The first one sounds like a fireworks shell when it goes out early and plops back to earth.

If you ever intend to use a Ni MPU in the game, go with the NI driver board.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.Team-EM.com
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
http://www.PinWiki.com - The new place for pinball repair info

this is what I am getting for my countdown http://www.flippp.fr/pi1x4.php

Pascal's board set is the way to go, but a little bit pricey.

_{Post edited by pinwiztom: mis-spelled name of board designer}

it is cool that you can add the extra sound board for all the sounds from the other games

I have not purchased the board yet so I cant give you a review, I have read very good reviews about it and it looks like you have to purchase it direct from them http://www.flippp.fr/pi1x4.php

Look at bobbyt post with the link,
he is out of europe,
board has more options built in (Free play and other special gameplay programming features)
and its all in one with driver/sound board/power supply into 1 board set.

You can also choose to buy the stand alone Sys1 MPU , for cheaper <Pi -1>

http://www.flippp.fr/manual/manual_PI-1X4_en.pdf
manual explains some of the cool extra programming features built into this board set.

looks freaking awesome to me, cant wait to order mine

Just received my second Pascal board from France. Amazing product. Outstanding customer service.

I've messed around with the Pascal and really liked it, but went with the Ni-Wumph for the price. It still has free play and a could of helpful features. If I needed to replace all boards, or just wanted to, I'd go with the Pascal. It just is painful to commit so much money to a System 1.

Original ones work well when grounded. I got a stack of original boards in various states. I have restored all of my system ones and have none left to restore.

Very good service from Pascal here , i recommend !!! awesome board

Just thought I'd mention in this old thread that the Pascal boards come out cheaper versus others, at least in USD, for now. Love the build quality and features of both Janin and Ni-Wumpf. Prefer Janin at the end of the day but do wish someone stateside stocked them.

For anyone wondering whether a System 1 game is worth it, every one I've played, when set up right, is a 'just one more game' type of machine. I haven't played all System 1 games, but usually you can find them cheap enough to make an MPU worth it.

A friend and I are both working on 'modular' Sys 1 setups from both stuff I have and a lot buy he got. I'm putting together a Joker Poker from scratch and CPR (though if anyone has a line on a populated Joker Poker playfield I'd love to get it!) in a dedicated cabinet, but the second cabinet will be my Sys-All-In-1. It will have either a Ni-Wumpf or Janin board, custom BG (at some point) and custom cab art and I'll build a shop box to store PFs when not in use. A few cables, repinned of course, and change the game title and I'll be able to swap games. At the start I'll have at least: Close Encounters, Solar Ride, Sinbad, Cleopatra and hopefully more to come (Hulk, Countdown).

I run an older Pascal pi-1/x4 in my Sinbad, awesome board and features, really makes the game more fun to play and better animation.

My Cleopoatra runs a Ni-Wumpf CPU, RottenDog PS and then Gottlieb Driver board.

In the process of restoring a Joker Poker, which i planned on running RottenDog PS, Ni-Wumpf CPU (newest version) and then was going to run a Rottendog Driver board, but just saw that you can't do that, so that sucks. I'll have to repair one of my system 1 driver boards.

I wonder why it's not compatible, i don't remember anything about Pascal's PI-1 not being able to use a Rottendog driver board.

I prefer Pascal's stuff hands down, but the lead time/shipping time sucks a little bit sometimes versus items in stock here.

Just wanted to provide an update. I had gotten a Ni-Wumpf Mark ii and it does not work with the RottenDog driver board. Game has a few funky behaviors and random lock ups. Using a stock driver board worked fine.

Also the Ni-Wumpf had an issue that caused the displays to fluctuate, was not a power supply issue as the issue stayed with the board when i moved it to another machine and i also tested it with a stock P/S and a RottenDog P/S.

The board has since been returned back to Ni-Wumpf, not sure what he's gonna do yet, i asked for a refund instead of a replacement, but no response yet.

All that being said, I will only order Pascal boards going forward for any System 1 needs. I have a all-in-one and a CPU board from Pascal on the way.

+1 for Pascal Janin's Pi-1/X4. The all-in-one board eliminates potential failure of connectors between boards, and the added features are pretty nice. So far, its been bullet proof.

I will say that Ace from Ni-Wumpf gave me a full refund even though he couldn't reproduce the issue. The board tested fine on his end. So glad he's providing good customer service and supporting the community. Just wanted to add a note incase anyone finds this thread.

Do not forget Boston Pinball Company.

http://www.bostonpinballcompany.com/driverboard.htm

Pascal all the way. I helped a friend buy a machine that wouldnt boot. He bought the Pascal board...everything fired up right away once he threw it in.

I also had some sound issues with my system 80, Pascal solved all those issues and added some cool features like a ball save

Board looks nice, but $89 is a lot for a driver board. The stock driver boards are pretty easy to repair. Totally get a new CPU to get more features and testing as the original ones just suck. But driver boards are pretty easy to find/repair and it's not like you are getting new features, so unless it's got new protection built in.. just my .02

Personally though, i'd just prefer/recommend the pascal all-in-one if you needed to replace multiple boards.

Ni-wumpf, apparently is a movie quote. First part is a clue to who says it.

Always been happy with their boards.

Moving on from 7 years ago to when this thread was started I’m happy with anything we can get our hands on now.