The Games

Partial
Completion13%

Gottlieb1984gottlieb.the-games.1984 Updated 2026-08-30 1 of 2 editions

OPDB IPDB gottlieb/the-games-1984.mdgottlieb/the-games-1984.json

Wire it up

what an authoring tool needs first
Bind this ROM
thegamesthegamsbthegamsc

3 ROM sets resolve to this machine. Clones share the definition unless a hardware difference is listed.

Controller platform
Not determined
Displays

No display inventory recorded yet.

Address space
Switches
31–67 (16)
Solenoids
1–11 (5)

Coverage

Partial

Real evidence exists, but authoring requirements are still missing or in conflict. Verify before shipping a table.

Completion13%

Progress is derived from the fixed author-readiness requirements. It helps rank unfinished work, but only a 100% author-ready definition passes the publication gate.

Catalog Identity
validated
Address Enumeration
unknown
Semantic Naming
unknown
Physical Wiring
unknown
Mechanisms
unknown
Variant Coverage
candidate
Recreation Knowledge
unknown
Still missing · 14
Driver MappingController PlatformInput EnumerationInput SemanticsOutput EnumerationOutput SemanticsDisplay InventoryMechanism InventoryMechanism BehaviorPolarityVariant DifferencesRecreation NotesProvenanceSpatial Placement

Switches

The addresses PinMAME reports as closed. Numbers are the public API values, not matrix hardware pins.

16 addresses

Switch map

Column × row matrix — the address is column·row.

used unused
 
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
3
4
5
6
Hover or tap an address to identify it.
16 shown
# Name Device ID Evidence
31
Sw31
switch.sw31 candidate
32
Sw32
switch.sw32 candidate
34
Sw34
switch.sw34 candidate
35
Bumper1
switch.bumper1 candidate
41
Sw41
switch.sw41 candidate
42
Sw42
switch.sw42 candidate
43
Sw43
switch.sw43 candidate
44
Sw44
switch.sw44 candidate
45
Sensor45
switch.sensor45 candidate
51
Sw51
switch.sw51 candidate
52
Sw52
switch.sw52 candidate
53
Spinner
switch.spinner candidate
54
Sw54
switch.sw54 candidate
61
Sw61
switch.sw61 candidate
64
Sw64
switch.sw64 candidate
67
Slot1
switch.slot1 candidate

Controlled devices

Everything the ROM can energise, grouped the way a table author builds it.

Coils, magnets & motors

5
5 shown
# Name Device ID Evidence
1
Sol Saucer
coil.sol-saucer candidate
8
Sol Knocker
coil.sol-knocker candidate
9
Sol Trough
coil.sol-trough candidate
10
Sol Game Over
coil.sol-game-over candidate
11
Sol GI
coil.sol-gi candidate

Recreation notes

Working knowledge that has no schema field yet — edition differences, tuning values, pitfalls.

Coverage: partial - machine identity plus candidate-only I/O attachments. Playfield devices, wiring, mechanisms, and behavior are evidenced only as unverified candidates.

This record was promoted from the generated catalog stub stub.pinmame.thegames by the catalog-wide identity pass of 2026-08-29. The promotion resolves machine identity and carries the catalog's residual driver grouping over unchanged, the platform and device attachments below were added by the 2026-08-29/30 candidate passes and assert nothing beyond candidate provenance. Every requirement in the definition's coverage.missing is genuinely outstanding.

Identity

  • PinMAME catalog: root driver thegames, description "Games, The", manufacturer "Gottlieb", catalog year "1984".
  • OPDB record GR9NZ-Ml99O (IPDB 3391) names this machine "The Games" (Gottlieb, manufacture date 1984-01-08); the resolved identity rests on the agreement of the PinMAME catalog and this reviewed mapping.
  • The definition's driver list is exactly the clone tree PinMAME declares under thegames; whether every listed driver really runs on this physical machine is unverified.

Drivers this record holds

  • thegames (1984, Gottlieb, clone of gts80as).
  • thegamsb (1984, Gottlieb, clone of thegames).
  • thegamsc (2022, Gottlieb / Flipprojets, clone of thegames).

