Looking at the schematic it looks like Williams subsumed the master display board logic onto the main board. This is evidence from images of the game where the ribbon cables go straight to the plasma slave numeric display.
See below.
Quoted from ForceFlow:A number of years ago, I heard of a Chinese company that could scan a depopulated PCB, redraw it, and then either produce it or give you the files for it.
I don't remember the company name, but it might be worthwhile to look into considering the rarity of the board.
It will probably be prohibitively expensive. You would also have to source the UDN7180 ICs.
Quoted from ForceFlow:I'm not familiar with the sys8 board at all, but would it be possible to work up an add-on module or board for a sys9 board?
See following.
So I just took a quick look at the schematic. I have a very good local friend who has this game but it's packed up in storage so I don't have access to the board. I don't think access to a physical board is necessary because the differences are evident from the images.
<TL;DR>
That's right TL;DR. Stop reading now if you don't care.
Here's the analysis for anyone that's interested.
System 8 display output. This is where Williams subsumed the master display board logic.
01_sys8_bcd_strobes.jpg
System 9 display output. The System 9 board has connectors so it is possible to bridge this. Caveat: see further below.
02_sys9_bcd_strobes.jpg
System 8 solenoid drives. Eight solenoids are available. This is a cut down version with two headers. Not sure why it was implemented this way. Seems odd that all the solenoids were not just put onto a single header.
03_sys8_solenoids.jpg
System 9 solenoid drives. Eight solenoids in a single header. It should be possible to bridge this with an appropriate connector or small bridge board.
04_sys9_solenoids.jpg
System 8 Comma and ~BLANKING signal. U4-PB6 and U4-PB7. The ~BLANKING signal is directly connected.
05_sys8_comma_blanking.jpg
System 9 uses these the signals differently. U4-PB6 is solenoid #15 and U4-PB7 is solenoid #16. The ~BLANKING signal can be obtained from 1J3-12.
06_sys9_comma_section1.jpg
07_sys9_comma_section2.jpg
This is the problem. The comma signals are U4-PB6 and U4-PB7. These are solenoid #15 and solenoid #16 in a normal full count solenoid board.These signal would need to be directly tapped from the board. This would require surgical precision to get the correct connection point.
It is possible to reproduce this board. I have most of it already in the System 9 CPU board project. It's not cost effective for me to do this. Pennant Fever is the only game that uses this board so all the time and development makes it cost prohibitive. The only way I would consider doing this is if there is demand or the cost is covered. I got plenty of other things that just make this extremely low priority. The other thing with any solution I would make it to use an LED slave display to obviate the need for the high voltage ICs (UDN6184 and UDN7180). I have all of this already done for System 11 alphanumeric display but this is just more cost.
FWIW: I wouldn't take on repair of that board. It would drive me bonkers with the endless sanding and continuity buzzing to verify all the connections in the schematic that have been affected (i.e. pretty much the whole board).
</TL;DR>
Crystal Lake, IL
