Let's Repair Atari's Legendary (But Ultra Complex) POLE POSITION Arcade Game! Two Power Supplies?

[@arcadefussell3185]

I played Pole Position back in the day every chance I got! Yours is probably the best depiction of the sense modification I have seen. I am excited to see the PCB. If only operators took that battery out. Oh. The custom chips. Oh. Those fried edge connectors. Its more rewarding than usual to save a Pole Position! It will live again!

[@MrDirkles]

i remember the delivery of a sit down pole position to my local arcade back in 82. Once it was up an running there were so many people that you were lucky if you got to see the screen through the frosted glass on the back. To enhance realism the arcade supplied a crash helmet that people could put on :D. Great times.

[@AMR-bf8nx]

Back when every new arcade game was literally a new experience never seen before…

[@PM9Video]

Rather than clone after clone of the same few games

[@fred_derf]

There were a ton of new and unique video games back then, but there were also endless PacMan clones, Space Invaders clones, etc.

[@thebarondisco7741]

Used to be you were inspired by what already existed and built on that to create something new. At some point people settled for just reusing what already existed.

[@fred_derf]

@@thebarondisco7741, writes _"At some point people settled for just reusing what already existed."_ Back in the beginning, no one knew what worked and what didn't so everyone was trying everything. Once they figured out what the most popular formats were they stuck to them. With game development being so much more costly now it's a huge risk to try something new.

[@stephenrobertson6025]

@@fred_derf The same thing is happening with VR - it's all new and they're working out what works and what doesn't. VR reminds me a lot of how it was back in the 80's when every day brought a new game type you'd never seen before (but also dozens of clones of popular games).

[@Zerbey]

Pole Position has always been one of my favorites, but it always seemed to be out of order back when I was a kid. Now I know why and why you just don't see them any more. Thanks for getting this one back up and running.

[@jasonrackawack9369]

"Prepair to Qualify".......... is permanently burned into my brain everytime I see one of these, lol, it is my favorite 80s game behind spy hunter.

[@LyonsArcade]

They even made that voice sound very pleasant, very memorable stuff. Thanks for watching Jason!

[@64ssmalibu]

Did they ever do a pole position 2 in the arcade? Have that for my 7800 along with centepede, asteroids and Galaga. Does anyone offer replacement power switch for the 7800?

[@senilyDeluxe]

The cockpit version with its weird 4 speaker sound is really awesome, it sounds like you're hearing everything through a helmet and then it hits you - the voice quality isn't bad because the hardware can't do better, you're listening to the pit radio built into your racing helmet!

[@galacticovergrow]

There was a dedicated 68000 board in Spy Hunter and all it did was play the Peter Gunn music

[@senilyDeluxe]

@@galacticovergrow There's an 8048 (or something very similar) in Carnival and all it does is beep the carnival music. Yes, beep. Like IBM PC speaker beep. They even programmed an option for the player to turn the "music" off. Zaccaria arcade machines have an 8048 where all it does is check the coin switches and give credits accordingly. You pass the butter.

[@baelevatorsmore728]

Now here’s a game I remember! Heck, I still have it! I’ve had a plug-and-play system with Pole Position, Galaga, Xevious, Mappy, and PAC-Man for years! I played so many hours of that thing and eventually figured out how to steer and shift in pole position. God I love that game.

[@booterduder5732]

I was addicted to Pole Position when I worked at the Arby's down the street from where that guy went "Postal" in Edmond OK. They had an arcade near there. Hope you get those chips to work!

[@firehawk6188]

Awesome timing. I picked up a PP2 a few months ago. Of course it's dead. I have 3 board sets and zero work! lol. I've back burnered this to repair other games first that are easier but now I'll watch your video and that will give me motivation to finally tackle this one. Thanks JOE! (RONNIE) I figure if I was able to get a Galaga board working then I should be able to stumble my way through a PP2 board or two.

