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NBA JAM Free Play
Question from Alex: Hi, I found you guys on Facebook and hopefully you can help me out. I own an original NBA Jam cabinet and it has always been set to free play. I have recently moved and the arcade was left unplugged for a very long time. I recently plugged it in for play again and now it is no longer set for free play. Unfortunately, I have lost the keys during the move and cannot access the control switches in order to enable free play again. This is probably a dumb question but is there any other way for me to enable free play or is hiring a locksmith my only option? I appreciate any info you can give me and I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thank You, Alex
1 answer
Response from Jonathan: Alex,
It sounds like the battery on your board may have gone bad which caused the settings of the game to reset. In order to set the game back on free play, you will need to probably replace your battery and change the settings back to what they were using the control switches inside the cabinet. These switches are only located inside the cabinet for security reasons (i.e. arcade operators don’t want customers to change the settings of the game).
The good news is that you shouldn’t need the help of a locksmith to get back inside the cabinet. You should be able to drill out the lock using a standard drill and a set of drill bits. Check out our post on Replacing A Coin Door Lock for more information. Basically you start with a drill bit that’s a little bit bigger than the size of the coin lock, drill the lock opening and repeat the process each time using a slightly larger drill bit. Eventually the metal piece that holds the door in place will fall giving you access to the inside of the cabinet. It can be a somewhat tedious process but it’s cheaper than paying a locksmith to do the job.
Hope that helps. Thank you for your question and good luck with your repair.
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