New to me Satomi Miracle

[phurst]

I picked up a Satomi Miracle in unknown condition the other day, and it included a big box of spare parts. I believe the machine was owned by a member here, and I know the big box of spares were sent to the previous owner by a different member here. I finally got a chance to look at it last night, and it seems to be in good shape, and MOSTLY complete. The game itself came with neither of the necessary logic cartridges. There were two cartridges in the spare parts box, but they're both the A cartridge, and no B cartridge. I know parts are extremely difficult to come across, so is this cartridge going to be complete unobtanium?

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[emmadog]

i have this machine and it's one of my top two. unfortunately spare cartridges are unavailable unless you can find a parts machine which is going to be equally difficult and is probably why the machine has been passed around.

[lotsoballs]

That missing cartridge is probably why the previous seller “never got around to it” putting it back together with the proper board to get it working again as previously mentioned… bummer. You will just have to play the waiting game for a parts machine.

They should have come clean and mention the required cartridge is missing (they probably put it in their working machine of this model I’ll bet) and kept that one obviously since working a arrangeball is worth much more than parts machines and way more fun than normal pachinko.

[Drunkenclam]

I guess if you want to take it away from originality. you could fit and program an arduino or ESP32 to do the job. Once you know how it all meant to work. If done correctly. It could be reverted back once a part has been found. ie. don't go chopping off all the plugs.

[emmadog]

i think that was card shark's old machine. he had two of them as well as a box of parts.

[phurst]

Yep, it was.

[emmadog]

there's a long thread about him trying to get this machine up and running but he never replied with what ultimately happened. he sent one or both of the cartridges out for repair. did he tell you the difficulty/impossiblity in getting parts?

[phurst]

Yeah, I read it. I'm not sure if that was this specific one or not. He says he currently has one working one, and had gotten the box-o-parts with the intention of getting this one working as well and never got around to it. Obviously he wouldn't have gotten far, being short a cartridge and all.

[emmadog]

that was a different one i believe now that i think about it. some of these paid out on the diagonal and some did not and another difference is the center pocket which is either like yours with that large metal mounting plate or the one that's supposed to look like a lion. he prolly quit trying to get it working since he already had one. well, i'm the one that sent the cartridges off to an electrical engineer to have schematics made years ago for this machine and i gave a copy to card shark so you could take that and have substitutes made or have a pic/arduino made.

[phurst]

Do you still have the schematics? I'd certainly be willing to have the card duplicated, but obviously have nothing to base that duplication on.

[lotsoballs]

Yeah, I read it. I'm not sure if that was this specific one or not. He says he currently has one working one, and had gotten the box-o-parts with the intention of getting this one working as well and never got around to it. Obviously he wouldn't have gotten far, being short a cartridge and all.

In the FB post there was no mention of any missing cartridges; with either the machine or box of parts, I’d demand he give you his working B cartridge; or discount/partial refund. Hopefully he didn’t charge you too much!

$200 is pricey for just parts; I bought a really nice working Challengeball from Maryland recently ($225) and working Arrangeball in the backwoods of South Carolina a few months ago for $80 I’m really cheap though…

[emmadog]

i haven't seen them in years and i've moved 4 times since then. they're around but i have no idea where. you should ask CS.
some computer dude could make an operating system for you as i mentioned above. its super simple logic and we know what the game rules are. i did exactly that for a machine i imported from japan that had no circuit boards. had a complete operating system made and it worked great.

[emmadog]

In the FB post there was no mention of any missing cartridges; with either the machine or box of parts, I’d demand he give you his working B cartridge; or discount/partial refund. Hopefully he didn’t charge you too much!

$200 is pricey for just parts; I bought a really nice working Challengeball from Maryland recently ($225) and working Arrangeball in the backwoods of South Carolina a few months ago for $80 I’m really cheap though…

i agree, that's crappy if he didn't mention that and 2 hundo is a ripoff. doesn't sound like CS to operate that way.

[phurst]

Live and learn I guess. I'll be happy if I can get it going one way or another.

[emmadog]

well, you can see the difficulty Shark had trying to get it going. i'll give you 50 for the number placard and you can recoup some of your cost. no worries either way though.
good luck.
check out YJA for a source for arrangeball machines. they're super rare but do come up. it's not a cheap ordeal but it is a source and i've gotten machines from there of a particular model that were never imported here.

[phurst]

If I get frustrated to the point of parting it out, consider it yours.

I've got two other arrangeballs to mess with, so I can afford to be patient for a while.

[emmadog]

roger that, thanks.

[emmadog]

I’ll also buy the pink piece on the front that has the instructions and says “Miracle” on it. I just remembered that my machine does pay on the diagonal but somewhere along the line it was replaced with one that has instructions for the non diagonal paying machine.