NFG Games + GameSX

• Arcade games in the home
• The JAMMA Connector
• Other Arcade Board Connectors
• Cheapest possible arcade gaming
• Supergun Diagram

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the arcade cabinet. (TODO: add picture) Your average arcade cabinet will look a lot like this, but don't fret if it doesn't. Some cabs look like this, some are flat-topped cocktail cabs, or large squat Japanese sit-at units, or even mini-uprights called cabarets. The internals are the important part, what's outside is merely a box - although in the case of many classics, it's a box no less a work of art than your average Michealangelo.

The heart of the game. This board contains all of the game logic, ROM data, RAM, CPU, etc. This is the piece that the rest of the cabinet talks to. All controller inputs and outputs come through here. A cabinet without the PCB is like your body without a brain - looks the same, not as fun.

This piece you'll recognize immediately. All arcade machines have them, and with only three exceptions, they've remained fundamentally unchanged since the first arcade game, Computer Space. The only real exceptions to the standard monitor lineage are the Atari medium res monitors, older Vector monitors, and some newer high-resolution games.

The part you've spent the most time fondling. Can consist of buttons, wheels, pedals, dials, knobs, etc etc etc.

This is the part that supplies power to the rest of the cab. Almost all games use the same standard voltages, +5, +12, and -5 volts. Most use only +5 and +12 volts, making replacement power supplies easy to find and install.

There isn't a lot wiring inside a cabinet, despite what you may have seen when you looked inside one. Most of the wiring inside a cabinet can be traced to very few components, and with few exceptions includes only the following:

There are five wires here, and in some instances, six. One wire each for the Red, Green, and Blue video information, as well as Ground and Sync. In some cases, usually older boards, there are two sync wires: one for Horizontal and one for Vertical Sync.

This bundle contains one wire for a common connection, and one each for every control direction, button, or control. Double this for a two player cabinet, and you can see that a bundle of up to thirty wires isn't hard to attain.

From the power supply you need at least one wire (And up to four or more) for each voltage connected. These will provide power to the game board, and to any other part of the game needing power…

There are other parts to a cabinet, but they aren't essential. Things like the marquee and the Coin Slot (Which can include test switches, volume control etc). These parts usually serve a function necessary in the arcades, but aren't strictly necessary for the home user. When buying a used machine privately, it's very common to find kicked-in or destroyed parts that don't affect game play.