Kill Switches, how long did it take you to...

Steverd

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I just did a short video for my arcade blog about kill switches.
How long into your arcade collecting hobby did it take you to learn that you could pull kill switches out and that you did not have to tape them down?



Steve
 
Day 1 :p

The seller informed me about the switch and how it operated when I was buying my Pac-man.

I have seen machines with tape or a metal bracket pushing the button down, I thought it would be a little more straight forward. I guess once I learned about it, and being such a simple mechanism, I thought everyone would know, guess not.
 
Day 1, serious?

It took me at least 6 MONTHS, every game I bought had the switches taped down and/or unscrewed and turned the other way. My sellers probably never knew you could do this..

Steve
 
This might offend the purists, but I just take them out. Or you can extend the wiring up to the top of the cab and install a DPST switch to turn the game on and off.
 
I always keep the back door on, so the decision whether or not to pop it out doesn't plague me. The one thing I hated about my Zaxxon was the kill switch was in the front where the mother board and coin mech access was. I couldn't flip the coin switch without opening the front door and shutting off the game. Also the lock was loose causing the game to shut off during intense gameplay.
 
Door interlocks. I didn't immediately realize what you meant by "kill switch" but yes, that is what it does. Back in '01 when I bought my Final Fight (Phoenix cabinet) it shut off right in front of me as the seller removed the back door to show me the internals. So, technically, I learned about it before I bought my first game, 2 minutes before, to be exact.


Years later I bought a Touchdown Fever (Q*bert cabinet) and the only thing wrong was the coin door interlock was not pushed in. Pulled it out and it fired right up. Needed a cap kit but worked great otherwise.
 
I just did a short video for my arcade blog about kill switches.
How long into your arcade collecting hobby did it take you to learn that you could pull kill switches out and that you did not have to tape them down?



Steve

About 5 or 6 years. I got a job with an op, who explained to me that the first thing they did was cut them out and throw them in the trash, lol. So he never figured it out.
 
So many nights wasted leaning down and holding a button while trying to stare at a screen... come to think of it, i think i found out about this a few years ago. Guess i forgot. Time to give it a shot!
 
I knew about it before I had games, but the guy who I bought the Galaxian cocktail from thought it was hacked up because he thought you had to tape the switch down (for whatever reason the coin door wouldn't push the switch in), but the guy also thought the game was hacked up and junk because it said "FREE PLAY," therefore he sold it for only $100... :D
 
BTW - I love the interlock switches and wish you wouldn't educate people on them. ;) I have bought a few dead games and the seller didn't know it was just the interlock.
 
Funny that pulling out would turn something on.

But it is nice to know if you didn't already. Took me a couple years and a kid to figure this one out. Really. My kid was playing with an interlock and a light bulb went off. Always passively wondered why so many wires were needed to connect a circuit.
 
Took me about a month. I was actually trying to create something that would be easy to get on and off the button and would stay in place. When I took the "creation" off the button it pulled out. I thought, hmm. That's a pretty good idea too.
 
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