Tokens - what do i need?

[diverdown]

Being that in Australia, as far as I can remember, we didn't use tokens to play games in arcades. I do however like the idea of using tokens rather than coins in my machines. If i swapped out the old Australian coin mechs (that accept our 20 cent or 1,2 dollar coins) for a US coin mech that accepts quarters will this allow me to buy tokens and use them for credits.

Or do i have to buy one of the comparison coin mechs and put a token in it to compare with?


Further, are most tokens (like chucky cheese etc) the same size? Since all my tokens will have to be collected from the US I would like to know the type i need. I do want to buy some BYOAC ones as well as have as many different types as possible. So far i own 1 Australian token from the 70's so i have a way to go to get up enough to support my pathetic game skills.
 
Cheers.

[Kremmit]

Nope, you don't want US Quarter mechs.  No tokens are the same size as a quarter, specifically so that they can't be uses in place of real money in vending machines and the like.  Standard (non-electronic/comparative) mechs are available in token sizes.

As for what size, I'm afraid they come in a variety of sizes.  Chuck E. Cheese, BYOAC, MAME and Retroblast! tokens are all .984 of a US inch, so I'd reccomend you get .984 mechs.

If you're wanting to get a bunch of random US tokens as well as the BYOAC ones, www.tokenwarehouse.com will sell you a batch in a specified size for a good price, and the owner is an arcade collector to boot.

[missioncontrol]

you may want to see if your mechs can be hacked to accept tokens... there's a thread somewhere that tells how to do it....

[dpz147]

This was a big help for me...

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=22251