[@LyonsArcade]

You're going to frieking LOVE the next two videos C H. Don't be scared, lol WE'VE GOT TO SAVE THE POLE POSITIONS, this is bullshit that they're all broken and we've let them all lie around far too long, the bs has got to stop :) Thanks for watching buddy

[@earlbrown]

@@LyonsArcade Put me down for another hopeful owner of a dead Pole Position. I sent all my boards off to a guy on ebay that charged me $250 to fix them and they got back DOA. I know both my power boards are good, so with any luck, I can figure out what's wrong with the main boards and have my sit down working after over a decade!

[@keiranninjaspirit]

This pole position looks mint..it really started right there with this racing game and the sounds.. instantly recognised when you walked into an arcade in the eighties.you know when they made these machines they never expected them to last all these years and definitely the makers never thought there would be such a big market in the future..collecters/first timers/,young folks experiencing for the first time.keep up the good work..aahhh the cigarette burns..love the nostalgia 😅

[@maccustoms2295]

You mentioned from the floor being mopped every night you can get water damage also arcades or places that had carpet there would be wear marks from people rubbing vacuums against it. Great video thanks for sharing have a great week can't wait for part 2

[@arcadesurvival8469]

I just refurbished a pole cockpit and I can attest to the difficulty getting this machine to work properly. Been waiting over a year for my boards to get repaired and lots of money spent to do so.

[@LyonsArcade]

It's such a shame too because this is a SERIOUS game, it was one of the best selling titles ever....

[@SpearM3064]

Another day, another Sense mod, huh? (Two sense mods, actually.) You know, I respect what Atari was trying to do with the Sense circuit, and I really can't blame them for not being able to predict that people would want to keep these things running for 40 years... long enough that dirt/oxidation on the edge connectors would become a problem. In that respect, I suppose they've got nobody to blame but themselves for making so many fun games, hmm? 😆 Looking forward to the next video!

[@LyonsArcade]

Yeah i'm not going to second guess an engineering decision made 40 years ago, lol To me though I think this is the way to handle it, I'd rather have the line voltage go low and the game not boot than have it burn stuff, lol Thanks for watching SpearM!

[@dreamcastfan]

Yeah on paper it sounds like an awesome idea. I’m always having to tweak the 5v in my JAMMA cab depending on the board I’m playing and something like this sounds really handy. But as we’ve seen, if it breaks and starts sending way too high voltages it’s worse than the minor inconvenience of tweaking the 5v pot each time. 😅

[@evergriven7402]

@@LyonsArcade Great Videos!!! any way you can post the link to the video of the Atari silk screening process you mentioned .. I cant seem to find it

[@gregoryschmidt1233]

Yes! The game room in my dorm commons had one of these, and I spent SO many hours on it. This was one of the very few games that I felt I could say that I had mastered. Well, at least *I* thought so!

[@frankgagliano9677]

Great video Ronnie, Man you started in daylight light and ended in street light. You have a heart beat, I can not wait to see the next video on this pole position. I liked the smile face sticker on the one board. Any idea when that board was worked on or is there any way to tell? Thanks Ronnie

[@LyonsArcade]

I can't remember that particular one, I either didn't see it or forgot it :) Maybe I got some more footage of it, was it on one of the power supplies? We often work on these videos over time so sometimes we'll mess around with something for three or four days but it's only 1 video... see you WEDNESDAY for the next installment :)

[@frankgagliano9677]

@@LyonsArcade it was on one of the power supply.

[@tek_lynx4225]

Neat never seen a standup version of pole position. All the ones I ever saw as a kid were sit down enclosed cabinets.

[@LyonsArcade]

They made a TON of those sitdown ones, I'll bet they made more Pole Position cockpits than any other game's cockpit version. Very fun game!

[@firehawk6188]

@@LyonsArcade That's funny because all I have ever come across back in the day was upright versions. Never a cockpit.

[@fimbles1015]

I used to work in a paintshop in the uk that refurbished the front of fruit machine cabinets, Spent a lot of time filling, sanding and repainting cigarette burns.

