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EditorialPage 6 - Pssssst!Page 14 - Quick & Simple Repairs #39Page 21 - Randy Fromm visits the NIGAshow in San Diego, CaliforniaPage 24 - Aristocrat Receives Certifica-tions for Viridian™ CabinetPage 25 - Octavian Selects FutureLogicPage 26 - Heber Launches Pluto 8Page 27 - Kingbright LED BrochurePage 28 - Ceronix Invites You to aMonitor Class.Page 29 - GLI Holds Roundtables onTwo Continents0 - SlotFest ReviewPage 34 - Subscriptions and Order Form

June 2008

Inside Slot Tech Magazine

Calling Europe and the World!

Subscribe to our sister publication, SlotTech International Magazine. Visit slot-tech.co.uk for details, forums and more.

June 2008Slot Tech Magazine

Slot Tech Editorial

Randy Fromm's

Slot Tech Magazine

EditorRandy Fromm

Technical WritersTed Befus, Jason Czito,

Kevin Noble, Herschel W.Peeler, Pat Porath, Vic

Fortenbach, James Borg

International ContributorMartin Dempsey

Slot Tech Magazine is publishedmonthly bySlot Tech Magazine1944 Falmouth Dr.El Cajon, CA 92020-2827tel.619.593.6131 fax.619.593.6132e-mail [email protected] the website at slot-techs.com

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Copyright 2008 under the UniversalCopyright Convention. All rights re-served.

Slot Tech Magazine

Randy Fromm

I do a lot of flying in this job.Sometimes it’s domestic as I

fly around the country bring-ing my two-week slot techschool to various casinosacross the USA. Other times, Iget to fly to someplace inter-esting like Aruba or Nether-lands or London for the ICEshow. I enjoy traveling. It givesme a good excuse to get outand see the world from some-place other than my officechair and Google Earth.

While I’m out, I have found itinteresting to observe whatsome people do to attract theattention of someone like awaitress or flight attendant. I

have a friend, a well-respectedindustry professional, who,while seated at a restaurant,assures himself of an instantrefill on bread by holding theempty bread basket on top ofhis head. It’s like a miracle.You can say “excuse me,excuse me” all day and get the“be right with you” responsebut when you sit there with anempty breadbasket on yourhead for all the other diners tosee, employees take notice andrespond. On a recent flightsomewhere (it’s all a blur,blur, blur) the flightattendant’s namebadge de-clared her nom de guerre “OhMiss.” I guess she figured ifshe can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

And so James Borg wonderswho’s calling him and whywhen he responds to“Pssssst!” I don’t want to giveit away. It has something to dowith a mystery fault (aren’tthey all?), a mystery woman, agold tooth and a bad smell. Allthe usual stuff. James’ articlebegins on page six.

On page 14, Pat Porath bringsus his Quick & Simple Re-pairs #39. In it, he presentsus with a Bally Cinevisionwith a “bill validator systemerror.” The BV under discus-sion was from JCM so I ranPat’s article past Jack Geller,Supervisor of Technical Ser-vices for JCM Global. Hisresponse contains some im-portant information aboutJCM’s Intelligent Cash Boxsystem which we have re-printed here. Pat also presentsus with an IGT S2000 “Reel 2”Tilt as well as some moreprinter repair tips.

Hey! Ceronix invites you to amonitor class! July 29-302008 at their plant inCalifornia. The class will beheld by Troy Nofziger. Some ofyou already know Troy fromTechFest. He really knows hisCeronix monitors. That’s good‘cause he knows nothing else.This is all he has ever doneprofessionally, is to fixCeronix monitors. Get thefeeling he’s kinda good at it?He’ll show you the easy way tofix Ceronix CRT and LCDmonitors.

There is also a review ofSlotFest (featuring TechFest17) at Mystic Lake Casino,held May 6-8. We had quitean international gatheringwith folks from Aruba, St.Maarten, Mexico, Canada, aninternational cruise liner andCasinos across the USA.

That’s all for this month. Seeyou at the casino.

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Slot Tech Feature Article

“Pssssttttt!”By James Borg

My ears reacted.Have I becomesomebody’s pet

without realizing it and mymaster is calling me? Is it afull moon and had I turnedinto a werewolf withoutrealizing it? Hmmm. Aquick look at my handsshowed no fur, no ripplingmuscles bursting throughmy shirt. I wasn’t howlingand I was still wearing myshoes. Those are all signsthat I hadn’t become a furrypet.

“Pssssttttt” echoed onceagain.

I followed where the noisewas coming from. It wasemanating from the direc-tion of a woman client whowas sitting at an IGT GameKing with a look of disap-pointment and panic on herface. The woman had diffi-culty sitting down on herchair. She seemed somehowdistressed. A million andone reasons could be toblame for that but I won’t

know what’s going on be-fore I get closer. She cer-tainly wasn’t happy and Ihad a feeling I was going tofind out all about it withinthe next few minutes.Whatever the case, I don’tlike being called by“Psssssssttt.” It’s degradingand it upsets me a wee bit.

