Video Arcade Machine 1982

[Electricdreams]

I was browsing in a new 'junk' shop in my local town and notice this beautiful video arcade machine.
The owner said it was dead non functional, had a peek inside and of course it's complete with PSU, game and monitor. The game was called JAILBREAK by Konami. The machine is labelled Looping which is the game it originally had. The previous owner has interfered with it so it doesn't use the coin dispenser and disabled the locks.

I went away thinking about it, such a nice little easy project but the amount of room it would take in my flat would be enormous! I went back and bravely asked for the price. Here was I thinking he would ask £200 for it… was it that? NO! not even £100.. £80 he asked for, including £10 delivery using his own van. I raided the local cash machine and bought the machine!

Upon arrival I had a closer look, the monitor uses 120v power supply and 240v for the degaussing coil, there is a 240v to 120v transformer for that. The game board uses 5v and 12v there is a seperate transformer for those including ground.

Plugged it in and the fluorescent display lit up and loud buzzing. No picture no EHT.

So I started with the 240 to 120 transformer. No power to the monitor from the transformer, took it out to check more, found a fuse gone, replaced it. With help from bobbyball we checked the winding, it was fine. Turned out the connector was dirty! After cleaning with IPA, it went back in.
When I tried again, still no picture, at least there is power going to the monitor board.

Took the board out and took a closer look. After a couple of caps replacement, I found two faults, a duff BU208A transistor and broken wires on a small coil (is that right? check the photos)
Afterwards, it was returned into the machine. Lo and behold a display of pixels.

The next job was the game. Now I looked on youtube about jailbreak and didn't particularly like the game much. So decided to replace it instead of attempting to repair it. (it's beyond my knowledge anyway!)

I bought Mr.Do game board from america (a working version) and a special Universal to Jamma adapter. Once these kit arrived I spent two days working out the wiring from where to which and what, the result.. a working Mr.Do game!

The monitor was already in landscape mode and the game is displaying in portrait so unless the player wants a sore neck I need to rotate the CRT. Easy job because a couple of wing nuts just needs to be removed and you just rotate the board. Oops I didn't disconnect the degaussing coil and now the colour is all messed up.

Turned out that it was a dry joint and the tug pulled the pins out on the board. After a quick soldering job it was back up again.
Bought some locks from a local safe-shop and a few coin switches from eBay. Just need to get the right coinmech and I'm done! Such a nice little thing.. now where shall I put it

First photo, when found in the Junk Shop
Second is of the Hantarex monitor
Third when the monitor came to life for the first time
Fourth new Mr.Do game.. in sore neck mode..
Fifth the end result before the lock and coin mech.

Sorry about the orientation of the photos..

[cmjones01]

Very nice. You got that for a bargain price, I agree, and the cabinet looks to be in pretty good condition. I don't know Jailbreak, but you can't go wrong with Mr. Do!

Chris