If that is the route taken then may as well go larger and do a combined ROM for all the GamePlan games and just DIP switches to select the bank and the one chip does it all.

Having the option for a single combined ROM is nice but it is also good to leave the option to use the original ROM chips and just move them over. I can see dropping support of the odd TI chips that need the negative voltage.

Any of these are already a huge improvement over the original board. Cutting traces, adding wire jumpers, etc sucks.

I can see it either way. If they all fit in a reasonably sized/cost eprom, fine. The lower capacity ones are harder to get new too, so your point is taken there.

If you move over 40 year old mask programmed roms with old tarnished legs and hungry power requirements, you're asking for trouble. Backwards compatibility is great but not at the expense of reliability.

I will also be happy to help, I have two different models, the 110 and 120 ( MPU-1), have two Game Plan, a Foxy Lady and a Star Trip.

I always carefully clean the legs of the old chips so that isn’t an issue unless the leads are rotted. But it’s good to call it out for others that may not clean the leads as a normal practice. I just revived one of my original MPU-2 boards last night and cleaned the legs on the ICs as part of the process. It is going to get new DIP sockets shortly.

The old EPROM chips that need multiple voltages I’d replace but I’ve found the old mask ROM chips to be reliable. Only had one failure on a Firepower. As long as they are working they should be fine. In theory the mask programmed ROM should outlast the programming of any EPROM since the charge on those can bleed off (everyone refers to it as bit rot). While others may have different experiences than me over the years i’ve seen more issues with EPROMs than mask programmed chips.

I had a masked ROM fail on my Flash Gordon Squawk and Talk board, so it can happen.

They can fail and I've had one failure myself. It's just I've have far more EPROM issues. Even EPROM chips with covered windows I've seen many were a several bits have flipped back to 1's or large sections have reverted back to a blank state. Worse when people leave them uncovered. If you ever see any uncovered EPROM windows cover them with at least a piece of electrical tape.

I wouldn't write off the mask programmed chips for reliability issues. Not something that I've had issues with.

EPROMS are easily replaced though and I honestly can't say I have seen one fail yet aside from failure to write which is not uncommon.

Well I gave up waiting, sold my nice coney island for parts.. take me off the list of buyers for this

How goes the battle here?

I look for this thread every day..........always hoping for great news.

I spoke with Jim at Echo recently and he is still in limbo as he doesn't want to make a bunch of boards only to be undercut by a cheaper version released at a later date.
I was hopeful that the new manufacture would be able to work with Jim at Echo and at least let him do another run to satisfy the current demand as I have myself have 2 customers waiting.
Jim has to do at least 50 plus boards at a time to make it worth it.
I have bought several in years past and never an issue. Always great support. I dont need a board that has multigame switchability like the new one being offered.
Hope this shortage of Gameplan cpus finds a solution good for everyone. Im ready to buy . I have customers with grandkids that want to play Sharpshooter again!!

On a side note if anyone wants to sell me their Echo board that wants to wait for the release of the new design please by all means let me know.

Im sure Jim would enjoy hearing from customers that like me are ready to buy a known good board. He is a nice guy with great support for the hobby thats been proven for many years. Please reach out via email or phone to him in support of this proven product. He would appreciate it. I have clients 10+ years no issues, proven product. I PREFER to pay more for a proven design than risk $ on something which may or may not be around 3-5 years down the road.

Just sent an email to Jim - if we all do the same, maybe we can see if we can get this project back up and running as the progress by Ilikewires looks to have ceased.

Good to hear. Jim is a great guy. I've spoken with him and reccomend others do the same. I'm in for 2 plus boards.

Keep up the good work @Ilikewire. Nothing worthwhile comes fast or easy, imho.

Just picked up a Game Plan with an acid ruined motherboard. So following your progress Ilikewires with great interest. Got plenty of projects ahead of this one so hopefully by the time I am ready to work on it I will have a motherboard to put into it

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Did that come from Michigan? There was one for sale for a while that finally sold.

