Games Inc King Tap

[pennymachines]

Hi Rick,
Welcome to pennymachines.co.uk!
That's a shame extraball.co.uk has gone. It was a good resource. A bit of detective work reveals the site was run by Grahame Simon Fairall who is now a director of Retrostar Fashions Ltd., Tudor Caravan Park, Shepherds Patch, Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, GL2 7BP, UK. A long shot, I know, but he might still have the manual.

[flashbk13]

Thank you "Pennymachines" for Grahame's info. I did a Google search and eventually came up with the Park email addy, so I just emailed him. I'll let you know what he says if he replies. Thank you, Rick.

[flashbk13]

Oh, I forgot to ask, what is "new penny"? The original poster of this thread stated he thinks his King Tap was modified to run on the new penny, so is mine (it came full of them and also some silver, slightly larger tokens for the right side tube. What are those for and when/ how do you get paid those? What was used before the new penny (most likely the old penny )? Will it be difficult to mod this to use our pennies (they are slightly smaller and thinner) or nickles? Thank you, Rick.

[pennymachines]

Your best bet might be to have a word with the fellow at http://www.swallowamusements.co.uk/ who made the youtube video: Free after sales technical help line. 07752 691474. Weekday office hours only. Contact Details.

He used to operate the game in the Playbox Arcade, Shanklin, Isle of Wight is on 1p/10p play. It was made in 1970, just prior to D-Day (Decimal Day) on February 15th 1971, when our current 20.32mm diameter new penny superseded our 31mm diameter old penny.

[flashbk13]

Thank you for the info. I already tried Swallow Amusements (even before Grahame), they don't have the manual. The search is on!

[flashbk13]

Hi all ,
I went thru the King Tap and when I powered it up, the lights are very dim, so this must be still set for 240v. Looking at the xformer primary taps, they are using 3 of them. they have a yellow (maybe white) wire from the loom going to the first tap labeled "start" which one half of the power cord also connects to, then a black wire from the loom connects to the 110v tap, then the other half of the power cord connects to the 240v tap (after going thru the power sw and the 6 amp fuse). So, do I just need to move the power cord wire from the 240v to the 110v tap (along with that blk wire)? Also, will I need to replace the power fuse (or all 3) with double the amp values? (the power is now 6amp, should it be 12 and so on)? Thank you, Rick.

[slotalot]

Hi Rick, any chance you could post some good clear photos of the transformer/wires etc?, so we can see just what you mean I / we should hate to give you the wrong advice with it being an electrical question

[flashbk13]

Hi slotsalot and all I went ahead and just moved the wire from the 240v tap to the 110v tap that had the blk wire on it (it was fused, so I figured it would be safe). The lights are now normal and the relays and motors now work, although not properly (to be address in the next post). I uploaded the pics to photobucket (link below). They will be the first 7 pics (last being the bonus token). Can anyone tell me what token it is and what was it used for and how does one win it? Sorry that pic is blurry, too shiny to focus. There is no writing or numerals on it (either side), just leaves (not sure what they are called) like on a Ceaser coin).

http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j212/ ... /pinballs/

[flashbk13]

Now to the problems The game won't start up when a coin is deposited. The coin relay does activate, but that's it. I have no idea of the sequence this has to go thru to be right (don't have the manual or schematics, would love to get copies, wink wink ). If I just poke around, the various sections do work (except the timer disc/wiper motor doesn't turn very well, but is getting power. I did clean everything and lube the best I can without taking these wiper units apart, but may have to on the timer. If I turn the timer by hand the various circuits seem to work, just not together I did get the 3 wipers for the "reels" to start (IEE units work fine, otherwise would have to put this in the bin, can't easily replace those), but they never find a winning combination, just keep on running. So, this thing is confused. Can anyone here walk me thru the sequence of how one of these should work when the coin is dropped (in a general sense, unless someone here actually has a King Tap unit)? Be seeing you! Rick.

[slotalot]

Hi Rick, you have done just what I would have done with the transformer, I think it is safe to say that part is now fine & safe
as to the rest I would have said clean and check all the relay contacts on the back door to make sure they are as they should be, normaly open, or normaly closed at rest but it looks like you are ahead of me on that one .
I don't think I can be much more help without the machine in front of me, but I will give it some thought and if anything comes to mind I will be back
Good luck with the project, & keep us up to date with your progress.

