just thinking out loud ... I suppose they'd probably be pretty simple to emulate, but I'm not sure the BOM and assembly cost would be significantly less than a MMR, which would probably mean it wouldn't be a profitable endeavor. they'd still have to fab a ton of game-specific parts.

just because something is lower tech doesn't mean it's necessarily cheaper, especially if it's obsolete. it might even be cheaper to use four LCD screens rather than genuine alphanumeric digital displays.

edit: in fact, I wonder if it'd be cheaper to program a big LCD screen to display the backbox art and scores, rather than fabricating four alphanumeric digital displays, a backglass, a translate, backbox wiring, etc. per game!

well that is certainly cool and exciting news. put me down for a Centaur LE.

well, I said it might be cheaper. I didn't say it'd be desirable.

5000 machines? you're out of your mind. this isn't 1986.