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Ron Coon Jr. - Pinball Expo 2023 - Pinball News

Pinball News (Pinball Expo 2023)·video·44m 34s·analyzed·Oct 21, 2023
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Ron Coon Jr. details foreign pinball repair challenges and solutions from 28 years of experience.

Summary

Ron Coon Jr. presents a technical seminar at Pinball Expo 2023 on foreign/import pinball machine repair, covering 28 years of industry experience. He discusses challenges specific to European, Japanese, and other non-US games including language barriers, schematic sourcing, electrical conversion (220/240V to 110V), semiconductor equivalency, battery replacement, capacitor degradation, and common manufacturing defects. He emphasizes systematic troubleshooting methodologies and documents his work at Past Times Arcade where he has serviced approximately 150 foreign machines in the past 18 months.

Key Claims

  • Ron Coon Jr. has worked on approximately 150 foreign pinball machines in the past 18 months at Past Times Arcade

    high confidence · Direct statement: 'About 150, easily, because I know Rob's got a lot of foreign games... In the last year and a half... I've probably pissed through about 150 games.'

  • Zacharias (Italian games) have systematic problems with capacitors, watchdog circuits, and poor coil design that recur across multiple machines

    high confidence · Multiple technical examples provided: 'Zacharias have horrible capacitors... 40 years old. They smell like smoke from the bars. And my favorite is reflow every damn thing on those games.'

  • Many foreign games use non-standard semiconductors (e.g., TIP-102/141/143 variants) requiring cross-reference research rather than direct US equivalents

    high confidence · Detailed discussion of semiconductor equivalency challenges and use of Google databases for TIP series cross-referencing

  • Ron Coon Jr. is a computer programmer fluent in 9 programming languages and has audio engineering background

    high confidence · Self-identified credentials: 'I am a computer programmer by trade in nine different languages' and 'I am also an audio engineer'

  • Battery damage from leaking batteries is a widespread problem in imported machines that have sat in warehouses

    high confidence · Stated observation: 'I get a lot of foreign games now that actually have batteries on. You have to definitely remove these things. What obviously happens is they leak.'

  • Approximately 70% of foreign games use 12 volts on lamps rather than standard configurations, causing LED installation failures if overlooked

    medium confidence · Statement with qualification: 'There's a 70% chance. Some foreign games actually use 12 volts on their lamps.'

  • Inder games have cleaner logic design paths and more understandable schematics compared to other foreign manufacturers

    medium confidence · Opinion with reasoning: 'Inder... they actually have a very clean logic path of how they design, including their schematics'

Notable Quotes

  • “I've been in the industry 28 years. It's almost going on 30 if you think about it. But I just put this as a ballpark because I did work for Dr. Scott's for 28 years.”

    Ron Coon Jr.@ 1:12 — Establishes his deep experience baseline in pinball repair and industry tenure

  • “When you're gifted a project that you have no idea what to do with you go with the flow and you make what you think is right but apparently was not close enough... they gave me a term that says bongos and dubstep how the hell do you make that work”

    Ron Coon Jr.@ 1:47 — References his work with American Pinball audio design that was rejected; reveals communication/collaboration challenges

  • “Zacharias have horrible capacitors. I don't know who's the guy that put the one underneath the heat sink. He should be shot. And they're 40 years old. They smell like smoke from the bars.”

    Ron Coon Jr.@ 14:41 — Strong critique of Zachariah manufacturing quality with specific technical grievances

  • “The big one is the language barrier. I've had to pick up three different languages just to read and understand the schematics... if I try to translate something for you guys, I just don't want it to say, hey, I could say something and you could say, hey, cut off my nuts and put them in a box.”

    Ron Coon Jr.@ 5:30 — Illustrates specific challenges of foreign machine repair with humor about translation risks

  • “I call it my babies, because every time I go in there, I like to see them running. And when I see one down, I kind of cry and go back to my office and weep for a little bit”

    Ron Coon Jr.@ 34:15 — Reveals emotional investment in the foreign game collection at Past Times Arcade

Entities

Ron Coon Jr.personRob BurkepersonPast Times ArcadeorganizationZachariahcompanyIndercompanyInterflipcompanyJutelcompanySegasacompany

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: American Pinball collaboration with Ron on audio design ultimately rejected, suggesting potential design philosophy misalignment or communication gaps between company and audio engineer

    medium · Ron states: 'they did not like the way my style was... they gave me a term that says bongos and dubstep how the hell do you make that work'

  • ?

    community_signal: Strong technical support ecosystem exists for foreign machine repair through supplier networks (Marco for diagnostic tools, Frank for battery holders) and community knowledge sharing

    medium · Multiple referenced suppliers providing specialized tools and parts; YouTube as resource for learning machine boot-up signatures; community members present at seminar with specific game expertise

