What is it?

System Alpha is designed to replace both CPU and Driver PCBs on Williams pinball machines from 1977 (Hot Tip) to 1984 (Laser Cue).

If you've got a Black Knight, Firepower, Gorgar, Flash, or any other Williams System 3-7 game (see Supported Games list), this board will transform your machine back into the bulletproof quarter-eater it was back in the early 80's 💪.

What's in the Box?

• System Alpha PCB
• Optional System 7 Add-On PCB - If you've got a System 7 game, you will need one of these... 👉 see System 7 Add-on PCB Option below for details.

Major Features

• Replaces both CPU and Driver boards with a single, simple, reliable PCB
• Full cycle-correct MC680X CPU emulation of original Williams ROM software
• Easy Install - No soldering or rewiring, just plug and play

Upgrades to the Original System

• Modern Reliable Design - System Alpha is a total ground-up redesign of the original system. The original 1970's logic circuits are replaced with cool-running MCU's, and the original 5A bipolar transistors are replaced with rugged 50A MOSFET devices for high reliability and efficiency.
• Easy Game ROM Update 🫰 - Plug into your PC or even your phone and just copy the files over USB -- no app required!
• One PCB to Rule them All 💍 - The 40-pin interboard connector for Williams games of this era is infamous as perhaps the greatest villain in all of pinball repair history (well, maybe with the exception of the DataSentry 🤔). With System Alpha, everything is all on one board, so you can get rid of that squinky board-to-board connection for good.
• No more IC sockets - When I think back to how many hours of my life have been spent changing IC sockets on equipment from this era... 😭 Leave the random resets behind!
• No more AA Batteries Sooner or later, all Alkaline batteries leak, and so many pinball PCBs of this era tragically lose their lives to acid damage. In System Alpha, the batteries are removed completely, and high scores and configuration are instead saved directly to flash memory.
• No more Feeble Pop-bumpers - Williams games of this era need constant adjustment of Pop Bumper and Slingshot switches to get decent action. To fix this, System Alpha features modern "One-Shot" logic to give full drive on every hit... and prevent coil burnout from stuck switches.
• No more DIP Switch Settings - Early solid-state Williams games like Phoenix and World Cup used a complex system of DIP Switch nonsense to perform game settings, more painful than programming 1980's VCR 😖. With System Alpha, settings for these games is done using a simple settings text file instead. Additionally, full freeplay operation is supported for the first time for these games 🙌
• Reduced Power Supply Wear - Let's be honest -- that original power supply in your game isn't getting any younger! System Alpha reduces the load on your poor 5V regulator by more than 90% (from 1.9A to 0.1A) to hopefully extend its life a bit longer. Additionally, System Alpha features its own voltage booster circuit to immunize itself against glitches from an unstable 5V supply.
• ⚡Overvoltage Protection for All Switches⚡ - The logic-level switches on the original board can be destroyed in an instant with any contact with the higher Solenoid or Lamp voltages. All of System Alpha's switch inputs and outputs are fully 40V tolerant to handle a short-circuit any which way under the playfield.

System 7 Add-on PCB Option

With the System 7 hardware level in 1980, Williams added dedicated sound-triggering outputs on CPU board 1J8. Unfortunately, this means that for System 7 boards, the wire harness will be too short to reach down to the System Alpha main board!

To work around this, System 7 game owners should order System Alpha with the System 7 Add-On PCB option.

See the below Supported Games list to double-check which option you'll need for your game.

And if you forgot to order the Add-On PCB (or you just changed your mind about what game to put your System Alpha into) the System 7 PCB is also available as a standalone item as well here.

Supported Games / Early Adopter Program

Well as much as I wish I owned every game from this era, my budget and garage space unfortunately will not allow this at the moment!

So I've decided to start an "Early Adopter" program for the games that I haven't seen work yet. Basically, if you can post a video of your System Alpha working in a new game, I'll refund you a $35.00 "beta bounty" for your help in furthering the cause of saving the games from this era. You can post your updates (and see other folks' installs) at the System Alpha Pinside forum.

And if for some reason it doesn't work, or you're not happy with it, of course you can return it for a full refund, no worries.

Below find the supported pinball game list... ✅ next to the game means tested and verified, 🤔 means early-adopter eligible, and a ➕ means your game will need the System 7 Add-On PCB option.

Note: there are definitely less-common shuffle alley and ball bowler games using this same hardware... if you've got one of these rarities and want to try System Alpha, by all means reach out and I'll gladly extend the "Early Adopter" program to you too!

Installation

0/ Watch the Video

Check out this video first, it will take you through all the steps to install System Alpha in your game!

1/ Download ROM Files

First step is to copy your game's software ROMs onto System Alpha. Below find some direct links to get your game's ROM files in a ZIP file. For the most part these are coming from ipdb.org, except for the ironically unlucky Lucky Seven (see the note on Known ROM Issues below).

*Known ROM Issues!

Believe it or not, there are some known bugs with the "official" ROM releases from Williams:

• Lucky Seven - The officially released ROMs for this game are corrupt and will crash out your game o_0. But luckily our great hero of System 3-7 repairs Clay Harrell as usual has come to the rescue with known good ROM pulled from a Lucky Seven game (linked above and here )

• Phoenix - The official Williams ROMs have a bug causing the game to not register switch hits while one of the three 50 point standup targets is scoring. In this case, the IPDB already has the fixed version.