Approaching the client andher machine, it seemed thatthe machine was just re-starting as if it had beenswitched off and back onagain. Strange, as thesemachines don’t usually dothat unless something’safoot. I had to wait andkeep the client company forwhat seemed like an eter-nity before the machinewent through all its prettycolours on the screen andeventually start up againprecisely where it had leftoff. There was a strangeodor emanating from theclient’s vicinity. A ratherunpleasant whiff. Could beclassified as a stench or apong. Not quite sure how toexactly describe it but itcertainly wasn’t “Red Door”and it wasn’t that pleasur-able. Not to mention it wasdoing my orifices in theupper region a lot of dam-age, probably irreparable. Itwouldn’t have been so badif I had a cold and my sense

of smell had died a deathbut as it was, to my detri-ment, my nostrils were stillin full working order.

I asked her if she couldmove back a couple ofinches so that I couldquickly open up her ma-chine to give it a swift in-spection. It was a majoreffort on her part movingback but eventually I hadaccess and I could open thedoor and have a peek in-side. None of the connec-tions seemed wobbly but Istill checked them out justin case. A look at the doorto see if there were anycoins which had acciden-tally got wedged near thecoin comparator and some-how shorting a supply railproved fruitless. Nothing.Nada. No-Go-Joe. I couldn’tsee a single thing out ofplace.

“Please try again and giveme a shout if the samething happens again. I’mJames, by the way.”

The client forced a grinexposing a tooth made ofgold that glittered off aspotlight. With that Iwalked slowly away, occa-sionally glancing back overmy shoulder to see if themachine kept on working. It


did.

All seemed quiet on thewestern front. Hostessesbusily keeping clientstopped up with snacks andhot and cold drinks whilekeeping themselves fit atthe same time. The numberof miles our hostesses coverin this place must be astro-nomical but they do it witha smile that gets positivefeedback from all. A surveyof the place showed that allwas in order. It’s a niceplace here. People from allwalks of life come andspend some time andmoney in our casino. Theyenjoy the company. Theyenjoy the machines. Theyenjoy our service and mostof all, they enjoy winning.Who doesn’t after all? Hav-ing said that, you can’tplease them all but wesurely go the extra mile. Isit worth it? Yes.

While patrolling thegrounds, I made my waypast Golden Tooth specifi-cally to see if it was stillglittering and glittering itwas so I was pleased. It wastime to chill out a bit andso ordered a hot chocolatefrom the main bar and washappily going to enjoy it inthe office while the goingwas good when the annoy-ing noise came again.Pssssssttttt! Shields up!Phasors set on stun! Woe isme. Heaven help me as thiscould prove to be a longnight. Hardly surprisingwas the fact that on ap-proach I couldn’t see anyform of tooth glittering. It

was well and truly hidden.Stench ahoy!

The client kindly moved outof the way before beingprompted and I had bettertake another look inside.This time I got my trustyLED flashlight to assist.One good thing about theseIGT machines is that somevery nice person installed aservice lamp inside sowhoever’s got his head inthe machine can actuallysee something. This servicelamp goes off when the dooris closed and comes backon again when the door isopen, just like a refrigera-tor.

It’s amazing what can hidein the dark corners of thesemachines. In any darkcorner come to that. Thankgoodness nothing wasfound looking back at me,especially if it had feelers! Ihate it when that happens.I’m not fond of creepycrawlies, especially thosecreepy crawlies that runlike the blazes and can taketo the air. I can’t under-stand why my wife, Jill,starts to laugh at me when Ifind myself confronted bysuch creatures. Radiationdoesn’t seem to damagethem as much as the end ofmy boot does, providingthey stay in the same placelong enough. Stuck in aroom, it’s either the offend-ing creature or myself toenjoy its comforts. Thistown just isn’t big enoughfor the both of us.

Letting the idea of creatures

drift gently out of my trainof thoughts, it was time toget back to the problem inhand and of course thewoman with the goldentooth. Still nothing wasevident from my inspectionwhy the machine was reset-ting as if it was switched offand on by an invisiblehand. A check of the mainsjuice was fine. Even tuggingat the cable a few times tosee if somehow it was bro-ken inside. Nada. A checkof the ON/OFF switchproved fine. A check of thefuse holders proved fine aswell but there was obvi-ously something that wasn’tfine which had eluded meso far. It must be looking atme straight in the face andI just can’t see it. So terriblyfrustrating!

Not wanting to jump thegun with wild and weirdconclusions and assump-tions, it could also be some-thing to do with the logicboard. What if the logiccircuits are being corruptedhence resetting the system?Point worth noting that,Watson. It could be at thisstage something to do withthe power supply unit,which made sense (exclud-ing the logic board trail forthe time being). The sup-plies on these babies arepretty complex but if thisone is playing up it willdefinitely need some closerattention.

The woman with the 24carat tooth was paid outwhatever credits were left inthe machine and she found


herself another machine’sbuttons to push. It’s muchbetter like that than havinga client breathing down myneck and asking how longthe job will take. It getseven worse when the clientstarts to suggest what couldbe the problem.Aaaarrggghhh! I hate thatwhen it happens so it’s acase of biting one’s tongueand excusing myself withthe excuse of needing to getsomething from my work-shop to do some more tests.With that thought, I turnedleft and exit.

It certainly seems like anintermittent fault and thatcan be a bugger to locate. Itwould be easier to locate aneedle in a haystack or thelost treasures of Treasuresof Montezuma. The missinglink perhaps? While we’reon this subject, how aboutlooking for Bigfoot or theYeti or both of them at thesame time just to be adven-turous?

