Namco Rockin' Bowl-O-Rama

Cool! I'm still partial to the classic black, but nice to have options (assuming there's a way to readily install one of these).

A PSA: If you need to change the battery on the motherboard, do it while the game is powered ON! If you shut the game down first like I did, swapping the battery resets the BIOS settings and the end result is you can no longer power on the game at all without jumping it (and then connecting an external monitor and keyboard to get the power settings straightened out). This might be intuitive to people that do video games, but coming from the pinball world it was a real surprise.

Big thanks to spudgunman for taking the time to walk me through the fix, couldn’t have done it without you! Yet another reminder of the awesome community here.

This should be marked a key post.

Is an all in one board in the future for this game?

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I sure hope so! Be sure to state your interest in the thread over on the KLOV forum, apparently someone made a prototype board and has been following that thread and there’s a chance NAMCO might approve it if interest is sufficient.

https://forums.arcade-museum.com/threads/for-those-of-you-with-a-broken-namco-rockin-bowl-o-rama.475843/

The prototype is being developed by Andrew @ Cosmodog (guy who created the game).

This will be a great solution and safe several games in the future !!
Other hand, this game cant be so much work to convert in a free MAME environment.

I’m in for one and so is my friend.

It can already run in a x86 based linux environment. It's just the interface card (IO card) that needs to be figured out in terms of what communication is actually taking place between the app running on the PC and the IO card.

For those on east coast check out eBay:

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sorry for the late reply, this isn't exactly what I saw before but I ordered one and the replacement rollers. Looks really sweet.

https://twistedquarter.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=113_118&products_id=482

Will the conversion board work in a dedicated game?

Yep - Same exact chassis

Just picked up a mint condition home use only commercial pedestal version of this game a couple weeks ago. Awesome deal and only 83 games played on it since they bought it brand new years ago. Not a spec of dust inside and I know they didnt clean it out because they didnt have the keys. Anyway, the trackball was a bit stiff when I got it, its loosened up significantly since but still pulls to the left. I would like to clean/lube the rollers or replace the trackball unit completely, but I cant find any info on how to access the track ball mech. do you happen to have any info on accessing the trackball unit? Do you have to remove the entire table top or does the metal trim come off somehow?

Thanks for any help!

You lucky dog! Congratulations!

Does anyone have a line on a replacement monitor cheaper than the $620 NAMCO wants for it?
https://www.namcoparts.com/ECommerce/product/rb85-11494-00/monitor-lcd-lg-201

Or experience hacking in an alternate screen of the same size?

[EDIT: I reseated some power cables and tied down a loose ground cable and now my display’s working perfectly again. But I’ll leave up the question as answers could be helpful to other owners down the line]

Wow! Crazy expensive!

Purging stuff today and found this from the July, 2006 edition of Play Meter:
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Thx for posting.

Very cool! It’s interesting that the photo is of the “home edition” but they seem to be advertising it for location play.

Ill say it again,its the best realistic bowling game ever made.Thats why I have 2

Not really easy to work on and keep running but it’s really great game!

It has the commercial pedestal though. Also the larger speakers and "louvers". As I am not too familiar with the differences, perhaps this is a prototype for Marketing purposes.