Missile command buttons - Cherry or Licon?

[knightlymuse]

If anyone has an original un-restored Missile Command machine sitting around can you tell me if the three fire buttons used the Chrerry brand of switch or the Licon brand?

The Cherry switch has a lighter touch and a softer clicking noise.  The Licon switch has a bit more movement, is louder and forceful.  The manufacturer should be listed directly on the switch.

Thank you,
Joe

[Witchboard]

I would have thought missile command used leaf switches.  I thought all the older games did.

[NoOne=NBA=]

Nope.

It used the Atari LED "start" buttons.

I'm not sure which brand Atari used though.

[Jakobud]

Those are the volcano buttons right?  Those were MICROSWITCH buttons?  You sure about that?

[MinerAl]

The volcano switches that came in my atari football were Licon.  But it was 23 years old when I bought it, so they could be replacements.

And yes they are microswitches.  For sure.  I have some Cherry ones too, and they are also microswitches.

[RayB]

Yes, believe it or not, they used microswitches in the old days too. In fact, alot of 70's games use microswitches too (for example the shifters in Sprint use them).

BUT Missile Command didn't use LED switches for the firing. Just plain black ones (no light).

Anyways, as for the brand, I just checked my Missile Command and it is CHERRY. But not the standard type cherry switches we are used to seeing today. Instead, it's a very small kind. I couldn't find any part numbers on it.

~Ray

[knightlymuse]

I thought the term

[DarkSoul1]

Those are the volcano buttons right?  Those were MICROSWITCH buttons?  You sure about that?

Does anyone still sell these?

[spidermonkey]

There is/was a brand of microswitches called "Microswitch"  a company out of Freeport Illinois. Not sure if they're still in business. I have an original Gottieb Q-bert 4-way joystick and it has "Microswitch" brand switches on it. Every Missile Command I've seen uses red illuminated volcano buttons for player 1 & 2. The fire buttons were the same type but the actual button was solid black with no illumination.

[MinerAl]

To be clear, the red light up volcanos on my Atari Football are Licon.  I don't have any solid black ones.

You can get black .5" button/switches at radio shack.  They won't have the volcano nut around them, but they'd work.

[RayB]

When I refer to microswitch, I'm referring to small self-enclosed switch that goes CLICKY-CLICKY when you press the little nubbin!  

And yeah, Missile Command uses light-up cone buttons for Player start buttons, but non-lit black cone buttons for firing.

[RandyT]

For what it's worth, the industry folks call these "snap-switches", apparently due to the internal action of the contacts.  

They have little spring-loaded-doohickeys in there that don't close until the button is depressed a certain distance.  But when it reaches that distance, the contacts "snap" together and are held there by spring tension.  This makes for a positive connection with little (if any) bounce, and provides some tactile feedback so the user knows that it actuated.  It's also the "click" you hear when they are depressed.

Oh, and just about every major switch producer has their own version of these, and some, like Cherry, make several varieties with different forces required for actuation, power handling abilities and so on.  So just because two switches are Cherry, it doesn't necessarily mean that they will both feel the same.  Usually the plastic shell colors will be an indicator here.

RandyT