Jamma PCB and Arcade cabinet questions....

[Sylentwulf]

OK, I've been watching a couple jamma arcade pcb's (Soul edge for example) on ebay, But I also need an arcade cabinet with the jamma harness etc etc...

Are ALL jamma boards and cabinets interchangeable? As long as I get ANY cabinet with a jamma harness, can I just pop any game in there? Should I just go for any cabinet that's in good condition with a decent amount of buttons/controls so I can use a bigger variety of games? What else should I be making sure to look for other than the monitor being in good shape?

PLEASE, DON'T suggest going to an arcade auction, there is one in boston once a year abour 1.5 hours away from me, and I don't make it there usually, there are NO other arcade auctions anywhere near me, and I've NEVER seen an arcade game in the wild. For me, it's looking like ebay or noway.

[Anonymous]

The Street Fighter cabinets are good because they are plentiful and have six buttons.

With a JAMMA cabinet, any JAMMA pcb will work, however, for any games that use more than three buttons per player, you will need to connect the extra buttons to the board somehow (JAMMA only supports three buttons). in Street Fighter games, this takes the form of a 'kick harness' that plugs in next to the JAMMA harness. For any games that have more than three buttons, either make sure it comes with the operator's manual, which will show where and how the extra buttons connect, or make sure the info shows up on the PCB or on the net.

Also, check the Power Supply and make sure it's in decent condition. You will also want to check the button wiring and make sure it's done well, and hopefully color coded. The monitor should have some POTS adjusters somewhere to adjust the frequency and roll and whatnot. If you plan on changing boards a lot, then frequency adjustments will likely be necessary.

Finally, check to see if the wires are solderd to the buttons or not. Female connecters make replacing buttons and joysticks much easier than soldering.

[Ed Oscuro]

OK, I've been watching a couple jamma arcade pcb's (Soul edge for example) on ebay, But I also need an arcade cabinet with the jamma harness etc etc...

Are ALL jamma boards and cabinets interchangeable?

JAMMA is, by its very nature, supposed to be an interchangeable system. That doesn't mean you can just snap the boards in (you have to carefully hook everything up), but everything has its place on the JAMMA harness. Some boards have connectors in wierd places, but even most non-JAMMA boards can be hooked up with a bit of patience and the right cords.

[chadtower]

There are plenty of decent dealers in NH of arcade hardware. Lurk around the arcade newsgroups for a while, you'll get to know who is who up there. Hell, just take a look at this one:

http://www.appolo.com/

I get the feeling he'd eventually get anything you could possibly need and I hear he's a good guy to boot.

[DogP]

Yeah, Jamma's great... it's pretty much just connect the harness to the board, then connect the special stuff to the board directly... by special stuff, I mean like extra buttons, rotary joysticks, guns, etc. My vertical Jamma cabinet has rotary joysticks, but without the rotary harness connected, they act just like regular ones, and they work perfectly for everything.

You should keep an eye out for a cabinet on ebay... I just got one up in Massachusetts a few weeks ago for $57! And it came with a Tekken PCB and a 25" monitor, everything worked. Of course I did have to drive 6 hrs each way, but it was worth it :) . The next weekend, there was one about 20 minutes from here for about the same price, but my friend forgot to bid on it :( . The cabinets seem to go pretty cheaply because they're so hard to ship (and expensive), so it's pretty much just local(ish) people.

DogP

[Sylentwulf]

I've been keeping an eye out, but the only search I can think of for ebay is:
Jamma cabinet - search titles and descriptions

Are there some specific games that aren't popular, but usually have no burn in, lots of good controllers, and all the proper wiring etc... inside? Be a nice way for me to get the necessary stuff cheap :)