Sticking with the simpler ancillaries for now, let's look at the game display next.
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| External view of the game display |
As noted before, the display is housed inside the front removable section of the main case. Its main section is 43cm wide by 40cm tall. At the bottom, the sides are 8cm deep increasing to 16cm at the top, with the section of the case top being 23cm deep. The tongue that slots into the main unit is then 30x5x5cm. The noughts and crosses board is shown behind a white plastic diffuser that is 20x20cm with each board position being approximately 5.5cm square.
The front of the display is held in place by two wood screws at its top. If these are removed, and an additional screw at the bottom of each side is loosened slightly, the front panel hinges open from the top, giving access to the interior.
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| Internal view of the game display |
Two wires run from the bottom connector to each tic-tac-toe position. In each case the upper wire splits and connects to two terminals that poke through the back of the lamp assembly, the lower wire goes to a single terminal.
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| Closeup of the lamp terminals |
As can be seen, the game positions are labelled A through H, and J (presumably to avoid the ambiguous letter I). When looking at the game board from the front, position A is top left, J is bottom right, with C being top right. We can now see that this nomenclature is carried over from the first letter of the second, third, fifth and sixth columns of relays (and the second letter looks to be the tic-tac-toe symbol). Hopefully this will be useful later, although it does mean I should update the controller schematic.
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| Relay labeling |
Coming back to the display, the lamp array assembly is held in place by numerous bolts on the back and screws on the side. It was decided not to attempt to disassemble it further, as the wiring could be deduced from the exposed terminals. Looking down at the top of the lamp assembly, it's possible to see the 27 incandescent bulbs that make up the array.
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| Top view of the lamp assembly |
Although the incoming terminals for the X and O symbols are offset vertically, it is clear that the bulbs are not, and instead the terminal on their bases rest on copper strips that run up and down to connect to the wiring terminals. There is then a large metal plate that all lamps are screwed into that provides a common connection. As such, if a bulb does have to be replaced it appears it will have to be removed from the front of this plate. Quite how this is done hasn't been investigated. Let's hope these bulbs never blow!
It is assumed that plastic light guides form the X and O symbols seen on the game display, although nothing can be seen of them from outside the lamp assembly. Given the position of the three bulbs allocated to each position, it's probable that the two outer bulbs are used to illuminate the O symbol and the single central bulb generates X. It is not known whether theses bulbs are the same specification as each other, or as the one found in the controller.
Like the controller, the wiring of the 18 way socket on the base of the game display has been buzzed out, resulting in the circuit below. Once again LEDs are used in place of bulbs, please don't infer anything about the polarity of the signals from this. The lamps are labelled in a similar way to the relays, with their position and symbol.
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| Game display schematic |
Once again, the connector pin numbering is taken viewing the connector from the outside, with the locating socket on the left as shown below, starting with pin 1 in the lower left position.
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| Game display connector, pin1 bottom left, pin 18 top right |
Like the controller, each combination of symbol and position has its own connection and in this instance, given that we have run out of pins on the connector itself, the locating socket provides the common connection.
Right, there's no escaping it, I'm going to have to start on the main unit and discover whether I have bitten off more than I can chew.
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