No it was close to home (40 minutes) and cheap so I said what the heck!

Ready to go just add a new MPU

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How bad is the board? I have had success fixing several. Just brought a Bally -35 back to life last week.

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They are usually worse than many of the Bally boards. The early Gameplan MPU boards lack a solder mask and on those many traces are just gone. I'm rebuilding one of those but it is tedious since there are a lot of traces to re-create. I've got one of the original boards running and currently working on another to revive a 2nd Sharpshooter.

I have done one Game Plan MPU, a Pinball Lizard and it wasn't too terrible.

Luck of the draw I guess.

I wish Jim would just make the boards. It’s silly at this point. He has a built in customer base and he knows they will sell. I highly doubt the board from Ilikewires will be done by the time EL produces his. It’s just silly. We will buy his board and he will definitely sell out of 50 of them. I’ve been at the top of the list with Jim for over a year now. He’s made a shitton of boards. He really should just make this batch and be set. As mentioned, it’s tried and true!

When Ilikewires board comes out, that will be great, but in the meantime there is almost 50 of us waiting to finish our Game Plan games!

Unless you have a Cyclopes of course, then not so much.

I do think you are correct though, Echo Lake should just run off 50 boards but only Jim knows what the sell rate is. Trying to second guess what a possible competitor will do doesn't always work out and time is a wasting.

Pretty bad, acid damage all over, traces broke/missing, etc. I will update this post with a picture later but it is way more work than I want to do/am capable of.

Updated: added some images, didn't look as bad as I remembered as traces look intact, but still a lot of corrosion.

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You need to put those pics here --> https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinball-horror-pics/

The board I’m working on now is similar to that. Many traces just gone. At least I have a working example board to compare against.

Cleaned off the corrosion with vinegar and then with the small scotch bright wheels for the dremel

I could fix that but would take many hours.

many hours.

Anyone had any joy contacting Jim at Echo Lake?
I have mailed him a couple times in the past few months to see if he is going to make anymore MPU boards and he just referred me to Pinball Replacement Parts.
Really hope he will reconsider and run another build.

I've spoken with him and I encourage people to call him or email. I will take 2 boards. He is concerned that the new design might compete with him. I really want to help.my customers.

Perhaps you should start a separate thread, this one is dedicated to having a new non-Echo Lake board developed.

Sorry guys, it would appear that I have posted in the wrong thread?
Looks like there’s a lot of topics on this thread other than just ones about the ‘new project’, but mine has been singled out.
Like most of the people on here I’m just trying to get a working MPU to save another Gameplan from the scrap heap.
Please accept my apologies, I will continue to monitor this thread and hope for a solution.

Fingers crossed.

Can buy one?

No. I don’t believe he's even finished the board yet. Hopefully soon.

I agree, at this point I think Jim is wrapping up Echo Lake and Ilikewires project is an easy scapegoat to avoid pissing off all of us who are waiting!

Can you give us any updates on your progress, Chris?

Any progress being made bump?

Put me on the list for a board as well. Just got a Sharp Shooter 2 with some bad corrosion. Contacted Echo Lake and they sent me to Pinball Replacement Parts as well.

Hoping 2022 is the year for this one. Can't wait to get my Pinbal Lizard going.

Put me on the list for a board. If I have read the thread correctly it should work to replace the mpu2 in the Vegas cocktail.

Im definitely down for a board too when this gets finished! Keep up the good work!

It looks like there is one that is ready if you want to build your own. I'm going to try to order some PCB's and build some up to try them out:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/build-your-own-gameplan-multi-mpu-board

Any updates on the Gameplan MPU? Have a Sharpshooter that is DOA without one.

There is finally an option for replacement Gameplan MPU boards:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/build-your-own-gameplan-multi-mpu-board

I have some full kits available and can assemble one if needed. I’ve got one running in Sharpshooter and it works great.