Jamma - help a noob understand?

AppleAmusements

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Hi all, I just found this place- I'm a 70's/80's gamer and after growing up watching Ricky Schroeder on "Silver Spoons" in his arcade always wanted a coin op game lol

So I think I will try and find a Simpsons game because my wife is a fan of the Simpsons so I might be able to get away with this title over some others... in my limited research I see that it is considered a 'Jamma' which if I understand correctly is basically just a wire harness that other boards plug into?

I'm wondering if I find that Simpsons game eventually if I can just buy some other 'Jamma" boards and that is all ther is to it? Just mount them securely with a wire extension and plug in whatever other similarly wired 'Jamma' title I want? If the game I like utilizes fewer buttons is it just a matter of some buttons not being used? On the reverse I would imagine that if a game uses more buttons than the cabinet you have the game would boot but not work correctly due to missing buttons? Which would lead me to the last question which is that if all assumptions above are correct then it would stand to reason that the best Jamma type game would be the one with the most buttons... which is ?...

thanks for any that take the time to answer.
 
jamma boards all have the same pin-out (meaning that the wiring from the game pcb to everything else is the same no matter what company made it...there are a few exceptions like with games that have too many buttons or are 4 player games...
other than that jamma is a universal, interchangeable wiring pattern...
some games have a trackball and some don't and games are either vertically or horizontally played, so a vertically oriented game would still work on a horizontally mounted monitor, it'll just be sideway by 45 degrees
 
Welcome, welcome.

You got the right idea. Jamma means ease of swapping PCBs. Well, not literally "meaning", but...eh..whatever.

Best candidates for a simpsons cab would obviously be other four player JAMMA games to take advantage of all the controls. Konami made some great ones. TMNT, Sunset Riders, and X-men. Tons of other stuff will work though.
 
So yes, you can plug in other jamma boards but the jamma standard didn't support 4 players so the extra 2 won't work unless they use the same extra connectors that Simpsons used on their 4 player cab. I just saw a 4-player Simpsons for sale on CL here in California earlier today for $350 I believe.

No idea where you live though....

You may also want to consider a multi-game PCB of some sort that can plug into the jamma harness and let you play many games on the same box. But warning...it's a gateway drug and will eventually ruin your marriage.
 
damn that Ricky Schroeder!!!!

ricky5.jpg


that's how i got into arcade games myself i was so jealous of him having one in his home :shakefist:

i agree with mudhens1, and yes you can as long as you play by the rules :D. you could make a custom control panel and play a good number of the jamma games out there.
 
I'm in NJ but i will try and track down that CL Simpsons... I'm guessing that it would be absurdly expensive to get it here and not a good idea to boot because of the delicate nature of these games?

I think Simpsons is going to have to be the main cabinet because like I said the wife would tolerate it and I don't think I am going to get away with anything with a much larger footprint or with side panels with a bunch of skulls and swords or the like most cool games have : )

Is the Simpsons a particularly good or bad chasis (cabinet?) to use as a base?
 
Is the Simpsons a particularly good or bad chasis (cabinet?) to use as a base?

The cabinet is a sound cab. Good overall all shape, not too overly big, removable panel, nice 25" monitors. The Konami cabinet series were some of the most colorfully wrapped cabinets for their age. This was a time when distributers were beginning to trim the fat off the costs of making games and were less and less likely to install full length artwork.

When you begin your search on CL, keep in mind that many of these cabinets were later painted a typical black color so operators could throw in whatever newest game without confusing the general public. So keep an eye out for the standard profile shape that the Konami cab is known for. You can usually find a generic black-paint one for much less than one covered in beautiful Simpsons artwork. A simple paint remover will reveal the beauty underneath. You'll have to roll the dice though, you might get any one of the other Konami cabinets though. X-men, Sunset Riders, TMNT, Turtles in Time, etc etc. It's a crap shoot.

Study the profile, my man:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=31cb2e86d8c563115000ab5e56184f5

Probably the most confused cabinet style with this Konami cabinet was the Data East 4-player. Of course, it too had some badass Captain America artwork on the sides. Usually you can tell, because the outline of the sideart will be visible under the paint.
 
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thanks a lot for the reply. And that google sketch 3d view is pretty cool!

I like the idea of the Simpsons original with decent artwork because it will be in our bar room where we entertain a lot and I don't want man-cave quality stuff in there...

Plus I think having the 4 coin slots would be almost a necessity for Gauntlet - which would be a cool game to have... also a Quartet board for the right price would be good to have the 4 slots, X men game is cool, and I always did like sunset riders.

Would it be right to assume that footprint aside having a 4 person game with 4 coin slots would be a great thing if I wanted to be able to swap boards? Is it usually really as easy as unplugging a board from a molex and connecting a new one?!!!

Guess I am going to have to be patient and wait for the right machine to come along
 
It would be hard to run Gauntlet in a Simpsons cab, Gauntlet is not a jamma game, and it's connectors are all different (and there are a lot of them).

There are a bunch of 4-player games with the exact same pinout, even for the player 3 and 4 joysticks -- this makes it a breeze to swap games out of your machine. Here's a list of games that should work with no problems in a Konami 4-player cab:

The Simpsons
The Main Event
Crime Fighters
Crime Fighters 2 (also known as Vendetta)
TMNT (available in 2 player or 4 player versions)
TMNT Turtles in Time (also in 2 player or 4 player versions)
X-Men (also available in 2 and 6 player)
Sunset Riders
Wild West C.O.W-Boys of Moo Mesa
Bucky O'Hare (3 players only)
Asterix
Metamorphic Force
Mystic Warriors
Captain American and the Avengers (Data East)
Growl (taito)
Desert Assault

There are possibly more, these are just the ones confirmed by members of this forum.

