Some Arcade Newcomer Questions

[SuperHiFi]

Hey there,

I'm a bit of a newcomer to the coin-op owning/maintaining experience. I got my hands on a 1-slot Neo Geo converted from JAMMA a couple years ago. Restored the thing with some audio and monitor repair.

I have a few questions upon recently discovering that my machine is actually JAMMA. Did some research but couldn't find anything definitive.

1. Where's a good place to buy JAMMA boards? Looked through the useful links thread but didn't see anything applicable at first glance.
2. Am I seriously just able to plug a JAMMA board into the JAMMA harness and it'll work? Or do I have this wrong? Are there any limitations to which JAMMA games can be played like this?
3. Is there such a thing as a 2-player stick (or even 2 one-player sticks) that could connect to a 4-player game board's third and fourth player "controller ports" (for lack of proper terminology)?

Hope I won't be ostracized for my newbness.

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

[jasonec]

Yes - any JAMMA board will work because the connector is standard for power, video and 1P/2P controls (joysticks & typically up to 4 buttons each).
If you have a 3P and 4P joystick/buttons, those JAMMA boards also had another connector for those that a "kick harness" from the 3P/4P controls would connect to.

[SuperHiFi]

Yes - any JAMMA board will work because the connector is standard for power, video and 1P/2P controls (joysticks & typically up to 4 buttons each).
If you have a 3P and 4P joystick/buttons, those JAMMA boards also had another connector for those that a "kick harness" from the 3P/4P controls would connect to.

Super helpful, thank you!

[Kamshaft]

You can also now hook up a Raspberry PI via Jamma. In case you wanna swap out sometimes with emulation.

[ancientgames]

I don't know of too many places that sell pcb's but post a wanted ad and see what happens. There are plenty of members with hoards.

You best bet would be to but a game elf or pandoras box that have 600 plus games.

Mike

[ericball]

There are basically two types of JAMMA PCBs - those which adhere to the standard and those with more controls than the JAMMA standard provides. Games which need more than two players with 8-way joysticks & 3 buttons each have a custom "kick" harness for the additional controls or use the normally unused pins on the JAMMA connector.

http://www.aceamusements.us/understanding-the-jamma-pcb-and-edge-connector-pinout.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Amusement_Machine_and_Marketing_Association
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kick_harness

[brad808]

I don't know of too many places that sell pcb's but post a wanted ad and see what happens. There are plenty of members with hoards.

You best bet would be to but a game elf or pandoras box that have 600 plus games.

Mike

Keep in mind a lot of the multi boards aren't true Jamma compatible and depending on the cabinet control ground may need some rewiring (easy to do but will still need to be done or you get no controls).

[c0nn0r]

I believe the Neo Geo JAMMA edge is slightly different as it supports stereo sound. True JAMMA standard is mono only. Keep that in mind when you are looking at your pin-outs and edges.

Would love to see some pics of your cabinet!

[theyangman]

I believe the Neo Geo JAMMA edge is slightly different as it supports stereo sound. True JAMMA standard is mono only. Keep that in mind when you are looking at your pin-outs and edges.

Would love to see some pics of your cabinet!

A single slot MVS board will work on a regular JAMMA cabinet, plugging in a 2,4 or 6 slot will damage your board as they are not meant for JAMMA and have their sound wired differently.

[scoltx]

Also some jamma are vertical games and won't be much fun in a horizontal screened jamma cabinet. Well you could play them but your neck would get sore.

[SuperHiFi]

Thanks everyone for the info! Going to try my luck with some boards I’ve found on local listings.

Would love to see some pics of your cabinet!

Voila:













photo upload

So based on this, I could run a jamma board correct? Or am I mistaken by the other kind of jamma connector c0nn0r mentioned above?

[egg_sanwich]

Yeah that’s Jamma, you’re good to go. Enjoy the cab!

[c0nn0r]

Looking good! Nice setup. You can have a lot of fun with that setup. Congrats!