Pac Man with Ms. Pac Dughterboard

lextek1

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Hello,

New to this site but I just bought a Pac Man that has been converted to a Ms. Pac. It is a Midway board that is plugged in. How do I return it back to Pac Man? The person I bought it from said that he has the original Pac Man board that plugged in at the same location but has no sound. I was under the impression that the daughterboard was only to covert it to Ms. and I could simply remove the board and place the Z80 back into the main PCB. Am I wrong or was that a bootleg of some kind?

Thank you for any advice.

Don
 
All Ms. Pac Man boards are Pac-Man boards with an extra daughter board and a few ROM changes.

You can convert it back to Pac-Man by removing the extra daughter board, moving the Z80 from the daughter board to the spot the daughter board ribbon cable was connected to, and removing the Ms. Pac Man ROMs and putting in Pac Man ROMS....
 
Riptor

Ms Pacman is a Pacman board with some new ROMs on the main PCB and the Aux board.

To change it back you would need to remove the Aux PCB connector and get the Pacman ROMs. Talk to Riptor. Actually, I can't believe he hasn't posted before me?!
 
Thanks,

I was fairly sure I was right on that. I need to investigate the ROM changes you mentioned. This hobby is very easy to get hooked on! This whole issue for me started when a friend asked me to fix his Ms. Pac. His G07-CBO needed the chassis recapped and a few other parts but otherwise worked very well. Needless to say, now I have a Pac and a Stargate. Love em both...

I look forward to working with you guys in the future. This site has been very helpful in learning to repair that monitor and now waiting for a good board problem to play with....

Don
 
Simply remove ribbon cable and install Z80 in its place on the mainboard then replace roms 5E & 5F with pac roms. These are your character roms.

Greg you beat me! I have been busy today getting things ready for the arcade party on saturday.
 
I think I am hooked! As a matter of fact I have not picked Pacman up yet, just paid for him. I need to run up to Dallas to get him. All my diagnostics are from pictures the previous owner sent me. He is in very good, although used and a little arcade type wear, condition. I wanted an original Pacman that was in the proper cabinet. Not painted and changed from one game to the other, ETC.... I have no idea why, just wanted it that way!

His screen looks like it needs degaussing since the colors are a little goofy and the monitor rolls to the left. It has the G07 monitor so, I have one successful G07 rebuild and I think I can handle another. For some reason this guy converted it to Ms. Pac. I'm not sure why it had another daughterboard on it if it was not needed. He wants 50 bucks for the "original" board that was in it. It has no sound output with that board installed and I guess that was his reason for converting it. I think I will pass on that!

I need to source the character ROM's when I get it home but I am sure someone will have some.

I am a Lexus/Toyota diagnostic specialist and have no experience working on these machines. I certainly don't know much about them but I am smart enough to ask questions if I am unsure. Thanks again for all your help!

Thanks to YellowDog for selling me my Stargate and instilling a strong desire to revive these old machines.
 
There's an op in your town with some games you can probably pick up cheap. Has a lot of used monitors, too....
 
An operator, meaning he puts games out on route. The place is called A & C Music Company, or A & L or A & M, or something like that.

I drove from here to Friendswood, bought 14 cabs (10 Ms. Pac-Man, 2 Super Pac-Man, 1943, and Vs. SMB). Coming into Friendswood from the west, I drove around town on the highway, then hit a main road to the left, then a couple blocks later turned left again. Went down about 5 blocks and it was on the right. There is a sign outside.

Coming back, hit that McDonald's there on the highway. Had a 16-ft Ryder truck (with lift gate) stuffed with games...
 
I'm not sure why it had another daughterboard on it if it was not needed.

Pac-Plus maybe? Then again... the colors would be screwed up with Ms. Pac-Man if that was the case, right? Hmmm... I wonder what board he was talking about now.

Either way, doesn't matter... you just wanted a Pac-Man, you'll get a Pac-Man. Congratz.
 
OK, the plot thickened a little. He states that he did not add a daughterboard to make it a Ms.Pac, he swapped the entire PCB and DB from a Ms.Pac into it. I guess I should get that board from him but, is it not the same board anyway? Is 50.00 a decent price for a board that has no sound? He should throw it in w/ the deal me thinks....
 
