Monkey Mole Panic

Morden

Somewhere in Europe.,
Joined
Jul 5, 2005
Posts
711
This is a game I always wanted to get, but it uses special controls, so I was reluctant. They're not that special, really, but it all depends on how it was solved.

So, essentially it's a whack-a-mole game, with nine buttons plus 1P and 2P start buttons. The original cabinet has these dome shaped buttons that light up when you're supposed to hit them.

My question is: Is the board itself enough to wire up some big buttons that light up, or is there a separate board for that, which is wired to the PCB?

Here's a video of the original machine:


I guess I'm kind of answering myself here, but there's a connector on the board, with a plug at the end. This must be plugging into whatever board the buttons are mounted on, but would it still be possible to wire this thing up to modern lit up buttons?

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Geekman1222

Kula's Candy
Joined
Jun 26, 2017
Posts
290
I was spending a few minutes trying to dig up dirt on this but i couldnt find anything in particular of use to help.

So upon observation there are 10 leads on that harness.
There are 9 buttons on that control panel not counting the 2 P1 P2 start

Assuming P1 P2 are tapped off the Jamma and every button runs into that harness that leaves one lead left likely for ground or +V. Its a hard call to make. The buttons lamps them selves probably tap into the power supply directly.

Its really hard to tell though. I noticed these photos are from an Ebay Listing. You could always buy the board and test the harness but that requires a small risk if it doesnt work out how you plan.

All of these observations are assuming the machine is not multiplexing the buttons in some form.

Best of luck
 

Morden

Somewhere in Europe.,
Joined
Jul 5, 2005
Posts
711
Assuming P1 P2 are tapped off the Jamma and every button runs into that harness that leaves one lead left likely for ground or +V. Its a hard call to make. The buttons lamps them selves probably tap into the power supply directly.

First of all, thanks for the reply. Posting a question about an obscure game was a shot in the dark, but you never know. People in here own all sorts of stuff. Yeah, it was the eBay listing that made me ask the question. It's not like this is some kind of a holy grail of a game, but I always thought it was cute and fun. Especially with the original setup. I'm not worried about getting the buttons to work. My main concern was the lighting up feature.

Not having the lights is not a deal breaker, but they do light up when you're supposed to hit them, so it helps. I couldn't find any pinout info for this game anywhere. There are no manuals scanned, no forum posts, nothing. Even though there are eight buttons available on the JAMMA edge, plus two for players, it makes sense to have a single connector for the button panel, but that doesn't solve the mystery of the lights.

EDIT - What about the two connectors to the right of the JAMMA edge? From this angle, they look like VGA, labeled COM-IN, COM-OUT? What could that thing be?

EDIT 2 - Ok, I bought the damn thing. Let's hope the inputs aren't encoded in any way [it's a JAMMA board ... why would they be?]. I'm planning on getting these buttons and building my own panel.
 
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