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Yeehaw!!!

Well then...
74LS32 did not effect change...

At this point, I moved to the  U14 6116 which I avoided since I don't have a means to test them.  All I could do was piggy-back another one on it assuming a dead I/O would then go to the chip on top.  Unfortunately, this created more screen errors.

Following the traces from that 6116, I was led to U15, another 6116.  I piggy-backed that IC and this returned a complete test pattern screen 😁

I removed the U15 6116 and installed a socket.  Then I fired up the board sans U15 and got "RAM CHECK OK"!

Plugged in a new MB8416A (6116 compatible) from "Arcade Parts and Repair" and started up Macross again.

Back when I was a kid in the 70's there weren't any computers, there were no 55" TVs, and even my calculator was completely analog, powered by pressing hard on the keys. We had boardgames but they were (relatively) much more expensive then.

So we made our own board games out of cardboard boxes. Drew on the playfield, added special areas, cutout tokens for money etc. (sometimes borrowed tokens from some other game), painted out our own pictures/art.  It was awesome fun, and making the games was even better than playing them.

We even made our own "pinball machines" out of scrap wood, a marble, some nails and rubber bands.

Sometimes we even went outside and played in the dirt.

But you try and tell the young people of today that, and they won't believe you!

I kinda agree with mr cranky err i mean pbj, board games on a screen just don't work and that table top simulator software is a pita to use.
there might be other board game software?
idk i would just rather play the actual board game.

however, skirmish games, rpg's like d&d, and the old hex war games that came with punched out cardboard chits and tokens from the late 70's to early 80's are where TV in the table top can shine.
just because 50" Tv's are $200 and 55" are $300.
meanwhile it'll cost you $40-$50 to print out just one 2ft x 3ft map.

What monitor did you use?

To piggyback off of OP, would something like the mini-pc be enough to run pre-2000 games?

https://www.bee-link.com/catalog/product/index?id=433

I use one of these in my cab. Works great

Not at all!
Criticism is welcome when people have some that is useful.

If you really want to build yourself a vector machine then posts #14, 22, 32, and 33 are the real meat of this thread.

If you read those, give a good look to the docs and videos I link to, and buy yourself the parts then you are most of the way there.

I spent a free morning rearranging components in this cabinet to suit some good cooling so I will update this again when I can get a chance here soon.

Hello everyone,  like a lot of people here I'm new to the game and looking to get a neglected unit playable, and online (if still possible). I have a Championship III edition that I  would like to get to Team Challenge but I only have Frankensteins monster. See Pics. Basically going to be from scratch with a new pc if I can hunt one down for cheap. The pc in there I got to boot once then nothing (power issue I think). Its a Dell 280 with a 6600 gpu (I believe) and no dongle. I looked on Global Vr website and after shipping it'll be $90+ for the recovery and install disks, then I have to emulate or find a working dongle. If anyone has a cheaper way to get these disks I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you please let me know if more pics or anything else is needed.

Cool.
I don't want to come off as being critical at all. If anyone understands having ten thousand things going on at one time and not having enough time for even a fraction of them, it would be me.

I'll wait patiently. Well, I'll try... Maybe I can even study up and eventually be of some help at some point. who knows.

 

Just ignore the troll.

To OP.  Another thing is most electronic board games are not designed for table usage.  Many have pass and play but then that means everyone has to look away while the current player takes their turn.

I really liked the PlayTable.  It was nice having the computer do all the fiddly bits and you can focus on the game.  having your phone be your hand in Catan was neat.  The RFID dice and Machi Koro was interesting.  However, if there is no software support it will never take off.  I think the only thing a touchscreen in a game table would be good for is D&D style games.

Also, from what I have seen, they all fall short of their promises.  Mainly due to the lack of support from game companies.  I believe PlayTable was supposed to have RFID bases for Wings of Glory miniatures which is one of my favorite miniatures games.  I would have loved having the computer track the fiddly bits for that game.  It probably would then only take 15 minutes for a game.