OK, the plot thickened a little. He states that he did not add a daughterboard to make it a Ms.Pac, he swapped the entire PCB and DB from a Ms.Pac into it. I guess I should get that board from him but, is it not the same board anyway? Is 50.00 a decent price for a board that has no sound? He should throw it in w/ the deal me thinks....


Yeah, good deal IMO for a Pac board that runs minus sound (since you're not paying shipping on it either).

Sound problems are usually an easy fix... could be something very simple (bad connection on the edge connector or bad sound amp). Plus it'll give you a back-up board or a board you can swap if you ever wanted to play Ms. Pac (so you don't have to fool with with DB and EPROM swap). I'd go for it.

For repair, there are countless websites that deal with Pac-Man board issues and repair logs. And there are several people on the forums that will do it for you if you don't feel comfortable messing with it.
 
Had to rob the piggie bank a little but I got the board. He was firm on the price. Total outlay was 350.00. Since I'm not planning on getting rid of it anytime soon I guess I don't mind too much. Feel like it was a little high for a game that needs work but hobbies never are cheap, are they?
 

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Had to rob the piggie bank a little but I got the board. He was firm on the price. Total outlay was 350.00. Since I'm not planning on getting rid of it anytime soon I guess I don't mind too much. Feel like it was a little high for a game that needs work but hobbies never are cheap, are they?


Minus the water damage on the bottom, looks like a really good cabinet (unless the other side is wrecked). Machines/hobbies are worth what you think they worth. I used to be into reef tanks... dropping $350 for a machine with 2 boards, working monitor, etc etc is nothing compared to dropping $500 on wet rocks, $100+ for a piece of a small coral, $40+ per fish, $400+ for lights, etc etc... and after all of that, you can't enjoy it until several years down the road. So... $350 for instant gratification is a good deal. :)

I aim cheap with the arcade stuff... I have a pretty set limit of $50 or free for my cabinets... I've only violated that a couple of times... for a NW BattleZone (150), Ms. Pac mini ($100), and a Route 16 cocktail ($100)... and $250 for a jukebox if that counts. Everything else has been $50 or free.

You can keep it cheap by checking around locally... you can get some great project machines. You'll have to put some time into them to get them where you want them to be, but in the end it'll usually be worth it. Luckily you're in TX and there seems to be a really good collecting scene down there. Here in Nashville, there are only a few of us, and we're constantly scraping and competing for cabinets... our numbers are growing but it's still rough. You're in a great place to get a good collection built up quick.

I think I read (too lazy to check) that this is your first official machine? If so, welcome to the hobby... warn your wife/gf that some of the furniture might have to go bye-bye in the coming months... ... if she complains, just get a Ms. Pac or a pinball machine... ... the chicks dig pinball.

IMO, if you have the money, that's a good deal you got there. ... but I'm partial to that style of Midway cabinet, so my opinion is a little biased.
 
Simply remove ribbon cable and install Z80 in its place on the mainboard then replace roms 5E & 5F with pac roms. These are your character roms.

Greg you beat me! I have been busy today getting things ready for the arcade party on saturday.

What happens if you DON'T replace the Ms Pac roms with pac roms? Does the board still function good enough to get a good/bad status from it?
 
Had to rob the piggie bank a little but I got the board. He was firm on the price. Total outlay was 350.00. Since I'm not planning on getting rid of it anytime soon I guess I don't mind too much. Feel like it was a little high for a game that needs work but hobbies never are cheap, are they?

I've found it depends on how long you want to wait too. You could be patient, and save $150, but that patience may equal out to 3 or 4 years depending on your area... I agree in staying cheap on stuff, it's part of the hobby. $350 for all that is a fair deal, you didn't steal it from him, but you also didn't get hosed. Now if you said like $600, I'd say something like 'lessons learned' etc...
 
Pac and I made it home. He is a little rougher looking than the pictures but the best part is, he worked. Soon as I got him out of the truck and plugged it in. The picture roll's slowly left for about 2 minutes and then settles down and works great! The joystick needs lube or general replacement and on 2 occasions I have seen Pac pass right through a ghost without dying. Otherwise it seems to work fine.
 
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