I'm thinking about a multi jamma setup - sugestions please.

[M.Lanza]

I just finished building my atari tetris cabinet a few weeks ago and so far, I think I'm starting
to get board of the game.

So I was looking online to see if I could find a tetris plus jamma board and I came across a site
that is selling a board that allows 8 jamma boards to be connected at once and games can be
switched on the fly with the press of a button, much like the multislot neo geo mvs boards.

http://www.multigame.com/jamma.html
(I didn't see anything illegal on this site, so I thought it would be ok to post the link)

I'm thinking that it would be a really great idea since my cabinet is fairly generic in regards to the artwork
and marquee and the cabinet is a beast with lots of room inside since is used to be a laser disc game
(M.A.C.H. 3 / Us Vs. Them), I would have no trouble fitting 8 games in.

This is where I need help.

I am using a standard resulition electrohome G07 monitor that I have completely rebuilt,
so I need reccomendations for games that will be compatible with it.

The cabinet has a metal control panel that is drilled for one joystick per player (1 and 2),
two action buttons per player, 2 start buttons, and one extra in the top center
( It used to be a wwf superstars) which will be used to switch between jamma boards.

I do not want to drill new holes in the control panel so the games will have to conform to that
configuration.

So far, I have three boards in mind that I will be using for this setup.

Atari tetris (still keeping it)

Neo geo mvs mv1-f board ( will be using it for pulstar and other shooters which don't require more than
2 action buttons)

Tetris plus 1 or 2 (Depending on which one I can find at the time)

I'm not set on the five other games to look out for that will fit my requirements,
so I need some suggestions on other games to check out.

Also, If anyone has any other suggestions, I'll be happy to read them.

[CheffoJeffo]

I have one of Clay's kits (the ones you refer to) and am quite happy with it. There are a number of threads on here about them and I hopefully I can answer any specific questions on the kit that you may have.

First question --- have you actually found one ? I'm not sure that Clay is shipping them anymore and, even when he is, there is a considerable time lag between order and delivery.

I would suggest that if you are going to go to the trouble of wiring up 8 game boards that you should take the time to drill a few extra holes for buttons. Clay's kits are easy enough to use, but mounting 8 boards with power supplies in a cab requires some work, so you might as well go for 3 (or 4) buttons per player.

 

[M.Lanza]

Thanks for the reply.

Hmm... I haven't found any yet, I was assuming I could get on directly from the site.
It would be a couple of weeks before I could buy one, but if he is shipping by then,
judging from your response, it seems like it would be well worth it.

I guess I will have to e-mail him and find out.

Just in case though, I do have some questions.

First, what other alternatives are there?

If I were able to aquire the setup I linked to....

What kind of wattage would be required of the pc power supply in order to power all
8 boards at once?

From what is stated on the site I would need a switch board for each jamma board that I 
used that will then connect to the control board, right?
The wording of the site makes it seem like the control board will come with 2 of the switchboards
so that I would only have to purchase 6 of the switchboards instead of 8 of them,
Is that correct?

I understand that there is a menu system to switch between the games, but is there an option
to switch games on the fly instead of going to a menu select screen?

I really didn't want to have to drill any more holes in the control panel, but I guess it would
be better to add just one more button per player since some of the sega system 16 games
like altered beast and golden axe seem to spark my intrest.

It just depends on what i'm able to find at a price that i'm willing to pay.

[Kevin Mullins]

The manuals for those should shed some light on some of your questions as well.
http://www.multigame.com/MJ_cont.PDF
http://www.multigame.com/MJ_edge.PDF

[Zeno]

Quick question about this multi-jamma from Clay...

Can I use one slot to install a Neo 4 slot?  I'll be sure to use a jamma converter.

Any power issues?

[CheffoJeffo]

Sorry ... missed the question yesterday.

As for the NG4 ... I don't see a problem, although you might need to pay special attention to the NeoGeo buttons (does the 4-slot have an up/down or jsut a change game selector?). Not sure how the converter handles those.

I run power through my main JAMMA harness as well as supplying power to all of the switch boards via molex from a PC power supply. I tied the grounds together and have never had a power problem.