Coin manager for mame questions.

[abispac]

I have to ask, are we still in the "NO BECAUSE IT CAN BE USE FOR COMERCIAL USE"  Era? Or are we okay to create a mame coin manager for regular use?
Im not gonna lie, i sell mame cabinets. To comercial users? The answer is no, most of my buyers are relatives and friends,and the ones who are not, they want the cabinets for themselfs as a piggy bank, oviusly, when someone visits ,the first thing theyr kids wants to do is play the videogame, so when they fire up the cab, they deposit the coin and it dosnt gets credit, then i got to open the coin door and give them theyr coin back.  that does not happens alot and no, im not going in a yatch trip with my visitors coins deposited in my cab , so no this is not for  profits. I used to see lots of mame cabs in mexico,but that time its over as they are starting to use xbox 360 wth some USB timers,because the old mame cabs wont gave them money anymore. So to be honest, how many mame cabs you see out there in the wild on USA? i bet not many.
So, can we move on and let the programers master minds of this site to help us with a coin manager that would work nice with any front end and mame?
What do you guys think? and if this does not starts to create controversy, can someone help to creat such thing?

[Howard_Casto]

1.  Because it's illegal.
2.  Because it's illegal.
3.  Because it's illegal.
...
...
101.  Because it's illegal. 

Just because everyone does something doesn't make it right.  Even ignoring that it isn't in the site's best interests to condone illegal activities.   

Here is the flaw in your logic.  A coin manager is not  needed to enjoy these games.  It is if you want to make money off of the games, which is why none of us will do it.  I think you are under the assumption that our hands are tied or something.  I assure you that isn't the case.  We don't have any interest in doing something like that. 

[yotsuya]

What do you guys think?

What do I think? Use tokens in your game room if you are tired of refunding quarters. 

[abispac]

I have to ask, are we still in the "NO BECAUSE IT CAN BE USE FOR COMERCIAL USE"  Era? Or are we okay to create a mame coin manager for regular use?

Ill answer myself then....
"YES WE STILL ARE IN THE ERA WHERE PEOPLE BELIEVE MAME CABS CAN BE USE FOR PROFIT"

The i guess ill try to learn programming and create one myself,wich i doubt ill be succesfull,
or wait a couple more years and ask again.
 

[Howard_Casto]

Did you not read my reply? 

Profit has nothing to do with it... illegal activity does.  All it takes is one mame cab to be in the corner of some prominent arcade (yes there are still a few left) and one particularly touchy company to see their game on said machine to start a crackdown of epic proportions.  Profit is 100% irrelevant.  You could make 5 dollars total but do you think Nintendo would care?  Likewise all it takes is one touchy company that is still in the arcade business to see one of their games in mame with links on this site to a program that makes it "mame cab friendly" to give Saint all manner of grief.

The second part of my reply... your "problem" doesn't exist in reality.  If you indeed have the "problem" of having to refund quarters you can:

Not charge your friends to play the machines.

I've been doing this a loooong time.  I typically either wire the coin return up to a credit button, or give them the key so they can hit the service button.  I've not once in my 15 years of doing this had someone complain about not "getting to" put in quarters.  The normal response is delight in the fact that they get to play for free.


If these options are not appealing to you then you are welcome to write something yourself but that's the thing isn't it?  You don't have the ability or desire to write something that would be so complex and be so much of a time sink.  You want someone else to do it for you. 

[abispac]

Did you not read my reply? 

Profit has nothing to do with it... illegal activity does.  All it takes is one mame cab to be in the corner of some prominent arcade (yes there are still a few left) and one particularly touchy company to see their game on said machine to start a crackdown of epic proportions.  Profit is 100% irrelevant.  You could make 5 dollars total but do you think Nintendo would care?  Likewise all it takes is one touchy company that is still in the arcade business to see one of their games in mame with links on this site to a program that makes it "mame cab friendly" to give Saint all manner of grief.

The second part of my reply... your "problem" doesn't exist in reality.  If you indeed have the "problem" of having to refund quarters you can:

Not charge your friends to play the machines.

I've been doing this a loooong time.  I typically either wire the coin return up to a credit button, or give them the key so they can hit the service button.  I've not once in my 15 years of doing this had someone complain about not "getting to" put in quarters.  The normal response is delight in the fact that they get to play for free.


