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Inside Slot Tech MagazineInside Slot Tech MagazineFebruary 2004

Page 2 - Editorial

Page 4 - IDX and Osborne Coinage

0 - Bally S6000 Part 2

Page 16 - PAR Excellance: Improve Your Edge

Page 24 - GameMech 6000 Micro-Mech

Page 25 - GLI Australia Granted First-Ever Testing Facilities License in New South Wales

Page 26 - MCM Adds to Gaming Lineup With New Products & Services

Page 27 - FutureLogic Opens 11,000 Sq. Ft. Distribution Center in Las Vegas to Serve Gaming OEMs Worldwide

Page 28 - IGT Taps Microcoin QL

Page 29 - GSA Submits Best of Breed & S2S Standards for Review

Page 30 - Writing the Book - In Support of Technical Writers

Page 34 - Vic Fortenbach Visits WIGC

Page 35 - TechFest 8 - Clinton, Iowa TechFest 9 - Minneapolis, Minnesota

Page 36 - Subscriptions and Back Issues Order form

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Slot Tech Editorial

Randy Fromm's

Slot Tech Magazine

EditorRandy Fromm

Technical WritersDion AndersonChris Appoldt

Martin DempseyVic Fortenbach

Bart HoldenKevin Noble

Herschel W. PeelerHendrik Sidaway

John Wilson

Advertising ManagerDennis Sable

Slot Tech Magazine ispublished monthly bySlot Tech Magazine1944 Falmouth Dr.El Cajon, CA 92020-2827tel.619.593.6131fax.619.593.6132e-mail

[email protected] the website at

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Copyright 2004 under the Uni-versal Copyright Convention.All rights reserved.

Slot Tech Magazine February 2004Randy Fromm - Publisher

Randy Fromm

Blast From the Past

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, faraway, slot machines were the fur-thest thing from my mind. Back in1972, the amusement machinebusiness was just entering the“Golden Age” of videogames withthe popular success of Atari’s“Pong.” Back then, slot machineswere boring, electromechanicaldevices. Videogames were muchmore interesting and so that’s thepath I followed as a technician. Ofcourse, these were the days beforethe Internet so I shared what Ilearned by writing a monthly tech-nical column for one of the indus-try trade journals, Play Meter Maga-zine.

Along the way, Play Meter acquiredanother technical correspondent,a specialist in the repair of re-demption games named VicFortenbach. Over the years, Viccontributed numerous articles onthe subject, often specializing inthe troubleshooting and repair ofticket dispensers. He was “TicketVic” and well known throughoutthe amusement machine indus-try.

Fast-forward to the present and slotmachines are finally somethinginteresting to work on. I made theswitch from amusements to gam-ing and apparently, so did Mr.Fortenbach who now works as aslot tech at The Spa Casino inPalm Springs, California. I receivedthe following e-mail:

Hi Randy.... Long time.

I’m thinking of jumping in theauthoring arena again by writing forSlot Tech magazine. What about a“starter article” about the upcomingWIGC show here in Palm Springs? Ican cover it with photos and a “what’snew at the show” article.

Let me know,

Vic Fortenbach - Slot TechnicianSpa Resort Casino

Well, that’s a long introduction to ashort article about the WesternIndian Gaming Conference. Youcan read Vic’s report on page 35.Nice to hear from you again, Vic.

There’s a pretty interesting mix ofthings this month. Canadian Cor-respondent Kevin Noble took a fieldtrip to the United States of Americato visit Osborne Coinage and IDX.His report begins this month onpage four. Part 2 of HerschelPeeler’s Bally S6000 article con-tinues on page 10.

For the mathematically inclined,John Wilson presents us with an-other look at PAR sheets. John hasa knack for actually making thisstuff understandable and interest-ing, compelling one reader to writein: “Up ‘till now, no one has everbeen able to answer what the volatil-ity index was for, except for maybe aquick generic answer. I read yourarticle and have absolutely no ques-tions. Thanks for a very detailed,well thought out explanation.

John Green - Slot Tech SupervisorHorseshoe Casino & Hotel

Slot Tech Magazine also welcomesChris Appoldt. Chris is the Man-ager of Technical Publications forWMS Gaming Inc. His contribution“Writing the Book - In Support ofTechnical Writers” chronicles thecreation of a service manual for aslot machine. Since WMS has al-ways produced superb tech manu-als, he and his team must be doingit right!

If you’re interested in attend Tech-Fest in Iowa or Minnesota, pleasemake your reservations as soon aspossible. Most of these things sell-out. This year’s TechFest featuresa record number of presentationsby tech trainers from throughoutthe industry. For a complete sched-ule, visit the website at slot-tech.com.

That’s all for this month. See youat the casino.

Slot Tech Magazine February 2004

Slot Tech Feature Article

By Kevin NobleIDX and Osborne Coinage

In the February 2002 is-sue of Slot Tech Magazine, I wrote about the X-

10 coin Xeptor from IDX. Twoyears have now passed and soI thought I would like to followup on the new technologythat IDX has introduced. Thiswas all brought about becauseof some new games that wehad received on the gamingfloor. When programming theIDX, we discovered some val-ues that we were not used toseeing. I wanted to discoverthe differences between thetwo similar IDXs.

My first thought was to e-mailmy good friend, Mr. JamesHalsey (President of IDX) andget some answers to my ques-tions. I knew that when AGCOsaw these new values, theywould be looking for answers.This was the perfect time tostay ahead of the game. Whenasked, I could have all theanswers without any majordelays in getting our gamesapproved and up to the pub-lic.

Within days, I received aphone call from Ed Dixon (Pro-

duction Manager andTechnical Support) re-garding all my con-cerns. Ed answered allmy questions. He alsoexplained in detail,some facts and figuresthat were not madepublic.

A few days after that,I called James to per-sonally thank him for allow-ing me that information. Theconversation grew to includedifferent products that arenew on the market and someproducts that are about tocome out. James also in-formed me that he had sent acare package for the techsand myself that included thenew, hot off the press, IDXflipbook, feeler gauge, andsome special IDX tokens tohand out.

That is when I threw out theidea of writing another articleon the IDX. I wanted to dosomething different; some-thing this time about the com-pany. I asked James if he hadany objection to my writingan article about IDX Inc. Iwanted to include how it allstarted, his staff, the com-pany and especially, his newproducts. Shortly thereafter,I received an e-mail invitingme to visit Osborne Coinage

in Cincinnati, Ohio and, afterseeing how the coins aremanufactured, fly down to ElDorado, Arkansas to visit theIDX plant.

This was a chance for me tolearn about the new productsthat I eagerly wanted to ex-plore and to see how theyworked. This was also an op-portunity to meet his staff,with whom I have had manytelephone conversations buthad never actually met. Icouldn’t pass it up. In thepast couple of years, I’ve writ-ten about products, up-grades, conversions, manu-facturers, training,progressives and many formsof procedures and paperwork.This was going to be an articlein a different direction that Iwas really looking forward towriting. So, let’s begin withmy day with Osborne Coin-age.


Brief History

Founded in 1835,OsborneCoinage has the unique dis-tinction of being America’soldest private Mint. Today,Osborne continues to pro-cess tokens made of differentmetal alloys and sizes. In1997, Osborne entered thegaming industry, producingthe new X-Mark token that iscurrently in many casinosaround the world.

I began my visit to OsborneCoinage, sitting in the board-room waiting for my escort.Being Canadian, I was inter-ested in a framed collection ofthe 1998 Canadian hockeyteam coin set that I had no-ticed on the wall. The namesof Gretzky, Yzerman, Sakic,and Roy were all stamped onthese coins. Jeff Stegman,CEO for Osborne Coinage,pointed out the fact that theymanufactured more than justcasino tokens. They also pro-duced promotional items likethe set of hockey coins, keychains, coin cards, embed-ments and display boxes, toname a few of the many itemsproduced at the plant. Afterreceiving my clearance andI.D. tag, Jeff walked me out tothe floor where all the pro-cesses begin.

Slot Token Production Process

Alloy Melt: Unique alloys spe-cifically for high security gam-ing tokens are specified byOsborne and assayed by aqualified mill.

Rolling and Slitting: The millthen casts an ingot and rolls

the metal out until it is theright thickness. A slittingoperation cuts the wide rollinto strips of the specifiedwidth.

Blanking: The rolls are pulledthrough a blanking press,which produces blanks (fea-tureless disks of metal).

Die Making: Casino artworkand X-Mark codes are cutonto tool steel cylinderscalled dies using a propri-etary process at Osborne.Dies are secured and con-trolled by an approved pro-cess.

Coining: The dies are hard-ened and installed into a highspeed coining press. Thecoining press feeds blanksbetween the two dies, whichcome together with tremen-dous force (up to 360 tons)and create the finished coins.