Usually intermittent faultsdenote either a faulty solderjoint or a poor connectionalong the way. Mind youthis isn’t always the case asit could be that there’s acomponent that is going outof spec and is upsetting thefine equilibrium of thewhole unit. Things thathave happened, and willhappen again.

Knowing my luck, I tend tostart from the wrong end ofthe stick with my investiga-tions. It’s referred to asSod’s Law or at times even

Murphy’s Law. It all de-pends on the angle of thedangle which best suits theoccasion. This sort of thingcan easily make me pull myhair out. Still, I was startingto have nasty thoughts at avery early phase of theprocess and it’s not healthy,not healthy at all. Surelythere was no reason forthat, or was there? Whywas I getting bad vibesabout this? Why was my bigtoe vibrating strangely?Was it a sign of bad thingsto come? It was a hunch Ijust couldn’t shake off nomatter how many times Itried.

The easiest and most prac-tical thing to do is to re-place the whole power unit.No big deal. Once done itwill eliminate a great part ofthe problem, if not totally.How’s that for being opti-mistic?

I got burnt a few times onthe service lamp locatedbehind the stacker duringthe process. I have to admitthat this does help to seeinside the machine but itdoesn’t do my skin a lot ofgood. It’s hot, really hot andthe smell of restaurant foodin the air certainly beatsthe smell of burning hairand skin. It didn’t take allthat long and I was pleasedat the minimal time con-sumed to carry out thereplacement operation. Thewoman in question camerunning back to continueplaying on her game andwith a smile I left her at it,pushing at buttons and

having a buzz at seeing hercredits going down andcoming back up again.Seems like a job well done,emphasis on seems. Big toestill vibrating strangely.

A few moments had passedby when…Pssssttttt! Oh no!I don’t believe it! It can’t be,can it? Is it a bad dream?Has the crap hit the fan?Shall I go and have a look?Do I dare?

I had no choice. I had toface the music and evenworse, the stench! My bigtoe was vibrating evenmore. Looking at the screenchanging colours again, myheart missed a beat or two.Are the Klingons invading?Have I failed? Did I make aboo boo? No good cryingabout it now as the faultwas still there even afterreplacing the power supplyunit, one way or another ithad to go. No more Mr. NiceGuy!

By the time I opened up themachine, the game hadcome back up again. Forhow long nobody knows.The service lamp was help-ing me to see reason inthere. Accidentally touchingsome wires leading behindthe stacker made the gamego off and then restartagain.

“Hmmm. This looks inter-esting,” I heard myself sayas my eyebrows lifted halfan inch. Checking plugsand sockets in the area wasa waste of time as I haddone that more than once


before. Touching the samewires behind the stackermade the game go off again.“Hmmm” (one more time).There’s something smellingrather fishy in there, and itwasn’t anything to do withthe client this time.

Doing it a third time, thesame thing happened.Surely it can’t be a coinci-dence. Falling off a tenstory building and landingsafely on a moving truckcarrying a cargo of cottonwool is a coincidence. Therewas something more sinis-ter in there. Something evil.I was brave enough to putmy hand in there evendeeper and I got burntagain on the service lamp(major OUCH!). Then it hitme like a ton of bricks! Itcould also have been acrate of fish considering thearomatic circumstances.There were cables passingby which were very close tothe lamp. Could these insome way have been dam-aged due to the heat? Itreally didn’t make muchsense as once the machinedoor was closed the lampshould go off. Following thisset of clues even deeper, Ifound out that the switchwhich turned on and off thelamp was damaged, leavingthe lamp constantly on inthere. The heat generatedactually damaged the insu-lation on the low voltage railand the bare copper wasonly a hair’s distance awayfrom the cage where thestacker is housed. No won-der I couldn’t see anything!The damage was behind thestacker and I didn’t get

close enough due to theheat from the lamp and thefact that it was blinding mewhen I got really close. Theslightest vibration (likehitting the machine in aloving sort of way) would getthe copper to short toground, overloading thesupply unit and obviouslyresetting the game. Bingo!Phew! Wow! Eat your heartout Sherlock Holmes as youhave met your match.

Insulating the barecopper wire andpulling the cablesaway from the ser-vice lamp (and ofcourse changing theswitch which turnedon and off the lamp)did it. I heard my-self breathe a hugesigh of relief. Thatwas a really weirdfault. Probably oneof the weirdest ofthe lot for a whileactually. I think I’llremember that onefor many years tocome. One goodthing about this job

is that it just doesn’t getboring. There’s usuallysomething different goingon. A new challenge. Newpeople to meet. A differentexperience. Different aro-mas. A new beginning. Anew horizon. To boldly gowhere no man has gonebefore (gas masks recom-mended of course!).

