Anyone else collect slots / gambling machines? I’m up to 8 of them. So much fun.

I’ve found there’s a learning curve when working on them, like anything else. And each model comes with its own challenges. But knowing how to fix pins has definitely translated well into slots.

Show me your slots (keep it clean, ha ha).

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Someday I’d love to have a mechanical slot, or an EM. Have to be fun to tinker on….

I picked up my (2) Quick Hit machines for $250 each (with stands). Got them yesterday. One works perfectly, the other needs the door lock replaced. Granted it was a great deal, but pinflation doesn’t seem to have hit slots yet.

My fascination has multiple facets. First being the coin-op piece, but only my older machines use coins. The newer ones are ticket / cash based.

Second is the mechanical aspect. I know it's just spinning reels on the newer one. The newer ones do have fun bonuses though, good music and light shows.

Probably my biggest draw to them is the aspect of luck. I have a decent understanding of how their software works, and to me it's a bit like playing the lottery, albeit without any reward. It's the hunt of just pushing the button over, and over, and over and thinking through the terrible odds, and being amazed when something does hit.

Of course, playing them at home (set to max payout) really puts in perspective how bad your odds are in a casino. The machine has to "keep" a lot of money before paying out. Hence why I rarely play them in casinos. Blackjack is my game when I'm playing for real money.

It doesn't seem like there's much of a market for slots. I see some sit for a very long time on FB marketplace. For $250/each, I got a steal on mine (well, in my mind). Yet, nobody else seemed to be biting on them, or at least the seller didn't tell me he'd had more inquiries. If it were a pinball for $250, you'd better get in your car immediately with cash in hand....

The guy I bought mine from asked the same thing - why in the world would you want them in your house? =)

I also have a Williams dotmation slot (Mermaids Gold). Unfortunately, the case is beat on mine and my hopper knife is shot. Parts for them seem to be elusive, at best. Shame, it’s a neat machine. I put an ATX power supply in it. On my other Williams 550 slot (same as dotmation, minus the dmd), I did the ATX upgrade and also rebuilt the unregulated supply.

Some pics of the modified harness to work with the ATX supply and the rebuilt unregulated supply.

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Nice collection of unique games.

I have 2 Alphas and need to “clear” them. I’ve cleared my Williams and Konami machines, it’s not that bad. I snap pictures of the game config before clearing the machine. There’s an SD game card that has to be removed, replaced with a clear card, run the clear, then put in the old or new game card. Then you just have to set the game up again.

One of my Alphas reset randomly today and then threw a bunch of errors. It needs gone through, fans cleaned, and if I feel motivated, replace the caps on the power supply.

WOF, nice!

My dad has one of my machines, he’s had it for a decade or so. I’m fine with that. I have plenty at my house.

Did my first SMD repair today. An LED on one of the board was bad. I had to scavenge an LED off a scrap board as most of the LEDs became obsolete long ago. Loving my hot air workstation. SMD isn’t as difficult as I thought, but definitely more tedious than through hole work.

Wow! Small world I suppose. More than once in the past I’ve thought about doing software for slots or pins. Looks like slots are largely based on Linux for the newer ones?

Rebuilding the lower “dumb” power supply on a Williams 40x machine. Williams used the same snap caps on this board that they used on WPC machines. And of course, the rip out the through holes when you replace them.

This board is from my Mermaids Wonders machine. I replaced the main power supply with an ATX supply. I need to connect that supply to the dotmation board too so all of the electronics are driven by the same supply. After that, I declare victory on the machine, and likely will sell it. I’d keep it, but the cabinet is beat to shit. Still though, fun machine.

You can see some of the pervious hacks on the board. I cleaned things up as best I could given the condition. Should be good for another 20 years.

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That’s the guide I used. I’ve done two of them, not too hard. My games reset before, not anymore.

I should add. The power supply shown in my post - honestly I’m not sure what all it does. On my Top Cat, the bonus lights would pulsate and after rebuilding that supply, the are solid. So I’d say it feeds the lights. The main CPU power comes from the bad supplies, which is what the ATX supplies replace. On dotmations, there is a crappy supply in the lower case, and one up by the dotmation display. One ATX supply can replace both of them.

I wish m games were in better physical condition, as they are more fun than my IGT S+ machine. But the S+ is in great shape and has been rock solid.

I spent a lot of time over the weekend fixing and cleaning my Bally S9000 machines. One of them would randomly reboot. Three of four power supply fans were dead, so I replaced those. Cleaned a ton of dust off the boards. Replaced all three batteries, cleared the machine and then set it back up. I also pulled the reel strips from both machines, cleaned them and then used new double sided tape to re-adhere them. Super happy with how the machines look now, and so far, no more rebooting.

Look at all the dust on the CPU. It’s super clean now.

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I have the replacements, just haven’t put all of them in. And the new ones are bright compared to the working originals. The LEDs are SMD, and I think I found a replacement for the LEDs. Just need to carve out the time to pull every button and do them SMD work.

I already replaced a few SMD LEDs on some of the other areas on the machine. Another labor of love….

The progressive on my quick hit machines is all internal, no external hardware needed. Same on my Advantage 5 machine, which still is my favorite home machine. No doubt there are better machines than the ones that I own, just haven’t come across one locally.

I’m headed to a real casino this weekend. For the most part I won’t play the slots. They eat me up at home, no point in wasting my coin at the casino. Table games are more fun anyhow.

My son, learning Jacks or Better. He beat me twice on TZ last night, next he’ll be better at video poker….

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Jealous. I love playing S3000 machines in the casino. They are a bit pricey to justify for home use for me anyhow.

Ouch!!!

Post a picture of the machine and error codes. That's a great start.

Newlifegames is the slot machine equivalent of this site. That being said, it's nowhere near as well organized or visited as pinside. More than once I've thought about making a slot repair site and better organizing it....

Very common is dead batterie issues. Unfortunately, battery damage is also common.

Slots rent as hobbies friendly as pins. I’d go as far as saying they are a pain in the ass to set up. I’ve done ample cussing as I was learning….

This is probably more accurate:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_slot_machine_ownership_regulations_by_state

It’s not illegal in Wisconsin; the machines just have to be at least 25 years old. That is somewhat limiting, but you can still get S+, 40x, etc. machines….

I have another question about bb2s.

I have a Goldfish 2, fun game. Yet, I don't think there's a way to adjust the volume for big wins. IIRC, any win >= $50 goes to the big win splash screen, and damn is the sound effect loud. I can adjust the normal gameplay volume but unless I'm missing something - the big win volume is static (loud).

Seeing if anyone has a solution or just can confirm my findings.