[@tonytavary3388]

I remember when Pole Position showed up at the convenience store down the road, it was there for about 6 months, but while it was there it was AWESOME. It was an upright like this one. Good memories.

[@dnbreyen]

Awesome game! Thanks for sharing Ron!

[@LyonsArcade]

Thanks for watching Dan!

[@hazysativa3045]

I still remember walking into The Wizard arcade and spotting this game. They took a pounding. So much more responsive and detailed than anything out there. Everyone would just WHIP that wheel and pound the pedals. I can just image the damage done to these. Happy to see one still standing. I would love to re use an original cabinet around my racing sim. How much do just the cabs go for?

[@melanatedmusings6147]

I'm not only fascinated by all these arcade games you fix but learning about the the sound setup of them. Specifically, information about the speakers. What is the impedence, ohms and or wattage that each speaker produces on this game? Pole Position, I was ok at it, but it certainly is an or the iconic driving arcade game.

[@ray73864]

I quite like when you explain your reasoning for why you do the sense-bypass mod. When I watch "Classic Arcade Repairs", he constantly goes on about how he dislikes the sense-bypass mod and how it is an unnecessary thing to do, because if you keep the connectors clean it should never be an issue. But I much like your reasoning for why you do the mod, because I think it's a much better reason than flat out saying you should never do the mod. It should be done on a case-by-case basis.

[@LyonsArcade]

To each his own I say. If the connectors are clean yes it should never be an issue, but if your connector isn't clean the board catches on fire. :) Thanks for watching Ray!

[@brantrunyon4313]

Amazing video. Much appreciated. Thanks for this overview of everything! I’m a subscriber now. :-)

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you Brant we appreciate it!

[@stevealaska73]

Ah Pole Position. Such memories. BTW: If you hold your lips together and say "Prepare to qualify" you can almost sound like the old sound bite. How many times did you just try? Same here. I've been doing it since the 80's.

[@LyonsArcade]

I always do Mario in the Punchout game "Technical Knockout" it sounded about the same

[@mervace]

I always remove the rubber scan coil wedges one by one and add a piece of electrical insulation tape then refit them, the wedges often react with the copper and burn the scan coils. Careful work usually does not affect convergence etc and saves these coils which are as rare as hens teeth these day’s . Great work with the videos.

[@rustychopps]

They had a pole position at my dentists office back in the late 80's i loved playing it!!

[@galacticovergrow]

The sense line in the regulator circuit is there to compensate for voltage drop in the wires and connector feeding the 5 volts to the board. After prolonged use the main 5 volt connections at the board burn up and then the board tries to draw all the current it needs through the 10 ohm resistor causing it to flame out. The extra unused stuff on the replaced audoo/regulator board are for a +12 volt and -5 volt regulators, they were mainly necessary to power triple voltage dynamic memory chips like the early versions of missle command used

[@dablakh0l193]

The other reason they used a sense 5V is because that wiring distance also contributes to voltage drop. They didn't need to see 5V returning to the board, What you do is adjust the voltage on the power supply PCB, while you put your meter on the CPU board. You adjust the potentiometer on the power supply board to see a good 5V on the CPU board.

[@LyonsArcade]

That's how I always adjust it

[@simonvazquez6751]

If I was in the market for one of these I'd pay extra for the cigarette burns, they add character and tell the story of the game !.

[@Devo_gx]

26:50 "To me, on Pole Position, I think it is the only way to fly." I'd say it's the only way to drive..... unless your race car had wings..... 😂 Great video!

[@patrickfivetrick9202]

Well done agaaaain!! Love your videos, because you explain things si well!!

[@pgtmr2713]

Ah, the days when we wanted to play Gran Tourismo and this was it, the best. The one closest to me wasn't in the mall arcade with the rest of the games. It was put near the center of the mall with a vending machine or 2 under an escalator.

