Reproduction PONG Pcb

Kaizen

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Donor 2015
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Yeronga, QLD, Australia
I've developed an interest in early discrete logic games over the last 6 months and have a few 4 Player Cocktail Pong clones in my collection as well as a growing number of PCB's that were purchased as untested (non-working) which I've been going through and getting back up and running.
I've been toying with the idea of making a faithful reproduction of the Atari (Syzygy) Pong PCB, there have been a couple of people who have made PCB's but have redesigned the board and layout.
One example is the Pong Reborn PCB.

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I managed to source a few blank (unpopulated) 'Pong Reborn' PCB's, these were available for sale around 2012 but are no longer available.

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Purchasing the IC's locally here in Australia is quite expensive so when the bulk of the parts arrive from overseas I'll complete assembly of the rest but I should have the first board completed in a couple of weeks, just waiting on the last 19 IC's to arrive.
One of the drawbacks of this board was that it wasn't designed to be put in an arcade cab and has no edge connector. I've also realised that although it is close to the original, there are a few differences in the game play.
These will go into some reproduction cabs that I plan to build, I've built a couple of Pong cabs last year.

Full size...

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Half size...

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I had to resort to putting a board in them based around the AY-3-8500 chip which is nothing like the original.

So for the last 6 months I've been researching and am at the stage where I'm almost ready to get things in motion.
One of the biggest challenges is not having an original PCB in front of me to ensure the dimensions are correct and the layout is perfect.
If anyone has a spare Pong PCB in any condition I'd be interested in purchasing it or trade for a completed Pong Reborn PCB.
I've found a great scan of an unpopulated PCB which prints close to the original size (I placed an IC over the holes and it matched almost perfectly) which I've been working off for the layout and overall dimensions.
If someone has a board that they can measure for me (in millimeters), that would help me out greatly, I need both long lengths as well as width.

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16 page Pong Schematic PDF below...
 

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I also have a few different schematics to work off and have been cleaning up the 16 page PDF/SCH version which was done by 'Dr. Hugo R Holden' (a fellow Aussie) which has been around since 2006.

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This was his mini version of the PCB which kept the same chip location layout but squeezed everything together...

http://worldphaco.com/uploads/ARCADE_MINI-PONG.pdf

The link below is his epic breakdown of the entire Pong circuit...

http://worldphaco.com/uploads/LAWN_TENNIS.pdf


I've never designed a PCB using software before so I've spent the weekend learning how to use Express SCH and Express PCB, the original Express SCH version of the 16 page PDF has many errors which while it would be useful for referring to when repairing a board it was useless for producing a file for PCB production, about 40 netlist errors and a few others that would have caused major problems.
I may not use Express SCH/PCB for the final production but it has been useful to get me started with schematic design and laying out a PCB.
I was looking at using Free PCB as an option but need to find a compatible schematic design program.

I've just printed out the revised 16 pages on A3 paper and will lay them out on a large table and compare them to the original schematics and make corrections as needed over the next few days.

Heres my current revised version with most errors fixed...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MyWJX7Dbrn707i5EU1nwerfqZmQgBaGe/view?usp=sharing

A couple of other things I've been considering was firstly whether to fix the bugs with the original version (or make two versions) and also having an option to run AC or DC, either not fit the AC regulation components to the PCB and have a couple of links on the board to run it off straight +5vDC or fit them and switch the links so it could be fitted to an original cabinet.

If anyone has some recommendations or ideas that might help me along the way I'd appreciate the input.
 
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I've decided to redraw the schematic using Design Spark software which will allow me to draw it up on a single sheet instead of 16 pages. The first revision will be a 1:1 copy of the original Revision E schematic, I'll keep the layout as close as possible to the original.
There is plenty of space to fit it all in, so far I've done the clock, H Sync and V Sync.

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PDF of progress so far below.
 

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I got the Pong Reborn PCB build completed yesterday.

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I powered it up, the ball was missing but everything else worked.
All chips were tested before putting them in the sockets and all solder joints and passive components were double checked.
After a bit of probing around the ball circuit I found that pin 5 was stuck high on the 74LS107 at UE9B.

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All other pins were fine but I noticed when I probed it while my finger was touching the logic probe tip it brought the ball into play, I then sent a pulse to it from the logic probe which also worked.
I had a 0.001uF SMD cap sitting on the bench in front of me so I decided to put it between pin 5 and ground, that brought the ball back into play permanently.

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The game now plays perfectly.
I'm still learning about electronics theory and was wondering if anyone could explain why this fixed the issue.

Video of it in action below...

