Re: Power consumption

Most Atari games had metal signs on the back that usually said three amps.

When I worked at Six Flags Over Texas, we used three amps as a rough
estimate for the current draw of an average game. One problem with an old
amusement park is, after 40 years the original electrical wiring schematics
for the park are null and void. Everything in it has been moved, dug up,
modified, spliced, lost, re-discovered, given up for lost, or just plain
broken. We had one arcade with 80 games that we could not control properly
from a breaker box; it was either turn on the whole building at once, or not
at all. We had no idea what most of the other circuit breakers in the box
did, and were loathe to try without telling anyone. Imagine what a power
surge 80 games coming on at once does. They didn't like it, either, but
there was nothing we could do about it except fix busted power supplies. I
had no shortage of work during my term. :)

Matt J. McCullar
Arlington, TX

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Received on Wed Oct 11 22:21:17 2000