New Life Games LLC
**Video Poker, Keno, Slots, 21** Gaming machines => **Video Gaming Machines** **General Chat** => Topic started by: Bcr213 on July 11, 2017, 01:02:58 AM
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I am a total newbie to video slots, trying to help a friend… I've been a database and web Programmer for 20yrs, but totally new to these video slots machines… I know my way around inside a pc, but these things are new to me… :Scratch-Head:
He has some machines that are obviously home made, no model or manufacturers info on them anywhere… we have one machine that on startup, it goes to a Demo Mode screen and say "Out of Service No Game(s) Avalable"
I've been trying to figure out what Software these things are running and have had very little success… they are running Liberty7's games… they have boards in them that are marked FOX340S… and on boot along the bottom of the screen it says Version 5.10 AGS-L79-CL3-SAS
I can get to a Operator Menu by pressing one of two red micro buttons that are located inside the cabinet... the other seems to do nothing?
Anyone know how I can get this machine back into PlayMode?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! !
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Can you post a few photos of this machine, along with photos of the main logic board showing the software labels on any chips that are in sockets?
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rokgpsman
Here are pics I have, thought i took one of the screen that says Out of Service, but i dont see it, if you need to see something else let me know…
Thanks!…
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I was hoping it would be a machine that I had seen before but it isn't. What did you mean it is "home made"? Where did your friend get it, was it in operation at a casino or racetrack? Can you post a photo showing the entire machine from the front, and one with the main door open. But stand back from the machine so we can get a good overall look at it.
Sometimes there are gambling machines that are not slot machines, they are video terminals that connect to a remote computer (server) and they won't operate by themself. I'm not saying that is what this is but something to figure out. Do any of the machines that your friend has work ok?
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Looks like it could be a POG machine.
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Looks like it could be a POG machine.
From the research I've done, that's what I was thinking but so far none of the POG manuals match exactly, close, but different menus and look n feel… plus I can't find anything with that ver. 5.10??
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Does the machine look similar to the ones pictured at this website:
http://www.slotsdirect.com/potofgold2.html (http://www.slotsdirect.com/potofgold2.html)
If so you can try contacting them, they may have documentation or a manual, as well as spare parts.
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I was hoping it would be a machine that I had seen before but it isn't. What did you mean it is "home made"? Where did your friend get it, was it in operation at a casino or racetrack? Can you post a photo showing the entire machine from the front, and one with the main door open. But stand back from the machine so we can get a good overall look at it.
Sometimes there are gambling machines that are not slot machines, they are video terminals that connect to a remote computer (server) and they won't operate by themself. I'm not saying that is what this is but something to figure out. Do any of the machines that your friend has work ok?
By home made I meant the guy he got them off of said he buys parts, screens, boards, power supply, etc. And assembled them himself… he is trying to contact that individual, but so far he hasn't gotten back to him…
They are stand alone machines, no networking or client/servers setups… yes they do work, this one in question was working, he leaves them on 24/7, said he came in few days ago and it had the out of service error…
I went over to get pics but he was not there with the keys, so I couldn't open them up… I'll get pics of inside tomorrow… but I got these, pics tonight…
Pic 1 - The machine in question…
Pic 2 -the error screen
Pic 3 - next 3 machines beside it, working and running same Liberty 7's game these 4 are touchscreens
Pic 4 - some of his other machines, which eventually I would like to identity also
Pic 5 - multi button non touchscreen that I'd like to identify also
Thanks for all your help…
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Does the machine look similar to the ones pictured at this website:
[url]http://www.slotsdirect.com/potofgold2.html[/url] ([url]http://www.slotsdirect.com/potofgold2.html[/url])
If so you can try contacting them, they may have documentation or a manual, as well as spare parts.
