Description

The system 1 board is a plug-in replacement for the original Gottlieb System 1 CPU, driver board, and if necessary, power supply.  It supports all of the games in the platform series, and provides considerable diagnostic capability for the technician when troubleshooting where a game may be malfunctioning.  The entire game software has been re-written with an emphasis on maintaining the timing and compatibility of the original board, however with quite a bit more functionality added in:

Key Benefits

• Direct replacement of the original System1 boards.
• Enhanced switch input circuitry preventing damage to the board from playfield wiring issues.
• 3-month warranty.
• Supports the new Ni-Wumpf sound board that provides all new sound themes for the games.
• All game code completely re-written (with some minor original Gottlieb glitches omitted!)
• Twenty-nine years in business with thousands of boards sold internationally.
• Text based diagnostics menu system that allows operator settings previously done via DIP switches to be entered via front door switches.
• Tests that cycle repeatedly (until timeout) to help isolate faults.
• Enhanced use of high reliability surface-mount components with off-the-shelf thru-hole components at the edge for ease of serviceability.
• Display test to exercise all digit segments (numbers), and to strobe each digit independently to check for display (UDN6118) shorts.
• Solenoid test that exercises each coil including lamp controlled coils (when configured set for such a game)
• Enhanced switch test to identify stuck switches.
• Power-up code revision and game setting displayed for quick diagnostic configuration identification.
• All 16 System 1 games are included on one board with no ROM swapping required.
• Original MPU functionality has been closely duplicated and adds many optional features including:
  • Free game mode
  • Updated game options for many games to allow add-a-ball mode (multiple free-balls awarded during a single ball) where the playfield challenge is completely reset once after scoring the free-ball / special.
  • Menu options to disable add-a-ball (for operators who requested it!)
  • Automatic threshold calculation and adjustment.
  • Tournament mode – Special award replaced with points
  • Operator set Ball Save time!
  • Million point scores shown in scrolling display.
  • Idle mode animation.
  • Skill shot option (for some games).
  • Four high score memory.
  • Restore factory-settings option for quick reset of settings.
  • Wizard mode for some games
  • Enhanced sound outputs
• Open-collector output logic with zener diode protection for all solenoid circuits and lamp select lines to prevent CPU damage from a damaged driver board.
• Battery-less operation – all settings and high-score data are stored in FLASH with >100,000 write cycles.
• Designed for low-cost component repair and maintenance on I/O sensitive components (exposed to bad displays / bad driver boards, etc.)
• Stuck switches are ignored and do not impair the rest of the games operation, including the slam switch!
• USB diagnostic program and FLASH update tool to allow coding updates in the field.

Why all boards in one?

I can’t count the number of System 1 games I have bought at auction that have absolutely no boards in the head.  Games that have been cannibalized to provide parts for another game.  …or struggled to isolate a problem with a game when one of three unknown modules; PS, CPU or Driver board could be suspect.  Missing the CPU – Driver board harness?  All good reasons to look at an all-in-one product.  Now there are downsides too; it’s expensive – if you don’t need both CPU and driver board replaced, it’s additional cost for this unit.  Should the operator totally fry the board somehow, it has to be replaced at a higher cost than the individual board.  So basically, when something fails, without spare components, the whole game is down until it can be repaired.  In summary, all of the downsides have to do with service of the game.