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Specific manufacturers praised for design quality (Inder for clean logic design) while others critiqued for systemic flaws, indicating significant variance in engineering approaches among foreign manufacturers

    high · Inder praised: 'very clean logic path of how they design, including their schematics'; Zachariah criticized for recurring capacitor, watchdog, and coil design issues across platform

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Foreign manufacturers (particularly Zachariah) employ design approaches that differ from US standards in electrical specifications (12V lamp systems vs standard), component sourcing, and mechanical engineering (sloppy lift systems, problematic coil mounting)

    high · Specific design critiques: '70% chance some foreign games use 12 volts on lamps'; 'the lift system for the playfield is horrible they tend to be a little sloppy'; coil mounting between metal frames problematic

  • $

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.134

0:00
This speech was a pain in the ass because I don't work on foreign games now. I do, unfortunately. I was gifted that power by, obviously, Mr. Burke because, obviously, he started his arcade at past times.
0:21
Hopefully my wonderful Google translator has done it correctly because I cannot speak a lick of these languages other than a little bit of German.
0:30
The only thing I'm going to say here is this is my adventures in pinball repair. How many people in the room have any foreign games?
0:41
What game do you got back there? I like putting people on the spot. No, I'd never heard of that one. Is that Zachariah Crunchy?
0:52
Okay, cool. And you can fix the one that's on the floor that I'm having problems with tonight, right? I don't know. It was working before we left, but it's missing 12 volts. So I think it's probably something really simple.

  • Past Times Arcade maintains a dedicated row of approximately 50 foreign game machines that Ron considers fully operational

    high confidence · Direct statement: 'we got about 50 in that row easily. that I consider my kids, and they're just amazing to look at.'

  • “I hate Zacharias. I don't like the system. They're great games, but I hate them. Since I've worked on so many Zacharias, like I said, they all have the same problems. And to me, it gets boring.”

    Ron Coon Jr.@ 29:52 — Explicit negative assessment of Zachariah platform despite acknowledging game quality

  • “Nobody really makes aftermarket boards for some of the games except for Zachariah. There's Bell as well they did some aftermarket boards for. I would like to actually redesign some of those from original schematics”

    Ron Coon Jr.@ 32:38 — Identifies market gap for aftermarket boards and documents his circuit board redesign work

  • “There's a woman that screams every 15 minutes for a track mode. Sounds like somebody's getting violated in the back corner. I was like, no, that's normal. She's a screamer.”

    Ron Coon Jr.@ 37:39 — Humorous anecdote about uncomfortable audio elements in Zachariah games

    • American Pinball
    company
    Dr. Scott'scompany
    Walter Dayperson
    Tonyperson
    Toddperson
    Mike Gullyperson
    Martinperson
    Frankperson
    Marcoperson
    Bellcompany
    Williamscompany
    Gottliebcompany

    market_signal: Aftermarket circuit board redesign opportunity identified for foreign games; most manufacturers do not produce aftermarket boards except for Zachariah and Bell

    medium · Ron states: 'Nobody really makes aftermarket boards for some of the games except for Zachariah... I would like to actually redesign some of those from original schematics'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Ron Coon Jr. transitioned from 28 years at Dr. Scott's to past 18 months at Past Times Arcade, indicating career shift toward specialized foreign machine repair

    high · Direct statement: 'I did work for Dr. Scott's for 28 years... In the last year and a half, I've actually pushed over to Rob Burke's place doing pinball repair'

  • ?

    product_concern: Imported machines frequently arrive in degraded condition from warehouse storage and shipping, with widespread battery damage, connector corrosion, and neglect affecting large percentage of machines

    high · Ron notes machines bounced in crates with salt water damage causing corroded connectors; battery leakage widespread; many machines sat in warehouses neglected requiring extensive restoration

  • ?

    product_concern: Systematic manufacturing and design defects identified across Zachariah platform machines including capacitor failures, watchdog circuit issues, poor coil mounting between metal frames, and non-standard electrical specifications

    high · Multiple documented examples with photographs of capacitor failures, backwards capacitors, dangling components, coil design flaws, and 15K high-voltage design issues on Zachariah games

  • ?

    supply_chain_signal: Widespread availability of import games via overseas sourcing through Rob Burke and other importers; Past Times Arcade acquired approximately 150 machines in 18-month period requiring significant restoration effort

    high · Ron worked on ~150 foreign machines at Past Times Arcade in past 18 months; Rob Burke identified as major importer with extensive overseas connections

  • ?

