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Well, I didn't get the chance to speak to 'the man' but he did answer my text. It seems that current thought at that time was that club machines were "more like a serious gambling machine than an amusement product" and so it wasn't included. If I remember correctly to add weight to the thought, we did have an arcade on the board walk in Atlantic City where we tried to put product into the states. They had nudge included but we had to remove them because the average American punter at that time couldn't deal with the concept and we had floor walkers trying to explain! As well as all that the team were very busy with constantly kicking out new games for the AWP market which demanded a new game every 8 weeks. Club machines tended to have a longer life. So in answer to your question I am afraid I don't really know! I know that early 82 I was put in charge of the Development team (not software or graphics) just the hard stuff, BOM's and the pricing, and it was during that period that the SWP came about. More of that later.

Cluckin hell mate that really your surname?

That’s a question i was going to ask about the development side(well several)😀 who where the people in the graphics team? who where the people in the electronics(PCB)development team? who where the people in the software team? who where the people responsible for cab design? who where the people responsible for game design? Sorry for the barrage of questions frank but it’s nice to have a few names that put together more than half my fruit machine collection. i am referring to the 1978-1986 era(from the SRU,System 80,MPS and that ‘Give Us A Break’quiz machine video board)

Some more boards giving me the run around or beyond economic repair. First one was a real pain, it wouldn't initialise and for the life of me I couldn't see why? Someone had been here before which is always a worry but they work seemed of a good standard. So the nitty gritty....on switch on there was just a short pulse to the RAM and then a few address lines died and it just sat there. IC9 (74LS138) and IC24 (74LS12) had been changed so I knew all was good in that dept and all the other usual stuff had been done. The first suspect was the CPU which was swapped but no difference. Next one was the 6840 as I've seen this stop boards booting before, but again nope! Not wanting to continue the wild goose chase I thought I'd try and think this one out. Next step was to tap out all the data and address lines to make sure there were no shorts or open circuits, which there weren't. Then it was the turn of all the other functions eg E, NMI, VMA etc. When I got to the R/W I found there was no connection from the RAM (pin 10) to the R/W line feeding the rest of the board? What a relief I'd actually found something. On the previous repair the two RAM sockets had been changed but because they were using the RAM daughterboard they had to be the stamped pin type as you can see in the pic. On removal of the socket in IC8 I found this... The via at pin 10 of IC8 had been ripped apart and consequently lost connection. So a quick rivet insert, a tack wire and a bit of solder mask to finish off and she's as good new. When all put back together it booted and ran fine. ....and the next one. This had already been deemed beyond economic repair as you will see from the pic.... The board was toasted right through just above the power diodes and various components further up the board varied in incinerated, well done to medium rare depending whether they caught the flame or not. As I was head scratching yet another board I thought, why not, and stuck it on the bench. First thing is to give it a clean and try and remove as much carbon as possible. Once done this left a sizeable hole in the board. This has to be done though as any carbon left will just track and start the whole process over again. I must admit it does look scarey but I've done this quite a few times now so it's pretty much business as usual. The next step is to make up some resin, seal the bottom with cellotape and then fill the hole. Once this has set the track needs to be re-made, holes drilled, rivets fitted and solder mask applied. New track cut and fitted and riveted. They do look close together but it's a trick of the light! I still need to drill and fit another rivet for the white power lead but that's tomorrows job. Then a bit of solder mask to finish off. All that's left is to swap out all the burnt components and the usual bits and pieces. I just hope after all this it doesn't have any obscure faults!!

Good questions, no club and AWP went through the same dev teams there were no segregation there, and a for the nudge question....hmmmm. I don't have an answer but I know a man who will and this gives me a reason to speak to him! Watch this space.

Hi Ronnie, I used an Isopon body repair kit. If the hole is large enough I chop up some glass fibre strands to give it more strength. The only thing you need to be careful of is the temperature. It can go soft with heat so if you need to drill rivets through it with soldering a bit of care is needed. Not had any problems it has to be said.

Foul language Pete😂😂😂😂

Welcome to the forum.

Outrageous and incredibly impressive stuff bob .absolutely love these repairs you do .well done again .

Thanks for the compliment frank but I am just one of many on here with a decent knowledge of various machines(it’s just that JPM was my favourite brand so to speak). when you get the the project management of the SWP you will have myself and dave’s(cannonman)full attention. just a note I left high school in 1982(time has flown for all of us)😀

Your knowledge of the machines astounds me, I was so busy with the maintenance of or the development of the 'product' that I hardly bothered with the games themselves. It was the introduction of new components and the control of change that I was involved with at the time or perhaps in fact the start of the Project Management of the SWP departure? In 1982 I had my 30th birthday which was a blast and will be in a story soon and I know I was managing the development team (not software) having been transferred from Customer Service to take that problem area.

Good stuff frank. They seemed way ahead of their time. While talking Mars Mechs it sounds like you are entering my personal favorite era of the JPM machines(the Fruit Snappa,Frog It and Road Runner era)1983 - 1986. You will know different Frank but i believe Fruit Snappa was the first JPM machine to use the MS100(20p,50p and £1)mech and i remember going in a local pub in 1983 and they had just installed a FS had the new multi coin mech with the orange reject button. Personally for me the machines below had the best cabinet of any other JPM machine before or after.

Do you want to borrow a tenner?

This is the larger Z80 MPU