I am curious... I have seen many posts over the years where people spend an insane amount of time diagnosing and fixing boards that are 30+ years old, when replacement boards are available.

For example, Rottendog offers a board that replaces both System 3-6 MPU and driver boards. The board is 260$. But again, with the original boardset, chances are you will replace the 40-pin connector, the scanbe sockets and a lot of pins. and even then, most components are 30+ years old.

Gottliebs... try to find RIOT chips, or get a new PI or Ni-Wumpf board...

Ballys... battery-acid-chewed -35 MPU, or Alltek?

I would like to see what people think... do you spend countless hours to repair, or just replace at a larger cost?

Have fun... you can vote for multiple answers.

Fixing boards is half the fun. Unless the thing is totally fubared I prefer repairing them, but then again I like the challenge.

Screw the time. It's a hobby. Nothing better than a 25 cent component getting a $325 board to run again.

Same here, I much prefer to fix old boards and keep it all original.

In rare cases however, I would look for a replacement board (original if possible)
when the board is:
- too corroded
- has bad prior hacks that cannot be removed
- has serious burns with conductive carbon (or hole) that cannot be removed
- has a faulty part no longer available (e.g. spider chip on Gottlieb Sys1 MPU)
- has every chip blown (by someone using a screwdriver and shorting something with power on)

I prefer original where possible...
Plus, when properly fixed, those old boards are reliable...
And, often cheaper to fix than to replace !

Cheers,
- Sylvain.

I would like to find a boardless Sys 1 or Sys 80 and throw one of Pascal's 'P' boards in. It'd be awesome to have the added skill shots and high score save!

Quoted from necro_nemesis

Screw the time. It's a hobby. Nothing better than a 25 cent component getting a $325 board to run again.

That was an awesome feeling for me!!  I was totally bummed when my JP went down... got walked through it by Grauwulf, and $2 later it was working like new again    ($2 'cause I had to buy a 10-pack of transistors.. )

Nice poll options

I'm really not worried about Terry liking Hanna Montana so, I guess I really can't vote my conscience.  Justin Beaver - that's a little different...

Fix the old boards or it depreciate the overall value. There's plenty of boards available and people to repair them for reasonnable price.  

New boards for players & clients when deemed necessary, & original refurbished boards for purists & collectors. That's the way I see it.

Strange, I couldn't find any boards at all in any of the machines in my collection, must be a reason. EM's are so much more democratic in their functionality & design than their fascist half-brother the SS, where everything is finally & essentially controlled by the CPU. But at least when things seriously break down in a fascist system, you know who is responsible and where to find them.  


Hannah Montana rules !! (whoever the heck she is)  Name sounds like some kind of corporate a** clown if you ask me, but what the hell do I know, I'm French!

Quoted from b1buwg97

Nice poll options

They aren't definitive choices. I mean I would put keeping the old boards for value on par with fixing the old boards. In fact I was equally drawn to the Hanna Montana option.

I agree with B1buwg97 nice options

Sparky your an animal "I want to buy a 5000$ Stern Playboy with wear."..LMAO !

Quoted from b1buwg97

Nice poll options

What can I say... you are my hero!