Ticket Muncher adjustment

[Beach Bear]

Hello. Somebody walked away with $30 dollars worth of merch today via the ticket trick. You know the "in-and-out" trick... How can I adjust it stop that from happening? Please give me detailed instructions.

[CEC3066]

WOAH!! I didn't even know that was possible (not that i'd ever try it.) how'd you determine that's what they did?

[Beach Bear]

WOAH!! I didn't even know that was possible (not that i'd ever try it.) how'd you determine that's what they did?
Because I saw them do it and that's what I used to do. Normally, the munchers will deduct from the ticket values if they detect the same but a lot of them are not properly calibrated to do so.

[chucki233]

Step one- Find your coin drop book (If you are a GRA than you should know what I am talking about)
Step two- Find the current date
Step three- Find "Ticket Muncher 1"
Step Four- Put an X in the operational space
Step Five- Write what you believe is wrong in the note section. Be sure to specify which Ticket Muncher you are talking about.
Step Six- Repeat for all problematic munchers.

If you like your job, I wouldn't suggest going any further than that.

[Beach Bear]

Step one- Find your coin drop book (If you are a GRA than you should know what I am talking about)
Step two- Find the current date
Step three- Find "Ticket Muncher 1"
Step Four- Put an X in the operational space
Step Five- Write what you believe is wrong in the note section. Be sure to specify which Ticket Muncher you are talking about.
Step Six- Repeat for all problematic munchers.

If you like your job, I wouldn't suggest going any further than that.

Then I'd be Xing all of them. Apparently, the techs don't know how to do it or it would have already been done. So... Can somebody just tell me how to fix it and I'll just do it myself. I'm a Game Attendant. I've done a couple quick fixes on games before so please don't just treat me like I'm a noob and don't know anything about technology. I'm talking about when plugs and switches get de-soldered. People probably don't notice but a couple times, I've hardwired them back. Same with the coin switches, and coin lamps. And I diagnosed what was wrong with one of the games which turned out to be a dead motherboard or power-supply on the PC. I'm not trying to start a flame. But I hate it when people act like I don't know anything about technology and just tell me to "leave it to the experts or the equivalent."
I'm not saying you were but thats what I feel like you meant. Once again, I'm not trying to make you made or anything...

But yeah I know that I don't have a high enough rank to solder anything or anything big like that. But that does not mean that I can't do this. I DOUBT it requires any really hard work.

[PuroMax]

I believe it requires changing parts (new O rings), so unless you're someone who is authorized to spend money your time would be best spent reporting/confronting the behavior rather than fixing the machine

[Beach Bear]

I believe it requires changing parts (new O rings), so unless you're someone who is authorized to spend money your time would be best spent reporting/confronting the behavior rather than fixing the machine

*sigh* Very well then, I'll just tell the manager about the O rings. If I can get a exact procedure, that would help a lot. Because I only work part-time. So that means we could lose 30 dollars of merch for every guest that does this. A lot of my co-workers tend to get really groggy when they are at merch and tend to miss things like that.

[busytech]

Even with a fully adjusted and "tuned" muncher it is still possible to do the in/out cheat if you know what to do. The only 100% sure way is to upgrade the ticket sensor PCB (and programming chip) to the latest model from Deltronic. These have an extra sensor on them that eliminates any chance of cheating. I upgraded 1 of mine last month, and am planning to do my others as the budget allows.

[pizzacam]

If you like your job, I wouldn't suggest going any further than that.

LOL sigh man... If I had a dollar for everytime I asked myself this before I took a risk with something at CEC back in the day. I mean I was assistant tech though and aside from asking every five minutes about something simple I was taught in most cases to just try to troubleshoot it myself...

*Again I was assistant tech at the time, so I had more room than a cast member or GRA!* Take Daniel's advice if you value your job! ;)

[Beach Bear]

LOL sigh man... If I had a dollar for everytime I asked myself this before I took a risk with something at CEC back in the day. I mean I was assistant tech though and aside from asking every five minutes about something simple I was taught in most cases to just try to troubleshoot it myself...

*Again I was assistant tech at the time, so I had more room than a cast member or GRA!* Take Daniel's advice if you value your job! ;)
So... Your telling me NOT to at least tell my manager about the simple plug-and-play upgrade to the Ticket Munchers? By PCB I'm assuming you'd replace the ticket muncher reader PCB which is the board attached to the ticket mech. While the programming board obviously has to be the only other board in there. Of course there will be some probable hex values to enter and/or a upgrade procedure/setup but... I'm sure it's in the manual.

Well, anyways, how do you become a Game Technician or Assistant Tech? Because I am extremely unhappy with the limited-ness of my actions that can be performed about this issue. Because it does piss me off a lot that people go and cheat on the ticket munchers. Which is kind of funny that now that you work there, you care so much about it. But yeah and I also have experience in rewiring arcade machines, soldering components onto PCBs (switches, buttons, leds), complete knowledge of diagnosing PC failure (for example, one of the games has a "no signal" sign on it). I did not check out the game thoroughly but I know how to figure out what's wrong. It could ether be a faultly/dead motherboard in the PC, faulty power supply in the PC, faulty graphics card, faulty VGA cable, or perhaps a problem with the monitor. I once modded my Guitar Hero guitar with new microswitches. And it still works. I did once break one because I soldered to the same joint to many times and burned off the pad. But I believe you can solder directly to the trace if needed.

