Dragon's Lair Fans - Arcade Lifestyle
General Chat => Arcade Lifestyle => Topic started by: Superully on March 19, 2011, 10:06:22 PM
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the most important thing i learned from my birthday during the opening of my Elektro Arcade™ was the fact that it sucks when people don't how how to start a game which can't be set on freeplay. it's either "ully, i want to play that game, can you start it for me?" or i have to add credits en masse manually beforehand, but by doing so i'm killing the attract mode on some games.
therefore it was time for the task of the day (or week or month or whatever): coin mech conversion of the games which don't offer a freeplay mode!
one of my ultimate goals is to have my individually designed tokens, but for now it'll have to do with pre-exisiting ones. you guys should know me by now: things have to look good, therefore i've been on the lookout for some nice tokens for quite a while. basic requirement: they shouldn't be recognizable as tokens at first glance, but once the players have realized that it's not money they are using here but tokens, they should say "wow, those look cool". a couple of months ago i found what i was looking for on ebay, they are from a company called tuning electronic entertainment and look like 1 or 2 euro pieces. one side has the name of the company, the other side one of seven (don't know if there are more) different motifs: clover, dolphin, pegasus, papiyon, indian, crown and venus. when i began my hunt for them, i only found a few of those, but i've been checking ebay regularly and in the meantime i have a nice stash of around 1000 tokens - enough to justify the coin mech token conversion!
but let me show you those tokens first :arrow:
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5020/5539656575_49c5d0b24d_b_d.jpg)
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5015/5540236822_bfd2dc2318_b_d.jpg)
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5256/5540236424_0d926dc09d_b_d.jpg)
the first problem you encounter when you want to convert your mechs is that not all coin inserts are large enough for the tokens to fit in, e.g. the ones on berzerk
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5135/5540234866_26e58c8bbe_b_d.jpg)
what you have to do is take a rasp and widen the opening a little bit
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5212/5540235090_806354c3e2_b_d.jpg)
same problem on midway coin inserts
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5254/5540237102_8bfc25e659_b_d.jpg)
same solution
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5137/5539657421_24fa576e0c_b_d.jpg)
problem solved :)
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5253/5539657627_1e338d15b6_b_d.jpg)
now on to the coin mechs themselves - here are four of them removed from my gauntlet cabinet
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5018/5540238002_b5f187fdfb_b_d.jpg)
let me show you what to do on most mechs on an exemplary mech: basically the goal is to get the token down from the top left corner to the bottom in a straight line. normally the coin drops in, is moved to the right where it is weighed and checked for size and then either accepted or rejected (or stuck :P).
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5060/5539658303_480ca6a96f_b_d.jpg)
the first thing you have to do is get rid of the moving parts, the cradles, so that the token bypasses the coin control system
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5058/5540238578_8eb7a7bd46_b_d.jpg)
movable parts removed ;) (on all four mechs)
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5291/5540238870_ca13218859_b_d.jpg)
this should allow the token to simply drop through, BUT if you don't do something else, it gets rejected nevertheless, because in the lower third of the mech there is a bent piece of metal which blocks the token from entering the correct exit chute (you can see that piece of metal right underneath the token on the following picture)!
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5172/5539659413_4410f64fcb_b_d.jpg)
what you have to do is remove the entire metal piece ...
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5212/5540239086_2dcbf8ced5_b_d.jpg)
... and give it a good beating :twisted: - problem solved (again)
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5096/5540239622_1f02af35e8_b_d.jpg)
what else could go wrong? well, the token could get stuck in the chute where the microswitch is being triggered :arrow:
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5253/5539655409_01fca4c680_b_d.jpg)
what to do? first remove the chute, ...
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5136/5539655221_02b47f628f_b_d.jpg)
... put it in a parallel vise and add pressure ...
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5132/5540235688_b8f1e4f529_b_d.jpg)
... until the blocking part comes off!
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5171/5539656109_636d909d65_b_d.jpg)
now there is enough space on the right for the token to pass through! :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace:
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5016/5540235922_a1e3fc3c59_b_d.jpg)
those are the basic steps, sometimes you have to do a little bit of adjusting and filing to make the tokens pass through, but so far, i have managed to convert all my coin mechs to accept my tokens. once i'm done with each conversion, i'm doing a test run of 50 tokens with the converted coin mech installed. of those 50 tokens, a maximum of 2 is allowed to be either rejected or getting stuck - if the rate is higher i'm doing some more adjusting. for now, it works like a charm!
with that being done, all my games are now either running on freeplay or are set up to accept my tokens - and i have to admit: it feels great!!! :-*
next step: exchange the original coin inserts for the freeplay / token inserts etienne is working on (https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=2468.0)!
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Can you do mine before Eurocade ;)
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Can you do mine before Eurocade ;)
normally no problem, the question is: when, where, which currency?
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You have wonderful tokens Ully!
