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I would like to thank you all for your help and suport. My two machines are now good working with the regent files N°2. I would like to present you my new "toy" a slot machine whose name is "Golden luck" but it's not a fruity machine. Do you think that it's possible on the forum ? Here is a picture of the roulette.

Ok, a bit further on, i have stripped the reel deck, soaked, cleaned and re-oiled the bearings (yes, 6 bearings, 40+ year old quality you dont see any more). Put it all back together and now the reels spin as they should. Sorted the payout and that is fine now. But and this is a head scratcher, it plays and pays fine, all lights work when they should, however when you get the nudge feature it starts of well but as soon as you nudge any reel once it will nudge the once and the machine will do a quick reset (a quick blip on pin 40 of the cpu). I thought it might be down to the sense circuitry of which the track runs right by the triacs and maybe a bit of back emf of the coils with them switching in and out quickly, however normal game play was fine (oh and also no sounds). Before i delved further into that i remembered that this machine as well as the nippy nudger rom also came with a golden nudge it rom card. So what the hell, i put that in. Interesting results, now it plays and pays fine, the nudges work (although the panel does not light up so i assume that is different lamp ouputs for golden nudge it) and the sounds work. The gamble feature on golden nudge it which is not on this one does not come into play, if you get a win you get the first tone of the gamble feature and then it collects. I then put my hand round the back to close the back door microswitch and it would not nudge again. Anyway after a fiddle about and a good kick and a wipe and wobble of the rom card it now works with door open or closed so i think my next port of call is to check the rom cartridge connector on the mpu and the edge connectors on the cards. If i did not have this to do and had to rely on christmas TV i would have gone stir crazy by now 🤣. To be continued........

This mornings update..... Cleaned the contacts on the mpu rom cart socket and reflowed the solder connections on the back of the socket, cleaned the rom cartridge edge connections and reseated and cleaned the roms. Now both cartridges work fine (happy days). I think i prefer it with the golden nudge it cart in it as you get a few more sounds, ok the nudge now panel does not flash but thats an easy work around, however i am going to keep it original. Just need to rebuild the cabinet fix hold button 2 and remove and clean the reel solenoids as reel 3 is catching by a few thou. Still so impressed with the build quality and the fact it has bearings on the reels, infact that impressed i have attached a photo🤣. And yes i have addressed the hairline fractures on the reel bearing housing. Roms, cant remember which is p1 or p2 need to read them again and take note. VID_20251227_105457405.mp4 582e5e09.bin aafe44aa.bin

New glass has been completed! Very happy with the finish and comparison. Would highly recommend Mikonos for any graphics.