    technology_signal: Significant challenge in semiconductor and component standardization across foreign manufacturers requiring extensive cross-referencing (TIP-102/141/143 series variations, IC logic differences, speed-incompatible RAM modules)

    high · Detailed discussion of semiconductor equivalency problems requiring Google database cross-referencing and specific examples of incompatible NMB RAM modules due to speed differences

    • 1:06
    Nevertheless, how many of you have been to my seminars before? Pretty much everybody. I've been in the industry 28 years. It's almost going on 30 if you think about it. But I just put this as a ballpark because I did work for Dr. Scott's for 28 years. In the last year and a half, I've actually pushed over to Rob Burke's place doing pinball repair. I am a computer programmer by trade in nine different languages. So if you have any questions on programming, I can help you there as well.
    1:37
    I am also an audio engineer, and I've done a little bit of work that I was trying to work on for American Pinball, but they did not like the way my style was. but unfortunately when you're gifted a project that you have no idea what to do with you go with the flow and you make what you think is right but apparently was not close enough all i know is they gave me a term that says bongos and dubstep how the hell do you make that work but leave it up to dave he gave that to me and i said well i'll try and trying to work with something from the 50s and 60s it's not possible I'm also an official game historian gifted that by Walter Day because as you know most of you have a trading card who's got a trading card in the room? I know there's a couple of us I was actually gifted that honor to give the first four trading cards away at sea that was fun if you guys know the guy that did all the voices for Duke Nukem John St. John Guy's card Wes Johnson did a lot of work with Skyrim and I can't even say the name of the company they worked for and a couple others I'm always looking for new people to give those away to as well now I'm also a retro computer do retro computer restoration and a historian so I do a little bit of work with oldcomputers.com so if there's stuff on there I try to give a lot of insight on some of these older beasts that a lot of people ignore So it all ties into pinball and then the programming side of me. I'm also an electronic engineer, and I can do repairs, I hope, after 28 years.
    3:26
    And, of course, I did your wonderful DJing at the Bumper Blast, and, of course, I did get yelled at for playing it too fucking loud. I'm allowed to say that, Martin, right? Good.
    3:38
    And, of course, I do still run an old computer Baltimore. You guys know what those are, right? For those kids, that's when you put a modem on the phone and you dial up. No.
    3:51
    567-304-4069. I can always give that. I can give that to you guys if you want to put it just for giggles because it does have dial-up.
    4:06
    These are some of the foreign manufacturers that I have been working on in the last year and a half. Obviously, everybody knows Zachariah. I am not going to try to pronounce any of these things other than Inder and Interflip and Jutel. That's all I know. I think that's how you're saying it correctly. But all of these games have given me a challenge. And Tony there knows that I swear a lot at the arcade.
    4:34
    Anybody else got any of these in their collection other than Zachariah, man, back there with the Captain Crunch? See, I'll pick on you.
    4:45
    When I'm working on these games, I run across a lot of obstacles, and I try to summarize it as best as I could with what I know. And like I said, repairing foreign games is just a little trickier than your typical American games.
    5:03
    These are some of the notes that I've made. The big one is the language barrier. I've had to pick up three different languages just to read and understand the schematics. Obviously, we have German.
    5:17
    I can understand Japanese just fine, Italian, and then Spanish, and then, of course, you say French.
    5:30
    Yeah, it's kind of crazy trying to understand that because if I try to translate something for you guys, I just don't want it to say, hey, I could say something and you could say, hey, cut off my nuts and put them in a box.
    5:45
    And that's not good. The one I do have a hell of a time with, too, is schematics. I'm always trying to source out as many as I can find. I am making a gigantic database of what I've been working on at the arcade.
    6:03
    Zacharias, thank God, they're mostly on the Internet. I have suffered a little bit on Ender and the, I think the Spanish, which is Segasa.
    6:19
    Thank you. See, you're supposed to help me here because I have no idea what I'm talking about other than I see the name, I recognize it. I know that's what's going to be a pain in the butt. obviously the big thing I also do here is the conversion from 220 or 240 to 110 and how to overcome that problem thank god we can restrap some transformers I've actually come across maybe a dozen that I can't because the transformers are locked at a solid 240 or 220 When you do that, obviously, you want to use a step-down or step-up transformer, depending on which part of the world you're in. Is that one coming out, Martin, a little bit?
    7:06
    There we go. Got it? That's how we fix things at the shop, too, sometimes. Yeah, this is a big deal because I have to do this on every game.
    7:20
    This is the fun one. Obviously, everybody's bought a game, probably used here once or twice, and you better inspect the work. In my past seminars, I always say check everybody's work or even look and see before even trying to plug the game in.
