Arepachi Find

[emmadog]

Was in the right place at the right time for this one. It's en route at the moment so I am counting the proverbial chickens before they hatch with this post. Anyway it was purchased and owned by the original owner from Pachinko Palace back in the 70's He had spent time in Japan and fell in love with pachinkos so when he got back here he bought this one.We spoke quite awhile and he shared all his strategies for game play and he wanted to be sure it would be taken care of. He's got the original keys for it and had a custom oak cabinet built for it. Frankly I didn't want the case but he and his wife are moving and so didn't want to deal with it. Shipping alone was 150 due to extra packing material and added size from the oak case. It'll be delivered next week but I won't be home until the week after at which time I'll post a few pics. It's the same machine as the borrowed pic below.

[bfree]

She's a beaut!!

[Microbus99]

Looks like the $28,000 Arepachi. Are you sure you didnt save your pennies and pay full price?

Since you wont be home when it arrives, you can have it sent to me and I'll take care of it for you!!

[emmadog]

Nope, as far as I know that one is still going for 28,000 I paid quite a bit less than that! I did notice some differences in this machine among members. The first is that some have different center features. Either it's a standard tulip or a "dog" looking center pocket with light up eyes. That difference has been pointed out before however. The more interesting difference is in the payout scheme. In addition to payouts for rows, columns, and the center four, at least one machine (Eddie's) also pays out for diagonals and is indicated on that machine's instructions. The one headed my way has the "dog" center feature but I don't know about the payout. I didn't save the pics from the seller. Have to wait and see. The pics show the machine that pays out on the diagonals.

[candyflip]

Absolutely beautiful machine - congrats!!!

[emmadog]

Ok, so I got home and found the large, well-padded box in the man cave.
Opened it up to see a very nicely preserved machine as the seller said. The oak case was top notch as well. This machine does pay on the diagonals as can be seen by the closeup of the number matrix showing the diagonal red lines. However, the instruction placard does not mention this fact.
The blue sticker across the top mentions that the max payout is 10 whereas my other arepachis that also have this same type of sticker say the max payout is 5. But my machine will actually pay out 15. Inside are two yellow "cartridges" that fit into sockets. Insode these cartridges are transistors, chips, etc. On the back of one of them is where the payout maximum switch is. The options are 5 and 10. Mine is set at 10 but pays 15. There are also a few more switches on the inside. One lets activates the ball drop solenoid. I guess for a convenient way to release the balls into the shooter area but this can also be accomplished by pushing on the spring loaded 16 pocket tray. There's a toggle switch that when in the up position will pay out whatever was won on the last game every time the game start micro switch is activated. Not sure what that is for.
The machine has the usual amount of grime on the playfield but otherwise is in good shape. The chrome has worn off though around the payout and coin insert area. I'll look into refinishing that later. Now the obligatory pics.

[emmadog]

Here's the pics.
First is the "dog" center feature that lights up and pays out 1.
Second is the center matrix.
Third is the oak case.

[emmadog]

First is button that activates ball drop solenoid.
Second is toggle switch that causes machine to pay out last amount won.
Third is the keys.

[emmadog]

And a few more.
Second and third are of the cartridges and fourth is of the "max pay out is 10" sticker.

[wrkey]

Geeze.. I want one of these! But I can't ever find them!

[emmadog]

The following are translations of the labels on the yellow cartridges as well as the label on the metal box below the cartridges.

ARRANGE-BALL MIRACLE
A Amp
Please change the amp in the event of any of the following malfunctions.

• • 1. The scoring point display is inaccurate.
    2. The checkout button does not function.
    3. In checking out, insufficient medals are dispensed.

Picture 2

ARRANGE-BALL MIRACLE
B Amp
Please change the amp in the event of any of the following malfunctions.

• • 1. No balls come out when medals are inserted.
    2. The chucker does not work.
    3. You are unable to check out. Alternatively, an inaccurate number of medals is dispensed.

Picture 3


(top left text)
B (Red)
Amp

(bottom left text)
A (Blue)
Amp

(right text)
*Warning.
To avoid error, please insert the A and B amps from above as depicted in the left diagram.
Rusty,
I know, these machines get snapped up as soon as they are available! Last couple I've gotten a hold of were by luck and chance. For one of them, the seller actually contacted me about a related subject, and for the other one I just happened to be searching when no one else was.

[Lt Teddy]

I would have to agree with emmadog their is alot of luck and chance involved but their is alot of searching that you have to do too. I started last year in August and now have quite a few. They are their to be found you just have to have the time to look and then decide you really really want it. I have been extremely lucky price wise but that being said it can be expensive to have someone go and trouble shoot the diodes the plugs and the wiring.