[@LyonsArcade]

Those special ones were probably put there by the mall itself or another vendor since they were guaranteed to make money :)

[@patrickmorrissey2271]

Awesome game. Looks to be in great shape.... Yeah, I worked with a vending & arcade machine guy.... Your comments are spot on... You put the thing in a bowling alley, it's not making any money, the owner says get it out of here.... Some of these games ended up with a lot of miles in the truck..... I remember when the first version of that golf game came out, with the trackball.... Everybody wanted it. And to be honest, me & my friends were literally going to the bars that had it, it was awesome... Golden Tee?? Maybe??? Whatever.... but yeah, then they'd want the other games pulled out, and put in Golden Tee... and so on, the next new hottest game would come out....

[@TechGorilla1987]

@4:00 - The cigarette burns are provenance. A testament to life in the fast lane so to speak.

[@CastleMisha]

Joe joe joe we need longer videos I LOVE your vids sooo much

[@-abacchus]

Wow. Pole Position. The one and only game I bothered to put quarters in on my one and only visit to the US.

[@LyonsArcade]

It's a pretty cool game it's very simple by today's standards but for when it came out it's pretty awesome. Still holds up too for what it is, a simple racing arcade game.... thanks for watching A Bacchus!

[@Rybagz]

Hi Ron, Joe and Donnie. I used to play Pole Position a lot, it was at a local video store around 1982. Like "rest of the world" it was a Namco machine, I didn't know of Atari's association with it until it came out for the computer (I owned and still own lots of Atari computers) a bit later and saw the magazine reviews. The machine I played was a sit-down one, I think the gear shift might have even been on the left hand side as you'd expect in Japan or Australia, I'm just about sure it was floor mounted rather than next to the steering wheel. I'm not sure I ever saw another one - though did have the excitement of playing a TX-1 machine at a carnival a few years later.

[@Rybagz]

I also played Pole Position II occasionally, can't remember where. Didn't really like it as much even though it's a supposedly superior game.

[@Reality_Checkmate]

As tiny kids, we would put the power brick from the Atari 2600 into the freezer after a few rounds of Pole Position because that sucker would get HOT and start shutting off. Pole Position ran 🔥HOT🔥 because they were pushing everything so hard. It's such a simple game now but the arcade graphics were YEARS ahead of their time. That fast, 42 year old lady is still HOT! 🏁

[@stringerfilms.]

I actually just got my operation wolf operating 100% last night! Took me 3 weeks and it's only my 2nd week ever arcade restoration! 😁

[@jamesdye4603]

I remember when this first came out. You couldn't get near it because everybody wanted to play it. The ones I played were the full cabinet with the drivers seat.

[@naytch2003]

The boys had one about 6 years ago on the channel, also an upright of Pole Position 2

[@thebrit1976]

Look at that Cabinet just Beautiful ❤️

[@Masterkill45588]

Great video, can't wait to check this out because I've always wanted to own a pole position. I missed one a couple years ago for 100 bucks that had no sound, seller said he was pretty sure it was an issue with the ar2

[@richjacka1]

I have always wondered why the heck alot of machines have water damage. Thanks Ron.

[@LyonsArcade]

I'll bet most of them have been wet, it's easy to get caught in a rainstorm moving one.... Thanks for watching Rich!

[@TreadwellJay]

"These boards run hot, so let's seal them up in a brass box." C'mon, Atari. Atari, come... c'mon now.

[@LyonsArcade]

Unfortunately they had to, the damn FCC was on their ass.

[@freedomson1]

Great video! dumped a lot of quarters in that game back in the day!

[@WildkatPhoto]

Fun fact - it is 39 years since Pole Position was released. It was released 37 years after the end of WWII. Less them had passed since the end of WWII than has passed since the release of Pole Position and now.

[@LyonsArcade]

I think about things like that often, when I bought my first classic car and fixed it up it was 29 years old. That was like 26 years ago! Craziness!

