WTB Death race pcb

I was 13yo when I first played DR and I haven't seen one since. I thought it was fun at the time. The artwork is pretty cool. It reminds me of those wacky monster racecar models that used to be available in the late 60's, early 70's.

The game board doesn't use a CPU at all. The entire game is hard logic. When people do ROM/EPROM dumps, they'll often neglect/forget to read the bipolar proms which are just as important. I have not been able to find a set of files for the BPROM dumps for DR.

If anyone has a universal programmer that can read a set of known-good bproms, that's the first thing to do. I have been producing CPLD-based replacements for 16-pin bproms. They would work for this game. I could do 18-pin parts the same way if I bother to get some PCBs made. My only bprom programmer broke down so I've been gradually building up my own new box for reading and verifying bproms and 2101/9101 static ram. It's not done yet but one of these days.

It would be nice if someone with a known good DR board would get their bproms read before they fail. If I finish my reader box and if someone were to send me their board, I could safely remove and read the bproms and make the files available to anyone who needs them. Who knows, maybe the guys at Hobbyroms or Arcadechips already have the files. Maybe someone will volunteer them for you.

The entire game board, including the sound circuits, are completely custom logic. The best equipment to test the board would be a scope and a HP logic comparator. I don't know if signature analysis could be used. Maybe if there was a known-good board to get reference values from and if there's a simple way to configure the board to run a repetitive loop to produce stable signatures.

Anyone who really knows their TTL logic should be able to troubleshoot this board. The board is by no means simple so it should not be underestimated. The task would be time consuming. Anyone who can safely repair boards in general, replace sockets, and has a light touch and a good eye should be able to handle this. I don't have a B&W monitor otherwise I might offer to take a shot at it.

Bill B.
 
Any time you want to take a shot at it Ill have either the board and monitor or the entire game down to your house in hours. Your workmanship is top notch. No hesitation here.
 
Back
Top Bottom