Am I mad?

[SassMate]

I just paid around £90 for 1 x MK pcb, 2 x taito football champ, 1 x Joe and Mac pcbs, all in various states of not working, all bootlegs.
I plan to fix and keep, or maybe sell 1 of the taito boards. I'm quite new to the hobby and I'd class myself as amateur when it comes to repairing these things but I'm slowly gathering tools to do so and looking forward to learning more (got a logic probe, analyzer, multimeter etc).

Have I paid through the nose for the above or is it a decent price, all depending on the faults of course... I literally have nothing to compare them to.

 

[Lurch666]

That's a fine price for bootlegs if you can get them working.
Half of this hobby to me is gambling on none working boards and seeing if I can get them working. I've paid more for less since I enjoy the fixing.
If I had been offered those at that price I might have gone for it as well.
And the ones you can't fix are good for spares.

 

[Jacmar]

Agree with Lurch. I've learnt tons tinkering with cheap bootlegs, can't go wrong at just over £20 a board

 

[TheDaddy]

Great price !!! Great to start on as well as others mentioned, No customs (Well sometimes but rare ish). Every now and then even seasoned repairers muck a board up and kill it one way or another , I have done this a couple of times and dont mind admitting it.

Although I have not repaired for a while the thing that drew me too it was :-

1) Getting a board when you had no clue what it was , Pulling the roms and discovering its secrets !
2) The time on my own , No mither from the outside world just me , My workshop and a cup of tea.
3) When a board wont boot and finally you figure out the issue and it does , There is NO better feeling IMO.
4) Boxing and labeling her up reay for a game in the cab.

Good luck,

Dave.

 

[Flyback2021]

As others have said the boards you picked up are a decent place to start and learn on while at a reasonable price.
Many helpful folk on here ( a lot who have commented and liked the posts on this thread already! ) who give great advice and tips plus provide very detailed posts and explanations about the work they are doing on boards.
This hobby relies on repair to keep it going !
Good Luck !

 

[69er]

There’s usually nothing wrong with what a number of people refer to as ‘bootlegs’ (a fairly obvious cheap copy with substitute quality components? and poor track printing etc.) as long as you are not mislead by the seller to believe they are originals?

They are usually cheaper and easier to get?
If you want that game just to own and play.

Back in the 80s the demand for latest games outstripped Japan supply 10 fold .
Manufacturers in USA and France mainly were often fully licensed by main designers, to build the boards to fairly exact spec? , but then as now reverse engineering could work the codes and leaked data may have been obtainable from those places? Often the IC numbers were filed to prevent easy identification or blocks of circuits were sealed in like mastic to hide unique components.
Serial numbers and holographic stickers etc ‘can’ indicate a genuine original … but working in arcades you see plenty of fake bank notes and the older pound coins too ..

This week Easter crowds in Towyn are good cover for a spate of fake £20 notes being spent for low value goods in pubs and markets etc … there are pictures of suspected family in area passing scores in shops etc. (police release info) . . I could show you some you would accept and still often work in some coin mechs,

This is the way of the world if people can copy something or cheat the system, they will…

so serial numbers can look genuine too … big money involved when games were fresh to the market just like vhs films and music CDs etc …. If a thing can be made it can be faked too !

If you buy boards at a price you feel happy with then to you they are good value. If however they are unlicensed copy pcbs and you try to sell them as genuine it’s just you breaking any copyright law. A game is a game at the end of the day. Not mad at all just human and in my opinion still ok value if they are easy fix or give you a bit of repair experience?

 

[WatchThemAllFallDown]

Gst in there and have a go 👍

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