- James [email protected]


Slot Tech Feature Article

Bally Cinevision with a “billvalidator system error”

This game took me agood part of the shiftto get back running. I

wasn’t working on itsteadily but off and on andit took some time. Thecasino where I work hasbeen doing bill validatorupgrades (like everyone elsehas recently) and we raninto a few “speed bumps”along the way. Upgradingthe bill validator is how theproblem began with theCinevision. The new UBA-10 software was down-loaded into it and then theerror appeared. We weretold that the processorboard on the game did nothave to be turned off duringthe download on a “GoldenMonkey” game but it ismuch safer to do so. Whywouldn’t the error clear? Adifferent main processorboard was tried in the gameand that’s what the cureappeared to be but Ichecked into the problemfurther. I tried an NV RAMand EPROM clear on it.After all of that ordeal, the

error came right back. Iswapped bill validators withthe game next door and theproblem stayed in thegame. Maybe it was a badmain processor board afterall. I even took the twobatteries out of the mainboard to do a “memoryreset” on it but no luckthere either. By this time, tome, it was looking like abad main board as previ-ously diagnosed. Then a co-worker mentioned some-thing: the stacker box.What in the world wouldthe stacker box have to dowith a “bill validator systemerror”? Come to find out ithad EVERYTHING to dowith it. As soon as the othertech mentioned it, I couldhardly believe it. I didn’teven think about thestacker and thought he waskidding. As soon as theswitch on the stacker wasflipped in the oppositeposition that it was in, theerror cleared. ALMOSTUNBELIEVABLE! Becausethe stacker box has thesmall box on it, with aswitch inside, and it neededto be in the opposite posi-tion that it was, the BVerror would NOT clear. Thestackers are called “UBAIntelligent Cash Boxes.”

These are the boxes thathave an additional smallbox located above thehandle attached to them(The technical name of it isan ICB module box.). Insideis a small switch and, asmentioned earlier, it simplyhad to be flipped in theopposite position. Don’tmake the mistake that Idid. If a “bill validator sys-tem error” occurs on a BallyCinevision, check to see ifthe game has a standardcash box or an ICB. Here at

Quick Simple Repairs #39Pat Porath


the Island Resort and Casino in Michigan,we do not use the JCM ICBs for what theyare designed for, even though we do havesome of them on the gaming floor. I don’tknow much about them simply because wedon’t use that aspect of them.

Editor’s note: For clarification of thiscasbox issue, I forwarded this to JCM’sown Jack Geller. He is their Supervisor ofTechnical Services. Here is his response:

Looks like they have had their ICB boxesturned on for a while and are just nownoticing it. The ICB function has been inour software since 2002. Recently therehave been some changes to some of thefunctionsthat may be the culprit in thiscase. While doing some training about twomonths ago, it was brought to my attentionthat a casino was having a problem withsome new games they had just put on thefloor. It seems after the drop, the Valida-tors would go out of service until the cashbox was reseated. When I investigated thisI noticed they had ICB cashboxes. Occasionally manufacturers willship ICB units even if they are not speci-fied in the order.

The Software has a few fail safes to insurecash boxes are not introduced into ma-chines with information from anothergame. One of the first things an ICB ca-pable Validator will do when a new cash

box is inserted is to query the memorymodule on the cash box to see if there isanother machine number assigned. If thereis no machine assigned tothe cash box, the validator assigns theasset number of the game to the cash box.With earlier versions of software if the ICBfunction was not turned on, the validatornever communicated with the box. Thisran into problems when Validators wereexchanged but not properly enabled. Thedata for that drop was not recorded be-cause the unit wasn't properly enabled.

The latest version of software will now lookfor an ICB cash box weather or not the ICBfunction is enabled. This way, if a casino isusing ICB and the cash boxed are turnedon, but the validator isn't properly enabled,the validator will set an error code andforce the tech to check the validator to seewhat is wrong.

There are error codes visible on the diag-nostic LEDs in a UBA that will distinguishwhat is going on during an initializationcycle if an ICB error is occurring. Thesecan be found in the UBA manual on theJCM web site at http://www.jcm-american.com/docs/manuals/960-000097.pdf. Page A-13 Initialization codes.

I/O cards shake loose. It’s tempting to just give‘em a push but you should power down first.

JCM’s Intelligent Cash Box or ICB


The simple rule for ICBcapable cash boxes in aNon ICB environment issince you aren't using theICB, make sure they areturned off. the method forthis is explained in theMarch tech bulletin on theJCM web site http://www.jcm-american.com/docs/bulletins/bulletin-200803.pdf.

Also if the ICB isn't beingused by the casino, it is asimple matter to remove themodule from the cash box.Two screws to remove thecover, and two more toremove the module.

Hope this helps.Jack M Geller, Supervisorof Technical ServicesJCM Global -www.jcmglobal.com

IGT S2000 “Reel 2” Tilt

While testing a GEN 2printer in the game, after areboot, a “reel 2” errordidn’t want to clear. Thereel was given a spin byhand and there wasn’t anyvoltage on it. Kind of weird,

all I was doing was testingout printers and now I havea reel tilt. I reseated thereel, and rebooted thegame, still the errorwouldn’t clear. Next, thegame was powered downonce again and the I/Oboard next to the main


processor board waschecked to see if it wasseated properly. It seemedto be a little bit loose so Isnugged it in place andfired up the game. Thistime, after the second doorreset, the error cleared. Aslightly loose I/O board wascausing the problem. Whenchecking the boards to seeif they have come loose, it isalways a good idea to shutthe game OFF. Otherwisethere is a good chance thatyou will fry the board.

Quick Repairs for Printers– Continued

The first FutureLogicprinter, known at the timeas “Seiko” or “GEN 1” iscapable of printing threeinches per second, hasdiagnostic LEDs and comesin two different types. Oneof them is called the PSA-66-001N. The “N” stands forNETPLEX which is associ-ated with IGT games. Theother is a PSA-66-ST. Theseare used in games otherthan IGT. There are twoLEDs on the unit. One ismarked “status” and theother is marked “error.”These aren’t on the printerjust to look pretty. They canbe used for troubleshooting.

