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Old 1st Oct 2017, 2:30 am   #19
Terry_VK5TM
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Tintinara, South Australia, Australia
Posts: 2,342
Default Re: Old arcade games

Quote:
Originally Posted by bluepilot View Post
Someone I knew discovered that if you took the cover off a piezo-electric cigarette lighter and used it to generate sparks whilst held next to the game machine, the stray currents could be made to change the credit counter.
The game companies soon got wise to that and a counter-measure was developed.

Basically a little circuit that detected (via a short aerial) the static discharges and prevented credits being racked up.

Some of us actually wired it to the reset circuitry of the game board, which was a no-no according to company policy.

One of the better parts of the job was getting out of the factory to fit these counter-measures on-site, rather than wait for the machines to come back in for service or rotation.

Terry
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