[@michaelnippert945]

I played the game when they came out at Malibu Grand Prix it was a sit-down version a really fun game to play

[@LyonsArcade]

Malibu Grand Prix what a great name :) Thanks for watching Michael

[@williamcooper2368]

Ron I understand stand everything your telling us. I have learned so much. Just listening to U and that other guy, IT'S BROKE. Joe❤️

[@MikesArcadeMonitorRepair]

Yup. MatsuSHITa. It's got some jailbars. Needs caps. Otherwise, nice job! If you ever need to replace the flyback, it's a whole process. There is one available that fits the chassis footprint but doesn't provide the correct heater voltage. There is another (same part number) that does provide the correct heater voltage but it doesn't fit the chassis footprint and requires some gymnastic leg bending to get it to fit. Just a heads up if you need/want to replace it.

[@Nunya_Bidnez]

Love watching you guys. Keep it up

[@MRNBricks]

You have a Star Trek! I have acquired 2 of them. One mostly works, one doesn’t. It’ll be interesting when you go to fixing it. It’ll help if I ever get around to mine.

[@Astinsan]

These were tough machines.. we all got ticked when we would blow up. Try to break the shifter off and whatnot

[@LyonsArcade]

Yeah I think they built them pretty good all things said... I sometimes have ran across games that were at Ice Skating Rinks with little chips all in them from where the kids would kick them with the pick on the front of their skates!

[@Astinsan]

@@LyonsArcade the roller rinks covered them with thick carpet lol

[@TechGorilla1987]

Oh boy did I ever reef on one of those shifters in my day. I grew up in the 80's. Did you even notice how quarters from the early 80's are so thrashed? My theory is video games. If you're bored, look up the story of the "red quarters." That will be a trip down memory lane for folks my age who frequented arcades.

[@michaelstamper1191]

On the subject of replacing the power supplies. Installing a modern 5v supply does not require that the old one be removed, it could be left in place but only used for audio.

[@LyonsArcade]

Why would you do that though when you could just fix this one? If you put a new one in, you have to rewire all of that (by the way, the power supply receives 12v from the transformer to run, so you'd have to find 110 somewhere if you're using a computer power supply).... just doesn't make any sense.

[@michaelstamper1191]

@@LyonsArcade Mainly I was just replying to your replies to other people in regards to the regulator boards amplify the sound. The point I was making was that one does not need to remove the old boards in order to install an alternate 5v supply. Though on the subject of why you would want to replace the 5v supply, its because the old supplies are sketchy and will fry alot of irreplacable chips if they fail in the wrong way.

[@WreckDiver99]

I always enjoyed Pole Position because I figured out how to play it and win. LOL...Pole Position 2 standup I believe started including the brake pedal as well as the gas. I wasn't nearly as good at PP2. :( Love to see you re-do a tempest...that spin controller always failed.

[@LyonsArcade]

We've done a few Tempests in the past, here's a video if you want to watch - kzbin.info/www/bejne/fXOqeYKBiZt6kM0

[@nickyborrisino]

Regular maintenance/servicing of these older machines early on could have prevented a lot of these types of damage occurring later on. Unfortunately, most owners neglected machines until obvious symptoms of damage, and by that time, damage was done.

[@cheako91155]

In response to the switches on that Kiss Pinball. For caps and switch scanning I don't believe time matters, as a guess. When the game powers on there is a chance a cap is charged, ignore that for just a bit. When the game scans the switches it tries to run a little current through the switch (right, like that's just how it works). That will charge all the caps, the key point is that it takes current(even if only a little) to charge the caps. The switches short across the cap at the speed of light the cap is emptied. Hours later, without being scanned, the cap is still empty. The little current it takes to charge the cap registers on the CPU. Normally when dealing with caps time is everything, but in this one instance I think it only a combination of the switch discharges and the current it takes to charge the cap.

[@cheako91155]

Once the cap is charged and the switch remains open, no current flows in that case as well.

[@LyonsArcade]

You understand though that most of the switches don't have a cap? Thank you for watching Mike!

[@themadmallard]

any opinion why cabs would use oval speakers vs rounds?

[@LyonsArcade]

I think at the time perhaps they were just easier to buy in that size, this particular speaker was used in most games back then. Probably something with a decent sound that was cheap.

