Cocktail conversion to Jamma. Question.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 12:48 am

When I left the UK my mother had a cocktail table in the front room. It had a crappy asteroids rip called Vortex from Taito. The only difference is the graphics were in color and it controlled with a joystick. There is one button only, which when depressed "thrusts" and when you tap it, you fire.

I didn't have any knowledge then about Jamma/PCB's or anything like that. The Joystick for p2 was broken off but p1 played fine. Apart from that it worked fine, nice sound and display.. albeit small monitor.

I'm going home in a couple of weeks and I think it will be a great project.

So, i'm just wondering how hard it would be to convert this to jamma. Looking at most PCB's, even if they are not jamma you still have 5v, 12v etc etc. I could fit Sanwas in there, wire it all up and go right?

The only reason I won't do it is if someone tells me Vortex is worth 5 million bucks or something. Otherwise I think its a project worth risking, even if its just educational.

So would it be ok to use the current PSU?
I'm sure the RGB lines are all the same or not?
does anyone know if you have the monitor adjustments in there somewhere?

I plan on making it a Galaga 88 cocktail

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 12:55 am

http://www.arcadeoriginals.co.uk/

It looks like the bottom 2 on that page.

I didn't realize they cost that much, she only paid 30 quid for it 10 years ago

. Maybe Its worth more as dedicated cocktail?

dpful · Post by **dpful** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 5:23 pm

You should be able to simply rewire it.
I'd check the voltage on the PSU first, just to make sure it's steady, but 5 and 12v should cut it. A few games use -5v, so you should check the pinout for the new game to make sure. The RGB, Sync, Ground for the monitor should be fine I think.

Post by **system11** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 9:00 pm

If it's a dedicated original machine, gutting it to turn into a JAMMA cab is a crime against gaming, and you'd deserve to be hunted down like a dog, tortured, and finally killed.

No, seriously - just don't.

Supply a few pics and I can find out more about it for you.

Daigohji · Post by **Daigohji** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 9:30 pm

I'd be wary of the safety issue with a unit that old. Even assuming it's not held together with duct tape and chewing gum, you could work long and hard restoring it only for it to turn into a fireball soon after. Build quality varied wildly in the 70s/80s, so make sure you know what's in there before you start chopping and changing components.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 10:44 am

Its a basic generic cocktail table. It has a glass black top, its wood underneath and has chrome legs. The only graphics on the cocktail are the instruction sheet under the glass. Its not one of those lovely Mspacman type deals where it has decals and such all over it.

All I know about the game is its Taito, its called Vortex and it plays like an asteroids clone in colour. The mother ship looks like the Starship enterprise and it randomly comes across the screen.

I doubt the game is newer than 1984. I can't provide pics because its in the UK and I'm in the USA right now.

i used to have a space invaders cocktail as well, except that one bit the dust when someone dropped something heavy on it.

As for reliability, it works fine.. powers up no probs. Coin mech doesn't work but a big red button inside allows credits.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 10:55 am

Googling "vortex" and "taito" I found a manual site for old games that says "Zilec" is the manufacturer. No word on the game or anything, must be rare as hell.