No way. First of all, all the ICs are TTL on SW (and earlier games) and are pretty resistant to static. CMOS chips are the one's to die from static. Besides that, a tarp over the cab is waaaaayyyy too far away from the PCB.
AVGs simply die a lot it seems. The ones on my SW PCB sets are still working....knock on wood.
I thin Mark Spaeth sells a replacement board and Arcadeshop.com too. Any more ?
I like the Arcadeshop version for its smaller size and only 3 chips.
Marks is more components and larger board, he claims this way it's easier to fix should it go bad, but because the higher number of chips there is also a higher chance of something dying (if ever).
I have no experience with either though....
Most of the boards I have are mostly populated with ttl chip and I think I have spent about $150 in anti static products. I think many here don't take static very seriously, wrist straps, grounding mats, anti static bags. I still get many boards on e-pay that still come in the white (static producking) bubble wrap. The Elevator Action board I got (it is a 4 board stack) and had little more than white peanuts and wrapped in newspaper. Not a surprise, it doesn't work and getting the peanuts from between the boars is not real fun. This and the static properties makes my job that much more difficult.
Many times, while doing repairs, I find the outside chips are a common failure and I would say that is from static discharge, improper handling or both. Static may not kill a board RIGHT AWAY but it will kill it say in a week, month, several months. The static makes them weaker and may/will help them to early retirement.
I don't think that tarp did the issue unless you just folded up the tarp and then pushed on some chips on the pcb or something like that. I see e-pay fotos of pcb's on plastic totes, carpet, and once I seen one powered up on a METAL table with a sheet of newspaper under it.
This issue was probably a static time bomb and you know when you created one, you will feel/hear the snap that is associated with the static discharge. If I caused one of these I look at what part it was and replace it, if it is not bad, it will more likely will be soon. I don't play fair when it comes to static.
Many people don't know about this issue with static and I still see people trying to put gasoline into a container still in the car and NOT on the ground. I also see people getting back into the car while filling up the gas tank, NOT SMART! You can cause static build up, epically in dry climates and cause a fire. Many many more are on the cell phone when filling the up with gas, again not smart. Static is a very important and dangerous problem that many people do NOT take very seriously, unless you drag your feet across the carpet and touch their nose.
Again, I don't think the tarp cause this issue but static is always present and just waiting to attack, defend yourself man. Anti static shipping bags, touch the grounded metal frame of something before you touch anything else. Don't put boards on carpet, clear plastic totes to take fotos. Don't power up the board while still inside the clear/white bubble wrap, don't laugh I have seen this.
Static is NOT your friend and will harm you, pcbs, including ttl chips and has caused fires at the filling stations. Yes there is one 'caught on tape' that shows a man filling a gas can in the bed of his pickup truck and suddenly (for no apparent reason) catches fire.