Quality: All aspects of qual-ity are constantly checkedduring the coining process.This includes diameter andthickness to a tight specifica-tion, the artwork image andthe strength of the X-Markcodes.

Security: The productionruns of coins as well as theobsolete token and chip de-struction process are securedusing controls approved byall gaming jurisdictions. Theshipments of tokens into thecasino and obsolete tokensout to Osborne are coordi-nated closely between casinoand Osborne personnel.

The X-Mark Token

Following theconceptuald e v e l o p -ment ofcreating acoin accep-tor thatwould accept acoin with a special X-Markminted into a coin, OsborneCoinage accepted the chal-lenge to bring this idea intoreality. Teaming up with IDXInc., the X-Mark token wascreated for the gaming indus-try to provide greater securityin a coin that would be impos-sible to recreate. With this inmind, the special X-Mark to-ken was created with differ-ent metal alloys, a special X-Mark stamped into the coinand different coin diameters,eliminating cross play in anycasinos in the world today.With a log of which alloy met-als are used along with thespecial X-Mark embeddedinto the token, the combina-tion will never be duplicatedinto any other casino’s tokenthus eliminating any crossplay.

The Plant

Jeff and Todd Stegman bothtook a turn showing mearound the plant. I had thechance to observe manymanufacturing processes andwas honored that I was able togo into some restricted partsof the plant that I cannotmention in this article. I wasamazed at the security andcamera coverage throughoutthe plant, with card swipeaccess required to enter cer-tain rooms.


I was shown the secure areawhere tokens are stored to belater destroyed. I also saw abin of tokens that had al-ready been destroyed. All ofthe destroyed tokens areshipped back to the mill, tobe melted down and usedagain. Another neat thing Isaw was Osborne’s own tooland die shop and toolmak-ers. All worn out machineparts and tools are repro-duced right there in the plantif needed.

The Future

Having had many conversa-tions with both Todd and Jeff,they have informed me thatthere are many promotionalproducts that have juststarted filtering their way intosome casinos. One thing thatcaught my eye was a tablegame chip with a central ho-lographic image, an X-Markcode and a plastic outer rim.The casino’s information anddenomination was stampedright into the plastic to pre-vent any of the lettering fromrubbing off. On the edge ofthe chip, there was a uniquecode/pattern that will deter-mine the chip’s denomina-tion. Osborne feels that thisnew age token will be usedboth on table games and inslot machines in the futureplus be used as a marketingtool.

Another item that was devel-oped and implemented at theRiviera Hotel and Casino wasa set of “Limited Edition” ho-logram coins that were usedas a marketing tool for specialholidays and events that were

inserted into circulation. Theidea was to create many dif-ferent images that allowedthe patron to collect a series

of sets. These marketing to-kens could be obtained fromboth slot machines and tablegames. The casino benefits

Meet John, and his horizontal press. This process is called “coining.”

The “coining” process is when two dies coming together striking the blank(Cold Forming Process) while the tonnage of the press causes the materialto flow evenly into all the small recesses. John was nice enough to showme the complete process of changing dies from start to finish. Thanks John!

Meet Greg, and his vertical press. This press is built for speed and has thepressure that comes from below to strike the blank. At the time of this photo,Greg was running Hiawatha’s 5-cent gaming Tokens. Don’t worry Ralphand Jim, your tokens all passed inspection and you should be getting them soon.

by making a profit on eachcoin that leaves the site cre-ated by increased customervisits and play.

Overview

Having experienced yet an-other process in the gamingindustry, it was very interest-ing to watch how a token isproduced from start to finish.It is amazing to see the num-ber of items that are pro-duced at the plant, includingantiqued bronze coins, pew-ter finish, holograms, alumi-num, plated and color vinylfilled centers, bi-metal andsilver coins. I had seen how aslot machine was assembledat Bally Gaming some yearsago, and next on my list willbe the fabrication, assembly,testing and repairing of theIDX coin acceptor.

- Kevin [email protected]

This is a picture of all gaming tokensthat are destroyed so they can neverbe used again. After the coins aredestroyed, they are shipped back tothe mill where they are re-melted.These containers are kept in a lockedroom under camera coverage whereyou must log in to enter this room.These tokens will never make it intocirculation.


Part 2 continues with alook at Reset. Wherenot reproduced here,

schematic diagrams are avail-able on the Slot Tech Maga-zine ftp server in the "HerschelPeeler Collection" sub-direc-tory.

All games, all microproces-sors, have a Reset circuit tostart the processor off at aknown specific address andcondition all latches on theboard to a predictable state.U77 (TL7702A) is a ResetSupervisor Circuit that maybe triggered from three dif-ferent sources. Power-OnReset is generated from pin 7of U77. The length of the Resetpulse is determined by ca-pacitor C19. U75A (TLC372C)generates the Reset on press-ing the Reset button or, ifenabled by jumper JW19,upon a signal being detectedby the Antenna.

“Antenna?” you may ask.“What is a slot machine doingwith an antenna?” There is a

path on the circuit board thatruns around the board andactually goes nowhere. Itspurpose is to detect a spo-radic pulse of an abnormalmagnetic field and cause thegame to do a Reset. Anotherjumper may be added to ex-tend this antenna out to thebackplane. Once was a timepeople thought they couldmake the game do somethingspecial by zapping it with acattle prod. I hope they didn’tpay much for that wisdom.Nonetheless, this activitycaused Bally to add the an-tenna to their design, just incase.

When the antenna picks up asignal the positive side of thissignal builds up a positivevoltage on R61, through CR4.Diodes CR2 and CR3 keepthis voltage from going higherthan 5.6 Volts or lower than -0.6 Volts. This process is called“clamping.”

U75A is a Voltage Compara-tor. R51 and R52 form a volt-age divider that sets the Non-Inverting input (+) of U75A to+2.5 Volts. The voltage devel-oped across R61 is applied tothe Inverting (-) input. Whenthe voltage on the Invertinginput exceeds +2.5 Volts, theoutput of U75A goes low, trig-gering a Reset. Removing JW1and JW19 disables these

antenna functions.

Our Reset may also be trig-gered under software controlby the signal “RES_REQ” (Re-set Request) or from theWatchdog Reset circuit of U72.The circuit around U72 is aclassic Watchdog Timer de-sign. U72 is an oscillator andcounter. R75 and C16 set upa timing circuit for the oscil-lator built into U72. Thecounter counts the pulsesfrom this oscillator. If thecounter counts all the way upto 100 0000 0000 0000 (4000hex) the Reset circuit is trig-gered. This counting processtakes about 430 mS. Nor-mally, this should never hap-pen. Software should comearound and clear the countermore often than that by pull-ing on the WDRST (WatchdogReset) signal. If the processorshould become hung up andnot get around to pulling onWDRST, the counter com-pletes its count and pulls onReset, restarting the proces-sor back to a known condi-tion. If the problem is a solidhardware failure, the gamewill hang up doing a Resettwice each second. This less-ens the possibility that anerroneous logic operation canresult from a component fail-ure on the board.

All processors have a Reset


By Herschel Peeler

Bally S6000 Part 2

The Zero-Crossing Circuit


circuit in them. Most have aWatchdog Timer much likethis one.

Page 1

Address Selection

The right side of Page 1 isaddress selection. Every op-eration the processor doesmust have an address the CPUmust reference to performthat operation. This is theprimary circuit that decodesthe Address and Status lineto resolve select lines thatcontrol all operations. TheProgrammable Logic Gates(U60 and U62) are high fail-ure rate components. Theseare areas of high signal activ-ity and build up a lot of heat.

Interrupt Requests and Ar-bitration

Another one of the Program-mable Logic Gates (U46) con-trols Interrupt Arbitration. Atany given time, the MPU mayhave a number of differenttasks going on. Determiningwhich process to do next is upto the Arbitration circuit. U46has inputs from various chipson the board that put out anInterrupt Request, telling theCPU that it has an ongoingoperation that requires theCPU’s attention. The designof U46 has been made to givehigher priority to the moreurgent Interrupt Request ifmore than one is present atthe same time. It is the designengineer’s task to assign thesepriorities. All processors havea circuit with this function.

Page 2

In the upper left corner ofthis schematic is most of thememory. Upper right corneris the circuit that drives theReel Driver boards. The driv-ers are actually located onthe Reel Driver Board on theReel Mechanism itself. Thisis a good feature of the designof the Pro-series family. Themotor drivers are likely areasof potential failure. Puttingthem on the Reel Mecha-nism not only puts a poten-tially high failure part off ofthe MPU board, but givesmaximum flexibility of de-sign for different reel mecha-nisms, like the Big Berthagames.