Well hello there! It's been a while (by "a while", I mean 13 years, the last WWC was in 2013. Thirteen years!) 🙂 I don't even know if anyone will actually read this (lol), but hey. Let's do it for old times sake, this is an MPU3 machine after all. Grab a chair and a rather cheeky glass of Saint-Emilion! *** I think it's fair to say a lot has changed in all of that time, and not all of it good. |First off, Wizard - the one-man genius behind MFME has been taken from us. I won't pretend I knew him personally; I dare say we had perhaps a dozen online conversations and interactions. His work and legacy speaks for itself, as does the great number of people he has helped and provided hours of entertainment - for free. Much has been said of his passing, from people whom it is vastly more appropriate and fitting to express such thoughts. I will simply say that every time I fire up the emulator for some much needed diversion, which is often, I think of him. RIP sir. *** In terms of this "review", nothing has changed from before: just some hapless, clueless, even older old guy offering up some ill-informed waffle about some ancient old fruit machine that most people will have forgotten about, even if they'd known what it was in the first place (back in 1985). I remind myself: this machine (briefly) appeared in pubs, arcades (and in my own case, a chip shop) back in 1985 or thereabouts, fully 40 years ago. Crickey. Well, we old crusties know all about MPU3 machines, right? Played 'em back in the day, lost our shirts, made a few quid. The memories stayed with us; we all have the layouts and the lucky few even have the actual machines. In many ways, this was the golden age of the 10p AWP (and 2p-ers as well), all a very far cry from now. That we get to play these old classics (and thus they live on) is down to MFME and its author of course, but also to the layout creators - Vecs in this instance (and a very fine layout it is too, which is to be expected from him of course), as well as the play testers, the resource gatherers, the owners of these rare beasts who allow ancient ROMS to be dumped and all the rest. *** Unlike ubiquitous MPU3 machines like Line Up, Adders & Ladders, Hyper Viper, Exchanges Unlimited, Razzle Dazzle etc., this was a rare machine - I only ever saw one in the wild. If there's a "TL;DR" summary (getting down with the kids there 😉), I daresay I'm reminded of those old "naughty but nice" adverts for cream cakes (if you're a certain age, as you probably are if you've got this far, you'll remember stuff like this: There are plenty of others with the likes of Les Dawson, Larry Grayson, Kenneth Williams etc., a real 1970s Carry On fest. Thing is though, I don't know about you guys, but I've always thought cream cakes look and sound like a great idea, but as soon as you start eating them, you kind of regret it? They're a bit much - too rich, rather bland and too much of them. A cream eclair has oodles of piped cream, chocolate and choux pastry, a pretty awesome list of ingredients you'd think, but it's all rather sickly and disappointing, a classic case of being less than the sum of its parts, right? In a similar vein, Naughty but Nice surely has the most appealing, finest ingredients - it's a Barcrest MPU3 machine for starters (a late one at that, bearing many resemblances to the great MPU3 Big Shot, with a bit of MPU3 Big Game thrown in, and even a pinch of MPU4 Stake Up/Multiplay clubber, albeit without the benefit of that machine's more advanced light and sound show, thanks to the more advanced MPU4 hardware). And yet - it's all rather disappointing when you play it. Allow me to elaborate. A Barcrest sussed out very early on in the genre of MPU3 machines (AWP and clubber also) that an exchange path is necessary to "jazz up" small wins, beyond simply a cash gamble ladder. A 20p win on Line Up or Hyper Viper is exciting (even a 10p win in HV's case) because it can be exchanged for 2 nudges, with the promise of much higher prizes and/or an exciting nudge gamble. Of course, many such exchanges/attempts ended in failure, with the player stiffed with 10p, but that's the gamble. Naughty but Nice has no exchanges - and boy, does it miss/need them. Another staple was a feature board of some kind (Line Up, Adders, HV, Autoroute, Razzle, Fortune Numbers etc.). Those few machines that didn't have one, like Circle Skill and Bigshot still had multi-word fill features (Cash, Zapp, Nudges, target board etc.), and Big Shot had a fully implemented nudge exchange - all plenty enough to keep the player entertained. Naughty but Nice does away with most of this as well; there's no feature board and there are only two trails to win stuff from numbers - the rarely given "Naughties" (a rather lame super series along similar lines to Fortune Numbers, although it can credit repeat if its really in the mood, perhaps for £3 or £4 tops) and nudges. A unique twist is that, when playing for super series (Naughties), the win values are all cash (£1.50JP for 10p play), with the lower wins enhanced. However, given that you won't ever have any nudges (by definition), you'll be relying on wins simply dropping in off holds or whatever (or the stingy super series). At least half the time, the nudge feature will give the minimum 2 nudges (and it'll be obvious the machine is wanting/expecting the player to collect, as they'll almost invariably be a lame 2-nudge reel set up with 30p/40p/60p win in range). Any unused nudges off the initial nudge feature (but not subsequent if nudges held over) will mean the player has a double or nothing chance next game. This could've introduced a fair amount of playability (e.g. like Big Shot), but it doesn't really work in practice. You can gamble, say, 2 nudges up to 4 or 6, then manually nudge a 20p win (instead of taking a 40p or 60p best win), leaving 3 or 4 nudges unused for next game. Often, though, the machine will stiff you with a Lose, or even if it gives it, the best win will still be 60p odd. Above all, this machine is tight as a duck's arse - Makes Nudges Unlimited look like JPM Rollercoaster on £6JP lol. Er, and that's it. Either naff super series (which the machine will endlessly number taunt you forever for, unless you're guaranteed it by having a hold and enough numbers on the win line to reach 10), or nudges - probably 2 nudges at that. At least it's a lot more willing to give the nudge feature. In terms of the Double or Nothing gamble, this is very reminiscent of Big Shot. Like that machine, it's progressive; you'll lose 20p wins if gambled if it's in a bad mood, but start pumping in those pound coins and you'll start to get to 40p, then 80p then £1.60 more often. At £1.60, bank 20p and go for the £1.40 double to £3JP. When it's good and ready, it'll go up (and clam right up again, in all likelihood). The machine is too easy to read, too tight, too simplistic. It's not a complete woffer by any means, but it clearly lacks both the depth and charm of many of its MPU3 contempories (not to mention classic JPMs of the era, most notably Reel Crazy). There is one thing that really marks it out from other similar 'Crests, though - Unlimited Nudges allows an autonudge for £3, albeit it doesn't have that wonderful "whirring" sound (I always loved that... <UNLIMITED NUDGES> in the alpha... <BELLS OR B A R S> 😀) It's an impressive looking beast; those two big win tables alternating lamps - there really wasn't anything else like it AWP-wise. Barcrest produced so many good looking machines. This one's a bit of a dumb blonde though, sadly, and you wouldn't take it home to meet your mother. (They didn't last long and there was never a 2p play variant. Presumably, most ended up as rebuilds like Chase the Ace, Win a Gain, Rat Race etc.). WWC JUDGEMENT - SAINT OR SINNER *** PURGATORY 5/10 👼

