Coin Mechanisms with a PC?

[n0rtygames]

Hey all,

I *think* this is the right place for this. Just out of curiosity -- does anyone here actually run a PC based arcade cabinet with a working coin slot? I'd be interested in having someone point me in the right direction for how these little suckers actually work and interface with MAME.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding, judging from the options presented by MAME is that something like this will occur:

* Coin slot is wired up to a specific output, via some PCB wizardry which can be read by the PC and accepted as a joystick/key press (Let's call it Joy05 for arguments sake)
* Coin mechanism spits out one 'pulse' every time it receives a sufficient amount of money to constitute a 'credit'
* In the event of a larger value coin being accepted by the machine (arguments sake: credit = $1, you put in $2) -- the coin mechanism has a timer to deal with such issues?

I could be barking up completely the wrong tree here. But if anyone could guide me in the right direction, perhaps where I might buy/construct/wire one on the cheap (A USB interface is preferable!) -- I'm basically interested in adding proper coin munching support to my games just in case there's that one mad bastard out there who actually wants to run homebrew titles on an arcade cabinet and feed it coins for the privilege of doing so...

[emphatic]

A (mechanical) coin mechanism is just a microswitch being activated, so it's just a matter of assigning that input to the right function in the game/emulator.

[n0rtygames]

A (mechanical) coin mechanism is just a microswitch being activated, so it's just a matter of assigning that input to the right function in the game/emulator.

Okay, that's easy enough then. A mechanical one with a coin sorter to take a specific kind of coin and reject all others makes the most sense.

I think I just over engineered a digital one in my head. Mind you, there's probably nifty ones that work in that fashion too..

[shmuppyLove]

I believe most coin mechanisms can be adjusted to accept whatever type of coin or token you need.

Then the game software can be changed (in most cases) to 1 play = 1 credit or 2 credits or whatever you like.

I don't believe you can accept two different types of coins with the same mech, unless there are ones specifically designed to do so. But then the mech would have to send different signals depending on the coin, so it might have two switches on it. Even a mech with two different accepts would need to have some way of signalling the game of two different types of coin input, which you could probably handle with different credit/play settings for the 1P or 2P coin inputs.

If you're setting this up for a PC-based system, the output from the coin mech would need to be wired to a USB or keyboard encoder (along with all your control inputs) and then your software will need to be configured to accept inputs from the encoder. Keyboard encoders are pretty straightforward, and the coin input might be "5" or something (the default in MAME). USB encoders might use joystick inputs instead of keyboard, and if your software doesn't recognize joystick input, you could use something like Joy2Key or xpadder to map those to keyboard inputs instead.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

On those slick bartop based games that go by the name of Megatouch back in the late 1990s, they used a PC setup running MS-DOS OS and a Mars dollar bill acceptor setup that would accept both dollar bills (up to a five dollar bill denomination maxiumum) and quarters as the "gold choice" to credit up a game. The actual interface isn't your standard USB type either but rather a custom multi-pin setup. The entire Mars dollar bill acceptor/coin slot setup is removable as a single unit to remove such monies at the end of the day/night if so desired by the arcade operator making his or her local rounds on street locations or arcade routes if you will.

The older vintage Mars dollar bill acceptors (that can accept such dollar bills from 1998 and older) won't recognize such bills from 1999 and beyond unless it's been upgraded to the latest specs to read such modern-day dollar bill denominations being cranked out today by the U.S. Treasury. It's a given.

Plus, there're the pressing issues of making sure the dollar bill acceptor is cleaned regularly and dealing with jammed bills stuck mid-way comes to mind. It's all part of the job to make sure they're functioning in tip-top shape to generate revenue.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[yaniktheyak]

I have a mars coin mech connected to a JPac and this works nicely with mame on a PC.
The coin mech works with 10p 20p 50p and £1 coins. It uses dip switches to say how much a game costs.
It then sends a credit signal when the correct money is loaded.
So you put 20p in and it can count 1 credit or maybe £1 gives 5 credits. Just pulses 5 times.
Ultimarc make the JPac.
The mars coin mech is a standard arcade coin mech.