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9wLn7WNQYo

I'm still working on the schematics for the reproduction Atari Pong PCB but have only been able to put an hour or so into it each night.
 
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Fun project, but I'd question how much of a market there's going to be for a 1:1 repro. it's either real Atari or it isn't -- people were buying MH and Q because they're fun games to play.
 
Fun project, but I'd question how much of a market there's going to be for a 1:1 repro. it's either real Atari or it isn't -- people were buying MH and Q because they're fun games to play.

Thanks for the reply and like you said, it'sjust a fun project.
It's more about the learning and skills I'll gain through it and it'll be nice to have a few bards made in the process.
My intention isn't to make money from the boards but I do have plans to build a few reproduction cabs and the GI AY-3-8500 based game isn't good enough.
The spares will be available for anyone that wants one.
I also like the idea of having a legible schematic on a single sheet as well.
 
Space Invaders x 13 ... they really are invading.....

Cool project. Depending on cost, I'd be interested in a repro PCB. I doubt I'll ever own a real (or probably reproduction) pong, but playing it on a reproduction of the original circuits, laid out the way Atari did it, would be cool.

Great way to learn skills too.... starting with a simpler game.
 
All other pins were fine but I noticed when I probed it while my finger was touching the logic probe tip it brought the ball into play, I then sent a pulse to it from the logic probe which also worked.
I had a 0.001uF SMD cap sitting on the bench in front of me so I decided to put it between pin 5 and ground, that brought the ball back into play permanently.

The game now plays perfectly.
I'm still learning about electronics theory and was wondering if anyone could explain why this fixed the issue.

This is a timing issue. It's pretty common in these old TTL design and one of the challenges with converting them to FPGAs. The original TTL parts were MUCH slower than the current LS stuff and the designers took advantage of this. In the original board when the FF toggled it was slow enough that the following gate would see it's output high for much longer than with the new circuits (when it's toggling TO low). There must be some logic downstream of this that needed that condition. By adding the cap you effectively SLOWED the output making the timing more like the original design.
 
Im interested.

Blank pcbs? Available as an option?

Pm me on my options perhaps if anyone else stateside is intetested, we can share shipping.
 
awesome project, OP.

we all get starry-eyed over seeing some of these under-represented 80s classics get new life, but an arcade icon like Pong deserves to live on too

keep up the good work broski

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This is a timing issue. It's pretty common in these old TTL design and one of the challenges with converting them to FPGAs. The original TTL parts were MUCH slower than the current LS stuff and the designers took advantage of this. In the original board when the FF toggled it was slow enough that the following gate would see it's output high for much longer than with the new circuits (when it's toggling TO low). There must be some logic downstream of this that needed that condition. By adding the cap you effectively SLOWED the output making the timing more like the original design.

Thanks for the clear explanation, I've seen a lot of 80's PCB's with a similar fix but never new what it was doing exactly.

Blank PCB's will be an option for anyone stateside and I may consider sharing the Gerber file so anyone can print their own boards.
 
Just a quick update..
Schematics are about 50% done and should be completed by the end of the week.

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Blank PCB's will be an option for anyone stateside and I may consider sharing the Gerber file so anyone can print their own boards.

No shit... That's very kind of you.

I would still like to support you, please let me via pm the price for a bare board.

I am not sure if there are any hard to find parts to make this myself, but if there are, please let me know so I can get them from you if you have stock.

Payday purchase hazaah
 
UT Source seems to have most of what's needed at reasonable prices (US0.30-0.50c/ chip), the 74LS48 chips are hardest to find but there's still a few places that have stock.
 
The bulk of the drawing of the schematic has been done.
I now need to check for errors and run all the ports.
Plenty of tweaks and adjustments to be done but it's progressing along nicely.

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Does anyone here use Design Spark PCB?
If so I could do with some help locating a 74LS50 in the library. I've substituted a 74LS51 for the time being.
 
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I spent a bit of time on this on the weekend and cleaned the schematic up and started adding the ports.

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PDF...
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LyDoys80Iw02752E1y5GFFuc7xn7eb1I

I thought I'd have a dummy run at designing the PCB and converted the schematic across to the PCB design side of Design Spark.
I found some of the components I chose didn't have footprints so I went back and changed/edited them.
I also got the PCB dimensions from another KLOV member so I started to layout/place the IC's to get experience with that.

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The routing will take weeks, possibly months to do properly... I'll follow the original board as much as possible.
No rush though and I just work away late at night until I get tired.

Plenty more work before the schematic is completed but I'm in the final stretch.

One challenge I have is adding the edge connector as there's nothing I can find in the library that remotely resembles one.

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I've found this digram to work off to create a footprint.
 
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