What type of joystick is this?

[unclet]

I got some stuff from an arcade guy which I was going to use on my cab which I am no longer using and plan on posting the stuff on Ebay.

I got this joystick (see photos) for the hell of it and never got around to finding out what it was.....maybe you can help me with what kind of joystick this is......and what should I expect to get for it on Ebay.

Thanks

[unclet]

Here is the bottom of the joystick......

[HaRuMaN]

If I'm right, it looks like a 9-position optical joystick made by Stern for their game Berzerk.

[paigeoliver]

If you could test it, then you could expect quite a bit for it. My Buddy ebayed a Berzerk panel with the optical stick and it went for nearly $100.

My guess would be $30ish for just the stick untested (it is probably defective, they usually are).

[spidermonkey]

Yup, Thats out of an early Berzerk machine. Stern quickly replaced them with a regular 8-way because of their unreliability and complaints from operators.  Pretty rare stick. Should bring a good buck if the right person sees the auction. The problem is testing it so you can list it as working. I'm sure there's a way to do it through the use of a multi meter or some similar piece of testing equipment. Bob Roberts or Oscar may know how. Unless of course you have access to a Berzerk machine that hasen't already had the harness rewired to accept a regular 8-way. Most of them already are and have been for a long time.

[u_rebelscum]

Looking at KLOV, it seems like the "9 position optical" joystick meant 8 directions + center (ie: 8-way), and was the "grandfather" or "distant uncle" of the perfect 360 optical?

(Can't trust KLOV, so I ask here.)

[paigeoliver]

Looking at KLOV, it seems like the "9 position optical" joystick meant 8 directions + center (ie: 8-way), and was the "grandfather" or "distant uncle" of the perfect 360 optical?

(Can't trust KLOV, so I ask here.)

Yes, except I don't THINK that was the first optical stick. It seems like every manufacturer experimented with them at one time or another.

The 49-way sticks are similar in their counting as well. Center is one position, then they are basically 16 positions around the compass, and three levels of how far you can push. At least that is how I understood them to be.

[unclet]

Does anyone know how to test this type of joystick to see if it is working?

Thanks for all the information .......

[u_rebelscum]

Looking at KLOV, it seems like the "9 position optical" joystick meant 8 directions + center (ie: 8-way), and was the "grandfather" or "distant uncle" of the perfect 360 optical?

(Can't trust KLOV, so I ask here.)

Yes, except I don't THINK that was the first optical stick. It seems like every manufacturer experimented with them at one time or another.

Ah, the "distant uncle".

The 49-way sticks are similar in their counting as well. Center is one position, then they are basically 16 positions around the compass, and three levels of how far you can push. At least that is how I understood them to be.

I'd say there's three levels along each cardinal direction, so including the center it gives you a 7 x 7 grid, or "49 ways".  That results in 32 possible compass directions, but it's up to the game on how all these will be interperted.

The games usually used the inputs just like a course analog joystick.  But I guess it could have been as you describe, if the dirrection between the cards and the diags are grouped, their "levels" aren't in the exact same direction, and aren't equaly spaced like the cardinal and normal diagonals.  (see attach)