The first problem was the monitor. This game uses an Electrohome G07, one of the most common video game monitors, so finding documentation and parts was easy. There were several things wrong with it - the main horizontal output transistor (X01) had blown and had taken out both fuses, and the width coil was broken off and just hanging there. I got a new transistor from a local TV repair shop and pulled a replacement width coil off a junk G07 chassis. The monitor then worked, but the picture looked pretty cruddy - it clearly needed a cap-kit installed, but it worked well enough to start work on the boards.

The most common problem with video game boards is the inter-board connector. These connectors take a lot of stress as the boards are pulled out of and replaced in the cabinet, and sure enough the connectors on these boards had several cold solder joints. Whenever repairing a cold solder joint it is best to remove the old solder before apply new solder. Even though only a few pins had gone cold, I cleaned and resoldered all of them, just to be sure.

Next, the power supply was not putting out a good +5V. With no load applied, the supply appeared to work fine, but as soon as it was connected to the CPU the +5V supply would drop to about +1.5V and the +5V regulator would get wicked hot. I replaced the +5V circuit's power transistor and fuse and the +5V was smooth and constant.

When I plugged it all together it worked! I had game! So, now it was time to make it perfect (or as perfect as it could be :).

I then installed a cap-kit I had purchased from Zanen into the monitor. This resolved most of the monitor's problems - the picture was now clear, sharp and stable. The only problem I couldn't figure out was that the picture was too tall to fit on the screen, and no amount of adjusting would fix it. So I called Zanen's tech support and spoke with Aubrey. Aubrey is great. He knows these monitors inside and out, is very willing to help, and after asking me which game it was in, he knew what the problem was. Apparently, Mappy drives these monitors very hard. He suggested removing capacitors C512, C513, C514, C531, C532, C533 and C534, one at a time, until the picture fit well. I ended up having to pull 3 or 4 of these caps to get it to fit, but it worked.

So the machine was now fully functional. Time to start the cleanup.

To allow me to test the boards on my workbench I had completely removed the wiring harness et-al. This made cleaning the interior a lot easier. Basically, the whole machine was scrubbed down with soap and water - inside and out, and I cleaned the side art and control panel with Fantastik. The front art (the cat and mouse on either side of the coin door) was too far damaged and had to be removed. Otherwise, the machine cleaned up quite nicely.

The leading edge of the control panel overlay was completely worn through. I was unable to locate a replacement CPO for a Mappy so I had to come up with a way to repair the damage. For this I took a piece of clear plastic corner molding and spray painted the inside red. I then attached it to the control panel using double-sided carpet tape. The end result looks great - so good, in fact, that I have no plans to change it, even if I find a new CPO.

The last cosmetic repair was the marquee. After much searching I purchased a nice one from Scott at SafeStuff. All Mappy marquees fade - they must have used inappropriate ink - but this one looked great. Fading was minimal and it had no major scratches. But when I attempted to install it into the marquee box, the top, left-front corner of the box fell apart. Apparently, someone had repaired it before and did a pretty poor job. So I had to rebuild that corner with an epoxy based wood putty. It took 3 applications and a lot of sanding and shaping to get it right. I then cut the groove for the T-molding with a saber saw, using it more like a sawz-all.

The last task was to finish the box. I didn't want to paint it - it just wouldn't have looked right. I ended up getting some white, self-adhesive vinyl from a sign shop and carefully applied it to both sides of the marquee box. The end result looks like it is brand new.

The machine now looks great and plays great. I was originally planning on selling it, but the kids love it, so it's a keeper.