This is how they work:

STATUS LED-ON ERR LEDOFF-the unit is ready forprinting STATUS LED-OFF ERRLED ON-out of paper STATUS LED -OFF ERRLED ON-the print head maybe up

STATUS LED-OFF ERRLED medium blinking-unitmay have a temperatureerror STATUS LED-OFF ERRLED slowly blinking - mayhave a voltage error STATUS LED-OFF ERRLED quickly blinking-mayhave a print head error, apaper jam, or it may havemissed the black indexmark.

When working on thisprinter, try to keep in mindwhich software that it hasdownloaded on it because aPSA-66-ST RS232 unit willNOT work in an IGT gameunless the motherboard hasbeen “flashed” (or pro-grammed) to a PSA-66-001N NETPLEX type. Onceagain (as well as all otherprinters) a simple cleaningcures a lot of the problems.Dust will buildup on theoptics and cause the unitsto malfunction. I first in-spect the printer to see ifthere is anything obviouswrong with it, such as theribbon cable. On the GEN1, the cable is quite wideand I have run across a fewthat have had bare wiresshowing. They had gottenpinched in a game and thewire was exposed, whichcould cause other problemssuch as taking out thepower board.

The power or COM board islocated directly behind theprinter paper tray and theribbon cable plugs into it.There are two differenttypes of these also. If theboard has dip switches on

it, then it is used in gamesother than IGTs. If theboard does NOT have dipswitches, then it is used inNetplex (IGT) games. Thewhite connector on the onewith the dips has 14 pins,while the other only hasten.

After the unit is inspectedand cleaned, I power it upto see if it will feed paper. Ifit does, I test it to see it willprint out a “self demoticket” a.k.a. “sample con-figuration ticket.” If it printsa good ticket, it tells mewhat version of softwarethat it has downloaded in it,the model, and the printquality. To print one, pressand hold the “feed button”then power up the printer.Once the ticket starts toprint, release the button. Ifit is going to print, it shouldstart in a few seconds, if itdoesn’t then there may be aproblem such as a badmotherboard or a dirtyoptic or even a softwareconflict. In a situationwhere the printer does printa “sample config. ticket” Iwill still test the unit in agame. Currently we canconnect the GEN 1 printerup to the desktop PC in ourother shop but for me it isfaster and closer to test theprinter directly in a game.

Some Tips on the GEN 2and the GEN 2 UniversalPrinters

The vast majority of thetime, dusty dirty optics arethe cause of the problem. Aquick cleaning and a lot of


the time they will be RFI(ready for installation). If aprinter prints fine on thebench and fine in a gamewith the door open butwhen a customer plays thegame the ticket jams, theproblem may be a bent ormisaligned bezel. I’ve seen afew in which the metal bezelwas bent just a bit, butenough to cause jams.Another item to look for if aticket is still jamming on itsway out of a game is themachine printer bezel. Ihaven’t seen very manyproblems with uprightgames but on slant tops, wehave had a few problems.There is a “slot machinebezel” for AGATE slant topgames that has a clearplastic piece in it that helpsguide the ticket out of thegame during a print. Whenyou see the clear plasticmaterial, it may be mis-taken for an item that wasused for shipping the part.The plastic piece ISNEEDED. Do not remove itfrom the bezel. Once in awhile, I will swap out amotherboard in one, butoverall in my opinion, theGEN 2 and the GEN 2 Uni-versal run quite well.

Ithaca Epic 950

We recently received a fewof these on the gaming floorin some Bally games. So farso good, I haven’t had anyproblem with one thus far.It’s pretty easy to tell thedifference between theNetplex and the RS232 typeof units. The Netplex has a10 pin connector on the

communication board andthe RS232 type has 14 pinson the board. (TransactNetplex communicationboard part number 95-05001, The RS232 commu-nication board part numberis 95-04998.). The 950 evenhas a USB port. There arefour pins on the communi-cation board. The Transactpart number 95-05007.Does it include diagnosticlights? Answer: Yes it suredoes, and they are as fol-lows:

Ready LED ON- the printershould be A-okReady LED ON and OpenLED ON- the printer coveris openReady LED ON and OpenLED Blinking-the chassis isopen (printer not all theway in game)Ready LED ON and PaperLED ON- printer out ofpaperReady LED ON and PaperLED Blinking-printer is lowon paperReady LED blinking andFault LED Blinking (notgood) -printer has a tem-perature errorReady LED ON and FaultLED Blinking-paper jam

Ready LED Blinks twice,pauses, then blinks twiceagain and the Fault LED isON (not a good sign) -printer has a RAM errorReady LED Blinks 4 times,pauses, then blinks 4 timesagain and the Fault LED isON (also not good)-printerhas a “checksum error”(software problem)

Hopefully this will help inmaintaining the Epic 950printer.