If these options are not appealing to you then you are welcome to write something yourself but that's the thing isn't it?  You don't have the ability or desire to write something that would be so complex and be so much of a time sink.  You want someone else to do it for you.

i  perfectly understand your point now, and yes, i would do my best to make one on my own, there are a couple out there in the wild, but they really dont work as they should. Thanks mr howard, i know you are someone that reallyhelps out there, your wors are wise...

[Thenasty]

install a coin lock out coil. So when someone insert a coin when in a FE (MENU), coin will be return (lockout coil is off).

Only coin will be accepted when a game is selected (loaded). This is when you turn on the lockout coil so coin passes thru.


You going to need to build something in order for this to be accomplish (like relay of some sort to turn lockout coil off/on).

[2600]

I have to ask, are we still in the "NO BECAUSE IT CAN BE USE FOR COMERCIAL USE"  Era? Or are we okay to create a mame coin manager for regular use?

Ill answer myself then....
"YES WE STILL ARE IN THE ERA WHERE PEOPLE BELIEVE MAME CABS CAN BE USE FOR PROFIT"

The i guess ill try to learn programming and create one myself,wich i doubt ill be succesfull,
or wait a couple more years and ask again.
 

Just to correct your statement in bold a bit, we don't believe MAME cabs can be used for profit.  We KNOW that cabs running MAME are being used for profit.  Almost every arcade or store that I've seen recently is running at least one cab that is running MAME for profit.

[behrmr]

install a coin lock out coil. So when someone insert a coin when in a FE (MENU), coin will be return (lockout coil is off).

Only coin will be accepted when a game is selected (loaded). This is when you turn on the lockout coil so coin passes thru.


You going to need to build something in order for this to be accomplish (like relay of some sort to turn lockout coil off/on).

Credits would not be transferrable between games. You would lose any credits when you exit the game you were playing.

[behrmr]

I have to ask, are we still in the "NO BECAUSE IT CAN BE USE FOR COMERCIAL USE"  Era? Or are we okay to create a mame coin manager for regular use?

Ill answer myself then....
"YES WE STILL ARE IN THE ERA WHERE PEOPLE BELIEVE MAME CABS CAN BE USE FOR PROFIT"

The i guess ill try to learn programming and create one myself,wich i doubt ill be succesfull,
or wait a couple more years and ask again.
 

Just to correct your statement in bold a bit, we don't believe MAME cabs can be used for profit.  We KNOW that cabs running MAME are being used for profit.  Almost every arcade or store that I've seen recently is running at least one cab that is running MAME for profit.

Yep.  Almost all of the xxx in 1 boards are running some variant MAME.  The Elf boards in particular have a coin manager like you describe.  I'm not convinced that it works perfectly but it's there.

[bfauska]

install a coin lock out coil. So when someone insert a coin when in a FE (MENU), coin will be return (lockout coil is off).

Only coin will be accepted when a game is selected (loaded). This is when you turn on the lockout coil so coin passes thru.


You going to need to build something in order for this to be accomplish (like relay of some sort to turn lockout coil off/on).

Credits would not be transferrable between games. You would lose any credits when you exit the game you were playing.

If I'm reading the suggestion right it does mean that credits wouldn't transfer between games but I suspect most of the "lost" credits actually happen when someone puts them in while the machine is in the front end. It would alleviate most of the problem to have the machine set up to spit back out any coins or tokens that were deposited when it wasn't in a game.

[Vigo]

Solution 1, Provide quarters

Solution 2, Provide Tokens

Solution 3, hotkey credits or key combo.

Solution 4, Hack coin eject to give a credit.

Solution 5, set games to free play.

Solution 6, Tell the kids to hang on to the quarter until the game is booted.

Solution 7, Have a stash of quarters in a jar to give to any kid who lost a quarter.

I guess I don't see the purpose of needing a coin manager for home use. There are so many better ways to skin this cat.  Also, most classic games, having a credit in disables the attract mode. Kinda would ruin a lot about trying to learn a new game before playing.

For the record I don't care about the legal side of things. I'm sure there are plenty of illegal machines out there that average a profit of $3.75 per week.  I gladly put on my enthusiast hat first and am glad to see anything classic and still kicking in the wild.

[abispac]

if everyone that is against a coin manager for emulation would be honest, they wouldnt had that many games in theyr pc's , as you have to own the game in order to play the rom in your pc...but thats non of mi busiines

[Dawgz Rule]

I keep a jar of coins next to my cabinet and pinball machines and have never had an issue.