[@davidbrennan5]

Cool game, My favorite were the cockpit star wars games from Atari. I begged my poor Dad to take me into a very shady Arcade in the city when I was a kid to play one.

[@richardperry5880]

Not sure if you non. But arcade Jason makes new pcb boards for this arcade cabinets. 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧👍

[@LyonsArcade]

He does but it's not quite there yet, there's something like you have to replace the gas pedal or something with it

[@weyayemanjoe3082]

Hey Ron This video looks like a old similar video you have done, Nice to see new content I always like you & Donnie's video s so if I don't send a message i always like your stuff keep up the the fun stuff. Stay Safe People 👍

[@deborahchesser7375]

Do you have a Gorgar or Funhouse sitting around, a couple favorites

[@LyonsArcade]

We did a Gorgar video awhile back, check it out Deborah! - kzbin.info/www/bejne/amS6ZXtrmbNmfqs

[@BlueGooseGarage]

There was a pole position at a pizza place in town when I was a kid I played it every time we went there lol looking back all the games they had were older games

[@derofromdown-under2832]

Hey Ron, were the bridge rectifier/s located somewhere near the power transformers? I noticed there were none on either of the PSU PCB's... 10/10 for this vid...

[@LyonsArcade]

There is one hiding underneath the power transformer down in the bottom, it's actually mounted under that transformer.... I've shown it in a couple videos but on this particular one since the voltages were good and the 'big blue' had already been replaced down there I didn't remove that power brick this time... Thanks for watching Dero!!!

[@videoviewer2008]

Seems like a full modern power supply replacement would be better than doing a sense mod, or worrying about a voltage regulator shorting to 12vdc. Also, new ones would be more efficient with less waste heat. Thanks for the video.

[@LyonsArcade]

Nick you missed the part where the audio amps are on the power supply, you’d have to rework that too… much easier to fix the original

[@woody4077]

fun fact: becuase of this game the fuji race way is the FIRST race track to appear in a video game

[@Indiskret1]

This will be very interesting for sure! Back watching after getting hooked on Fallout 4 which was on sale. Way better than the initial reviews showed, so I should've bought it when it came out.

[@sideburn]

A movie of the life of an arcade machine would be interesting… like toy story.

[@LyonsArcade]

I think so too!

[@maccustoms2295]

Played this game at an ft sill ok at the px. Great game. One of my favorite arcade game of all time besides DK

[@wackyworldofwindios3476]

Good morning Joe.

[@LyonsArcade]

Good morning Windios!!!

[@myob214]

If you say " prepare to qualify " into a big safety cone, it sounds just like the game.

[@truthbydesign5146]

Remember 2600 version of Pole Position being featured on the 80s movie, D.A.R.Y.L.? Classic scene.

[@senilyDeluxe]

In the basement of the Arcademuseum Seligenstadt Germany there's a Pole Position monitor with insane burn-in. The GAME OVER is almost black. People don't believe me the monitor is not connected to anything when I show them a photo. G07 iirc. I also repaired a few boardsets of PP and PP2. This damn battery... yeah the C7 custom, sometimes traces were eaten through, a bad address selector (LS138?139?) and some bad RAMs. Pole Position is pretty picky when it comes to 2114 style RAM, they work in one location and need a different type in the other (timings). And once a CPU just died with D0 not getting close enough to 0V just after I fixed it. Also Qix. The bootlegs are a lot better because the brand of battery they used didn't leak nearly as much as the originals.

[@LyonsArcade]

You've repaired a few of them so you know the deal, the things are super complex for this vintage... thanks for watching SenilyDeluxe!

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

if You have Isopropanol use it to clean the top of that PSU board as the soot might cause something to short out.

[@LyonsArcade]

Let's do it!

[@finbah5706]

my favroite arcade game. along with Kung Fu Master, Shinobi, Double Dragon

[@theoldar]

Now you are in my wheelhouse. I dropped a ton of money into this one.