An Aristocrat With a ComHost Failure

After an Aristocrat gamehad a full RAM clear pre-formed on it because ofsome corrupt meters, the“com host failure” errordidn’t want to clear. Thistype of error often is causedwhen the game loses com-munication with the track-ing system. At the casino Iwork at, we use Oasis,which I still like to callCDS. Since it was a COMerror, why not take a lookat the Aristocrat SPC COMboard? If the small red lightis blinking at a fast rate, itmeans that there is morethan likely good communi-cation. If the light is blink-ing slowly, like it was inthis case, there was a prob-lem. Since the game hadrecently been RAM cleared,maybe it was a softwareissue? While checking outthe “game option software”,such as machine numberand denomination, I noticedthat the SPC board optionwas set at 0 instead of 1.Because the setting was notat 1, this caused the ma-chine not to talk to the SPCboard and the SPC boardnot to talk to the Oasistracking system. I simplychanged it to 1 and within aminute, the game commu-nication was working per-fectly.

- Pat Porath- [email protected]


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Aruze, inventors of the transmis-sive reels technology, showedsome really outstanding ma-chines, in some REALLY interest-ing cabinets. They also demon-strated their “Rescue Pay”scheme that well, I’ll stop short ofsaying that it rewards total losersbut it is a sort of “slot insurance”that may interest players.

New, large display technology allows for some prettyimpressive machines. What was the name of this game,again? Oh yeah. I think it was called ebay or something.Some little gaming company called IGT was showing it.


Slot Tech Show Report - Randy Fromm visits the NIGA show in San Die


n San Diego, California

Above left: I never in a million years thought I’d seemy friends from UNICUM (Russia) here in my home-town of San Diego! It is unfortunate that their boothremained empty for much of the time as UNICUM is avery good company that makes very good slotmachines.

Above and left: I really like the transmissive reels inthe WMS Bluebird (in fact, I like the entire WMSBluebird system). This image is bad. I was actuallyforbidden by a WMS employee to take photographsof the WMS machines while on the WMS stand at theNIGA show. I had snapped this one before I waspolitely but forcefully told in no uncertain terms that Iwas not to take any additional photographs of WMSequipment. I was told that I could download theimages. Um . . . No thanks. I can download a pictureof Hulk Hogan too but I’d really rather take a photo ofhim myself (and I have!).

Left: Gary Platt and Bob Yabroff react to theirhalarious ad in the April issue of Slot Tech Magazine.

Bottom left: Nova’s Felix the Cat - One of my favoritecartoon characters!

Bottom middle: Amelie Bergeron of Nanoptix showstheir high speed coupon printer for casinos. Imaginebeing able to quickly print a couple of hundredtickets any time you need ‘em. The printer also burststhe tickets, detaching them from the stack.

Bottom right: When a Big Bertha just isn’t bigenough . . . you need something Colossal!


Slot Tech Press Release

Aristocrat Technologieshas announced that ithas received multiple test

lab certifications for its newaward-winning VIRIDIAN™cabinet in key markets in NorthAmerica. The groundbreakingproduct is now certified in mostGLI jurisdictions, New Jersey,and three Canadian provinces.

In addition to the certifications,the VIRIDIAN cabinet completedits Colorado field trial ahead ofschedule, and is in the finalstages of field trial in Nevada.VIRIDIAN was initially placed inselect approved markets in lateMarch and has received an ex-tremely positive response fromplayers and operators alike.

Aristocrat Sr. Vice President ofSales Sean Evans said, “Ourreports show that customer ac-ceptance is very high, and earlynumbers indicate improved ca-sino performance with morethan a 50 percent increase inmultiple locations. We believethat can be directly attributedto VIRIDIAN’s unique featuresincluding its dynamicscorecard, easy-play interface,and high impact cabinet pres-ence.”

The industry immediately em-braced VIRIDIAN at its debutsat G2E and NIGA, and GlobalGaming Business magazinenamed it the year’s “Best NewSlot Product.”

The VIRIDIAN cabinet is de-

ARISTOCRAT TECHNOLOGIES RECEIVES MULTIPLECERTIFICATIONS FOR VIRIDIAN™ CABINET

Award-winning VIRIDIAN™ Certified for Jurisdictions Across North AmericaCompany Filling Orders From Coast to Coast

active video terminal systems,electronic tables, and casinomanagement systems. For fur-ther information visit thecompany’s website atww.aristocratgaming.com.

signed for optimal player com-fort and operator serviceabilityand features a slimmer foot-print, high resolution dual LCDsand unique, wrap-around bellyart, creating a truly uniqueproduct offering. VIRIDIAN em-braces environmentally respon-sible design and productionmethods, resulting in a 100 per-cent RoHS-compliant productand increased energy efficiencyfor operators.

Driven by an Intel™ processor,the innovative GEN7 platformfeatures dynamic scorecardsand an enhanced Easy Play on-screen interface, includingplayer-selectable denomina-tions. The new platform utilizesSmart card and flash card tech-nology, and, in addition to of-fering an enhanced player ex-perience, GEN7 paves the wayfor downloadable, server-basedand wireless gaming, support-ing the technology of today whiledriving the technology of thefuture.

Aristocrat Technologies Inc. isa subsidiary of Aristocrat Lei-sure Limited (ASX: ALL), a lead-ing global provider of gaming so-lutions that consistently outper-form the competition. The Com-pany is licensed by over twohundred regulators and itsproducts and services are avail-able in over ninety countriesaround the world. Aristocrat of-fers a diverse range of productsand services including elec-tronic gaming machines, inter-



Octavian International Selects FutureLogic as the Preferred TechnologyPartner for Its Next-Generation Ticket-In/Ticket-Out Systems

FutureLogic, Inc. has announced that it has signed a strategic partnership agreement with OctavianInternational, a leading global developer of gaming systems and software solutions. According tothe agreement, Octavian will integrate, support and promote FutureLogic’s thermal ticket printers

and promotional couponing technology across their full range of electronic gaming machines and casinomanagement systems.

