What is the purpose of a Slam switch?

[rchadd]

i see there is connection for a slam switch on the centipede wiring harness.

Does anyone know what the original purpose of this was?

[SirPeale]

You abuse the machine (ie SLAM the machine) you lose any credits you put in already.  The machine resets.

[Stingray]

Kind of like a "tilt" in pinball.

-S

[2600]

Yep same thing, some cabs call it tilt.  Mame accurately maps these too, which if you haven't remapped and press it in the middle of a game is not fun.

[Ken Layton]

The slam switch is a holdover from the electro-mechanical pinball machine days. It's purpose was to prevent players from obtaining free credits by beating/kicking/hitting the front door from the vibration of the coin switch contacts.

The switch has also been known as "anti-cheat", "anti-slam", "tilt", and "slap" switch. In the old days it was a normally closed switch and was wired in series with the coin switches. When banging on the door, it opened the circuit thus momentarily killing the coin switch circuit. Modern games that use a tilt/slam switch (like gambling/slot machines) are normally open switches and go to the game board. When the switch is activated the gameboard resets (just like you turned off the power then back on again) and ALL CREDITS are lost. Sometimes an audio alarm sounds!

[ChadTower]

Seems to me someone willing to abuse the machine to get free credits would just abuse it more if they lost their credits.

[Q*Bert_OP]

Actually in cerain games the slam switch does nothing except when a slam and a credit are registered, act as if nothing happened.

[Stingray]

Yep same thing, some cabs call it tilt.  Mame accurately maps these too, which if you haven't remapped and press it in the middle of a game is not fun.

Really? What key is mapped to by default? I'm pretty sure I have a slam switch in my parts box. I might wire it in just for kicks.

-S

[rchadd]

also my centipede coin door has lockout thingies

looks like when electric is applied a little bolt comes out out it to prevent the coin mech from accepting any coins when they are accepted.

now when would that be required?

coindoors were pretty complicated things back in those days

[2600]

Yep same thing, some cabs call it tilt.  Mame accurately maps these too, which if you haven't remapped and press it in the middle of a game is not fun.

Really? What key is mapped to by default? I'm pretty sure I have a slam switch in my parts box. I might wire it in just for kicks.

-S

I think the default is 'T', but some games may have it differently.  Quick Check of Centipede and NARC have it as 'T'.

I remember there being a thread on this a while ago, and people were describing the different ways the actual switch was implemented.

[clonestar]

also my centipede coin door has lockout thingies

Most pinballs had lockout coils in the door, I think the purpose of this was to prevent credits being applied during the game, not sure why but as pinball didn't have any sort of "continue" option untill the 90's not a problem.

[clonestar]

Ok, I looked a bit further, this lockout served two purposes,

• To lock the coins slots during startup and self test, presumably in case the machine didn't register the credits then plus if it never made it all the way up no money had been lost.
• When maximum credit had been reached to prevent further coins being deposited

[rohan]

I wonder of Midway's Space Invaders originally had one of these.  The one at a local arcade gives me credits if I tap firmly on the coindoor, but resets when I do it too hard.

[Q*Bert_OP]

Hey, I wired mine up, and it becomes anoying in games like tempest and space invaders.

[Stingray]

I wonder of Midway's Space Invaders originally had one of these.  The one at a local arcade gives me credits if I tap firmly on the coindoor, but resets when I do it too hard.

I know for sure that the cocktail version has a slam switch, I assume the upright must too. I've never tapped on the coin door on mine to see if I can get it to register free credits. I'll have to try that next time I play it.

-S

[rohan]

The version I'm referring to was an upright SI, but I think the cocktails had the same coindoors.  I actually feel bad when I do this because arcades make such little money as it is, and games are only one token.  They're pretty cool tokens at that:

[whammoed]

Those are cool tokens...If I paypal you some $ will you send me a few (at your leisure)?

The version I'm referring to was an upright SI, but I think the cocktails had the same coindoors.

[rchadd]

here is a picture of the slam switch on my centipede coindoor

the orientation is wrong - should be rotated 90 anticlockwise

the weighted actuator hangs downwards

presumably when the door is slammed it will swing and activate the switch

[Ken Layton]

That slam switch with the blue microswitch must be for a foreign coin door. In all my years of coin machine repair, I've never seen one setup like that. All USA coin doors use a leaf switch with a weight on the end as a slam switch.

[rchadd]

the coindoor was either from UK or Germany

[Stingray]

That slam switch with the blue microswitch must be for a foreign coin door. In all my years of coin machine repair, I've never seen one setup like that. All USA coin doors use a leaf switch with a weight on the end as a slam switch.

I've got  couple in my parts box and one installed on my SI. They're all the wieghted leaf type. Never seen one with a microswitch.

-s

[M3talhead]

That slam switch with the blue microswitch must be for a foreign coin door. In all my years of coin machine repair, I've never seen one setup like that. All USA coin doors use a leaf switch with a weight on the end as a slam switch.

Just so people known what Ken is talking about....I snapped a shot of my coin door as  an example. You can see the weighted leaf switch in the upper left corner.



**Edit: fixt

[RayB]

?!?!
 

[Thenasty]

?!?!
 

I know, you might go blind, M3talhead Slamswitch is Invisible