Williams DMD slot

[Chris-socal]

Can anyone give any insight about these machines? Are they desirable?
This is for sale locally for $325, but it has some type of error…is that “battl” on the LED readout?
I was wondering what a fair offer price would be and what the risk level is. Do they require a specialized reset chip ?
Is there a way to test the dot matrix display while it is in error mode?

This is the only pic available now.

Thanks!
Chris

[Sunrise Side]

Yes there are highly desireable. That price isn't to bad for a non working machine but you could try for $200. Just need a chip to set the denomination after the battery change. I'm not sure about the DMD to test it in error mode. Someone can chime in hear. Only other issue with DMD is power supplies but that is an easy fix as well by using a ATX power supply and it will power the lower and upper units. There is also a LED replacement for DMD displays now . It's a very cool game. It's well worth grabbing it up. I would grab it !

[Chris-socal]

Thanks for that insight. I will send the seller a message. There is something intriguing about the machine, I have never seen one.

[playklax01]

"battl' is just battery low on the CPU board.  Easy fix, they use a 1/2 AA size, Amazon has them.  Like the other person said, you'll need a clear chip, should be able to find them on eBay for like $25 or so.  Agree, power supplies (top and bottom) are problematic, but there are workarounds.  The Dotmation not on in the picture, I have a feeling the power supply is bad (otherwise they would have shown it working, I'd imagine).  The screen itself is more rugged than it's power supply, however they are approaching 30 years old and do die eventually.  Replacements are not easy to find (and are expensive).  If it's working, the screen probably has some burn-in, but that's common.  All-in-all, the asking price isn't bad at all.  If you can get it for $200, that's a steal!  If you get it working, it is a fun game!

[Chris-socal]

Thanks for the insight!
The seller told me it was mine for $280 but then ghosted me, then marked it sold. I suspect someone offered more  so he jumped on it.
I will keep all your insight in mind hoping another one shows up one day. Or when whoever bought it gives up and sells it again!
Something about this game intrigued me, the display looks like a mid-90s pinball machine Twister.

[playklax01]

The Dotmation screen is a 192x64 display similar to that pinball machine (visible dots, orange color).  It's double the height of Twister.  There were only 4 pinball machines made with this double height version (and it's not the exact same board).  That's what contributes to their scarcity.  When I got my machine like 20 years ago, I snatched up any spare parts I could find at the time because I knew it would harder to find as time went on.  Got 3 Dotmations, backplane, CPUs, I/Os, power supplies.  But so far have not needed to replace anything except the power supplies.