FutureLogic’s GEN2™printers and promotional couponing technology will be integrated with all existingand new server-based games and slots equipped with TITO (Ticket-In/Ticket-Out) technology andcontrolled by Octavian’s ACP (Accounting, Control, Progressives) casino management systems. Octavianwill also provide technical service and system integration support for FutureLogic products.

“With its history of technical innovation and demonstrated leadership in TITO printer reliability andperformance, FutureLogic was the ideal choice to help take Octavian International to the next level ofglobal brand preference,” said Peter Moffitt, President of Octavian International. “The GEN2 Printer’senviable position as the number one preferred printer for casinos and EGMs worldwide will beinstrumental in further solidifying Octavian’s leadership in the rapidly developing international gamingmarket.”

“The timing of this key strategic partnership with Octavian International represents a tremendousopportunity for FutureLogic,” said John Edmunds, VP International Markets. “The rapid growth of TITOacross EMEA, APR and South America, coupled with Octavian’s proven gaming industry expertise andproduct portfolio, greatly boosts our ability to provide casinos and gaming manufacturers with reliable,innovative printing and marketing solutions.”

For further information, contact FutureLogic Europe at: +44.1628.760.083 for sales enquiries, or:+44.1628.760.082 for technical service.

T +44 (0) 1453 886 000

F +44 (0) 1453 885 013

[email protected]

www.heber.co.uk

Belvedere Mill, Chalford, Stroud, GL8 6NT, UK

Press Release

Press release title Heber launches Pluto 8

Date of release: 15 May 2008

Publish date: IMMEDIATE

Included images: pluto_8.jpg heber_pluto_logo.bmp

Release reference: PR97, 80-16549 Issue 74

Contact: Russell Mort [email protected]

Release starts…

Heber, the world’s leading manufacturer of embedded and PC-based reel and video gaming control systems, is proud to announce the launch of the eagerly awaited Pluto 8.

Already making ripples in the global gaming community, Pluto 8 is the latest addition to the internationally successful Pluto range from Heber. Pluto 8 has been designed to meet the demands of the ever evolving gaming industry and was created to power multi-games, dual video, embedded and Linux gaming systems.

Russell Mort, Marketing Executive at Heber, said “People in the industry have already shown significant interest in the latest Pluto launch. Our team of specialist engineers are dedicated to innovative design and creative engineering and, based on feedback from the industry, Pluto 8 has been designed to meet our customer’s needs and exceed their expectations.”

Coinciding with the launch, Heber will be releasing the Pluto 8 Development Kits. These provide an ideal test environment for gaming system developers and speed up development, while reducing the time-to-market.

Pluto 8 and Pluto 8 development Kits will be available from 1 June 2008.

…release ends

See over for Editor’s notes

Heber Limited. Registered Office: Belvedere Mill, Chalford, Stroud. GL6 8NT UK

Kingbright LED Brochure

Kingbright Corporation, a TS 16949, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 certifiedLED manufacturer has released its 2008 LED Brochure, a

complete LED Solution Guide for Gaming Applications. Tailored tomeet design engineer’s ultimate design needs, this full-color brochurefeatures detailed product descriptions, specifications, and diagramsfor its customized LED selections including Ultra-Bright RGB FullColor, Bi-Color, & Single Color SMD LEDs, Special Color LEDsincluding pink, purple, & ice blue, High Brightness Light Bars, LowProfile SMD Displays in various sizes and types, Right Angle SMDLEDs and many more. With utmost quality, reliability, and capability,Kingbright offers 3D specifications on the website as well as fullcustom LED options in package with desired shape, form, and colorfurther enhancing engineer’s design solutions.

About Kingbright

Kingbright Corporation is a leading component manufacturer of Blue& White LEDs, RGB Full Color LEDs, Low Profile SMD Displays, LEDLamps, SMD Lamps, and other LED-related products with variouscolor selections including pink, purple, blue lagoon. With over 27years of consistent hard work, Kingbright has brought its joint effortto full fruition by transforming the company into a well recognizedindustrial powerhouse on the international stage. Kingbright operatesfour manufacturing plants in Shenzhen, China, all accredited with TS16949, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 certification.

For more information, please contactKingbright Corporation,225 Brea Canyon Road,City of Industry, CA 91789Tel (909) 468-0500e-mail: [email protected]: www.KingbrightUSA.com


Editor’s note: I have this brochure and it is very slick and veryinteresting. If you are involved in game or signage design, I hopeyou’ll request a copy. And no, you can’t download it (I asked!) - rf

INVITES YOU TO A MONITOR REPAIR CLASS

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GLI HOLDS INCREDIBLY SUCCESSFUL REGULA-TORS ROUNDTABLES ON TWO CONTINENTS

Gaming Laboratories International has successfully completed regulators roundtables on two

continents, and the reviews have been very positive.

GLI’s 7th annual North American Roundtable drewmore than 200 regulators from 93 jurisdictionsacross the United States and Canada. Its 5th an-nual European Roundtable attracted 47 regulatorsfrom 18 jurisdictions across the continent, from theU.K. to Lithuania.