At the bottom of this page isU52 (AY2149). This is theSound generator circuit thatgenerates noises for thegame’s sound. The soundchip also has 16 general-pur-pose digital line available tothe imagination of the engi-neer. In this case they areused to read the DIP switcheswhere some of the game op-tions are set. The AY2149has three audio channels.These channels are feed to-gether and go to the PowerAudio Amplifier just abovethis circuit.

The circuits at the bottom leftcontrol SafeRAM (U34 andU35).

AC Sense Circuits

Referring to the schematicwith the H11AA1 at the leftside. U66 (H11AA1) and itscircuits are used to sense the

AC line voltage crossingthrough zero volts. With 21VAC applied to the inputs,one of the LEDs in U66 is onalmost all the time. Only whenthe signal is below about 1.5Volts (positive or negative) doboth LEDs turn off. Every timethe AC line makes a transi-tion through ground (goingpositive or negative) the tran-sistor on the output of U66turns off and outputs a high.So coming out of U66 weshould see short positivepulses at a 120 Hz rate. Thesepulses are squared up by U51,a Schmidt Trigger, and in-verted. U73 inverts the signalback again to positive goingpulses. The clock signals areapplied to U69. On each posi-tive edge of the signals weshould set U69. We get a pulseout of U69A named“Z_CROSS” or “Zero Cross-ing.” The processor comesback and clears U69A with“Z_CR_REL” (Zero CrossingRelease) ending the pulse outof U69.

AC Power Failure Warning

Referring to the picture withthe HCPL3700 on the leftside. U50 (HCPL3700) is usedfor AC Power Failure Warn-ing circuit. The HCPL3700 abridge rectifier on the inputto it, just before the LED. Wemay reference the LED di-rectly using the DC inputs, orwe may input an AC signal,which goes through the bridgebefore going to the LED. Thecircuit of the LED has a cur-rent limit built in. This is thesame device used on the Wil-liams Power Supply board.The output is a TTL level sig-

nal. This circuit in the Ballygame following the HCPL3700is a Watchdog counter kind ofdesign. As long as we keepgetting pulses out of U50 (in-dicating AC power is present)we keep resetting the counter(U67). If U67 ever countsdown, we assume we havemissed a cycle of AC and thatDC power will follow as soonas the filter caps in the powersupply discharge. This warn-ing gives us sufficient time tostore all the contents of theCPU’s registers in BatteryBacked up RAM for safe keep-ing, set flags indicating thatthe AC power has failed andthat the next power up willnot be an initial power up(that is, we may have a game

in progress).

Does one missing AC cyclereally give us much time? TheCPU is running at, say 16Mhz. This means the proces-sor is actually executing oneinstruction about every 500nS. This equates to about 2instructions every microsec-ond or 2,000 instructions ina millisecond.

In an AC cycle lasting 16 mS,even this ancient slow pro-cessor can execute about32,000 instructions in thetime it takes the AC line tocomplete one cycle. In the200 to 300 mS it takes thefilter caps in the power sup-ply to discharge after AC line

voltage drops we can executeabout 500,000 instructions.

All these calculations are, ofcourse, rough numbers. Notall instructions execute in thesame length of time. But youcan see that the processorhas a lot of time after notingthe missing AC cycle to takecare of business. Most impor-tant information is already inRAM. The registers in theprocessor need to be movedto RAM to be preserved and alittle housekeeping is in or-der.

Page 3

These are our basic simple I/O ports. Unlike the IGT de-



sign, most of our simple in-puts and outputs are readand written to as byte (8-bit)or word (16-bit) values directlyfrom the CPU’s reference. Wehave no SENET-like structure.Each switch or lamp has anaddress and bit designation.

In the book you will see refer-ences to each operation be-ing at a certain Port. This Portis the address the CPU willreference to access that op-eration. At that Port addressit can reference 16 bits ofinformation, that is, 16 in-puts or 16 outputs designated“0” through “F” (hexadecimalnumber system).

Notice that the outputs onthe right side of the page have

a triac. Our player panellamps are run off of 6.3 VoltsAC. Some of our outputs aredesigned to be standard Logiclevels (Gnd and +5 Volts).Some are designed to drive to+24 Volts (Port 2A and 2B forinstance), and some are de-signed to drive AC lamps asalready mentioned. Our in-puts have protection resis-tors. None use optoisolators.

A side-note here: The playerpanel lamps are, by nature,inductive devices. When weturn them off we get an in-ductive kick on the line. Thisnot only shortens the life ofthe lamp but also endangersthe lamp driver and puts noiseon the power line that sup-plies them. Using a Triac (or

even an SCR) as the lampdriver avoids this problem.By their nature, these de-vices will turn themselves offwhen power on the outputdrops to zero. By running ourlamps from AC (or pulsatingDC in the case of the SCR) theTriac/SCR turns off the lampthe next time the supply volt-age crosses zero volts follow-ing removal of the Gate volt-age, avoiding the inductivekick.

Page 4

Page 4 shows our threeDUARTS (Dual AsynchronousReceivers and Transmitters)type MC68681, giving us sixserial I/O channels and two6522 VIO (Versatile I/O) ports.

Each 6522 has two 8-bit portsand a 4-bit port. At the topright corner we have anotherserial port (PCD8584) thatfeeds to J12 on the backplane,somewhat like SENET. It hasa bi-directional data line anda synchronous Clock pulse.This is an “I2C” port that wouldtalk to some simple devicelike an EEPROM or ClockChip.

Real Time Clock

The Real Time Clock (RTC) isa Dallas Timekeeper IC, Dal-las Semiconductor DS1202.This is an 8-pin DIP. The CPUtalks to this device through asimple synchronous serialinterface. We have a Clockline and a Data line. The CPUtalks to the DS1202 by shift-

ing in commands and dataone bit at a time. The DS1202responds by sending backserial data on the same lines.This is a slow process, but itworks acceptably well forsuch a simple device and func-tion. The RTC has its ownoscillator and counts theseclock pulses to keep track oftime and date. It gets its powerfrom the battery so it keepstrack of time even when thegame is turned off. The CPUtalks to the DS1202 throughone of the VIA (Versatile In-terface Adapters), U42.

Door Sense Circuits

Some jurisdictions require thegame to be aware of doorsbeing opened even whenpower to the game has been

removed. To this end, we havethe circuit around U54 tohandle this function. The cir-cuit runs on battery powerwhen the game is off. U54A is“set” if the door switch issensed. U54B does the samefor the board being removedfrom the backplane. Both ofthese latches stay set as longas there is battery power oruntil they are cleared by soft-ware (or pulling U74, pin 12,to ground).

That covers most of the sche-matics for the MPU board.We'll continue next monthwith the third and final part.

- Herschel [email protected]




PAR Excellance: Improve Your EdgeBy John Wilson

Most techniciansworking with slotmachines, comput-

ers, or automobiles, gener-ally have a thirst for the small-est details of how somethingworks. When working with aslot machine, the diagnosticsyou perform are more mean-ingful if you know how theywork and what they are test-ing for. While you might notuse PAR sheets every day,having an understanding ofhow the slot machine playsand pays and possessing ageneral ‘feel’ for the gamecan only help you. Whether

you are attempting to settle acustomer dispute by deter-mining if a machine is work-ing correctly or just answer-ing questions for your super-visor, the more detailedknowledge you have, the bet-ter.

In December 2003, we tookan in-depth look at part of aPAR sheet, the Volatility In-dex. This month, we’ll takesome time to examine thebasics of a PAR sheet and tryto make sense of all the infor-mation these reports contain.

The basic piece of informa-tion that all PAR sheets con-tain is the payout percentageand number of hits for eachcoin. A sample PAR sheetsummary is shown in table 1.

The first thing that you arelikely to notice is that all ofour numbers are nice, evennumbers. It is very unlikelythat you will ever see all of thenumbers work out so evenly.Although this isn’t from an

actual PAR sheet, the num-bers are still valid. For thepurpose of explaining thePAR sheets, however, usingeven numbers simplifies ourcalculations.

This example is obviously a 3-coin machine. A few yearsago, manufacturers didn’talways include the totals forthe middle coins - in this casethey would only have listedcoin 1 and coin 3. Most ofthem are showing you all ofthe details now.

The payout percentage andhit frequency tell us quite abit about the game. By alsoexamining the volatility in-dex and the number of stopsper reel, we can generally tellwhat type of game it is andthe payout type. By this Imean if the machine has alarge jackpot, is an interme-diate paying game, or if themajority of the pays arethrough small wins.

Payout Percentage

Take a look at the payoutpercentage. The Normal Pay-out % is always based uponthe maximum number ofcoins. This is a 90.00% ma-chine, meaning that over thelong-term, the machine willpay back 90% of what it takesin. The other 10%, therefore,

Table 1


must be held back. This iscalled the Hold %. If we knowthe hold % or the payout % wecan calculate the other one.They always add up to 100%.