    7:38
    I've seen some messes that I don't understand what they were thinking overseas. I've had to overcome those problems, and it's not fun because it all leads to the magic smoke if it's not done right.
    7:56
    This is one I've also learned very carefully is take a lot of pictures. Now that we have the ability of cell phones in our pocket, if you do that and make a lot of notes, you know, what things go, especially wiring diagrams, yeah, if you don't have schematic pictures and notes, this is another battle I fight semiconductor equivalence obviously they do a lot of different things overseas that we don't do here in the states even though we all understand basic AC to DC theory I've actually had to use a lot of Google databases to actually convert what tip 102 is to us is probably something obscure overseas. I've seen a lot of TIP-141s using a lot of Zacharias. I've had to overcome that by using, like, TIP-143s. I think that's the top end on the amperage, I believe. I'm not sure. But don't quote me on that, please, because I don't want somebody tossing something in their game that may not be correct. I always do recommend hitting Google up and doing a quick semiconductor cross comparison. I had to have done this as well as for ICs as well. because there is a totally different way they do logic over there.
    9:18
    We do here, obviously, there's a PIA and so forth, and it breaks it down into the different latches. There are, of course, the equivalent latches overseas that they use.
    9:28
    And this is what I was talking about, where you can go forward and backwards on some semiconductors.
    9:37
    These are some of the recommendations that I've done. I use a VARIAC in all means including an isolated transformer this is a big thing because when we're in the arcade and we're on one circuit and somebody else is working on something a little sensitive or nowadays games do updates on the internet if you trip the breaker, what are you going to do? are you going to brick a game? fortunately I don't like that because we have to reprogram SD cards, it's not fun but I normally tend to bring most machines up slowly.
    10:12
    I'm sure if you guys watch a lot of YouTube videos on older televisions and so forth and older monitors, if you bring it up rapidly, what's going to happen? Todd, what's going to happen? In most cases, if you have an older unit with an old capacitor, you will see a sparking or a smoke or any number of things. Yes.
    10:45
    Yes. You read the words right out of my mouth. That's why I keep here. But no, I actually do this a lot, especially with older vintage video games as well. So this also applies for that as well. I do that on black and white monitors, just so you know, because they do have the hefty big fat capacitors in there like three capacitors in one bank Those have blown up on me I seen it I seen the magic smoke
    11:13
    This is a must nowadays. I get a lot of foreign games now that actually have batteries on. You have to definitely remove these things. What obviously happens is they leak.
    11:25
    And you just can't go to Marco and say, I need a CPU board for an indoor game. Good luck, because you're not going to find it unless you start sourcing eBay, which I normally do. I put little key tags in there if I'm looking for certain manufacturers, and I'll get a hot ring on my phone. It'll say, hey, we got a new listing for anything with Ender in it. I like picking on Ender because I like that system a lot, and you'll see a couple pictures that I've actually taken of a game that is one of my favorites. this is also a big must because a lot of these things have come overseas and they bounce in the crates and of course really yeah he's sleeping he's in a seminar but no bouncing around in crates and seminars see what you got me doing I'm done bouncing around in the crates and obviously the salt water and so forth. We get a lot of the connectors are really cruddy.
    12:31
    I've had to replace the connectors because of this problem. It's not fun because I know I hear Rob is like, what did you get done today? I was like, a headache. And that does happen a lot where I'm at.
    12:45
    This is one Yes. I pick on you all day today, but you're frank. pulling fuses out right away that's the first thing mainly i work on is logic if you got a schematic find the one for the five volt logic that's the first thing we're going to worry about and then start adding all your elements in like your lamps that's the second thing i would work on displays we normally don't have to worry about that too much because a lot of foreign games other than some zacharias are actually leds which is kind of cool because a lot of the A lot of these games, I have to say, pioneered some of these earlier LED elements that we're seeing nowadays on the floor.
    13:34
    I don't remember what was the first LED machine. Do we got any historians in here? Sharpshooter is a pretty good one. I know there was one earlier than that. The cocktail table. Foxy Lady. Yep. Chuck-a-luck.
    13:50
    Chuck-a-luck. This is one I do a lot. I have a voltmeter that does monitor 5 volt rails because it can record and trap your settings. So you can watch it when the game powers up and see if it's spiking or if it dips lower than normal. I've had to replace a lot of capacitors in games to obviously pump this up. It is a known problem, obviously, with the capacitor fatigue nowadays.
    14:25
    And like I said, if you've got a voltmeter that can monitor, that's a bonus, especially when firing up some of these older games.