You do have alot of knowledge especially with Eddie, and Mopar working alot on these and the other members that have them.
Without the help I would not be enjoying mine as much as I do.

My powerflash machines are neglected because the arepachi are more addicting.

[emmadog]

So I received permission from my CO to spend some time on this machine today after hitting the gym with her (my gym routine is totally different than hers but she much prefers going together but I digress...) and doing other various chores. So with my precious time I removed both circuit boards and sent those off to a company specializing in cleaning and repairing boards. Prior to that I did research on the components on the boards themselves and was glad to see nothing was proprietary. In fact, several of the chips were under 50 cents each. The reason for this is that the machine is paying out the wrong amounts for a given scenario. It's still perfectly playable but not quite right. According to the warning labels translated in a previous post, replacing the boards is required when this happens. Luckily nowadays the defective part can be singled out and replaced. I may also do this to my other machines as a precaution and besides these are 30+ year old boards so it's not a huge challenge for the engineers which translates to quick turn around and reasonable prices. Should have those back inside of 10 days. I then decided to do a very basic cleaning of the outside. Wiped off the grime from the playfield and polished the pins then time ran out.
Also in this pic the faceplate is visible. I received this from Slothappy via Lt. (Thanks guys) However I believe the original oval pocket designators were the same deep blue that the "token payout" strip is and also the once white playfield is now that mellow off white color so the new faceplate will reflect those color changes.. So Slothappy is graciously creating a new one.

[emmadog]

Tried to edit but of course time ran out. Anyway, the plastic piece covering the shooter mech and ball staging area was originally hot pink. So it will be undergoing the retr0bright process. It worked well on the blue plastic on the Taiyo Mars so it will hopefully be as effective and of course pics will follow once I get around to it.

[Lt Teddy]

This is another picture of what one looked like with the factory faceplate.

I think their was alot of different kinds made.

[emmadog]

Thanks Lt. It does look like black was an original color as well judging by the age of that pocket strip. Good pic too-it's going in my album of "Arepachi Varieties" album.

[Lt Teddy]

I think now that I look back on all of these posts, Microbus was right you are going to make it look like the $28,000 dollar machine.

[emmadog]

I received the invoice from the circuit board rebuild company and here it is. It's interesting that it states that the resistors have degraded and changed value over the years. Here's the invoice:

Repairs to printed circuit board; Rebuild two (2)
Satomi PC boards, replacing any and all parts as
necessary. Two (2) hours bench time at 80/hour
160.00
Notes: Price includes price of all parts, but does not
include return shipping to customer which will be billed
at UPS Ground rate unless other method is requested.
Details of repairs necessary: All resistors on the binary
encoder card will be changed to new carbon film
resistors since so many of them have changed from
their original value. Any and all capacitors and
resistors on the logic IC board will also be changed as
necessary.
All repairs are guaranteed against defects in parts and
labor for one year through U.S. Electronics Repairs, a
division of Cabcraft Engineering.

[emmadog]

A little more info. I spoke with the guy working on these boards after I made this post and he told me some interesting info about these old boards/components. Basically, the materials the resistors and other components are made of degrade over time. Not really a problem nowadays thanks to rapid advances in materials science. Anyway, the resistors affect the transistors thereby deciphering the inputs and giving the correct outputs. This is part of the logic system and of course I'm paraphrasing here. So many of the resistors on these boards had deteriorated and were giving values that were over 200% off from their original specification. In effect, the wrong inputs and outputs were the result and describes the funky game play I experienced. So for those of you with old circuit boards and are experiencing these symptoms, in may be your boards.
The company I used started work on the boards the day after they received them. First they emailed me to say they arrived safely and gave a free estimate. The dude said they'd have them fixed this weekend and mail out 2nd day air (to minimize time in transit) on Monday. That was my idea but they'll ship however you want. He's also putting the mailing addy on the box in marker in case labels peel off. Very friendly staff and were patient with all my noob questions.

[emmadog]

In the near future I will have the complete schematics for all the electronic components for this machine. These schematics are for the version of this machine that pays out on the diagonal. Some of these Satomi "Hippy" machines as I call them, do not but that's a small difference.
I also have the actual schematic for my "Satomi "Robots" machine. The original ones I emailed to some members were close but were the preliminary drawings. The ones I have now represent the machine as it is.
With this info you could make your own arrange ball machine much easier than having to figure all this out on your own or save yourself a couple grand by having a professional do it if you considered going that route as I have done. I'll have my Jan Ball's schematics as well further down the line. PM me and I can send the "Robots" out now and the other one out once I get them from the engineer.