The payout percentage is usu-ally higher for each coin. Itmight be the same, but itcan’t be lower and meet mostgaming requirements.

Hit Frequency

The hit frequency tells us howoften the machine will have awinning game. Hit frequency

could also be called win fre-quency. In our case, a 10%hit frequency means that onaverage the player will win10% of the time. Or, statedanother way, they will lose90% of the games. The win-ning games and losing gamesalways add up to 100%.

The total hits relate directlyto the hit frequency. Some-where on the pay sheet willbe a summary of the totalcombinations available, alsocalled the cycle. In our ex-ample, it would be as shown

in Table 1

This is a 3 reel, 3 coin, 100stop machine. Reel Combos:1,000,000 We are interestedin the number of reel combi-nations. There are 1,000,000possible combinations ofunique game outcomes in thisgame. (100 stops per reelwith 3 reels: 100 x 100 x 100= 1,000,000 combinations)

For each coin played, we canexamine the hit frequencyand determine the total num-ber of winning games. 10%hit frequency * 1,000,000games = 0.10 x 1,000,000 =100,000 games, or Hit Fre-quency % x Games = # ofWinning Games

Each game has the same hitfrequency whether one, twoor three coins are played. Thepayout amount changes be-cause we are changing thetotal amount wagered, butthe number of hits remainsthe same.

Volatility Index

If you remember the Decem-ber issue, we learned that theVolatility Index is a gauge bywhich we can measure how

Many of you may be familiar with the Ohm’s Law triangle. This isa variation on it and will help you to remember the formula we’reusing. The bottom two values always add up to the top value.(Payout % + Hold % = 100%) To determine the value on the left,subtract the value from the right from the top value (Payout % = 100%- Hold %). Similarly, to determine the value on the right, subtract thevalue on the left from the top value (Hold % = 100% - Payout %).

100% = Win frequency + Lose fre-quency -or- Win Frequency =100% - Lose frequency -or- LoseFrequency = 100% - Win frequency.


volatile or wide-ranging theslot machine pays out. Alarge Volatility Index meansthat the game will pay outwidely and take a long time toreach its theoretical payoutpercentage. A small Volatil-ity Index means that the over-all pays don’t vary too muchand the game should payclose to the theoretical pay-out percentage in the shortterm.

A game with many small pay-ments, such as a cherry sym-bol, will usually have a largervolatility index than one thathas the smallest payout formixed bars.

A small volatility index wouldbe less than 10. A game withdouble and triple symbolsmay have a volatility indexbetween 12 and 18. A gamewith a volatility index of 30would likely have a numberof wild symbols and multi-plier values. It may have avery large jackpot award aswell.

Again, as this is an index, itgives you an idea about theplay but it isn’t absolute. Thevalues I chose for ‘small’ and‘large’ aren’t precise, either. Ihave picked these values onlyto give you a general idea ofthe range you might find.

Take some time to examinethe PAR sheets and volatilityindices for the games in yourcasino and you’ll develop apretty good feel for the ma-chines on your floor.

Reel Stops

The number of virtual stopson the reels also gives you agood idea about the game. Ifit has 32 stops per reel, themaximum number of combi-nations is 32 x 32 x 32 or32,768. At 3 coins, the gamewill take in 98,304 coins so allof the payouts including thejackpot must be less thanthis value. A 40,000 coinjackpot is out of the question.

Many games have 64 or 72stops, for a total of 262,144 or372,248 combinations. At 3coins and 72 stops, the totalcoins in equals just over 1million. The game may havea large jackpot (28,000 cred-its for example) or a smallerjackpot that occurs multipletimes per cycle. New gameswith 256 stops have16,277,216 combinationswith 3 reels. This obviouslyallows a large jackpot (megajackpot) a number of multi-plier values (10x with 5x forexample) or a significantnumber of smaller jackpots.

As a general rule of thumb,the higher the number of reelstops, the higher the volatil-ity index will be and the morevaried the payouts will be.Although this article dis-cusses spinning-reel slots,the same concepts apply tovideo slots as well. The high-hit frequency and low aver-age payout coupled with thebonus games changes theseresults a bit.

The guidelines discussedhere aren’t absolute, either.While they apply to the ma-jority of games, some will havespecial features or uniqueproperties about them. Yourmileage may vary.

Types of Games:Multipliers,Buy-a-Pay, Line Games

Multipliers

A multiplier is a game wherethe payout for any combina-tion of symbols is multipliedby the number of coins played.A single coin will pay for anycombination of symbols, in-cluding the jackpot and twocoins will double this amount.In some cases, there is a bo-nus payment for playing ex-tra coins but each coin willpay for all combinations ofsymbols. In the case of a coinmultiplier game, the payout

Table 2


percentage can be the samefor each coin played if there isno bonus for the maximumcoins played.

In the three examples shownin table 2, we are looking atmultipliers. In the first case,there is no bonus for playing3 coins. In the second ex-ample, there is a bonus forthe 3rd coin being played. Inthe 3rd example, each coinplayed provides a bonus. Takea look at the associatedpayglass (right) for thesegames and it will make sense.

Line Games

A line game is like a multi-plier but each coin pays thesame amount as the coinbefore. The player is buyingextra paylines, not multiply-ing the payout amount by thecoins played. A single coinbuys all combinations of sym-bols including the jackpot,just as the multiplier does.There may be a bonus paidfor higher paylines, especiallyfor the jackpot. Most spin-ning-reel line games have 3or 5 paylines although somehave 9, 15 or higher.

A line game may show thesame hit frequency for eachcoin or it may show the hitfrequency being doubled forthe second coin, tripled forthe third coin, etc. It dependsupon the manufacturer andhow they wish to report thehit frequency for line games.If the hit frequency is thesame for each coin, then theyare showing you the hit fre-quency for each line, not forthe game. In this case, the hit

frequency will usually be re-ferred to as “Hit Frequency

per Line.” If the hit frequencyrefers to the total game, then

Three multiplier payglass - A multiplier will always have the samehit frequency for each coin, and the payout percentage will varydepending upon any bonus payments for playing more coins.


the value shown is the hitfrequency for that line plusall lines before it. This isillustrated in the example inTable 3.

In Example “A”, we are shownthe hit frequency for eachline. Obviously the “Hit Fre-quency per Line” tells us thatthis is a line game. Example“B” shows the hit frequencyper game. With one coin, wehave a hit frequency of11.45%. With two coins, wewin on the 1st and 2ndpaylines, so the hit frequencyis 11.45% per line, for a totalof 22.90%. For five coins, wewin on all 5 paylines, so thehit frequency is 11.45% perline, for a total of 57.25%.

The line games will generallyhave the same hit frequencyand a similar payout percent-age for each coin. The jackpotamount is generally largerwith each coin, so the payout% increases. For example,the pay table might look likethis on a 3-line game (right).

In this case, the payout per-centage increases with thebonus for each line. If all ofthe lines paid 1,000 for thejackpot, then the payout per-centage would remain con-

stant.

Buy-a-Pay

The Buy-a-Pay game does notpay for all combinations ofsymbols for each coin. Thejackpot amount would not bepaid for a single coin. The paytable shows the payments

that each coin ‘buys’. ManyBuy-a-Pay games are a com-bination of Buy-a-Pay andmultiplier. The Blazing 7’sand Sizzling 7’s games (in the3-coin version) pay for barson the first coin and various‘7’ symbols on the 2nd and3rd coin. The 2nd coin buysthe ‘7’ symbols and the 3rd

Table 3

coin multiplies the 2nd coinpayout combinations. Thiswould be referred to as a 2-coin Buy-a-Pay, 3 coin multi-plier on the PAR sheet.

If the hit frequency is thesame for all coins, it rules outa Buy-a-Pay game. The Buy-a-Pay will have a different hitfrequency for each coin. Forexample, if the first coin buysbars, the second buys SIL-VER, and the 3rd coin buysGOLD, the payout percent-age won’t be identical for eachcoin. Each coin’s hit fre-quency must increase, aseach coin buys the pays forthat coin plus the ones be-fore it. For example:Coin 1 Buys BAR symbolsCoin 2 Buys SILVER sym-bols and BAR symbolsCoin 3 Buys GOLD symbolsand SILVER symbols and BARsymbols.

In our first example, we arepaid 90% for each coin played.This means that it is either aline game or a multiplier. Fora spinning-reel slot machine,a line game will have either 3or 5 coins. Video games havemore lines, 5, 9, or more. Ifthe game takes a maximumof 1, 2 or 4 coins, it can’t bea line game.