Hello. Truly a fascinating topic; fabulous, interesting from beginning to end. Thank you.

Hi Guys Here is a brand new 40 odd year old layout from JPM. There is a read me file and a manual in the folder. Thanks to who ever uploaded the ROM on here for this:) The ROM I originally tried from DIF had a £2.10p Jackpot on 10p Play and double symbol on reel 1. Happy Christmas to all! Nudge Double Up Deluxe (JPM).zip

Wish me luck!

Happy Christmas everyone, Well i had some time this morning and have managed to get the MPU up and running (my present to myself lol). The main fault with it being the 6810 ram was knackered but whilst i was socketing all the ic`s on the board and thanks to the retro chip tester that was found, it still didnt work after that but that turned out to be a bridge of solder on the 7414 inverter chip (think i might invest in an overhead microscope camera as my eyes are not what they used to be.) So now it runs and thankfully the 45+ year old rom cartridge is ok. Problems left to sort:- The sides, top and bottom of the cabinet need replacing (a job for warmer weather) The reel mech needs stripping cleaning etc as it is gummed up with decades of crap and barely spin. It dosnt pay out so i assume the optos and or circuitry (the slides work as it does give change for a 50p). The middle hold switch has broken behind so needs a bit of tlc / glue, bandage etc. Video below of how sorry for itself it is looking. Nippy Nudger.mp4

I personally liked them a lot,autoroute and naughty the first machines after the dreary roulette wheel gamble machines of razzle etc,they didn’t last long because of the EM5 mech,never understood why barcrest and jpm with superbank,tumble,top up,top streak went for this mech over the mars,basically you could use steel form A M12 washers in the EM5 for pounds and the summer of 85 onwards they got absolutely blitzkrieged by them….so they say😆.

Hello So, here's an update. I replaced the 6561 RAM and a few other components and took various measurements. It still won't boot. Obviously, otherwise, where's the fun? I'll be away for about ten days, and I'll post the results of the measurements. Just wanted to let you know I haven't given up. Thanks, see you soon.

Hi, not that machine exactly but i do have these so the answer may be in here? Party Time Arena.pdfParty Time Arena_VE.pdfParty Time Deluxe Rebuild VA.pdfParty Time Arena_VI.pdfParty Time Deluxe VB.pdfParty Time rebuild.pdfPartytime.pdfParty_Time_black_Rebuild_25_20_RM_Dreg_only_VA.pdfParty Time.pdfRam Clear Comms.pdf

Hi! Happy New Year to MPU Mecca and all its members. I received the 6561. I'm going to install it and take the necessary measurements for startup. I'll let you know if it starts or not. Thanks

Now is good. Merry Christmas everyone! 🙂

Ah got you, hard to tell on the smashed one, but I'm happy with it that way

Cross Forty is a circa 1976 electro from Lyngard Automatics manufacturing who were based in Cardiff. It is just a basic 5p play game with a gamble on some lower wins and a top win of 40p in tokens. Lyngard machines don't seen to be as popular, especially their big, heavy club machines. One of their best was Each Way Shifter from 1981.

OK, what you have to note here is the 6561 is a 256 byte x4 whereas the others are 1kb x 4 albeit they have the same footprint. You can tell the smaller RAM machines as they have a 74LS03 instead of a 74LS12 for IC24. These are most likey to be MOD 1 and possibly 2, 3 and upwards use the larger RAM. There are others though that have a daughter board with a 6116 chip and this either plugs into the existing RAM sockets or is soldered directly to the board. You can make your own daughter board up with the 6116 chip (or equivalent) as these are easily obtainable and cheap.

Yeah that’s a good point Nick, will see how re sticking the decal turns out

Thanks Nick, got the glasses today and one side of thae art is lifting off the glass but not flaking off, just need to figure a way of sticking it back down. Also need to decide on using the repro or this original glass!