This is a very exciting and useful topic, thanks for sharing. ;)
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Very interesting topic.
I'm also thinking on this. I'm a big 'attract mode' lover, and yes... free play setting kills it on some games :-\
I'll follow this topic with great interest 8)
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I like the tokens, but you did destroy some mechs... but i guess you never want to return to original coins anyway, so great solution !
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I like the tokens, but you did destroy some mechs... but i guess you never want to return to original coins anyway, so great solution
the only thing i did "destroy" were the exit chutes - and that was only the case for 2 out of around 15 coin mechs, so not much harm done here. of course i kept all the other parts i removed from the mechs, put them in small plastic bags and labeled them from which coin mech they are, so in the unlikely event i need to go back to original i can always do so. bending that piece of metal back on the coin mech itself is not a problem at all.
one thing i'm thinking about right now is: should i convert ALL my coin mechs to token, even on the games which are set on freeplay? dropping tokens into machines to coin up really IS part of the fun, especially on games which offer continues like moon patrol or gauntlet ...
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...one thing i'm thinking about right now is: should i convert ALL my coin mechs to token, even on the games which are set on freeplay? dropping tokens into machines to coin up really IS part of the fun, especially on games which offer continues like moon patrol or gauntlet ...
+1! :spaceace:
I think yes, you can then always use coins, and if your boring of the coins, you can also still have it on free play..
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...one thing i'm thinking about right now is: should i convert ALL my coin mechs to token, even on the games which are set on freeplay? dropping tokens into machines to coin up really IS part of the fun, especially on games which offer continues like moon patrol or gauntlet ...
+1! :spaceace:
I think yes, you can then always use coins, and if your boring of the coins, you can also still have it on free play..
+1, remember, the "insert coin moment" was exactly the moment the magic began back in the days...
Great work and topic here, thanks for all the details, Ully.
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I want mine set to 2 Euro coins for Eurocade.
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Yeah, it's IMHO the best solution. Problem is that I don't have tokens.
The ONLY drawback with tokens is that you will loose some during games. People will forget them in their pockets, some may take them as a souvenir and what about collecting all the coins and returning them to the point where you distribute them ? I prefer to not have my coin doors unlocked generally.
I don't really care about the mechs beying destroyed or not, I mean, most of them are for currencies that are long gone now over here in Europe....
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I want mine set to 2 Euro coins for Eurocade.
with the coin doors being locked of course 8)
Yeah, it's IMHO the best solution. Problem is that I don't have tokens.
so why not decide on a special type and start stockpiling?
The ONLY drawback with tokens is that you will loose some during games. People will forget them in their pockets, some may take them as a souvenir and what about collecting all the coins and returning them to the point where you distribute them ? I prefer to not have my coin doors unlocked generally.
that's why i'm planning on having a change machine which dispenses only a certain amount of tokens with the push of a button (of course people are also allowed to insert real money to get tokens, but that's mine to keep then :P). i know that you will eventually lose a couple of tokens, that's why i'm trying to get as many as possible. what's a few if you have thousands? all you have to do is empty the coin buckets every once in a while!
I don't really care about the mechs beying destroyed or not, I mean, most of them are for currencies that are long gone now over here in Europe....
agreed, and who wants to use forint for this game, deutschmarks for that and guldens for another one? and once again: i wouldn't call that "destroying", i'm calling it "adjusting", because that's what you do - after all, removing old sideart and replacing it with repro art isn't destruction either, is it?
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after all, removing old sideart and replacing it with repro art isn't destruction either, is it?
I've still not 100% made my mind about that...
Instinctively, my heart always bleed when I see a painted sideart being sanded to the wood.
Resto VS Repro is a big ethical question in this kind of collection.
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I want to call it "modificate" , because adjusting is something without structural damage.
I mean that is something like a option to do, like a screw to adjust distance, or potmeter to change a setting.
i doubt that this "making the opening wider by breaking off a part" was not planned as an option by the manufacturer ;D :lol: ;D
so i was talking about the piece in the bottom that was broken off, that is destroying if you ask me, but like andre says these are currency that we dont use in europe so no need to turn back
and i did not know he only needed to "break" 2 of them and not the rest, so maybe i choosed the wrong word when i sayd "destroyed" ;D
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modify, adjust, destroy, whatever - running them on tokens is what counts ;D
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after all, removing old sideart and replacing it with repro art isn't destruction either, is it?
I've still not 100% made my mind about that...
Instinctively, my heart always bleed when I see a painted sideart being sanded to the wood.
Resto VS Repro is a big ethical question in this kind of collection.
As chrischris, I'm not for a repro if the art is in rather good condition :spaceace:.
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Simply forgot: I got a lot of electronic coin proofs here that I won on auction side for very little money. I suppose we can use them (they check the coin that's inserted to one you put in a special holder in the mech).
The bad thing about these is that they require some power...and thus need some extra wiring....