When we look at the payout% for each coin, it tells usquite a bit about the game.In this case, we are paid 90%for every coin. This musttherefore be either a line-game (3-line or 5-line) or amultiplier. If there are only3 coins played, it can’t be a 5-line game. If there are only 2coins then it’s not a line game

(need at least 3 coins), but itcould be a multiplier or aBuy-a-Pay. If it is a Buy-a-Pay, we will have a differentpayback percentage for eachcoin.

Note: The total pays + totalheld always equals the totalamount of coins taken in.

1 coin * 1,000,000 games =1,000,000 coins in. 900,000held + 100,000 paid =1,000,000 coins in.

Therefore, the following for-mulas apply: Coins In = CoinsPaid + Coins Held -or- CoinsPaid = Coins In - Coins Held -

or- Coins Held = Coins In -Coins Paid

How do we know if this is alarge jackpot, intermediatepay or low-win paying ma-chine?

The payout % for each coinwill give us a good idea howthe machine pays.

If the top-coin payout % issignificantly higher than thelower coin %, it is likely thatthis has a substantial jack-pot. Generally, most multi-pliers and line games will havethe top-coin payout percentonly a few percent higher thanthe lowest coin payout per-centage.

If the hit frequency is large,then we must have a signifi-cant number of smaller pay-ing wins. Consider the BallyRoaring 20’s and similarly-themed games. We have apayout for a single bar on anyreel, which increases the hitfrequency tremendously. Asignificant amount of winningcombinations are single-digitwinnings, creating a verylarge hit frequency. The hitfrequency may be over 30%on games like these.

Don’t forget to check the vola-tility index. A small volatilityindex means that the gamepayout does not vary widely.In this case, it likely has arelatively low jackpot and an



intermediate pay. For ex-ample, a 3-coin Blazing 7’s orSizzling 7’s machine may pay1,000 for 3-coins. That re-lates to 333 coins per coinbet. This is a very small over-all jackpot. With a relativelylarge percentage of interme-diate pays (for three 7’s orthree mixed 7’s), the majorportion of the payout will bein this area. If the volatilityindex is large, then we wantto look at two areas. First ofall, there may be a large jack-pot, such as 30,000 coins fora 3-coin wager. There mayalso be a large multiplier valuethat varies the payout signifi-cantly. For example, a 10xmultiplier (100x with the 10xsymbol on 2 reels) createssignificantly larger payoutamounts. In this case, wewould expect the volatilityindex to be much higher.

We’ll examine some of the

general calculations in moredepth in the next article onPAR sheets.

Ok, it’s time for a test. Youwill see five PAR sheet sum-mary tables. Try to deter-mine what you can about thegame from the informationprovided. Is the game a mul-tiplier, line game or Buy-a-Pay? Also try to determinewhat the payout is like - in-termediate pay, large jack-pot, many small pays, etc. Allgames are spinning-reel slotmachines with 3 reels. Eachexample has one mistake aswell. The answers are givenin the caption so don't read ituntil you've tried to work itout on your own.

Conclusion

In summary, you can see thatthe PAR sheets contain awealth of information about

Looking at this game, the payout % increases for each coin. It could be a 3-line game, a multiplier ora Buy-a-Pay. The hit % increases for each game, so that rules out the multiplier and 3-line game. It must,therefore, be a Buy-a-Pay. The total hits for the 3rd coin is incorrect. A 64-stop game will have 262,144combinations. 19.34% of that is 50,698, which is the correct value. The VI is 12.357, which indicates amoderate spread in payout values. I would guess that this machine has some 2x or 3x multiplier symbols.

the game. Although you maynot use them very often, takea few moments to look themover. Hidden inside is a greatinsight into how each gameplays. Even if you’re notmathematically inclined, thebasic PAR sheet gives yousome very important infor-mation about the games. Likeall of your diagnostic tools,the PAR sheet is just onemore method to verify themachines’ operation and togain a thorough understand-ing of their particular per-sonality.

Next month, we’ll examinesome of the basic formulascontained in the rest of thePAR sheets. Using a couple ofsimple mathematic equa-tions, you can tie together allof the information quickly andeasily.

- John [email protected]

By examining the total hits we see that they are the same for coins 1 and 2, but different for coin 3. Thisis likely a 3 coin Buy-a-Pay, with the 2nd coin multiplying the 1st coin pays and the 3rd coin buyingdifferent symbols. The second coin pays a slightly higher percent, so it will include a bonus payment.As the 2nd coin payout increases by 0.13%, this would be consistent with a small bonus for one of thepays. The total pays looks more like a 72 stop game (373,248 combinations). 85.65% of 373,248 is319,686. This game is a 72-stop game, not a 64-stop game.


Since this is a 2-coin game, it can’t be a line game. The hit percentage for each coin is the same, whichrules out a Buy-a-Pay. It must be a multiplier. The payout percent is incorrect for coin 2. It can’t be lowerthan the 1st coin. If this is a 64 stop machine, the total coins in are 262,144 x 2 = 524,288. 461,530 coinspaid divided by 524,288 coins in equals a payout percentage of 88.03, which is correct. The VI is slightlyhigher than in numbers 1 and 2, so I would guess that there is either a larger jackpot amount, higherpayout values for intermediate paying symbols or larger multipliers - 4x or 5x perhaps?

This could be a 5-line machine, 5 coin multiplier, or a Buy-a-Pay. The number of hits is the same foreach coin, so it’s not a Buy-a-Pay. The hit % is identical for each coin. The 5th coin hit percent shouldmatch the number of hits, so it should also be 12.85%. The payout percent is the same for each coin,with a bonus for the 5th coin played. This actually is a 5-line game, with the hit % showing the hit perline, not the total game. Do you think this could also be a 5-coin multiplier? Notice the large numberof stops per reel and the low volatility index. This would suggest that there might be a few multipliersin the game (perhaps only on one reel) or that there are a lot of symbol combinations. The large numberof stops is generally done to create a payout percent that is acceptable while still maintaining areasonable hit percentage.

As this is a 2-coin game, it can’t be a line game. The 196 stops indicate that there are somemultipliers, perhaps a lot of symbol combinations or perhaps it has a bonus game in the machine?The volatility index is quite high, indicating a wide range of pays. Perhaps there is a large jackpotor bonus game, or a number of small pays for a single symbol? As the hit percent is different foreach coin, it must be a Buy-a-Pay. Also note the hit percentage of the 2nd coin relative to the first.The first coin has a hit frequency of 35.70%. The second coin is only 1.66% higher. Therefore, thereis a large amount of payment for the second coin in only 1.66% of the winning spins. This wouldindicate some very large pay combinations for the 2nd coin. If there is only 1 jackpot payment percycle, then it exists in only 1 out of every 7,529,536 games. It could be quite a large jackpot amount.


Coin MechanismsInc. announcesthe release of

the GameMech6000 Micro-Mech, the latestproduct devel-opment in feature reelmechanisms. Its com-pact nature allows gamedesigner’s greater flex-ibility in positioning. It can be used asa single reel, or is ideal in a matrix combination wheremultiple reel configurations are required. The reel is a clear molded

piece 66mm wide with a diameter of 60mm,and can accommodate either a 4 or

6 symbol reel tape. It uses acompact 48-step motor, is illu-minated by 5 white LED’s on aPCB, and the entire mechanismcan mount directly onto glass.

GameMech 6000 Micro-Mech

For more information, contact:Coin Mechanisms, Inc.

400 Regency Dr.Glendale Heights, IL 60139tel.630.924.7070

fax.630.924.7088toll.free.800.323.6498

www.coinmech.com.

Slot Tech New Product - Gamesman Brand Products by Coin Mechanisms Inc.–


Slot Tech News

Gaming LaboratoriesAustralia has beengranted a Testing Fa-

cilities License for the state ofNew South Wales by the Li-censing Court of New SouthWales. GLI Australia is cur-rently the only Testing Facil-ity to be issued a license inthe NSW region. The com-pany is also listed on theVictorian Casino and Gam-ing Authority’s Role of Sup-pliers and is an AccreditedTesting Facility (ATF) for allother jurisdictions in Austra-lia and New Zealand.

The license comes in fulfill-ment of legislation requiringtesting facilities obtain a li-cense similar to that requiredby manufacturers. PreviouslyGLI Australia operated un-der a temporary permit.

Managing Director of Gam-ing Laboratories Australia IanHughes said, “This licenseclearly demonstrates GLIAustralia’s commitment tothe country’s gaming indus-try and its regulatory bodies.We work diligently with allsides of the industry, and ourcompliance with recent legis-lation and our gaining ap-proval to be licensed is astrong signal of both our com-mitment and expertise.”

GLI Australia is the largest

and most ex-p e r i e n c e dgaming testlaboratory inthe regionand tests forjurisdictionsacross theAustralianregion, which includes SouthAustralia, Queensland, NewSouth Wales, Western Aus-tralia, Northern Territory, Tas-mania, Victoria and NewZealand.