[@LyonsArcade]

It was a masterpiece considering what they were working with at the time! Thanks for watching Theoldar!

[@rsm3265]

Played it at grocery store when I was in jr high, great game

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

What's the reason you don't just put an adequate ATX PC power supply (~$50) in those cabinets? Out with those old transformers with old skool fuses. Or is it so important that everything stay as original as possible?

[@LyonsArcade]

Paul are you going to add two sound amplifiers too? Then you're going to rewire the connectors? Rewire the speakers connectors?

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

@@LyonsArcade why would one need to do that? medium voltage AC tap-off in the original power supply for the amp?

[@stevesmusic1862]

Nice video!! I wonder whats happening with Adams FPGA multigame board? haha!! I jest, but wasnt their an issue with the games themselves that meant something like this was needed?

[@dkd1228]

Swap with a modern switchmode regulator?

[@LyonsArcade]

The regulator boards amplify the sound. Did you watch the video?

[@squidkid2]

Played the sit-down version of this back in the day. BTW if it don't work then it don't have a pay check and therefore it is broke!

[@JCV11B]

Honestly I have been looking for an operation wolf for the last 4 years. Another has been double dragon finding something decent seems to be getting harder.

[@LyonsArcade]

Another issue with Double Dragon is the cabinet was made out of thinner particle board so they just didn’t hold up! The pcbs though work fine…

[@djlamar2]

Pole Position. Now this is a classic. Especially with the wheel. They just don't make them like they used to :(

[@wdavem]

I stupidly used a flea market pc psu to run a big led display... image froze for the final time (until/unless I fix it). Power supply autopsy showed 11 volts on 5v output and a shorted regulator. That's when it's fun to pop the caps on purpose.

[@Spacetrucker138]

Great video, I'm an addict now, going to start to use the amazon link. Thanks again for all the hard work!. Quick question. Why do some arcades use mirrors and upside down monitors and some don't , heck what is the reason for the mirrors anyways?

[@azcardinal88]

mainly for balance to prevent the tube from making the cabinet top heavy :)

[@Spacetrucker138]

@@azcardinal88 thanks ! never thought of that!!

[@wdavem]

I stupidly used a flea market pc psu to run a big led display... long ago. Image froze for the final time (until/unless I fix it). Power supply autopsy showed 11 volts on 5v output and a shorted regulator. That's when it's fun to blow the capacitors on purpose.

[@wdavem]

I want to add that the psu was over rated by at least 50 watts. Perhaps it came off the street tho.

[@AvengerII]

Pole Position is actually a NAMCO game that was licensed to Atari. The board in this game is also a NAMCO design that was licensed. Just like Pac-Man was also a NAMCO game but was licensed to Midway. NAMCO didn't have a US affiliate so they licensed their games. Don't know exactly when NAMCO opened a US office but obviously they had one by the 1990s and weren't licensing their games to other companies by then. The rules and players of the videogame were very different in the late 1970s and 1980s than they were now. Lawsuits and bankruptcies changed that industry dramatically before the end of the 1980s. Nowdays, NAMCO is Bandai-Namco and they're getting a crappy new corporate logo next year inspired by the Twitter logo that has generic pink lettering framed in blue.

[@LyonsArcade]

This is the Atari version thx

[@AvengerII]

@@LyonsArcade It's Atari branded on the outside of the box but the game code and board are still Namco IP. As I understand it, the Japanese companies in the early to mid-1980s did not want to spend the money to do R&D in the US and set up offices to distribute their games in this country. They licensed for less pain but they also got less of the money, too. Nintendo didn't want to sell the NES on its own and tried to get Atari with its distribution knowledge to sell the system for them! Atari turned them down and the rest is history. Atari might have continued being RELEVANT for at least a few more years had they taken the deal with Nintendo. I think it was a good thing in the long run that Atari turned Nintendo down. Atari never made a good move on its own after the mid-1980s and the industry was better for that for at least 25 years. I personally think the video game industry is in a shithole unless you'e dealing in retrogames. People are buying the original hardware or emulations. The new dedicated consoles, meanwhile, have NOTHING TO OFFER in new software even if you could buy the consoles in stores now. I think this might be the last generation that either Sony or MS offer new consoles. I think Nintendo might stick around and do its own thing but I think it's mostly going to be PC's and economy-priced retrograming (things like Raspberry Pie, Arcade 1Up) from now. There will always be a collectible market for retrogames and original arcade hardware but I think the PlayStation's and XBOx's may die after this generation. They didn't begin well anyway!