    14:32
    And my favorite is recap, recap, recap, recap, recap. Zacharias have horrible capacitors. I don't know who's the guy that put the one underneath the heat sink.
    14:45
    He should be shot. And they're 40 years old. They smell like smoke from the bars. And my favorite is reflow every damn thing on those games. So I can run a power supply at late air. Yes. And you know what voltage it runs at? A bunch of them. six it's actually five point nine or five point eight
    15:24
    i agree and then that stupid watchdog circuit they put in there the magic what wire zachariah what color is it white
    15:46
    not just a donors i've seen one is uh... cheese There you go. You know, that might be a problem. I can't figure that one out. You might have stumped a chump.
    16:17
    Well, yeah, that's right. I forgot about that. Fuse clips. That's true because I have a drill at my bench because I actually retool them for the American style. because obviously the Europeans are a little smaller.
    16:33
    And, of course, pushing on them breaks right through. And, of course, I do the smoke test routine. This is a good one nowadays since we have technology. I like to say get an idea how the game is supposed to boot up. Every game has a signature phase. SEGAs, obviously, they boot up. Sometimes they'll launch balls in the play field. People are like, it's broken, it's broken. I was like, no. it normally does an initial ball check. I don't know why they put that in the software sometimes.
    17:04
    I've done this with like Phantom of the Opera as well because it does click, click, click. If you don't hear three clicks when it boots up, it normally means you've got a blown fuse right away without thinking about it.
    17:16
    But yeah, YouTube is a big deal. I mean, if you can find a game that somebody has one working because you can have something I know when I worked on the Spooky on the floor that's out here in the showroom floor. I never realized it had audio when it I think when you started the game right away and this one obviously I did lose my audio because it's got some some issue which if anybody can figure it out the soundboard works but it's got like a high pitch hissing noise almost like noise an old modem so it's a weird one in fact me and Mike Gulu that was in here yesterday on the seminar we are stumped on this one. But it works. We don't get it. It's just picking up a lot of noise from the computer or something.
    18:01
    I do power up games quickly and make a quick assessment of what needs to be repaired. So when I'm working on stuff at the arcade, I'll have my list, and I'll say, okay, this is not working, this is not working, this is not working. And I'll normally narrow them down, logic, lamps, solenoids. Pretty much in the displays, I don't worry about that because that's part of the main logic. If something doesn't seem right, obviously the big word is to stop.
    18:27
    This is a big thing that we have a problem with in our arcade because we're still trying to teach the greenhorns how to turn on lots of games at once.
    18:37
    And with a lot of foreign games, I know they are very sensitive to reset lines and so forth. And if they don't like how the power looks, it sits in a halt state.
    18:46
    So this is where I know to recheck your power supply connections if something doesn't seem right. And then of course what I mentioned is slowly add your fuses back to the thing. See I did put that note in there. Yes everything. I don't know why they did it. I got a lifetime supply buddy. I'm probably sitting on 10,000 fuse holders. I think we're good. And of course I do remove batteries of course and install battery holders or even look sometimes Sometimes NBM rams and Frank's batteries.
    19:24
    So we're going to... There we go. Here, let me edit real quick. I'm tired. Okay. No. I know. Yeah, there's only a couple. I know there's a couple you don't have yet, but we can work on this.
    19:40
    Cool. Yeah, if you guys want battery holders, Frank's the man right here. Raise your hand there, buddy. Bow. No.
    19:50
    Yes, they do. In fact, there's a lot of games that we brought that we put them in there. Don't get me wrong, I do like NBM rams, but I hate them too. And I hate them because of the reason that some games aren't compatible with them, because of the speed of the ram. It's too fast.
    20:10
    Yep. And that's where I go back in here. It's like, you know, games are not booting right. You know, the first thing I do is, you know, I have my EEPROM burner. I will go through and physically check if I got it in here.
    20:23
    Because, you know, a scout is prepared. You keep your EPROM program with you at all times, especially when working on them.
    20:30
    And, of course, when they don't work, then you get, obviously, the, you know, like RAM checkers and so forth. They are a godsend. Marco does sell stuff like this. They're actually pretty easy to use.
    20:41
    You put the chip in it, it will actually identify it. This is also mainly for logic. My EEPROM burner can check RAM chips as well, and they're always continually updating software for it to allow newer stuff like some of the 5101s and so forth.
    20:58
    But RAM chips, I do see it fail a lot on foreign games, unfortunately. Yeah, this is a big thing I've seen on Zacharias.
    21:07