[bandito]

A non working King Tap has just been listed on ebay. Item number: 120879064048

[flashbk13]

Thank you slotalot (I removed the extra S from your screen name) I will keep you all posted. I did email Steve from Swallow Amusements (who put up the King Tap video) to see if he can walk me thru this game). Doesn't have to be a King Tap, any same or near vintage flasher should work/ be the same "thinking" sequences as the Tap (enough to get me on the right track)
I wonder how my pics got posted? I just put up the photobucket link as I was not sure how to post them, yet, here they are * That was me - site admin.
Thank you bandito for the ebay link, I saved it and emailed the seller about parting it out and if he had schematics for it. Rick.
thank you admin

[flashbk13]

Hi slotalot,
I just reread one of your earlier posts about contacting Swallow Amusements and notice it lists his machine as being made in 1970, while mine is stamped 1965 on the back door data plate. I wonder if they are still the same innards (looks like it in his video) and sequence thinking? Thank you, Rick.

[flashbk13]

Hi all,
I did some poking around in the game and so far found 2 problems (not how to fix them mind you, just narrowed down the choices ).
1. the timer disc is gummed up where the motor (motor is good, it drives the opposite pulse wiper OK). Can't turn it, so the game does not play. Manually turning it activates the various parts of the game, and even pays out properly.
2. Coin does not start the game. It does pull in the coin relay and nothing more, but if I hold down the next relay in the stack (the credit relay), then the coin chute magnet de-energizes like it should to reject a miss dropped coin, and I can then activate the paddle sws. and the timer then tries to start. So I will need to partially disassemble the timer to clean and relube and that should take care of alot of problems, but I need to know what should happen after the coin relay activates/ how to get the credit relay to operate to start the game.
So there you have it for now. Thanks for listening (reading) Rick.

[flashbk13]

hi all,
Well, the damn thing started working all by itself All I did was to move it out of the garage into the driveway so I could see better and fire it up and the credit relay energized when the coin relay energized (as I thought it should), and I could start the game from the paddle (sometimes, due to that sticky timer wiper, but even that is working way better than just last night...that lube must have worked its way in somewhat). At least it's working enough to loosen up the moving parts and give me a clue how to play this thing I checked various payouts and they seem right on.

Now for a couple of questions 1. I tried the bonus play (manually set it per the instructions in the cabinet) and it does give 1 token (on any combo, except first reel pear like listed), but if also on a winning set, does not pay out (except the 1 token). Is this normal? It also lists on the glass "GOLD AWARD 5/- with bonus play" (you get 10 of these plays, that part works/counts properly). What does this mean? All I get is a token, but no extra (free) play (if it means that, or does it mean you get a token on the bonus play round?). Can someone please explain this and what good are these tokens (if on site, not at home)? What did the player do with them?

2. This has been modded to give an extra spin when pushing those "stop" buttons; just the opposite of what it's supposed to do. Anyone know how to put this back to stop mode? There are 4 plug adjustment areas in this, but they don't say what they do, just cons, mod, lib. I tried moving them all to the same 3 settings, no change, except lesser payouts).
Thank you, Rick.

[badpenny]

As a genius in this hobby once said ............

"They forget what to do"

[operator bell]

This machine would be from the late 1960s where the maximum cash payout was a shilling (12 old pennies) but it could pay 5 shillings in "trade". That would be what the "gold award" token is for. If the machine was in a pub you could use the token to buy beer, or in an arcade you could exchange it for a "prize" like a small plastic frog. The "bonus play" is something called a Time Jackpot, an attempt to get round the British payout limit by giving you a series of practically guaranteed wins that in total should be worth a lot more than 5/-. It normally kicked in when you hit a secret non-paying combination. The government of the day - Harold Wilson's, I think - made that illegal. The other thing these machines had was hold and draw, where you got a second chance if you drew 2 to a win. They tried to make that illegal also, but when the Tories got in under Edward Heath they let it stay as long as the hold was random, ie you didn't know if you were going to get it until you put another coin in. This whack-a-mole approach to regulation played havoc with the payout percentages so people were always fiddling with the mechanism to try and put it back to meet the government-mandated 80% ... In your case they probably changed the hold function to respin.

I have a Games machine not dissimilar to the King Tap, and I have a circuit diagram, for what it's worth. When I first got it I spent a week tracing out the circuit one wire at a time. I must have had way too much time on my hands.

"con-mod-lib" changes the payout percentage - conservative, moderate, liberal. It does this by switching in different symbols. You might for example have an extra cherry on "liberal" and it's a lemon otherwise.

[badpenny]

Good to have you back Op Bell.
You can never have too many plastic frogs!

[operator bell]

Here are some notes I made a while ago on the King Tap, updated with Rick's picture and some comments on restoring.

[flashbk13]

Thank you sooooooo much OB for this great info.! Now I can fix that won't start problem as you tell just where to look (I figured it had to be in that timer disc, but I may have a bad coin sw.) The coin energizes the coin relay, but not the credit relay (did work for a couple days after I moved the game around, then just quit again). I will try another coin sw and proceed from there. I did run a jumper from the signal lug of the coin relay to the signal lug on the credit relay and that works, but I don't like jury rigging (except for testing), that just causes problems later on and just looks hoky. Thank you again for that great info., Rick.