YES!.. Thank you!… it looks very much like the first one pictured… and the description: mentioned the 5.10 version…
Ill have to try to get that 5.10 manual…
I guess the guys lied to him about making them himself… lol.. Unless maybe he just buys all the parts from them and just assembles himself?…
Lol
But… all this has made me even more confused… :Scratch-Head:
Unless they are that much different between versions, the things outlined in the POG manuals I have found do not match how this machine works… mainly what I mean by that is… getting into the operator menus works nothing like the ways I've seen… but I'll wait and see when I get a ver. 5.10 manual…
Thanks again for your help… I'm sure I'll have more questions as I get more into this, he wants me the learn the machines and be his on call Tech… so I guess I picked up a little part time gig in the slots biz… 👍
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I don't know very much about POG machines, but the one that is showing Out of Service error might just need a fresh battery? Have you measured the battery voltage, it is located on the main logic board? The battery is often a 3.6 volt type, it is usually written on the side of the battery. If the voltage gets down around 2.9 or lower it can cause problems on some machines.
I think there is a whole sub-industry on these machines. It is sort of like the arcade gaming world, you can buy cabinets, power supplies, motherboard, pushbuttons, joystick controllers, etc and assemble a new machine or repair an old one.
Are these machines setup to pay off winning with prizes from redemption tickets?
Glad to see you here at NLG, but I think there are websites exclusively devoted to POG machines, you might get a deeper amount of help at one of them if you find not so much advice is available here. Just search for Pot of Gold machines.
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rokgpsman
I have not checked the battery, good idea though…
One puzzling thing about this error, the "No Game(s) Available " part… looking at the board one of the chips has the games name right on the label… Liberty7 chip…. Im assuming that's the way most of these slots work?, being as there is no hard drive, all code for the game itself is on ROM chips? Also about every 30 seconds the games splash screen pops up, then goes back to it's No Game Available screen, I'm like "HEY!, it's right there"… LOL… but, anyway I'll figure this stuff out, taught myself PC programming starting 30yrs ago, not gonna let a slot machine beat me (pun intended :)
Thanks for the welcome to the board, I've use these type msg boards to learn off of for a lot of years… thanks to people like you who are willing to help…
BTW… yes, these things are setup to print out credit tickets to redeem for prizes…
Thanks,
Bill
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Many gaming machines have the game software in firmware (eprom). That way it boots up quickly when powered up, you don't have to worry about a hard drive crash. Nowadays eproms have large capacity and once the game software is compiled it doesn't take up a ton of space. There are exceptions - some gambling games have a lot of imagery or video sequences, so a hard drive is sometimes used for all that storage.
Also, since these gaming machines and slot machines are used for gambling purposes they are regulated by the state, so having the software in eprom is often a requirement because it makes it harder to tamper with the software. Security is a big deal to state regulators and to casino and bar operators. The eprom can be pulled at any time during an inspection and the checksum verified against a master list. Hard drive verification is more difficult.
The game may have an autostart feature, that's why you see it periodically attempting to play but then detects an error and quit. This is just a guess. Checking the battery is fairly easy if you or someone has a meter and the easy things are where you start. Next would be power supply voltages, make sure they are close to normal. Since you have several machines available you can probably learn what is normal by comparing to a working machine. You can swap circuit boards (motherboards?) between machines to see if that fixes it, also power supplies. It is good to have other machines right there to use for troubleshooting.
As mentioned earlier I'm not overly familiar with Pot of Gold machines. From what I understand they and another game machine called Cherry Master are often found in bars, gambling halls, etc where the true Vegas style slot machines are not allowed. The POG and Cherry Master do not payout money, they issue a ticket that you can redeem for a prize. So I think they are classified as "ticket redemption" machines, not slot machines. They remind me of the machines at arcades and Chucky Cheese restaurant where the player wins tickets, then they redeem the tickets for a prize. We had them in Kansas long before casino gambling was allowed, the bars in Wichita had ticket redemption machines. Since they did not pay out money they were a way to skirt around the edge of the law concerning gambling machines.
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Liberty seven has 3 months of life, you need to replace the Sphinx chip with a new one (there are stored how many days will be open the game), those boards are license only and can fount it only at the license casinos. for more details please ask the Primero.