Atari Pole Position to JAMMA Adapter

Description

Allows you to play your Pole Position PCB in a JAMMA cabinet or supergun.

Pole Position was originally developed by Namco in 1982 and distributed by Atari in North America in 1983. Atari as usual, redesigned Namco’s boards and produced them locally to save on import costs. The game was a massive hit in both Japan and elsewhere, earning the title of top grossing game of ’82 and ’83.

Namco later released an update to the game called Pole Position II that featured additional tracks and other updates. While both versions of the game run on the same board, the Namco and Atari releases are different and not pinout compatible.

This adapter has a built-in microcontroller and can emulate the analog steering wheel and pedal behavior found in Atari cabinets, taking inputs from a standard JAMMA button and joystick setup. The adapter also has a built-in 4 channel audio mixer and audio amp to convert the multi channel audio to JAMMA mono.

Like many Atari games from this period, Pole Position boards have a unique pinout and are the only game that be converted with this adapter.

Images

Pinout

This adapter follows the following pinout scheme:

Main Connector (44 pin)

SOLDER SIDEPARTS SIDE
GND (SNS-)GND
+5V+5V
AGND (NC)AGND (NC)
AGND (NC)AGND (NC)
AUD3AGND/GND
GNDAGND/GND
AUD4AUD1
AUD2GND
VLVCCVLVCC
VLGNDVLGND
SHIFTGND
COIN1START1
SVCCOIN2
COUNT1TEST
STEER1COUNT2
START0STEER2
BRAKEGASPOT
GNDGND
GNDGND
GNDGND
+5V+5V
GNDGND

Secondary Connector (10 pin)

PINFUNCTION
1GND
2+5V
3GND
4VRED
5VGREEN
6VSYNC
7VBLUE
8GND
9+5V
10GND

(PCB edge connector facing away, list is ordered right to left)

Compatible Games

This is the list of compatible games that can be used with this adapter:

The adapter has been tested with a genuine version of Atari Pole Position and Pole Position II boards.

Important: This adpter does not work with the original Namco boards.

Revision History:

Rev 1.0: Initial Design.

Specifications

Board Size: 50mm x 113mm
Current Carrying Capacity: 5V – 12A, 12V-3A, -5V – 3A