Gaming Laboratories Inter-national, Inc. currently oper-ates wholly owned and fullystaffed gaming test laborato-ries in Lakewood, N.J.;Golden, Colo.; Las Vegas,Nev.; GLI Europe, B.V. inHillegom, The Netherlands;GLI Africa in Midrand, SouthAfrica. Gaming LaboratoriesAustralia operates fully ac-credited test laboratories inSydney and Adelaide underlicense to Gaming Laborato-ries International, Inc. GLIemployees number approxi-mately 275 worldwide, pro-viding more than 76,000 cer-tifications annually to over360 gaming regulatory bod-ies worldwide. GLI wasfounded in 1989 by James R.Maida and Paul J. Magno andwas the first independentlaboratory of its kind.

GLI Australia Granted First-EverTesting Facilities License in New South Wales

WORLD HEADQUARTERS:600 Airport RoadLakewood, New Jersey 0 8 7 0 1VOICE (732) 942-3999FAX (732) 942-0043

WESTERN REGIONAL OFFICE:5926 McIntyre StreetGolden, Colorado 8 0 4 0 3VOICE (303) 277-1172FAX (303) 277-9901

LAS VEGAS SERVICE CENTER:6672 Spencer Street, Suite 300Las Vegas, Nevada 8 9 1 1 9VOICE (702) 914-2220FAX (702) 914-2799

GLI EUROPE, B.V.:Noorderlaan 11A2182 GZ HillegomTHE NETHERLANDSVOICE +31 252 529 838FAX +31 252 529 608

GLI AFRICA:PO Box 7224Halfway HouseMidrand, Gauteng 1685SOUTH AFRICAVOICE +27 11 314 6877FAX +27 11 314 6871

GAMING LABORATORIES AUSTRALIA260 Currie StreetAdelaide, SA 5 0 0 0AustraliaVOICE +618 8410-6611FAX +618 8410-6622web: www.gli.com.au

GAMING LABORATORIES AUSTRALIAUnit 5, 45-55 Epsom RoadRosebery NSW 2 0 1 8AustraliaVOICE +612 9697-9844FAX +612 9697- 9855web: www.gli.com.au


Slot Tech News

MCM, an InOne company has added several new lines of

products and services spe-cifically for the gaming andgaming repair industry.

Included in the new lines arereplacement CRT tubes, minicoax connectors and cables,Twin-Task and the flexibleStylus Reach flashlights bothby Streamlight and severalnew lines of capacitors. Thenew capacitors, which aresupplied by Nichicon, UnitedChemicon and Panasonic,include low ESR, high tem-perature (105°C), high fre-quency radial electrolytic ca-pacitors. MCM stocks thecomplete series of these ca-pacitor lines from 6.3V to 450Vincluding every availablevalue. Several new LED re-placement bulbs for billvalidators and slot machines,which can be used to replaceincandescent bulbs, have alsobeen added.

MCM has developed a newCircuit Board Repair Pro-gram. MCM has an autho-rized facility for repairing mostof the name brand gamingsystems in the market. Con-tact your MCM representa-tive for full details on thisservice.

MCM Adds to Gaming LineupWith New Products & Services

Additionally, MCM now hastwo dedicated account man-agers for the gaming market.MCM continues to have asales manager located in theLas Vegas area for immediatecustomer service.

About MCM, an InOne Company

MCM, an InOne Company de-ploys the power and re-sources of the global busi-ness locally and appropriatelyfor each of its customers, of-fering exceptional one-to-oneservice, the broadest selec-tion of electronicproducts andunique value-added services.MCM wasfounded in1976 as an elec-tronics servicecompany inDayton, Ohio. InJune 1984,Premier In-dustrial Cor-poration ac-quired MCMElec t r on i c s .Then in 1995Farnell Elec-tronics ac-quired Premier Industrial andtogether they formed PremierFarnell plc. Today Premier

Farnell plc is a leading globalbusiness-to-business, highservice distributor of elec-tronic and industrial compo-nents.

For more information on MCMor any of the products or ser-vices discussed above, con-tact:MCM650 Congress Park DriveCenterville, OH 45459-4000tel.937.434.0031tel.800.543.4330www.mcminone.com


FutureLogic Opens 11,000 Sq. Ft. Distribution Centerin Las Vegas to Serve Gaming OEMs Worldwide

Slot Tech News

FutureLogic, Inc. announced the opening of its 11,000 sq.

ft. distribution center inLas Vegas, built to meetdemand for its PSA-66line previously soldthrough Seiko Instru-ments.

The new facility is theshipping hub forFutureLogic’s OEM cus-tomers worldwide,though primarily fo-cused on the Las Vegasarea where many gam-ing OEMs are based.Those local OEMs willbenefit from lower freightcosts and easy access toFutureLogic’s inventory.

Additionally, the newfacility gives worldwideManufacturers Repre-sentative AESI the con-venience of a local re-placement parts supply

for its Las Vegas servicecenter, which became anauthorized service andwarranty facility forFutureLogic in Novem-ber 2003.

“Our distribution centerimproves the value andlevel of service we pro-vide to all of our custom-ers,” said FutureLogicCFO Jon Huntley. “Nowwe can better identifywhat they need, wantand expect.”

Sonnie Wilf, who bringsmore than ten years offacility managementwith him, will managethe new facility, which islocated at 900 W. WarmSprings, Suite 111,Henderson, NV 89015Tel: 702-558-7309Fax: 702-558-8464

About FutureLogic

FutureLogic, founded in1983 and headquarteredin Glendale, Calif., pro-vides electromechanicalassembly solutions fornearly every engineeringneed. FutureLogic founda particular niche for it-self in the thermalprinter market and to-day supplies thermalprinters for equipmentwhere reliability is criti-cal. This includes casinogaming, POS equipment,industrial, agricultural,and medical applica-tions. In August 2003,the company ended anagreement with Seiko In-struments for the exclu-sive distribution ofFutureLogic’s PSA-66line of thermal printersthat are found in cash-less casino games world-wide.


Slot Tech News

Astrosys InternationalLtd announced theselection by IGT of its

Microcoin QL coin acceptoras the new default unit forIGT’s small coin offering. Af-ter an intensive and exhaus-tive selection process, involv-ing all major coin acceptorscurrently available to theGaming market, theMicrocoin QL has been cho-sen by IGT as the replace-ment for the coin compara-tor.

“This has been an extremelythorough and importantproject, as it forms the cor-ner-stone of our future coinstrategies”, states RandyHedrick, Sr. Vice President,Product Development. “Werequire the security and scopeof fully electronic coin valida-tion technology to comple-ment the advancements intechnology within all aspectsof our Gaming platforms”, headds. “The most comprehen-sive package, comprising notonly a coin acceptor but en-compassing our demands inwarehousing, production andfield support, is the MicrocoinQL”.

“Although TITO/cashless is

an emerging tech-nology, there con-tinues to be de-mand for coin-infunctionality,” saidEd Rogich, VicePresident of Mar-keting, IGT. “TheMicrocoin QL is aperfect fit for ourcoin acceptor offer-ing.”

“Microcoin has long been thedefault acceptor for IGT-Aus-tralia and we have been qui-etly working with IGT-Renofor a number of years to de-velop a coin acceptor solutionwhich meets the demands ofthe US domestic Gamingmarket and beyond” statesRobert Bird, Group Market-ing Manager, Astrosys Inter-national Ltd. “Microcoin in-vented high speed multi-coinacceptance over 10 years agoand we were the first com-pany to create a secure Gam-ing solution where one ac-ceptor can hold multiple coindenominations and securelyswitch from one denomina-tion to another” continuesBird, “Using our Casinomatehandheld device, we also havea suite of additional diagnos-tics features to support the

QL in the field “.

Astrosys International Ltd isa subsidiary of the Hong Kongbased Astrotech Group andspecializes in the design,manufacture and distributionof cash handling products.The company provides dedi-cated solutions to its clientsacross a range of marketsincluding Gaming, Vendingand Amusement. It servicesits diversified world-wide mar-kets by an international net-work of offices in Australia,the United States and theUnited Kingdom, supportedby representation in otherkey global markets.

For further information contact :Robert BirdGroup Marketing Manager,Astrosys International LtdPh : 61 3 9646 6446Fax : 61 3 9646 6447E-mail : [email protected] additional information onMicrocoin, visit the website atwww.microcoin.com

IGT TapsMicrocoin QL


Slot Tech News

After a full year of strongmembership growtharound the world, in-

dustry advocate Gaming Stan-dards Association (GSA) haskicked off what promises tobe its “Year of Delivery” at theInternational Casino Exposi-tion (I.C.E.) Show in London.The Technical Committee ofthe non-profit organizationrecently submitted drafts oftwo groundbreaking stan-dards to the GSA member-ship for review and approval.