VPX script candidates (candidate)

  • 1 retained community table script(s) declare this machine's driver; their extracted switch/lamp/solenoid/GI candidates are carried as 21 candidate devices. When curator work weighs sources, a retained script outranks emulator-derived candidates for runtime semantics, but every device here is still a candidate until a known-working table is verified against this exact physical machine.

What a curator must establish next

Controller platform from the pinned PinMAME driver source; full input, output, and display enumeration with semantic names; physical wiring and polarity; mechanism inventory and behavior; variant differences across the clone tree; recreation knowledge from a manual, schematic, or known-working table; runtime provenance; and a normalized spatial placement for every physical device. No manual, schematic, or runtime-harness evidence is retained for this machine yet; the candidate sections above are the only retained I/O evidence so far.

ROM sets

Every driver that resolves to this physical machine.

ROM set Description Year Parent Hardware
thegamscGames, The (rev. 2 MOD) 2022thegames—
thegamsbGames, The (rev. 1) 1984thegames—
thegamesGames, The 1984gts80as—

Evidence

Every claim above traces to one of these. When they disagree: a known-working VPX script wins on controller addresses and causality, the manual wins on wiring and construction, pinned PinMAME wins on emulator routing and display layout.

  • PinMAME catalog

    BSD-3-Clause

    pinmame.catalog.8371478a7640

    PinmameGetGames

    8371478a7640
    by
    PinMAME contributors
    rev
    8371478a7640

  • VPX script

    vpx-script.31f42b344c867dac

    vpxtable-scripts: The Games (Gottlieb 1984) v2.0.0.vbs

    0c036bb61b4b
    by
    Authors credited in The Games (Gottlieb 1984) v2.0.0.vbs and repository contributors
    rev
    0c036bb61b4b
    sha256
    31f42b344c86…

Something wrong or missing?

This definition still has 14 unmet requirements, listed under Missing data below. Fixes belong in the definition itself — editing on GitHub forks it for you and opens the pull request.

Cite a source for anything you change — a manual page, a line in a working VPX script, PinMAME source, or a reading from the machine's own service menu. Claims without provenance cannot be validated.

Edit the definition Edit the note Report a problem
Before you startCONTRIBUTING.mdschemas/machine.schema.jsondocs/MACHINE_DEFINITIONS_PLAN.md How to read a definition

Other editions

The Games shipped in 2 editions with different playfields. Compare what each one actually has before building against this definition.

All 2 editions of The Games, side by side

Missing data

What this game definition still needs to reach 100% and become author-ready.

  • ROM compatibility

    Verify which PinMAME drivers and firmware variants belong to this physical machine.

  • Controller hardware

    Identify the controller platform and validate its public address and routing rules.

  • Complete input inventory

    Account for every switch, service input and diagnostic address, including unused positions.

  • Input functions

    Validate which physical sensor or cabinet control each input represents and when it activates.

  • Complete output inventory

    Account for every coil, motor, lamp, flasher and general-illumination circuit, including unused addresses.

  • Output functions

    Validate the physical device, function and fitted quantity behind each output binding.

  • Displays

    Verify every display, its layout and its controller bindings.

  • Mechanism inventory

    Document every mechanism, its moving parts, actuators, sensors and connections.

  • Mechanism behavior

    Validate mechanism operation, ball paths, home positions, startup and reset behavior.

  • Switch construction and polarity

    Verify normally open or closed contacts and how PinMAME delivers their active states.

  • Edition and firmware differences

    Document supported hardware and firmware differences without combining incompatible editions.

  • Recreation knowledge

    Complete the source-backed behavior and assembly notes needed to recreate the machine.

  • Evidence and sources

    Back the remaining claims with attributable sources, exact locators, retained excerpts and verified hashes.

  • Physical device locations

    Establish validated playfield locations for every physical sensor, actuator and light emitter, including bulb counts and justified projections.

Missing locations · 21