I know Mike and the chap is giving those for free, incredible

You couldn't write it Ronnie, quite incredible!

Thanks Dave, I'd already downloaded it and unfortunately there's no lamp matrix info.

Hi looking for a astra party time zone manual if anyone can help just cant find a link to one or on line for machine in photo any help many thanks in advanced

Haha yes. I have been using the loom to test and repair mpu boards. The Wago boxes contain the 50V triacs to stop them shorting out on something (including me)

I don’t suppose you have a picture of what is needed ? I have a few sru parts maybe I can help out ,,

Hello everyone, You may remember a few months ago i mentioned this project to do one day and that day has come. The machine is not working but i am working on that (ie recapped, replaced voltage regulator and checked clock etc), anyway my main confusion is with the MPU1 as i may or may not have some components missing. I am not sure if it came from manufacturing like it or they have been removed (from the back it looks like the former and the front maybe the latter. My plea for help is could someone have a look at their board and tell me the values for D1,D2,R1,R2,R3,R4,C1 and T1, i may or may not fit them, i need to trace them out properly to see where they fall in the circuit but it does seem strange. I would be forever gratefull if someone could have a look. I have attached photos so you can see what i mean. (missing components in the red box) Cheers Jim

Delighted to say I bagged this beauty recently! I only had one poor picture to decide in a very short time if I wanted it, good news is a courier has collected it for me and I will probably have a few weeks wait before it arrives! So we can all see together if it was a good buy or not. This was my guiding picture!

Great machine that is ronnie .

Looks really good ronnie .

I've just uploaded the diagram for the early MPU3's which includes the daughterboard so I hope you find that useful. Do you mean how did I find out? Years of working on these and asking all the right questions I suppose.

Don’t think it’s too early now as I’ve just clocked off until January. All the best to all.

Hello. I found some 6561 modules at a reasonable price. Not without difficulty; in Germany. Otherwise, I would have liked to make the 6116 daughterboard. To be continued...

Scorpion 2 same cabinet as make a million etc same sort of gameplay

Things have kind of ground to a halt, as we’ve had a lot going on recently, family wise. Hopefully make some more progress in the near future.

Good afternoon everyone. No-one seems to have posted in this section for nearly six months, so I thought I would. My brother moved house last year, and one of the boxes he found in his garage contained a lot of my paperwork, including, amongst other things, my 'O' level certificates from the dim and distant past. The box probably came from my parents' loft when we cleared it. Anyway, I discovered a folder full of Bell Fruit paperwork from when I worked there in the early '80s. There are various documents about fault finding MPUs (black box), adjusting coin mechs, cams and microswitches (electro) as well as schematics for Super Nudge Gambler, Nudge Gambler Mk3, Firecracker, 21 Up Mk2, Plus Ten Mk2 and Hot Dog. There's also a map showing how to find/access the factory in Leengate, a 'boozy guide' to Nottingham and information for the Hotel Talsta, which is where I stayed when attending my Grade 4 training/exam in 1981. I'm hoping the Nudge Gambler Mk3 schematic will suit my recently acquired Nudge Punter. I will try to scan the documents in the not too distant future - a job for a rainy afternoon. I'm not sure what I can do with the schematics, as they're a bit big for my scanner.

Well done for sticking with it and getting it going, perhaps you should buy a few more machines now you have bought all the test equipment. 🤣 As previously said above thanks to Bob and Andrew for helping and saving another relic. Well, what to do now, this story is over, the TV is crap, perhaps i should pay some attention to my MPU1, perhaps...........

Hi, thanks for that. I have noticed on a few of Bobs posts and mainly the MPU2`s that they are missing as well but the differnce being there is no solder on the holes at all so maybe it is a modification they made to the boards at some point, not knowing the history of the machine and lack of information in general leaves you guessing a bit. I have i think worked some out from enlarging some photos on posts but they are blured and confirmation would be good. So i think :- R1=100K R2=1M R3=100K R4=47K Diodes i assume are the same as the other signal diodes in the area (not zd). C1 is a tant of some value T1 i am sure i could work out but easier to ask.

I've just looked at an MPU1 that I have here and the components in the red area on your photo are present on my board. I'll get the values for them and let you know.

Some nice old stuff in there https://youtu.be/hvkpFJ3_D7k?si=95EFY-tkn9fU33z0

Hi Matty, my Eachway suffered with attract lights out and weird sequencing but once i replaced this chip all was good 🙂 Good luck with your project

This is the issue