Home Page Forums MAME MAME TMS-09xx/1xxx thread (was New Dumps)

I got the Simon MP3300 PCB. The solder-side is labeled MB Electronics 4850 Rev F. The only other Simon PCB that I have is the one with the custom IC, which is labeled MB Electronics Milton Bradley PN7924850F02 REV-B. The datecode on the 75494 driver is 7914 on the MP3300 PCB and 8624 on the custom IC PCB. The MP3300 PCB has screw-in bulbs and the custom IC PCB has push-ins.

Here's the info: http://www.seanriddle.com/simon.html

Quiz Wiz cartridges should be compatible with Quiz Wiz Challenger, it's written in the manual. But until we confirm more of the carts, we can't know for sure.

I added the new Simon to MAME. The PLAs were the same as Rev A. I haven't tested for differences, and it's hard to read for them in the diassembly.

Ah, good. It sure looked like they should be compatible, otherwise why use the same shape quiz book for QWC? I've seen a couple of web sites that said they weren't sure if they were compatible. I'm pretty sure that means cart 8 from the patent is bogus. If every cart pin has to connect to pin 4 or pin 5, then it would be very quick to use an ohmmeter to look at pins 1+4, 1+5, 2+4, 2+5, 3+4, 3+5, 6+4, 6+5, 7+4, 7+5, 8+4, 8+5; at most 12 measurements. If that's not the case, then 28 measurements would be needed to check all the possibilities, still not bad.

I figured that the Simon 3300 code would mostly be the same as the 3226 code, but the dumps are completely different. I guess if they needed to squeeze in a new feature or a bug fix, they probably had to rewrite a bunch of code to make room. We need to have a contest to see who can find the differences first. It would also be interesting to ID the differences in game play with the custom IC.

I'll take a look and see what I can find out... I have a bunch of the regular Quiz Wiz cartridges...

Okay, not sure if I'm numbering the pins correctly, but when the cartridge is sitting in it's normal state to use the handheld (the connector on the left side of the case), I'm counting up from the bottom 1, 2, 3, 4... Pin #8 is at the top.
Cart 3: 1+5+6+7 & 2+3+4+8
Cart 4: 1+5+6+7+8 & 2+3+4 (This is also the same as cartridge #10)
Cart 5: 1+2+5+6+7 & 3+4+8
Cart 6: 1+4+6 & 2+3+5+7+8

Pics of first question pages are located here:
http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Coleco/QuizWiz/

I think I have about 20 of the cartridges, so I can through more of them to get them figured out...

Thanks! I verified carts 4 and 5. Pin #1 is at the top, then emulation matches the answers. So, your equations were in reverse but otherwise ok.

Sean, could you upload the script to make cheat sheets?

Cool! Here's the code: www.seanriddle.com/quizwiz.txt

Found a bug in Quiz Book 3: Question 5 asks who is Mr Whitman on Welcome Back Kotter, and the answer is B Vice Principal, but it was actually Mr Woodman.

You mentioned book C, does it have the same questions(not just same answers) as book 1?

That would be great

I guess the question sheets will have to be done as 'svg' layout files in the rom zips? can't really put the text directly in a layout file in MAME due to copyright, and the thing is useless without them..

Book C has the same answers as book 1 but different questions; it starts off with "Great Thinkers and Ideas" instead of "Sports". But the "C" might be for Canada instead of Challenger. Quiz book C is a lot thicker than book 1 because it has every question in English and French. The cover says Coleco Le Défi QUIZ WIZ Challenger.

1001 questions per book, in an svg layout? No, a .pdf is better. It would be nice to provide them in a 'rom' file, but we don't do that, do we? Compare it to for example a codewheel of an uncracked PC game.