    Yep. After 40 lousy years. 40 lousy years, and people that don't know how to work on games, we have to change things, and that's normally the first thing I tackle is when we can't think in the morning we don't have our coffee, it's like our ram it's like you've got to go with it and when it boots obviously congratulations you made it that far and then you can start playing games the big oh this is an Indian scammer maybe what do you think about that and I do play with those guys if I can stop them from scamming someone and take up their time and talk about their mothers were good because it's not screwing someone else.
    21:47
    But the other thing to do is when it does boot, obviously like Zacharias, I do modify them for free play, for homes and so forth. That's a good time to change your e-prompt so they speak English.
    22:01
    And, of course, the idea is to set it for free play. We do a thing called double stack switches. I'm sure some of you know about double stack switching. It's a good idea. I think Marco does sell typical contact points where you can do double stacks If you can find them let us know We figure out where you can buy them And I can demonstrate on the floor if somebody wants to see what they look like and how we set them up in our arcade.
    22:31
    This is some of my crazy work that I've seen in the past. Enders and stuff like that. And you can see, obviously, the first one, obviously, we have a broken diode, obviously. that someone ignored and didn't bother putting back on the board. Thought it wasn't important. I don't know what game that's for.
    22:52
    If I remember right, the second picture here, this is someone else's work. Didn't figure out what was wrong with it until we turned it on.
    23:03
    They put the capacitor backwards on the board. Didn't find that out the hard way until we turned it on. and of course I mentioned reflow reflow reflow and then of course some other jackasses idea with this let's dangle the cap off the board no it didn't more hell from my wonderful job at the arcade we see a lot of coils burn up and obviously batteries do blow up too this is one I found inside a cabinet I love this last slide on the side there. I hate doing this to coils. But whoever designed that coil design needs to be shot.
    23:51
    He said, let's just put it between the metal. It's a good idea so it doesn't move around. That's actually mainly for drop targets, and I think that is an Ender design. One of my favorites, unfortunately.
    24:10
    More hell. We see the very favorite battery that everybody loves. We can see this is a Juul, one of my favorite board sets.
    24:21
    They tend to be a little easier to work on, I think. And, of course, we do remove them and clean all the battery damage off the board. And, of course, some boards we do modifications, you know, for different address jumping and so forth to make it work properly.
    24:41
    Who ignores those signs overseas? Yes, I have. I've been nailed three times last week. I've seen the 15K God. I'm still alive here again. I'll give you a nice speech this year. but this is probably one of the stupidest designs I've ever seen.
    25:03
    They put all these wonderful plugs in high voltage and barely standing off the board. They actually cut out the holes in the board for the bridge rectifiers and used the thinnest wire I've seen.
    25:20
    Trust me, I've gone through and corrected all those problems, you know, thicker gauge wire on the bridges, but yeah I don't like it and of course those are obviously the 240 transformers this you cannot convert to 110 more hell from my favorite game in the arcade what's my favorite game Tony you don't know it's American 1492 I love the game. It's got very cool role sets. It follows a little bit of stuff from a lot of Gottlieb games.
    26:01
    And of course, who doesn't love Christopher Columbus? This is what happens when somebody turned it on and left it sit locked on.
    26:12
    I come in in the week and somebody says, yeah, your game caught fire. I was like, seriously? I started looking at it in the light, and I was like, well, obviously, that capacitor, the big one there, the big blue one, he's missing a little skin there.
    26:32
    Got a little excited. I've never seen one implode. And, of course, the picture below that is on the left before. And, of course, thank God we had another machine with a transformer and after. So obviously you should be able to see the company logo on the transformer.
    26:54
    And of course you see I do take pictures of everything where it goes. This is a must. What else do we got here? This is probably one of my favorite designs. I think some manufacturers should pick up this habit here. they actually if you work on a lot of foreign games obviously the the the lift system for the play field is horrible they tend to be a little sloppy and of course working on games you see I put a Williams coil in there I did cross-reference it to the right specs don't quote me on that but I like how they designed this bracketry where if you didn't have a third hand, you could actually push the coil stop and it locks in place.
    27:48
    So you can reach down and grab your screw. It doesn't fall out of place. I got two pictures of the different angles.
    27:55
    And, of course, the last shot, obviously, is when solenoids don't work on the play field and you've pulled all that gray hairs out of your head, then you realize you forgot to put a fuse in.
    28:07
    I got one more slide here for you and if you guys have any questions I will definitely do it. This is one of my favorite, this is my favorite head scratcher and I'm going to go to a blank slide because Office 365 hates me. Me and good old Todd here were talking about this one. This is the Scopatone. Anybody know the manufacturer or country? If I remember that is Italy. Enjoy a little bit of fun. This thing wasn't working and it's kind of cool to see it actually function again. Do you? Pretty cool system. Five minutes.
