As I recall, the 40 pin chips all contain firmware. So, a complete re-write would be necessary.

However, I am pretty sure every single game uses the exact same program. All they did was move things around and add or eliminate extra targets and bumpers. Including the Fascination title(s).

Also, it seems hard to justify for games that only sell for $150-$450.

And sadly, I can imagine I would even get $250 for my Hoe Down when the time comes to sell it. Hard to justify even $150 for a new board for any of these turds.

Actually, this thread makes me think perhaps the best "project" for these cocktail games would be to design a new playfield with new electronics and integrated small LCD display to bring new life and purpose to them. Designed around one of the existing hardware sets so most of the groundwork is already completed.

The cabinets are deep enough to even accommodate lower playfields like Electra or even Black Hole.

There could be a decent market for such a conversion even allowing them to be operated on location again.

Its even small enough to be offered in "Heathkit" form.

Oh my! This "idea" is morphing into a catastrophe! It would appear that there are enough MPU's to go around and that only the main chip(s) is/are Unobtainium (Unless you are CoreyStup LOL). If the rest of the board is populated with 6520's (which are simply 6821 PIAs) as the interfacing to the outside world, then the most sensible approach, IMO, is to simply make a piggy back MPU to go in place of one or two of the main chips to access the Address and Data buses. Thereby reusing the rest of the board as is.

While it could be done with a $2 Microcontroller and some support hardware, others out there would probably want to use a Raspberry Pi or some similar variant with enough processing power to launch the cocktail to the moon!

Sadly, not every game deserves saving. And most of these games rank barely above the Bally Home games as far as value or collectibility go.

@sndchaser, fortunately, I only own one. A Hoe down. Which has probably got to be highest on that heap! (or should I say lowest??? LOL). I can't even remember how I got it. Probably in some batch deal. If and when I ever dig it out of Storage, I will reach out to you. Back in the 80's, I did have a roommate that had a Eros One for a while. It was okay for a cocktail but still greatly lacking any "another game" appeal.

What I do remember is the very poor design plastic flipper crank and parts. I can only guess that the flippers have to be retro-fitted with a more contemporary design as even John is sold out of the part:

crank (resized).jpg

But it does use game roms. They are just contained inside the 6530s. The good news is only one set of game rules has to be written to support many titles.

In the case of those new MPUs using 70s technology, that is so the boards can run multiple titles of multiple generations and manufacturers of software. It would be a major task to first rewrite a new operating system and then go through and write a rule set for each title. Such as was done for Gottlieb Sys 1s. In the case of Bally/Stern MPUs, all the support chips are still readily available in reasonable quantities. In the case of Sys 1, the entire chip set was long gone. So there was no other option. As is the case here.

It certainly would have to be a labor of love as I see no financial success for such an undertaking.

So, either the header needs to be harvested from an old board, or a dangling mating connector can go to a standard header (like 0.156").

The edge connector is easily recreated on the new board. The idea of a breakout board or adapting to ribbon cable for low current items sounds like a good idea.

No one wants to have to crimp 100 plus pins just to connect to a new board design.