Picked up a cool Japanese slot machine ("Pachislo") for a song a couple weeks ago. It works great and has all sorts of weird hidden features and sub-games and the like which my kids have had a blast trying to figure out, but it doesn't save settings. I can't tell if the CPU has a battery backup because it's encased in a clear plastic security housing, and part of the board is obscured by gaming and warranty tags in the way. And to remove the CPU board at all, you have to unlock a hasp buried beneath a tamper-proof security tag.

Anyway, once I found the lock... it's a bit different:

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I think this must use the type of keys which have dimples instead of sawteeth, but I don't have any and regardless there's no way for me to know which key fits this lock. So the questions I have are probably obvious and hopefully simple to someone here:

1) Can this type of lock be drilled like a traditional one, or is this style of lock specifically tamper-proof from that?

2) Does it even matter in this case... in other words, does anyone know if these things have batteries on the CPU board?

Seems they must have saved settings (time / date / menu options / etc) somehow... but I can't find one ANYWHERE that's visible. Yet I'd hate to bust the lock to extract the one part of the CPU I can't see only to find out there's nothing there. I don't want to even attempt removing the sticker tags that are obscuring it, because they're self-destruct tamper-proof and part of this machine's mystique. The lock would be easier to replace (but why bother if it doesn't help)...

Oof... that sounds deviously plausible. I don't doubt that may be the case with some types of gambling devices.

But studying this one, the lock appears to only be a physical barrier to the board cover. It's a stout metal unit that simply preventing the cover from being removed, with no electrical connection or mechanical interface to any component on the board. So it... should be safe?

To your point tho: there are several tamper-evident plastic barriers throughout the assemblies. Each one has numbered, tethered, one-time use "pins" that secure covers which restrict access to components, and messing with them is immediately apparent. Once you break one, you have to replace it but there's only a few. So apparently you were only allowed to "service" or "modify" the machine a very limited number of times before the Yakuza or whoever inspected them would... intervene.

Mine had never been tampered with until I was trying to find that lock (which I didn't even know was there until I finally broke a pin off the cover). I thought I'd oh-so-cleverly-and-delicately figured out a way to extract the pin without breaking it, but NOPE! They certainly meant not wanting people to eff with this stuff at whim. Compared to that, the lock seems almost silly... so if you willingly broke one of your limited pins to access it, it "should" be fair game...

Thanks, but it doesn't seem to be working on my phone. I'll try it again later.

It's an Inazuma Rush (Thunder V2) by Macy from 2001. This thing is actually pretty impressive. Using the screen menus we found all sorts of settings such as:

-Time/Date
-Skill Levels
-Probability / Payoff adjustments
-Credit levels
-Game "skins" (what the interfaces and sounds are like)

Those all seem like things that should be set and saved because I can't imagine a parlor would have set them up every single time the game was turned on! Unless they were content with defaults? Or simply never ever ever ever lost power?

There are other things to discover in this machine, like "hidden" games (which are like mobile games before mobile existed, which is crazy... and they're actually fun!). If you skin the interface to what my kids call the "spinning tube man", it seems to progress through some sort of power-up stages as you win jackpots. Which is supremely strange as only Japanese stuff can be - but this is NOT the default setting of the game!

The reset procedure is done with the main cabinet key (which I have) and the power switch, using the strange switches (and key) on the power supply box. The generic "Decomissioned Pachislo English Import Manuals" online explain this procedure, and it seems to work. But again, configuring all the options above should be "saved" somehow, one would think?

Again I don't doubt this could be plausible on some machines, but it really doesn't seem the case on this one. But I'm out of town for a few days. I'll send more pics when I have access to the machine again.

Back from my trip, so here's some more pics:

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^ The machine in question, Macy's "Inazuma Rush" [Thunder Rush] from 2000

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^^^ The main CPU board (note the large paper sticker obscuring most of it at upper left) and the weird Pin-Locks. Note the cover on the board lock; I only discovered that lock after busting the originally set OEM pin in the center (where the resultant "ring" is). Presumably, you'd have to insert one of the remaining numbered pins back into the lock in order to pass licensing or whatever. Also note the other array of tethered pins just above the lock - same thing, you break one to remove the cover and then I presume you have to replace it for inspection, but you only get so many attempts. (there is another array on the left side of the CPU but cables are hiding it).

Regardless, I can't see anything directly connecting the lock, to the CPU/MPU. It looks like a simple cover lock. BUUUUUT I could be wrong.

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^ The main Power / Reset / Odds "lock" common to most Pachislos, as described by the generic manuals out there.

And the rest of the photos show why I suspect there must (or SHOULD) be a battery on this thing: As soon as you turn it on and it boots, you're asked to set the date! And there are all sorts of other things buried in the menus: you can get horoscopes (!?!?!) if you set another comparison date. You can configure the game to enter or award "mini-games" such as the racing one. You can configure odds. Change the main "mode" from V1 to V2. And other stuff I've yet to decipher. Surely you should be able to save these settings... but any time you lose power for more than a few minutes, you have to start over. Which seems really silly.

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