Anyone familiar with MultiJAMMA system?

[abelman]

I am interested in hooking up a MultiJAMMA (http://www.multigame.com/jamma.html) system (with 8 boards) to my NBA Jam cabinet and I am having trouble understanding what the setup entails other than hooking up power supplies and attaching the 8 JAMMA boards to the MultiJAMMA switchboard.

Based on the manual, it seems that each of the JAMMA boards should be connected to a multiJAMMA controller and each controller is connected to the switchboard with the 40-pin cables. However, it doesn't indicate that anything should be done with all of the othe pins on each board (other than the standard JAMMA card edge connection), which are usually attached to cables and wired to the cabinet. Don't they have to be hooked up as well?

Also, the MultiJAMMA kit comes with 40-pin cables that each supposed to be attached to a JAMMA board on one end and the switchboard on the other end. Why do they each have three 40-pin connectors if they're only being connected to one board and the switchboard?

Thanks for your help.

[Captain_Dingo]

I've looked into this for my MK3 cab (I've got MK and MK2 boards, too).

I think you're asking about extra buttons that fall outside the JAMMA 3-button spec.  According to their FAQ:

Q: How do I use the MultiJAMMA with fighting games (etc.) that have extra buttons?

A: The MultiJAMMA supports the three "standard" buttons for each player on the JAMMA connector. It also support the fourth semi-standard button on the JAMMA connector. To use the MultiJAMMA with fighting games you simply connect the extra buttons on the control panel directly to the extra buttons inputs on each game board. The buttons do not need to go through the MultiJAMMA at all.

That FAQ is at http://www.multigame.com/jamma_faq.html

[abelman]

Thank you for your response. I am not referring to games with more than three buttons, like you describe. But I now realize what the additional pins on my boards are for. They are for the player 3 and player 4 controls, which standard JAMMA does not support. From what I understand those pins have to be wired separately (from the JAMMA connector) to the cabinet. Any idea how this is done?
Any idea why the MultiJAMMA cables come with 3 40-pin plugs on each?

thanks for your help

[Captain_Dingo]

The player 3 and 4 controls should just be wired directly to the game board(s).  If you've got mutiple boards using those extra controls, you'll have to split them among all of the boards.  I assume the common ground should be common among everything, so you'd probably just have to run the other wire from each switch to each of your three boards.  It's the same thing I'll have to do with MK; I'll have to wire 2 buttons from each player directly to each of the three boards (and 3 on the MK3 board).

If that doesn't work, check that the grounds are all connected.  On my cabinet, the various ground wires in the JAMMA connector were not electrically connected for some reason, so some controls didn't work with my JPAC.  When I put all of the controls on a common ground, the JPAC liked them.

Since the cables are just supposed to be standard IDE cables, I assume they have 3 connectors because that's what they got cheapest...

[abelman]

Thanks again for your help. I was wondering if you could clarify a couple of more things for me.

I am attaching 8 different 4-player boards to my cabinet using the MultiJAMMA system. The standard JAMMA (2-player) wiring will go through the MultiJAMMA connector, so the boards will be alternated using the switch connected to the MultiJAMMA controller. However, I will have to wire all of the P3 and P4 connections separately. For the P3 and P4 wiring, can I splice all 8 of the "P3 Up" wires together with the 1 wire coming from the game controls, and do the same thing with each of the other wires, or is there a more complicated method of wiring that I'll need to follow?

I am connecting an additional 2 power supplies, each of which will power 4 of the boards. When connecting all of the grounds, should I run the grounds from all of the 8 boards together and attach them to the already existing ground in the cabinet or should I be grounding them only with those boards which are running from the same power supply?

Thanks for your help.

[paigeoliver]

All the grounds will end up going together one way or another anyway. And yes, you will splice those player 3 and 4 controls to hit ALL 8 boards.

Also, you might want to order your Multijamma NOW, it usually takes 2 months or longer to get it.

[Goz]

Took nearly 3 months to get the one I ordered.

[dirt]

i got this info from clay a while back.  i know this is directions to hook up a trackball to the multijamma but it would work for some of the player 3 and 4 controls as well.

What I suggest to most people (and what seems to work well) is to use the "expand" connector on the switchboards and the MultiJAMMA main board for the Trakball.  All you do is hook up power and ground directly to the trakball, then connect the four trakball signals to the expand connector on the MultiJAMMA main board.
 
From there, the trakball signals will be available on the MultiJAMMA switchboards and can be connected directly to each game board.
 
The games will all 'see' the trakball moving at the same time, but since only one game will get a credit at a time you'll only really "play" the currently selected game.
 
Hope that helps-- let me know if it's not clear.
 
Thanks,
-Clay

[abelman]

Thank you for your help.

I already received my MultiJAMMA - it only took a few weeks to arrive. As for the trackball instructions - I don't think they're very useful for 4-player boards since the 3rd and 4th player controls usually require at least 7 wires for each of them, and the the MultiJAMMA expand connector has only 6 pins.

[paigeoliver]

Yeah, just hardwire the suckers, multijamma or not, doing 8 4-player boards in one cabinet is going to be a wiring nightmare, better leave the back door off the cabinet. (Heat).

Let me see how many I can correctly guess. Here is my guess for your 8 4-player games.

NBA Jam
TMNT
X-Men
The Simpsons
Sunset Riders
Cowboys of Moo Mesa
Super High Impact
Turtles in Time
Gi Joe.

[abelman]

Pretty close, Here's what I have planned:

NBA Maximum Hangtime
Super High Impact
WWF Wrestlefest
2 on 2 Open Ice Challenge
Sunset Riders
TMNT Turtles In Time
Silent Dragon
Hat Trick Hero '95

Thanks for the suggestions, though - please let me know if you have any better ideas

[paigeoliver]

Pretty close, Here's what I have planned:

NBA Maximum Hangtime
Super High Impact
WWF Wrestlefest
2 on 2 Open Ice Challenge
Sunset Riders
TMNT Turtles In Time
Silent Dragon
Hat Trick Hero '95

Thanks for the suggestions, though - please let me know if you have any better ideas

Hey cool, I went out on a limb with Super High Impact, but it is a decent game and I THINK it is the newest 4 player (non-49 way) Football title. It doesn't generate much chatter, but it plays well.