I'm not trying to be difficult or anything I would just like to apply my skills further in this field which is part of the reason I applied for a job here is to help out with the problems that go un-noticed in this store. Like the Mario Kart buttons not working (could be a bad switch), de-soldered wire, or a incorrect value in the gameboard setup.

[bzier]

this has become quite an issue at stores lately...almost every store I've vistied in the past three months I've caught people doing this. They do it all the time at my store too. We calibrate the munchers, but over time they just go to crap again. We also can't really do too much when it comes to 'reprimanding' the guest, so it just continues to be a problem.

I have an idea. GET RID OF TOKENS AND TICKETS AND SWITCH EVERYTHING TO CARDS! No way to cheat with that!

[mrfixit13]

Muncher parts do tend to wear somewhat quickly, but most of the time the issue you are talking about can be solved with new o ring and new roller springs. If you want to try to be an assistant tech, talk to your tech or GM. Most stores are not fortunate enough to have help like that, but I do think most or certain stores should allow the tech to have a helper of sorts. Just don't go and try to fix things on your own, even if you think or know you can. You never know what can go wrong and you do not want a major game failure to be pinned on you due to a simple mistake.

[pizzacam]

So... Your telling me NOT to at least tell my manager about the simple plug-and-play upgrade to the Ticket Munchers? By PCB I'm assuming you'd replace the ticket muncher reader PCB which is the board attached to the ticket mech. While the programming board obviously has to be the only other board in there. Of course there will be some probable hex values to enter and/or a upgrade procedure/setup but... I'm sure it's in the manual.

Well, anyways, how do you become a Game Technician or Assistant Tech? Because I am extremely unhappy with the limited-ness of my actions that can be performed about this issue. Because it does piss me off a lot that people go and cheat on the ticket munchers. Which is kind of funny that now that you work there, you care so much about it. But yeah and I also have experience in rewiring arcade machines, soldering components onto PCBs (switches, buttons, leds), complete knowledge of diagnosing PC failure (for example, one of the games has a "no signal" sign on it). I did not check out the game thoroughly but I know how to figure out what's wrong. It could ether be a faultly/dead motherboard in the PC, faulty power supply in the PC, faulty graphics card, faulty VGA cable, or perhaps a problem with the monitor. I once modded my Guitar Hero guitar with new microswitches. And it still works. I did once break one because I soldered to the same joint to many times and burned off the pad. But I believe you can solder directly to the trace if needed.

I'm not trying to be difficult or anything I would just like to apply my skills further in this field which is part of the reason I applied for a job here is to help out with the problems that go un-noticed in this store. Like the Mario Kart buttons not working (could be a bad switch), de-soldered wire, or a incorrect value in the gameboard setup.


No, that's what I AM saying... tell your tech about something before you take it upon yourself to work on it unless you know exactly what you're doing...

[Beach Bear]

No, that's what I AM saying... tell your tech about something before you take it upon yourself to work on it unless you know exactly what you're doing...

First of all, I would not attempt it if I was not completely confident in my skills... Second of all, it was non-functional anyways. So I just ended up breaking something that was already broken... And that does not mean I'd make the mistake again. The PCB was quite tiny and I was using a 30-watt soldering gun. It probably would have been better to use a 15-watt. Please don't make comments about what appears to be a lack of knowledge on my part. I HATE being underestimated. But yeah. I took your advise. Turns out I was right about the problem with Nicktoons. It was funny because one of the T2 Trainers told me I could have fixed it myself... But ether way, I didn't have the supplies since it required a new VGA Cable. Apparently, the old had a short in it.

[JoshBrown]

There are a few things to check when people are able to cheat the ticket munchers...

Technically, each ticket muncher should have spare o-rings on the roller shafts. If there are spares, cuttting off an old one and replacing just one can usually help with that problem....BUUUTTT....
99.9 percent of the time when going to other stores I find the techs do not put spres on the rollers. This means in order to change the o-rings the whole roller housing has to be torn apart....again not impossible, although getting gear allignments and clutch alignments just so is quite tricky, especially if you have never had one apart.

Another problem is the tension springs could be bent...In the manual for the ticket muncher there should be a scale drawing of the tension springs....if you take one off and compare it to the picture you can quickly tell if its bent out of shape.

The third and probably most complex cause for this could be the side plates that the rollers ride in could be worn...the way to check this is to remove the circuit board and try to move the rollers front to back...if they move excessively then that could be your problem...sometimes you can just look at the side plate where the roller shaft sits.....if its not a straight up and down groove and kinda goes horizontal that could be causing the problem. The rooler shafts themselves can also develop a taper on the end which will allow the roller to walk back and forth....These problems are the most complex and I personally would not let anyone but myself try to fix those...

If you really want to be an assistant tech, the first step is talking to the tech at your store, expressing interest, and demonstrating knowledge.

Hope this helps....let us know

Josh
Technical Manager