The first, Best of Breed, orBOB as it is commonly re-ferred to, is a worldwide pro-tocol for secure communica-tion between gaming devicesand gaming systems. TheBOB standard encompassesthe function of existing bestof breed rotocols and will befree of third-party licensingrequirements.

GSA BOB Committee Co-Chairman James Morrow ofBally Gaming and Systemssaid, “The BOB standard draftis the result of an unprec-edented cooperative effortbetween operators andmanufacturers to deliver themost feature-rich messagingset employing the latest inInternet and PC industrystandards for communicat-ing between the slot floor andslot operations. It is also themost capable and extendable.This standard sets a founda-tion for industry growth on apar with such consumer stan-

dards as TCP/IP, HTTP, andthe like. We expect to see anexplosive increase in innova-tion in the gaming industrywith the release of the BOBprotocol.

The second is the System-to-System (S2S) Standard andpresents a solution for gam-ing operators and game andsystem manufacturers forcommunicating informationbetween applications,projects and/or systems.Both the BOB and S2S stan-dards focus on utilizing exist-ing and commonly accept-able computer industry stan-dards such as TCP/IP, HTTP,XML, Telnet, Ethernet andothers.

GSA S2S Committee Chair-man David Nehra of MandalayResort Group said, “We areon the verge of revolutioniz-ing the industry. S2S willprovide a standard for com-municating information be-tween applications, projectsand/or systems, and willeliminate the need for un-necessary, proprietary devel-opment. The result will bedramatic savings in laborhours for both manufactur-ers and operators, and it alsoincreases speed to market fornew products. Additionally,the standard is forward-thinking - standardizing com-munication protocols allowsfor creative application with-out the need for patchwork‘translators.’ This makes the

future of gaming very excit-ing.”

The BOB and S2S commit-tees submitted drafts to theorganization’s global mem-bership in mid-January forreview and will submit finaldrafts for vote in the first quar-ter of 2004.

GSA Board Chairman GreggSolomon of Mandalay ResortGroup said, “The future isnow. For more than five years,GSA has been working to-ward the day when standardswill provide both operatorsand manufacturers the free-dom to conceive and designproducts for the industry thatultimately entertain and ben-efit the end consumer, ourcustomers. That day is here.The BOB and S2S standardsare landmark achievements,and we will one day look backand wonder how the industrysurvived without them.”

Members and non-membersof GSA are recognizing thatstandards have the potentialto grow the market for theentire industry and providean opportunity for companiesto take advantage of the de-velopment and research tak-ing place in GSA. GSA dem-onstrated its progress whenit successfully showed BOB,GDS and the SAS(tm) ToolKit at the Global Gaming Expoin September 2003.

GSA Submits Best of Breed & S2S Standards for Review



Every tech has likelyseen the supportmanual for a gaming

machine, muttered as theybrowsed for a tilt code, andeither praised or swore aboutthe organization of the book’scontent. It doesn’t matter ifit’s a manual for a DVD playeror a video slot machine - be-hind that manual there aretechnical writers pining awayon keyboards, trying theirbest to make an understand-able support product for theiraudience.

It’s a complex job; the techni-cal writer needs to under-stand the design and func-tionality of the device from auser and repair point-of-viewand translate it into a guidethat becomes as useful a toolas a screwdriver or a nutdriver. They need to start withtechno-babble, or “engineerspeak,” and bring to the tar-get audience, in languagethey can understand, an or-ganized, comprehensiveguide. Sound easy? Read on.

A gaming user manual is bornwith the announcement of amanufacturer’s plan to pro-duce a product that will needto be supported by techni-

cians. In gaming, thatmeans that the technicalwriter needs to begin arelationship with the engi-neering and developmentdepartments at a stage thathas the game’s design “fi-nal” enough to write some-thing down about it withoutthe fear that dozens of man-hours will be wasted if it allneeds to be re-written, thegame’s design again changedor altered. From there, theidea that has come to life froma concept or design schematicgoes through many phases

during its growth into a full-grown game that can go outand play on its own - and thetechnical writer is watching,monitoring this growth cycle,writing down everything thathappens for possible inclu-sion in the manual or userguide.

Writing the BookIn Support of Technical Writers

English major turned technical writer Jana Pospichal tests her latestmanual chapter’s advice against the reel slot she’s written it about

By Chris AppoldtManager of Technical Publications - WMS Gaming Inc.


A typical day may start withthe tech writer as a “newsreporter,” scheduling an in-terview with an engineer orsubject matter expert (SME)who has designed, say, thegame’s CPU, cabling, playertracking, etc. The technicalwriter has never seen thegame before, so must payclose attention to the intro-duction and photograph, taperecord, and write notes oneverything they’re shown bythe SME. This process occurswith the safety departmentsas well, and then the periph-eral engineers and testingdepartment.

On to the software develop-ment department, a techni-cal writer then starts collect-ing information about how toconfigure a game for opera-tion. Touch screens make thejob interesting in that thewriter can “capture” or “grab”the screen digitally and trans-fer it directly to their com-puter for later insertion intothe manual. The accuracy ofthe step-by-step “how-to” ofthe game’s setup is one of themost important facets of thejob, and checks and re-checksfor accuracy of the notes musttake place with the SMEs.

That’s merely phase one. Inreality, those interviews havetaken a few dozen hours overthe course of a month. The“manual” is now a pile of hand-written notes, electronic files,

images, and collected emails.The game design has likelychanged a little since thewriter began, and now theyhave to back up and re-verifycontent or update images andprocedures, all the while at-tending meetings and hop-ing to catch another interest-ing tidbit for the book’s pages.

Phase two begins at the com-puter, which has one of thepast decade’s greatest inno-vations: desktop publishingsoftware. Once a general lay-out and graphic design isdesigned with the softwarethe project is ready to moveforward.

Care must be taken duringthe layout, as the text andimages chosen for the firstdraft need to be placed on

pages in such a way that in-formation is “clumped” in-stead of scattered about ran-domly or in a manner hard toread or decipher. Not as easyas it sounds, this actuallytakes up most of the time inmanual creation. It’s likeputting together a puzzle thatno one has seen before, andevery time you decide to addor take away contents thelayout changes - a great wayto go bald early as you yankout hair in frustration.

Several weeks later, a roughdraft emerges and is circu-lated back to the SMEs forcontent verification. Typos,updates, and further sugges-tion are all sought duringthis first feedback stage. Whenall drafts are returned andmarked up with the edits, the

Technical writers Ken Drews and Jana Pospichal confer on aservice bulletin’s content regarding the hopper in Jana’s lap.


writer again sits down at thecomputer and attempts tomake sense of it all, againplaying with the puzzle piecesto make sure that sense canbe made of the draft, thencrawling over a game proto-type to ensure that what’sbeen written is accurate.

This ritual continuesthroughout the cycle of thegame’s development, and fi-nally, after the final version ofthe game is sent to the as-sembly line, a hard copy ofthe manual can be printed.The technical writers are thentasked with keeping up-to-date with any changes as thegame’s releases are updated,and either manual updatesor service bulletins are re-quired.

Oh yes, those perky servicebulletins. Keep in mind thatdepending upon the size of atechnical writing depart-ment, the writer(s) workingon the user manuals are alsoconstantly cranking out ser-vice bulletins as well. Con-stant release of new periph-erals, new software options,and jurisdictional matterspertinent to the manufac-turer all need to be transmit-ted to the relevant field ser-vice and technician audiences. . .this guarantees to keepthe keyboard warm, and theprinter churning.

It’s a busy life, keepingabreast of such things. Neverforget, too, that your averagecorporation holds mandatorymeetings for staffs, and thateach interview or contentverification relies on the co-operation and efforts of oth-ers taking time, dedication,and resources. And, very nowand then, the writer likes toeat and sleep as well - it maybe asking a lot when they’reat the end of the informationcycle as they are, with prod-uct launch deadlines loom-ing. From the request of thedocument to the published,finished product there is usu-ally too little time to do any-thing but angst over its prior-ity.

Where do tech writers comefrom? Commonly they areEnglish or journalism majorswho found themselves in thetechnology business. With aflair for the creative and a loveof literature and the arts, itseemed natural to exercisetheir writing skills somehow.Are they approachable? Theyshould be as they’re a greatsupport resource. You canusually find them attached toan engineering group or amarketing group, and as theyspend their entire day talkingwith SMEs about the producta tech is working on, they’re agood source of informationwhen all else fails.

Technical writer Same Leopold (foreground) takes notes for a servicebulletin from subject matter expert and peripherals engineer GregKlosterman.


