Hi!

I was tinkering with my Sega ID4 game the other day and found two cut wires in the front of the cabinet. Just to the left inside the "wood bar" and close to the cabinet speaker. They have the color yel-vio and brn-gry. Looks just like solenoid wires.

So, I had a look in another similar machine, frankenstein, and indeed there was a knocker coil sitting there, though the wires had different color codes.

My first thought was that maybe my harness was a "generic" one used in many different machines and that the wires had been cut since the knocker was replaced with the digital knocker sound (its there in my ID4) but they used the same old harness for a while.

Still, found it strange that the wires wouldve been left cut just like that from the factory since if it was for a knocker they would have current on them when the knock goes off. Had a look in my manual and found that the wires were for solenoid 8, which is optional as stated in the manual. It also said it was for a "Euro Token Dispenser".

I am going to put some shrink tubing on the wires but I am still curious.. what the heck is a Euro Token Dispenser?

The only theory I can come up with is that.. in Europe (where I live btw) at some point players would get a token instead of an extra credit software wise and the knocker circuitry would fire the token dispenser coil to dispense one token, maybe through the coin door. So, that token could be used in the coin door of the machine to get a free game, or maybe in an arcade hall it could be used in a different machine aswell. Using it in an arcade hall is the only thing that makes sense to me since an extra credit on the current machine would not require a token whatsoever. Maybe, somewhere some time it was also legal to win money on the games, so the token could be traded for cash. I dont know..

There are no drilled holes or other marks in the cabinet from this token dispenser except for the cut wires. Pretty strange, and why aint it just called a token dispenser, but a Euro one.. did they not exist in the US?

Just curious if someone knows anything about this mysterious thing...

/ Andy