[@wdavem]

In the 80's sometimes they used different floor cleaning chemicals you don't see now... at least one of them smelled good.

[@Shadi2]

I understand keeping the PCB, inputs, and display the same, but the power supplies could be replaced with a modern supply.

[@LyonsArcade]

Shadi2 if you watched the video you'd see that the power supplies also amplify the sound. So you'd have to replace the power supplies, rewire the cabinet, then also add two sound amplfiers and rewire all that too.

[@Shadi2]

@@LyonsArcade could a single PC power supply drive all that?

[@michaelredman7451]

I used your Amazon link. Hope it helps!!

[@LyonsArcade]

Thank you Michael you rock, I don't care what those other people say about you.

[@Jetrulez15]

I know next to nothing about arcade games but I noticed the monitor boards are red. Could it possibly be a prototype or would ALL the boards have to be red? I know that's how it works with pinballs, not sure about arcade cabinets.

[@willipete07]

Whats the scooter game in the back ground?

[@mre9789]

I always wondered how my Galaxian got water damage. Well, not just water damage, it must have spent time in a laundromat in the bad part of town. That particle board just does not like getting wet.

[@LyonsArcade]

Yeah most of them got wet at some point or another..... thanks for watching Mr E!

[@mgpmbass3616]

Are the P.P. steering wheel assemblies worth anything? I have one that is complete with the encoder wheel.

[@LyonsArcade]

Not too much unfortunately, So many of these were parted out of the years most of the parts are not worth very much

[@jonshouse1]

The sense exists to measure the voltage drop under load for the cabling. You keep describing it in terms of the connector, that is the mistake the designer made not the intention of its design. The sense compensates for the voltage drop of the cabling and the voltage drop under dynamic load as the current drawn goes up and down. The thinner the cabling the more the voltage changes with current draw. Had they put more ground and power points on the design and used thicker cable then they would not have needed the sense, in a way it is a cost cutting exercise by the designer.

[@LyonsArcade]

ok thank you i'll try to stop explaining it in the future sense I don't know what i'm talking about

[@critter42]

I'd be suspicious if a game that old DIDN'T have it's share of cigarette burns

[@LyonsArcade]

I hear ya :)

[@autotalon]

Why do these old boards have such big traces all so far apart? Manufacturing thing? Noise thing? Just wondering, even in stuff from the late 80s they're jammed pretty tight.

[@barmanvarn]

I’m 1 minute in and already having flashbacks to the issue where it wouldn’t shift to 2nd gear.

[@LyonsArcade]

hahaha what a horrible problem to have :) Thanks for watching Brian!

[@izzynutz2000]

Pole position! The only game that I could walk up to and be assured that I would get high score every time no matter what game no matter where... (There used to be little secrets you could do while driving that would assure you pole position and first place) 😉

[@justjoe942]

You tease!

[@claw_md]

This sense mod thing confuses me. R29 and R30 are 10ohm shunts already, so why not just disconnect the sense lines and stop there? With the sense lines disconnected won’t the power supply effectively sense its own output via R29 and R30 without any modifications to the AR2 board?

[@LyonsArcade]

That would probably work but the whole problem is the wiring is undersized (0r the connection isn't good enough) on the board, so by shunting it you just added another 5v line to the board to help with that.

[@deborahchesser7375]

Hope you guys are doing well, you staying busy I hope ?

[@LyonsArcade]

We have been very busy, that is true!