    29:09
    Right. Yeah. And obviously, the big thing with that one that I learned is, and Todd knows, and if you guys are any audiophile heads, especially like reel-to-reels and cassette tapes, when you don't use them, they sit in a box for too long. You've got to obviously loosen and untension them. You know, rewind, fast forward, and so forth, and back forward. And loosen them and clean them. Yep. What game eras do I hate?
    29:37
    Ooh, it's a tough one, isn't it? I hate Zacharias. I don't like the system. They're great games, but I hate them. Since I've worked on so many Zacharias,
    29:58
    like I said, they all have the same problems. And to me, it gets boring. What do you hate, Todd? Atari. I love Atari. Oh, God, they're horrible. I love them. If you guys need anything Atari fixed, I got you covered. Todd won't touch it. He can touch my Zacharias. I'll do the Ataris.
    30:21
    Obviously, I did make a lot of mentions. What is the certain manufacturer that I find easier? I thought it was Inder. because they actually have a very clean logic path of how they design, including their schematics, even if you can't understand them. You know, like I said, I pick up my phone and I'll actually use the Google Translator. This is how I actually learned how to understand, you know, like Italian and so forth because I can use it and hover it over the schematic and it would translate it in real time. That's good to know if you guys are on the route and have no idea what it says. Like I said, it could say, I think coils is boyos, I think. I think I'm saying that right, but I don't know. All I know is I see it, and I can translate it in my head just fine.
    31:08
    My thoughts on LED in import games? There's a 70% chance. Some foreign games actually use 12 volts on their lamps.
    31:21
    This I found different on a couple games. Circus, I think, was one that did it. There was another one. There was another jewel game that did use 12 volts. And what's funny is we were like, oh, let's, told the guys, I was like, go ahead and LED that game for me, and they started popping LEDs in. They turned it on.
    31:42
    It worked real good for a second. For a second. So they just blew away maybe $40 worth of LEDs. But if somebody was smart and opened up the back box, it says 12 volts. Only.
    32:01
    Yeah, it's a thing that you've got to pay attention to. Jewel. And I don't have one on the floor, unfortunately.
    32:16
    Come to past times, I'll show you a couple. Rob will fly you out. I'll pick you up from the airport.
    32:29
    Projects that I would like to do on my spare time, obviously I love designing circuit boards as well, part of my electronics background.
    32:38
    Nobody really makes aftermarket boards for some of the games except for Zachariah. There's Bell as well they did some aftermarket boards for. I would like to actually redesign some of those from original schematics, which I've gotten really good at doing. I've redesigned a few boards that we've gotten the cue to put in a few games of the arcade.
    33:05
    All right, that about wraps up my slideshow. Do you guys have any questions before I pass it on to the man, the myth, the legend, Brian, who should be rolling in here shortly?
    33:18
    That's fine, that's fine. That fine That means I losing my voice and it all good How many have you written down You probably have written down all the different I know you have all your manufacturers listed down How many would you say you've worked on for a year and a half?
    33:37
    In the last year and a half? That I've put my hands on, right? How many have I violated in about a year and a half? Let's see. Is that a good tone for it? Okay. About 150, easily, because I know Rob's got a lot of foreign games. And when it came to crunch time to get the arcade, and speaking of the man, the myth, the legend, shh, don't look, don't look.
    34:07
    In the crunch time, like I said, with the arcade, we were trying to establish, if you guys have been there, we do have a dedicated row of nothing but the import games. And I call it my babies, because every time I go in there, I like to see them running. And when I see one down, I kind of cry and go back to my office and weep for a little bit and then look at the notes and it's like ball stuck. And I was like, bullshit.
    34:33
    Nobody spent the time to unjam a ball. And then I cry because it was such an easy job. I was like, I got my work done for the day. Let's relax. But, no, I've probably pissed through about 150 games. A lot of it is, like I said, because they're overseas and a lot of them were neglected, probably in warehouses, battery damage. And we didn't have not enough time to start scoping down all the problems on them,
    35:03
    you know, even to fix the battery damage. So I picked probably the best, I think we got about 50 in that row easily. that I consider my kids, and they're just amazing to look at.
    35:23
    And then, of course, the next goal is we're going to work on more upstairs because we've got a ton of them. A whole section is dedicated for me upstairs. I didn't take a picture this year for it. I'll bring that for next year with some good soldiers that are actually working. Right.
    35:59