Tech writers are writing thematerials FOR the techni-cian, but often spend verylittle time with them. This isa disconnect that may causesome of the swearing men-tioned in this article’s firstparagraph, as the writers can-not know what you like or donot like about their productunless you tell them. Techwriters should appreciate thefeedback, for better or forworse. So if the opportunityarises to speak with them,jump on the chance to letthem know how they’re do-ing - they’ll appreciate it, andyou should get what you askfor. -

- Chris AppoldtManager of Technical Publications

WMS Gaming Inc.

For schematic diagrams,diagnostic programs, user

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Slot Tech Event - Vic Fortenbach Visits WIGCI was on a mission, a mission to

seek out the newest and coolesttechnical products at the 9th an-nual Western Indian Gaming Con-ference held January 14 and 152004 in Palm Springs Ca. The eventis sponsored by the California Na-tions Indian Gaming Association, anon-profit group of tribal govern-ments dedicated to the protectionof tribal sovereignty and the right oftribes to game on Indian lands.

It was easy to spot the Gary Plattbooth. I was almost blinded by theway cool, full color fiber optic chairback that could be customized forany casino. The chair back wastotally portable since it was batterypowered. Another chair in the boothvibrated and massaged your bottomand back as you played your favor-ite machine. Maybe this is the keyto getting casino guests to staylonger and spend more. One draw-back, the chair has to be hard wiredto a power source.

I moved on to the Cole industriescabinet booth. What struck my eyewere two different styles of cabi-nets: one slimline slant cabinetand a 30-inch LCD monitor slotcabinet.

Both cabinets are only eighteeninches deep. Other slant top cabi-

nets as well as other upright slotmachine cabinets are muchdeeper; some are over 30 plusinches. The slimline slant pro-vides very easy access to the LCDscreen by way of a fold down frame.The LCD also folds down and isremoved easily to provide accessto the machine’s hardware,mounted in the upper back portionof the cabinet. The button panelalso folds up so printer paper fillsare effortless. Button repairs arelikewise easy to perform.

WMS had their much-talked aboutbluebird cabinets displayed. Threedifferent configurations are avail-able: upright video, upright reeland slant top cabinets. The blue-bird cabinets are causing a lot ofrethinking in the casino industry.Gone are any hard drives and CDROM drives. They have been re-placed by a small flash card. Thereis one flash card for the Linuxoperating system and a secondflash card for the game program.

RAM clears are easier now thatthere are no clear chips required,just one RAM clear flash card. Thegraphics are unbelievably full andbright with every detail clean andcrisp. The game sounds are su-perb since the speaker assemblyis designed by Bose and placedright at ear height so all the soundscome out crystal clear with deeperbass.

The upright reel and video func-tions of the cabinets are inter-changeable. Remove the LCDscreen and game flash card, in-stall three reels and you’re done.

Reverse the procedure for convert-ing a three-reel bluebird cabinet tovideo.

Many options are available for thebluebird cabinets. Some include alarge LCD header and special gamebonus devices for overhead use.

After getting my fill of the newofferings from WMS gaming, I mademy way over to the Advanced Elec-tronic Systems inc. (AESI) booth.They represent MEI bill acceptors,Starpoint buttons and Futurelogicprinters. The new GEN 2 printerfrom Futurelogic also known asthe PSA-66-ST2 is what caught myattention. The GEN 2 is a totallyredone printer following in the foot-steps of the Seiko PSA-66 printer.The GEN 2 printer has many newfeatures including a coiled “spring”cord that eliminates any pinchingor breaking of the large ribbon cablethat was common on the PSA-66printer. Totally encased paper pathand print head design with an easyto release lever. As you may recallthe PSA-66 printers had a thumb-screw that was often left unscrewedcausing paper jams. It also sports alarger paper tray, able to hold 300tickets compared to 200 ticketstack holders present on manyprinters in use today.

Since this was my first gamingshow I must say I was impressed.There were over 150 booths withcompanies displaying several mod-els of class 2 machines and LCDterminals for every casino use.Over all it was a good day.

- Vic [email protected]

BE A BETTER SLOT TECHBE A BETTER SLOT TECHBE A BETTER SLOT TECHBE A BETTER SLOT TECHBE A BETTER SLOT TECHCome and spend 3 days atTechFest. With engineeringand technical representa-tives on hand from the gam-ing industry’s leading suppli-ers of touchscreens, billvalidators, coin comparitors,hoppers and monitors, YOU

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Space is limited - Register today!

TTTTTechFechFechFechFechFest 8est 8est 8est 8est 8 - Clinton, IA - March 9, 10, 11 2004 - Clinton, IA - March 9, 10, 11 2004 - Clinton, IA - March 9, 10, 11 2004 - Clinton, IA - March 9, 10, 11 2004 - Clinton, IA - March 9, 10, 11 2004TTTTTechFechFechFechFechFest 9est 9est 9est 9est 9 - Minneapolis, MN - Ma - Minneapolis, MN - Ma - Minneapolis, MN - Ma - Minneapolis, MN - Ma - Minneapolis, MN - May 4, 5, 6 2004y 4, 5, 6 2004y 4, 5, 6 2004y 4, 5, 6 2004y 4, 5, 6 2004

Make plans today to join the gaming industry’s top engineers, technicians, technical writers and instructorsfor 3 days of technical seminars and presentations that will enhance your performance as a technician anddramatically increase your value to your employer.

TechFest 8 will be held March 9-11, 2004 at The FranciscanUniversity in Clinton, Iowa. TechFest 9 will be held May 4-6, 2004 at Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, 2400 Mystic Lake Blvd,Prior Lake MN 55372. Registration fee for TechFest is $450.00per person and includes lunch each day.

This is a technical presentation. The TechFest is geared for work-ing slot techs and technical managers who are looking for a wayto make a dramatic improvement in their understanding of videoslot monitors, touchscreens, bill validators, hoppers and morewith no-nonsense technical presentations from:

●●●●● Asahi Seiko - Coin Hoppers●●●●● Coin Mechanisms, Inc. - Coin Comparitors●●●●● MEI - Bill Validators●●●●● 3M Touch Systems - Touchscreens●●●●● Sencore - Test Equipment●●●●● FutureLogic (formerly Seiko) - Ticket Printers●●●●● IDX - Coin Validator●●●●● Money Controls - Coin Validator/Coin Hoppers●●●●● JCM - Bill Validators●●●●● Ithaca - Ticket Printers●●●●● WMS Gaming - Slot Machines- PLUS - A special instructional series on video slot monitor repair presented by Randy Fromm

have a chance to ask aboutYOUR problems. You have achance to get REAL answersto your questions, face-to-face with some of the mostqualified technical experts inthe industry.

TechFest is for slot techs ofall skill levels, from novicetechs who want to learn thebasics of BV and hoppermaintenance to advancedtechs that need to brush upon monitor repair.

Schedule of EventsSchedule of EventsSchedule of EventsSchedule of EventsSchedule of EventsEvents subject to changeDay One

9:00 am - 12:00pmHow Monitors Work - Part 1Theory of Operation - Beginning level

1:15pm - 3:15pmMars Electronics, Inc. - BV trouble-shooting and repair

3:30pm - 5:30pmFutureLogic Printers - Printertroubleshooting and repair

Day Two

9:00 am - 12:00pmHow Monitors Work - Part 2Narrow Down the Problem - Inter-mediate Level

1:15pm - 3:15pmAsahi Seiko - Hopper troubleshoot-ing and repair

3:30pm - 5:30pmCoin Mechanisms, Inc. - CoinComparitor technology and repair

Day Three

9:00 am - 12:00pmHow Monitors Work - Part 3Circuit Analysis and Component Level Trouble-shooting - Advanced Level

1:15pm - 3:15pmMoney Controls - Coin validator andcoin hopper maintenance and re-pair.

3:30pm - 5:30pmJCM - Bill Validator Troubleshootingand Repair

PLUS - Bonus sessions from 3M TouchSystems (MicroTouch) IDX (coinvalidators) Ithaca (ticket printers) Sencore(Test equipment for monitors) & WMS Gaming

Dates and times to be announced

Subscriptions & Back IssuesWhy back issues of Slot Tech Magazine areimportant to own . . .

Slot Tech Magazine is strictly technical. As such, the magazine's contents are not timecritical. The repair information and technical data contained in past issues is just as validtoday as it was the day it was published.

Additionally, current and future articles more-or-less assume that readers are alreadyfamiliar with what has been covered in past issues. This editorial policy assures that SlotTech Magazine's contributing writers are not limited to "writing down" to the level of anovice technician but are free to continue to produce the most comprehensive technicalarticles in the gaming industry.

Randy Fromm's

Slot Tech Magazine ispublished monthly by:Slot Tech Magazine1944 Falmouth Dr.El Cajon, CA 92020-2827tel.619.593.6131fax.619.593.6132e-mail [email protected]

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