Hello all!
I'm new to this forum. I own two game & watch games (Parachute, Mario Cement Factory). They are in very good condition.

A few days ago, I cleaned my games with alcohol.
Incidentally, a bit of alcohol leaked behind the screen of my Parachute game and left a mark.

Today, I took apart my Parachute game in order to clean the screen. I got into trouble twice :

1. The screws were very tight and got a bit damaged with the screwdriver, it took a lot of patience to disassemble.

2. After reassembling the unit, part of the LCD screen didn't work (some parachutes in the upper part of the screen wouldn't show up anymore!). Using screen test mode, I realized that pressing the top side of the screen with my thumb solved the problem. Finally, I added a little square of foam behind the screen and put it back REALLY tight, and now it works. It looks like the LCD screen needs to be firmly held in order to work.

Is that normal?

Hello and welcome!

A while ago I had the same problem with a Panorama Screen game.

I used the same trick you did to solve the problem!

I believe that the LCD really needs to be at its exact place and mounted tight. But I can't tell if this goes fo all Game&Watch games.

Patrick

Thank you!
So it might be a good tip for others. Hope that helps the community. :ok2:

Hi, I will test that, I repare at the moment some G&W such as DK Jr, DK etc.

I will fix the batteries when the game is disassembled, should be easy to see what the LCD's behaviour is...

It sounds a bit strange to me that some kind of mechanical pressure is "needed" in order to make a LCD (which is not faulty) work....normally they don't like that kind of manipulations as you all know, LCD's are sensitive electronic devices... you see that often on G&W when for instance the bleeding effect appears

but never say never, maybe it is so, I try to give feedback soon

gameandwatch

The good news first, my DK Jr is repaired and works 100% again

I tested as promised this kind of LCD issue. It's indeed strange.

In disassembled state (the motherboard is not fixed behind), I put the batteries, and there were really some Sprites missing :shock: see picture:







Then I fixes again the whole motherboard with the 4 screws, and see, all Sprites were here...(sorry I have no picture, I had to fix the batteries with my hands).

Conclusion:
There are several theories I was thinking about.

1st: There is a bad electrical contact (cold solder joint, half broken circuit path etc.), don't forget, the game are 30 years old! If you tight the screws to the case, the problem is "solved".

2nd: There is some kind of electronic "safety" contact, only if the motherboard (and so the LCD) is correctly fixed to the case, the contact is closed and the game works fine.

3rd: Other ideas?

gameandwatch