TTL logic arcade games?

[Zaxxon]

Can someone explain to me, in laymans terms, how these arcade machines without CPU's work? I don't understand how you could just chain together some electronic parts and get it to work. Is there no "program" running since there's no CPU?

[ventrra]

Look at it thia way: A CPU is made up of a lot of transistors. In the old days, all of the transistors needed by a game for it's logic were wired into the board itself (and were fairly bulky). The CPU just made them microscopic and placed them into one small package instead of having them placed in larger clusers on a board.

(An inexact explination, I know, but hopefully of some use.)

[Captain Wrong]

Look at it thia way: A CPU is made up of a lot of transistors. In the old days, all of the transistors needed by a game for it's logic were wired into the board itself (and were fairly bulky). The CPU just made them microscopic and placed them into one small package instead of having them placed in larger clusers on a board.

(An inexact explination, I know, but hopefully of some use.)

Actually, I think that's a pretty good description.

You gotta think of it like this, it all comes down to controlling voltages (at least with older, hardwired analogue stuff). The hardware (transistors and whatnot) is the "program" in an instance like this because that's what's directing the flow of information (voltages). It really is like a microchip blown up to a larger scale.