Exploring a Chinese Whac a Mole type game

Video Description

The Chinese seem to call this game Forest Guard for some odd reason, but on the basis that you're smashing animals with a big hammer, it doesn't sound very guard-like. I got the mouse version just because I thought it was amusingly Mickey Mouse themed. The other options were pigs, frogs and zombies. You need 5 to 8 of the solenoid pop-up modules for a complete game. I've found the instructions for the controller. The control PCB does have eight solenoid drivers, but you can set it for 5-8 solenoid assemblies. It does use a standard coin validator and can be set to the required number of coin pulses. The game can be set for kid or adult skill level and the number of pop-ups in a game can be set, along with a winning threshold that can either do nothing, award a free game, vend a ticket for each threshold crossed or even vend gashapon (toy capsules). The only error codes mentioned are empty tickets and capsules! Here are the settings:- 1 - Number of credit pulses required for a game 0-9. 2 - Number of animal pop-ups per game? 30-99. 3 - Win threshold 20-99. (Has to be lower than option 2) 4 - Prize option - 0=nothing, 1=Capsule by "passed?", 2=Ticket by "passed?", 3=Free play, 4=Ticket by score, 5=Capsule by score. I think the prize option may offer a fixed prize for reaching a preset score (passed?) or give more prizes for higher scores in steps (score?). 5 - Vended tickets 1-99. Max number of tickets vended per game? 6 - Vended capsules 1-5. Max number of capsules vended per game? 7 - Skill. 0=Child 1=Adult. 8 - Language. 0=Chinese 1=English. 9 - Reset - Setting to 1 exits menu and resets? 10 - Advertising music 0-99. 0=No music, 1=Once per minute? 2=Once every two minutes? 11 - Number of solenoid modules 5-8. 12 - Points per ticket 1-50. 13 - Points per capsule 1-50. Error codes - 33 flashing - out of tickets, 44 flashing - out of capsules. The early Whac-a-Mole games used a compressor and pneumatic cylinders to pop up the animals, but the newer games like Namco's Sweet Licks soon switched to a solenoid system. The pop up characters use a very beefy solenoid that has the wire wound straight onto the plastic housing, which initially gave me concerns about the risk of a failed MOSFET, software bug or crashed microcontroller potentially energising the solenoid continuously and potentially causing heat issues (notably fire). But it turns out there is a thermal fuse built into the solenoid. The thermal fuse that a tech is inevitably going to short out to get a game going again.... The controller requires a high current 24V supply for the solenoids (over 3A per energised solenoid) and 12V and 5V for the logic and control. It may also use the 24/12V PSU output for controlling game lighting too. The wiring loom on the solenoid assembly is 500mm long (20") and presumably the controller gets mounted in a central position to them all for direct connection. Here are the AliExpress (not a sponsor) listings for the game components:- The solenoid/animal assemblies:- https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008687275048.html The control system and display:- https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006081940883.html The big foam hammer:- https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008486321950.html If you enjoyed this video, please consider subscribing for similar content. You can help support the channel with a dollar or two for coffee, cookies and gadgets, and keep it independent from the quirks of the YouTube algorithm by supporting me on Patreon. This also lets me link to my content on other platforms if YouTube uses the ban-hammer (again!) I release content for critique and feedback on Patreon as soon as it has been made. https://www.patreon.com/bigclive Alternatively, for a single contribution you can use PayPal:- https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/bigclive #ElectronicsCreators