- JAMMA PINOUT -

Below is the basic overall pinout charting of the JAMMA arcade cabinet interface connector. This is the universal connector, located inside a JAMMA Arcade Cabinet, which is compatible with all arcade game boards labeled as JAMMA.

JAMMA PINOUT CHART

Solder Side		Parts Side
GROUND	A	1	GROUND
GROUND	B	2	GROUND
+5VDC	C	3	+5VDC
+5VDC	D	4	+5VDC
-5VDC	E	5	-5VDC
+12VDC	F	6	+12VDC
KEY SLOT	H	7	KEY SLOT
COIN COUNTER #2	J	8	COIN COUNTER #1
LOCK OUT COIL #2	K	9	LOCK OUT COIL #1
SPEAKER (-)	L	10	SPEAKER (+)
N/C	M	11	N/C
VIDEO GREEN	N	12	VIDEO RED
VIDEO SYNC	P	13	VIDEO BLUE
SERVICE SWITCH	R	14	VIDEO GROUND
TILT (SLAM) SWITCH	S	15	TEST SWITCH
COIN SWITCH #2	T	16	COIN SWITCH #1
PLAYER 2 - START	U	17	PLAYER 1 - START
PLAYER 2 - UP	V	18	PLAYER 1 - UP
PLAYER 2 - DOWN	W	19	PLAYER 1 - DOWN
PLAYER 2 - LEFT	X	20	PLAYER 1 - LEFT
PLAYER 2 - RIGHT	Y	21	PLAYER 1 - RIGHT
PLAYER 2 - BUTTON 1	Z	22	PLAYER 1 - BUTTON 1
PLAYER 2 - BUTTON 2	a	23	PLAYER 1 - BUTTON 2
PLAYER 2 - BUTTON 3	b	24	PLAYER 1 - BUTTON 3
N/C	c	25	N/C
N/C	d	26	N/C
GROUND	e	27	GROUND
GROUND	f	28	GROUND

- JAMMA Pinout -
What does it all mean?

First starting with the 'SOLDER SIDE' and 'PARTS SIDE'. These terms just reference to which side of the arcade JAMMA board the connector is on. Such as the SOLDER SIDE refers to the row of pins on the solder side of the board, usually without any visible parts - only solder connections. The PARTS SIDE then would be the row of pins that are on the side of the arcade board with all the parts (IC's, resistors, caps, etc.).
Also, the terms N/C throughout the connector just a shortened term for NO CONNECTION.

 

Power Sections: (Pins A-F, 1-6, e, f, 27, 28)

Most of the first connections listed on the pinout chart are directly wired from the arcade cabinets power supply. The main power connections you will always need is the Ground, +5VDC, and the +12VDC. Some arcade game boards (Such as boards by Midway) will require the -5VDC connected from the power supply as well.

It is very important that you check in on your power supply voltages every once in a while. If your power supply voltage drifts over time (Since some arcade cabinets are 20+ years old, there can be some very old power supplies around.), the supply +5VDC too high (Such as 5.20VDC or more) can greatly increase the chance of damage to your board!

 

Video Sections: (Pins N, P, 13-15)

All these connections are connected directly up to the cabinets monitor. All signals (Red, Blue, Green, and Sync) are generated on the arcade game board and displayed on the monitor of course. The arcade monitor requires a Ground signal to reference all the other signals off of. If your building an adapter to convert a non-jamma arcade game board to be able to play in your JAMMA arcade cabinet, be sure that if there is no Video ground on the non-JAMMA board then jumper over the regular ground into the Video ground spot.

 

Coin Sections: (Pins J, K, T, 8, 9, 16)

The Coin Switches are usually connected directly to the coin mechanisms (coin-mechs) which detect and trigger when a coin/token is inserted into the machine. The board will detect the coin inserted from a GROUND single that is triggered at the coin-mech.

The Coin Lockouts are optional connections. Some board games can detect when there is a problem with the board itself. To prevent anyone from losing a quarter down the coin slot when there is a problem, the Coin Lockout lines are activated which will energize a lockout coil. The coil will automatically bypass any coins inserted directly to the eject tray where you can get your quarter back.

The Coin Counters are sometimes used, if there is an actual counter located inside the arcade cabinet. They will just 'count' how many coins have been inserted through the coin shoot.

 

Joystick / Controller Sections: (Pins V-Y, 18-21)

Basic directions of UP, DOWN, LEFT, and RIGHT. When the Joystick/Controller is pushed in a specific direction, such as UP, the controller will trigger the 'up' microswitch which will put a GROUND signal on the UP wire.

 

Button Sections: (Pins V-Y, 18-21)

All the buttons basically work like the joystick controllers would. When the button is pushed, the downward motion will trigger a microswitch attached to the bottom of the button. The one side of the microswitch will always be connected to GROUND, so when the microswitch is triggered the GROUND signal will be put on the corresponding button wire.

The standard JAMMA pinout connection just uses 3 buttons per player, but if connecting a Neo Geo board (JAMMA) it will use pins c & 25 for the Neo's button 4.

 

Other Sections:

SPEAKER (-) & (+) connections route the sound generated on the arcade board up to the cabinets speaker. This is just a standard MONO signal to only one 8-ohm speaker.

TILT (SLAM) SWITCH connection is sometimes used inside arcade cabinets to detect when the player is getting a little to 'rough' with the machine. It might either sound an alarm for the game room attendant, or display a warning on the machine to the player.

The TEST SWITCH will active when a ground is applied on the test switch wire. If the arcade board you have connected uses the 'TEST' function, it will usually activate a test function that checks the on-board circuits/ROM's/etc.

The SERVICE SWITCH is just like the Test switch, except it will usually enter the internal board settings similar to a computers BIOS.

The KEY SLOT is a way to polarize the actual connector itself. This prevents the JAMMA PCB from being installed backwards in the JAMMA connector.