I've got a 4-player Crime Fighters cab, and we use that to swap Desert Assault, TMNT, Cap'n America, Growl, and Vendetta. Lots of 4-player gaming mileage in a Konami cab.
 
For your first cab, a Simpsons 4p Konami cab is a great choice. The Simpsons game alone will get a lot of play! It's a good cab that will let you swap out a lot of good games.

Everybody loves the Simpsons game and everybody that comes over won't be able to resist.
 
Thanks for the vote of confidence on my choice. I've only been looking in the past week but it seems absurd what a seller's market it is- I'm looking at the CL, Fleabay, etc. and stuff gets snapped up on CL in a matter of hours usually and prices on the auction site... I mean $1000 for a dedicated middle of the road game seems average over the last few days.

Keep your eyes out for me guys for a good deal on that Simpsons... I contacted pretty much everyone in the country selling one on CL and have ZERO replies.
 
You may have better luck posting in the wanted section of this forum. I honestly don't think you'd have too much trouble finding at least a decent condition Simpsons machine for around $500 or less but so often people on CL or eBay think their game is worth more than what people here would pay. One thing I haven't seen anybody mention however is any possible sound issues with swapping boards. While The Simpsons is JAMMA, it is also wired for stereo sound in the factory original machines, which means the speaker wires go to a different plug on the PCB instead of right to the JAMMA connector. It's not a huge deal and a number of other Konami games use this stereo sound connector, but other 4 player games don't. I'm sure people have come up with some simple workarounds for it.
 
Agreed. If you haven't already, post something in the wanted section on klov. There are probably 30 of these posted on CL around the country at any given time and with patience I would think sub-$500 is possible. Perhaps more for a nice working one. I don't know NJ prices but in California they pop up pretty regularly. Here's the one I was talking about earlier:

http://fresno.craigslist.org/for/2474102278.html

And a bunch more that I don't think are very close to you at a all unfortunately:

http://miami.craigslist.org/brw/vgm/2557608738.html
http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/tag/2514867895.html
http://cleveland.craigslist.org/ele/2517144037.html
http://cleveland.craigslist.org/ele/2517144037.html
http://houston.craigslist.org/vgm/2574525489.html
http://dayton.craigslist.org/sys/2576240297.html

But be careful if there's no pics or you never know what you might end up with. THere's some a lot of cabinet hackery going on out there or you could end up finding this:

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/vgm/2498060090.html

:)

Oh, and to answer another question....shipping can be done if the seller is willing. People here can give advice but the cost will probably be as much again as you paid for the machine to start with.
 
The nice thing about posting 'want ads' on Craigslist is that there are are lot of these games out there, and the want ad will do the work for you. I've seen several Simpsons for sale in the last 6 months. Often when someone decides to sell theirs, it is because they need the money - NOW. If you have an ad up, it is faster and a lot easier for them to just email you rather than going through the trouble to take pictures, test the game, make a post, and then deal with all the CL weirdos. Make it easy for someone to sell you their game, offer a fair price, and be patient (we're talking weeks or months patient) and one will turn up. Just be sure to renew the ad every couple weeks (not more often, or you'll annoy people and get flagged.) Most people will do things the easy way if they can. I've gotten several games and a jukebox this way.

But if you are posting a 'want ad' make sure you have the cash set aside. If somebody emails you with the game you want, they'll likely want to sell it right away. Often they'll need the cash that day. If you are not prepared, you'll miss it.
 
Thanks for the advice. I will try and figure out the "wanted" feature of CL today. I have no experience with CL so I'm not really sure how to navigate... I guess I just post it individually to all the different location forums I am interested in? And then I guess there is a section just for arcade machines? Thanks again.

OK I think I did it!

Just posted in "Wanted" not in a specific area... here is my ad:

Looking for arcade machines in decent working order for myself. I am not a business or reseller just a 1970's-80's kid looking to reclaim some youth. I am especially interested in The Simpsons and Silent Scope game, classic games, Dragon's Lair, and any arcade games will be considered. I don't know how to repair games so please let me know if you know of a problem- it won;t mean a no sale but let's be fair. I have a few forums I can check fair market value for any machine and would be glad to share this information with you. From my limited experience it seems people either think they are sitting on a gold mine or are giving them away. FYI the average price on a decent machine is about $350, of course some are $100 and some sit down popular titles (and pinball) $5000 so that's just a basic figure. I'm looking to be fair to everyone involved- In north Jersey I may be able to offer same day payment and pickup. Contact me at franksantora @ hotmail . com (remove spaces of course) Thanks!
 
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If it were me, I'd make that ad a lot shorter and sweeter. Keep it simple and easy to read - say what you want, that it is for a home game room, and how much you'll pay. You'll have better luck with a shorter ad. Never overestimate the attention span of the general populace.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Good point- I think I will revise it... I'm just kinda giddy being that I just 'discovered' I might make this a reality in the near future (of owning a cool coin-op game) and want folks to understand they are dealing with a fan not a business.
 
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