    Yes. Yep. Right. Nope, I do that. Yeah, in fact, a lot of the horror stories that I've seen, because obviously if anybody's seen his warehouse, especially when we had our pandemic, do you remember when Dave Fix creeped his head out of the middle of all those video games and pinballs? That's the nightmare I have to work with, and the conditioning of the actual warehouse is fair, I would say, temperature-wise, but the import games were obviously in a different wing if i remember right tony and uh they they seen a little bit of hardship but you know with with the time i've been spending with them i've made a lot of good looking uh games on the floor that people are actually enjoying and you know it's it's so unique to play some of those foreign games because understanding what were they thinking when they designed it and then playing it.
    37:05
    I do like converting them back over, especially, I hate to say it, Zacharias. I do convert them to English.
    37:12
    Nobody wants Farfellow talking to you in a very seducive, sexy Italian voice, especially at the arcade alone because I do live in the arcade three days a week because I'm not driving back and forth to Toledo two hours. So, but yeah, it's kind of creepy too because we do have a few in there, especially Terrific Lake. If you've ever seen a video on that.
    37:39
    I swear to God, there's a woman that screams every 15 minutes for a track mode. Sounds like somebody's getting violated in the back corner. I was like, no, that's normal. She's a screamer.
    37:51
    We have a Zachariah in the track mode that just says, hello. Hello. Oh, geez. Right. That's great. So, alright, that's a good one. Because there's a few games that are kind of terrible when they actually talk to you.
    38:38
    There's another one that did that. I'm trying to remember which. There was a game that did it in a track mode that was horrible. It was freaky. But I can't remember the name of it.
    38:55
    Not that with the bell phoned her. Yep. It's brilliant. It's a beautiful touch. Anybody else got a question?
    39:28
    Where do you get most of the games? That's a good question because I don't import games. I leave that to the big guys.
    39:38
    Rob, I'm sure, gets them a lot from overseas. He's got so many connections. He will talk your ear off about foreign stuff if you want to really know. If you actually see Rob Burke do the show, just ask him and say, hey, you import a lot of games from overseas, and where do you get them actually mainly? You have no idea, Tony. It's just wherever he finds them. There's a couple guys. Yeah. Two in Spain and one in Italy. Yeah. They're pretty much the same. Yep. I mean, they could be dry guys. Yeah, pretty much they are. In fact, I think there's like one more batch of games that we're probably going to get. And, of course, I enjoy working on them. It's a love of the passion, you know. If you don't like what you're doing, you don't need to be working. Forever. Yep.
    40:23
    I'm saving history here. So. Yeah. I appreciate it. may screw with the soundboard just a little bit because the DSP on the chips for speech generation can be a little fast,
    41:05
    especially when you do what we do with Commodores and stuff. The 60 hertz obviously is faster. A lot of games have been written overseas for 50 hertz, if I'm correct, Eric.
    41:18
    Come on, we're Commodore nuts. Who's had a Commodore in here? What's that? Motors are a task. That's... I still think... Yeah, because I have not seen any real issues with that. I've seen issues with lighting because a lot of the ballasts, Some are geared for just solely 240 and 220. I do have a couple games that say screw you when you put a 110 bulb in there.
    42:03
    And trying to find a 240 bulb here in the States. And thank God we got this thing called, what's the magic word? It begins with an A.
    42:11
    Amazon. If we didn't have it or eBay, I think a lot of us would be screwed for life. Any other questions? before I let the man, the myth, the legend back there take the stage here. Sure.
    42:29
    Yes. Yeah. So that's good. But good for people who are selling them, not for us who are buying them. We like the $50 games, don't we?
    42:50
    Yes. So, 150 games in the last year and a half. Yes. And it's come all over the world, all over the place. What are some of the most interesting, what are some of the coolest solutions or mechanisms that you've seen in these games? Because that's the thing that I think is always cool about them. Yeah. They solve the problem a different way. They come up with a different way. Oh, yeah, that's a good one.
    43:16
    I think it comes down to when we look at the schematics for the different manufacturers. When we work on Williams, we know exactly how it's supposed to work, and they actually jump through another different types of hoops with the logic. Now, some of the cool innovations that I've seen for toys and stuff, I think the coolest one we got on the floor out there I think is Time Machine,
    43:38
    where the play field, you have to go back in time. It'll start saying, prepare to go back in time. If it's working, we'll get it working before the end of the show, but it'll raise that play field up on you and we couldn't figure out why is this thing stuck and of course overseas it was all gummed up from somebody saying yeah let's just spray it with wd-40 and all that crap and realizing oh we got a mess here and trust me i i had the garbage can next to my thing and i think tony's like what the hell are you doing i was like i'm cleaning someone's fuck up i appreciate you guys today if you guys have any questions i'll be throughout the show there. I do like to keep a nice PG-13 since we don't have any kids in here. I do appreciate the little harsh language a little bit, but when working on the foreign games, it is a headache, and I enjoy headaches. You guys have a great day.