• Contact - Nothing wrong with the ROM files here per se, but Contact needs a special setting in the settings.txt file to turn the swinging target on in a game. See the below section 2/ Prepare a DIP Switch Settings File for details

• Additionally, for Flash a known issue is the existence of two sets of ROM files with two incompatible sets of settings, one for Yellow flipper ROMs (L2) and one for Green (L1). Adding to the confusion, the manual scans out there generally correspond to the YelloW ROMs while the ROMs themselves are pretty much all Green 😭. Long story short -- if you're going to be putting custom settings on your Flash, use the table below and make sure your ROMs line up with the manual:

2/ Prepare a DIP Switch Settings File

The first handful of solid-state games Williams made used what are known as the "White" Flipper ROMs. These games are unique in that they used a squinky DIP switch setting system to setup the machine (high score levels, pricing, etc.). The games known to use this DIP switch setting system were:

With System Alpha this whole DIP switch nonsense is replaced by just downloading the settings with much simpler text file. If you've got one of these games, just:

• Download your game's manual from ipdb.org using the above links.

• Find the section in the manual on "Game Adjustments", it will look something like this:

• Download the settings template here.

• Using your favorite text editor edit the corresponding settings in settings.txt.

Freeplay Option

Folks with these early games at home will be disappointed to find out that Williams did not include any freeplay mode in the White Flipper ROM. However, starting in Revision D of System Alpha, the virtual machine inside can emulate this feature for you. Similar to later games, just set the maximum credits (function 05) to 00 to place your game in a real freeplay mode.

Special Option for Contact

At the bottom of settings.txt you'll notice a special setting 24 specifically for Contact. This setting is supported starting in Revision E2 of System Alpha. Without it the swinging target motor won't turn on during gameplay. To enable this setting, set it to 01.

Example

Let's say you've got a Contact as shown in the manual snippet above, and you want to set it up for freeplay, as well as have the game award extra balls instead of credits. You would make the following edits:

Note you only need to edit the settings you want changed; the rest will remain at the default. Also note Contact is the only game that gets setting 24 set, all other games leave this one alone!!

• Finally, Copy this settings file with your ROM files over to System Alpha in the next step.

One More Thing... : you can also use settings.txt to Factory Reset any System Alpha board:

• The presence of a settings.txt file will trigger factory reset on any System Alpha board back to the default settings stored in the Game ROM.

• So even if your game isn't one of the DIP Switch configured games listed above, just copy the settings template (or just an empty settings.txt file) over to your game to clear the memory.

• This may be necessary when changing the board ROMs from one game to another.

3/ Copy ROMs to System Alpha

To do this, you will need a PC and a USB-C cable. Place your board on a non-conductive surface (like a book), and connect USB from your System Alpha board to your PC. The board should appear in your file system as a drive named T1LTDISK.

Copy the contents of the ZIP file you downloaded to T1LTDISK. If you made a settings.txt file in the previous step, copy it over here as well. The board LED should start blinking green to indicate the ROM files have been validated and we are ready to program.

Finally press the button on the PCB to start the flashing process. This takes around 15 seconds or so, and the LED will blink Yellow during this process.

When the LED goes green again, you are done! Disconnect the board from USB, it is now ready to install.

4/ Install the PCB into your Game

This is basically just a matter of unhooking and removing the old board set and connecting up System Alpha instead. If your game is a System 7 one, you will need to also install the 1J8 Add-On PCB and ribbon cable as well. Some wire harnesses may need to get rerouted, so have a set of diagonal cutters around to cut wire ties as needed. However, no wires themselves should need to be cut/spiced -- everything should just plug right up. Watch the polarity and color of the connectors, be sure to match them up as shown.

Below is a list of all keyed connections, with key pin position and wire color, clockwise from top left:

👀 4-pin 1J4 is the only plug without a key, so you'll have to make sure this one is lined up by eye. This harness goes to the coin door switches, so if your game does some weird stuff like enter test mode when you shut the coin door, double-check this one is seated properly.

Too bad for you, 1J2

Note when you are done, there will be one connector at the top/left of the original CPU board 1J2 that is NOT used. This is an extra 5V power connection and is not needed, so when you are done you should have one plug hanging out left over.

For more details on Williams game wiring, check out this Gorgar Manual page 30+.

5/ First Power On

The game will initially start up in "Bookkeeping Mode". You can use the buttons inside the coin door to reset high scores and set up free play here. You'll find all the details in the manual for your game, or this video gives a great overall intro.

When you are done, power off the game and wait around 5 seconds for the settings to save, then power the game back on. It will come up ready to play! Enjoy a few games or take it through the full test mode to check that everything is operating 💯%.

5/ After Install

If you are an "Early Adopter", post photos/video of your game in action on the Pinside forum for System Alpha and get that sweet discount!

And likewise for discussion of all things System Alpha, feel free to message me directly through Tindie or post questions in the Pinside forum.

Why did you make it?

I guess my motivation was "forged in fire" as they say? ⚒️🔥

I've owned and loved a number of Williams pinball machines of this era: Disco Fever, Time Warp, Tri Zone, Black Knight, Firepower... and each one was a basket case 🙃 I spent hours and hours pulling IC sockets pin-by-pin, removing rotted-out battery holders, tracking down acid-eaten PCB traces, and of course always replacing that infernal 40-pin connector 😭. Not to mention the myriad cold solder joints, wasted transistors, and cap jobs needed to fix 45 years of use.

So, inspired by the legendary Ni-Wumpf I started to painstakingly build a from-scratch embedded 6800 emulatior for these games. It's been an on-again/off-again kind of project for years now, but here we are in 2025 and I still see these games I love on Craigslist with descriptions like "mostly works", "needs a shop out", and the most heartbreaking "for parts" 💔. So figured it was time for one last push to finish this project up and hopefully let folks fix their classic machines for good!

Warranty

System Alpha comes with a non-transferable 1-year warranty from date of purchase against all manufacturing defects.