Arcade Mahjong Hardware

This page mainly aims to list some hardware related to Arcade Mahjong.

Mahjong panels

Some examples of Mahjong Panels are below

Astro City (Sanwa) Astro City (Seimitsu)
astro sanwa astro seimitsu

Adapters

Adapters are often simply a Jamma fingerboard wired to a Mahjong edge connector, as described in the pinouts on the main page. You should be able to find some on Yahoo auctions, which will need a proxy service to buy from.

Some useful links are below:

System specific additional hardware

MVS

MVS does not use the typical connection matrix of Mahjong panels. Instead a custom one is used, so an adapter or custom panel will be needed.

To enable use of a Mahjong controller/panel, set Hardware DIP #3 to enabled. The connection matrix is then:

OUT1 (pin 10) OUT2 (pin 2) OUT3 (pin 9)
UP A H PON
DOWN B I CHI
LEFT C J KAN
RIGHT D K RON
A E L REACH
B F M
C G N

Source: NEO GEO Development Wiki

Sega NAOMI, Taito Type X (JVS)

Uses Jamma pins on parts side as KEY, and Sega I/O CN3 as COM.

Set the Jumper "JP1" on the JVS I/O to 'B' (high).

JAMMA #17 JAMMA #18 JAMMA #19 JAMMA #20 JAMMA #21 JAMMA #22
I/O CN3 #4 A E I M KAN START
I/O CN3 #5 B F J N REACH BET
I/O CN3 #6 C G K CHI RON
I/O CN3 #7 D H L PON
I/O CN3 #8 LAST TAKE WUP F.F. BIG SMALL

Sources:

Jaleco Mega System 32

Uses an adapter board which plugs into the bottom of the motherboard, and another adapter board which plugs into the edge connector. This produces standard Mahjong pinout.

Jaleco Mega System 32 Adapter

Sega ST-V

Uses an adapter board which plugs into the motherboard, and the edge connector..

Seta Aleck 64

Uses an adapter which plugs into the Jamma edge connector, and the back of game cartridges.

aleck adapter

The pinout is slightly different than regular Mahjong pinout. There's a video GND on pin 10, and the key matrix is quite different. For Aleck 64, the controller matrix is:

PIN #1 PIN #A PIN #B PIN #2
PIN #T - START - -
PIN #M B A C D
PIN #N F E G H
PIN #P J I K L
PIN #R N M CHI PON
PIN #S REACH KAN RON -

The adapter also has an ethernet connector that allows linking two motherboards.

Source: Super Real Mahjong VS instruction sheets, see below (thanks gravatos for scans).

Taito G-Net

Uses 3P and 4P connectors on the motherboard.

3P (1) 3P (2) 4P (1) 4P (2)
4P(5) A B C D
4P(6) E F G H
4P(7) I J K L
4P(8) M N CHI PON
4P(9) KAN REACH RON -
4P(10) START - - -

Source: the G-Net page on the blog ぽ・ん・こ・つ・舎 which also has additional information.

Kaneko Nova

Uses CN2 as COM ports, and Jamma pins as KEY.

CN (2) CN (3) CN (4) CN (5)
1P UP A B C D
1P DOWN E F G H
1P LEFT I J K L
1P RIGHT M N CHI PON
1P BTN 1 REACH KAN RON -
1P BTN 2 START - - -

TODO: Figure out of REACH an KAN being in this order is a typo. Feels like they should be swapped?

Source: # ぽ・ん・こ・つ・舎

Y2

ぽ・ん・こ・つ・舎 has indepth information on creating adapters here

PCB Games additional hardware

Games with other additional hardware

Other hardware