Usually if the board ID number starts with C (eg. c104)--its a capacitor. If it starts with R its a resistor. To read capacitors follow this guide
http://www.wikihow.com/Read-a-CapacitorAlso, there are many different kinds of caps --electrolytic, ceramic disk (the orange ones) film etc. And the polarization is very important (unless its not marked then its a non-polarized version)
to read resistors you need to read the color bands.
Also, no offense but if you are unsure what the parts even are, troubleshooting things at the board level may not be a reasonable place to start (its typically an "expert" level of arcade repair) I say its good to learn but you may become frustrated very quickly...