard for MK1.

In later years Coin Controls was purchased by Wells Gardner and you can find the combination metal plastic mech with a Wells Gardner logo on it. The Wells Gardner Mech would be newer than the Coin Controls mech and not standard to the game.

I always tried to match the original coin mechs to the coin door by manufacturer. I had fewer coin jam issues as there are subtle differences between coin mech types.

If anyone is interested the following is what I observed as factory installed mechs:

Bally/Midway Coin Mechanisms 100% metal coin mech in the early years (Galaxian /Pacman era) They switched over at some point to a coin mech with plastic coin cradles or the coin acceptors plastic mech.
Both types of mechs were definitely in use by the Ms Pacman era. These are the custom coin doors that were almost exclusively used by Bally Midway. I remember the metal mech to be more common.

Atari almost always in the early 1980's used the Coin Acceptors brand doors. Most of the time these were the 100% plastic tan color color mechs. These were the large coin doors with internal coin buckets that you pull thru the coin door. (Asteroids / Battlezone / Tempest etc). When Atari switched over to the smaller coin doors around the Kangaroo / Space duel era they started using either the Coin Controls Door with the 100% metal coin mechs made in England. They also used the smaller Coin Acceptors door and these still used the 100% plastic mech. From my experience Atari generally did not use these doors 100% by game. I have seen both styles in the same game. I was probably due to supply issues and probably cost issues. Of course an operator could replace the whole door with a different brand to replace a damaged door.

Williams used Coin Mechanisms 100% metal coin mechs in their chrome metal door. These are the doors that were used in the Williams pinball machines in the 1970's and early 1980's and used in the early Defender production run. The later games (Stargate, Joust Robotron etc) used a black coin acceptors door that once again used the tan 100% plastic coin mech.

Once again if there is interest I can post a thread with pictures of the various coin doors and the proper coin mech combinations.

I posted a picture of a Midway coin door, and the mech on the left is incorrect for this style of door lol.

-roger-
 

Attachments

  • Anatomy-of-a-Midway-Coin-Door.jpg
    Anatomy-of-a-Midway-Coin-Door.jpg
    201.3 KB · Views: 29
Last edited:
Anyone know if the original factory OEM coin mechs in Mortal Kombat 1 were made of metal or plastic?

I forgot to add that if you took a picture of the inside of the coin door on your Mortal Kombat and posted it to the forum I can tell you with 100% accuracy what the correct coin mech will be for that door.

-roger-
 
Back
Top Bottom