I have been sorting through the big box of arcade paper that was my part of the haul from the road trip to pick up Jeff’s HUO Pengo. There are some really odd things in the lot, the first bit of info was about the wild and wacky Arcade Outpost. This time I want to share some industry info I found about anti cheating devices. Apparently back in 1981 cheating operators out of a quarter or two was a big problem. Operators must have been losing some big money and subsequently complaining to the manufacturers; because all sorts of anti cheating devices were developed for the various coin mechanisms and coin door configurations. I guess those sneaky kids back in the arcade had figured out numerous ways to get credits for free or for much less than a quarter! Shame on you. Anti penny, anti nickel, anti stringing and anti wire modifications or mechanisms were available and well documented to stop those thieving kids!

Midway and Coinco had service bulletins covering the topic in detail. There was even some info published in the “Franks Cranks” column from Play Meter magazine. If you think about the progression of the coin door, it is easy to see how theft played a major role in the subsequent design changes over the years. From the classic Midway Ms. Pac-Man style door (easy to trick), to the newer over-under coin doors with perpendicular coin mechs and complicated components that make it tough to add credits for free. Enjoy!

Tags: anti cheating, Arcade documentation, coin door

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 at 11:53 pm and is filed under Misc, Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.