GLI’s Roundtable is a great opportunity to becomemore familiar with new technologies and currentworld practices in adopting them. We found theroundtable very useful, and we are impatiently wait-ing for the next meeting,â•? said Danielius StaÅ¡ys,Head of Gaming Devices Inspection and Register Di-vision, State Gaming Control Commission inLithuania.

GLI Sr. Director Engineering and Client Services IanHughes said, “We are thrilled with the way theroundtables went. Today, 111 jurisdictions aroundthe world are more informed and more prepared fortheir regulatory challenges, and that is extremelybeneficial to the global gaming industry. No othercompany offers such an experience, and we areproud to present the roundtables and to do it free ofcharge?”

GLI will be conducting condensed versions of theroundtables in multiple international jurisdictionsover the remainder of 2008. Next for GLI is a seriesof training sessions throughout the year in thecompany’s GLI University program. The trainings arealso presented free of charge to regulators.

Gaming Laboratories International operates ninefully accredited testing laboratories worldwide, in ad-dition to fully accredited inspection bodies inAmerica, Europe and Africa. GLI is the only inde-pendent testing laboratory of its kind to hold bothU.S. and International accreditations for compliancewith ISO 17025 and 17020 standards for technicalcompetence in testing and inspection services.

Contact: Christie Eickelman, Director of WorldwideMarketing Gaming Laboratories International +1(702) 914-2220 or [email protected]



Slot Tech Event - SlotFest 17

SlotFest (featuringTechFest 17) washeld May 6-8 2008.

Once again, the event washeld at Minnesota’s MysticLake Casino and whileTechFest itself may havebeen a clone of last year’sevent (same speakers ofcourse but as always, thelatest technical presenta-tions) the addition of theUniversity of Nevada,Reno’s slot managementprogram attracted attend-ees from international ca-sino operators with opera-tions in Aruba, St. Maartin,

Above: Ken Moberly leadsthe SlotFest, slot managersprogram.

Left: Mystic Lake’s NormHohenstein lead a daily tourof the facilities.

Left: Sencore’s Bobby Ruffinruns through some LCDtroubleshootingprocedeures.

Bottom: Suzo-Happ’s DavidOldham presented both MEIand FutureLogic training.


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Slot Tech Event - SlotFest 17

Mexico and Canada as wellas USA, of course.

Generally speaking, I amnot one to walk around witha puffed-up chest proclaim-ing how great I am or howawesome Slot Tech Maga-zine is but I must say that Iam enormously proud ofthe TechFest program andmy cadre of presenters, allof whom come from themanufacturers themselvesor their service facilities.Together, we make a truelyawesome team. I am verypleased to welcome UNRAdjunct Professor KenMoberly (that’s a fancy wayof saying this guy has tonsof real-world experience butlacks an actual degree ineducation so he can’t becalled “professor” or all the

real professors freak out) tothe event, which, as youhave likely noticed, I’m nowcalling “SlotFest.”

Ken’s teaching style fits inperfectly with the spirit of

TechFest. Any of you thathave attended the event inthe past know that while wecover a ton of stuff (some-times very detailed) we tryto keep things loose andinject a little humor and


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fun into things. Slot mathcan be fun? Ken thinks soand he proves it to theclass. Casino layout? Thereis a lot to learn but it’s notrocket science. After a dayon the subject, you knowwhat you’re doing. Now,grab your scissors andprove to your classmates!Anyway, the whole slotmanagement course washighly rewarding and awhole bunch o’ fun, withrave reviews from everyonewho attended except forone disgruntled attendeewho complained that themeeting room was too smallfor the class size. He was100% correct and we movedthe class to a much largerroom after the first day.Sorry, Bro. We had someunexpected defectors, dirtyrotten scoundrels thatbailed from TechFest andjoined The Overlords, A.K.A.Slot Management (actually,they accidentally had beensigned up for the wrongevent).

Anyway, there were far toomany attendees to list here.If you came to the eventand you want download theclass picture, it’s actually ahuge .jpg file. It’s around 20MB. Visit the website atslot-techs.com and you’llfind a link somewhere.

- Slot Tech Magazine

Slot Tech Event -SlotFest 17

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

Slot Tech Magazine is strictly technical. As such, themagazine's contents are not time critical. The repair information and

technical data contained in past issues is just as valid today as it was the dayit was published.

Additionally, current and future articles more-or-less assume that readers arealready familiar with what has been covered in past issues. This editorial policyassures that Slot Tech Magazine's contributing writers are not limited to"writing down" to the level of a novice technician but are free to continue toproduce the most comprehensive technical articles in the gaming industry.

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

Subscription rates:

Domestic (USA & Canada) 1 year - $60.00 2 years - $120.00

International 1 year - $120.00 2 years - $240.00

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Type of card: [ ] American Express [ ] Discover [ ] MasterCard [ ] VisaAccount Number: ________________________Expiration Date: ________________________

All single issues of Slot Tech Magazine are $10.00/ea.For further details on the contents of each issue,please refer to the website at slot-tech.com

Back Issues

2008 single issues @ $10.00 each 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Invoice me!PO Number________________________

Complete archive (2001 to present) avail-able online. Visit slot-techs.com for details.

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