Mighty Atom



The Mighty Atom crane was manufactured by Guan Shing of Taiwan, it is unknown when they were initially released, but it is assumed that they were debuted around the late 1990s or early 2000s, evidence of this could be found on the power supply on McPizzaPerson's Mighty Atom crane, there was a sticker stating that model was manufactured in 2000.

Soundtrack

Like Guan Shing's other early cranes, Mighty Atom has a remixed version of the Hawaii Five-0 theme song, an up/down sound effect, and a grab sound effect. Some Mighty Atoms also have attract music that plays on a loop when the machine is not being played.

PCB Designs.

Mighty Atom cranes have 2 different PCB designs, one of which has 3 dipswitch banks, while the other one has 4.

"3 Dipswitch" PCB

On this PCB, there are 3 dipswitch banks, they control the weak/strong timer, coin function, "timer for the claw goes down" home position, double tap, and joystick/button settings. They also consist of 5 dials, 3 of which control the gantry motor speed, while the other 2 control the claw strengths. Mighty Atoms with this PCB cannot be set to Prize Every Time.

"4 Dipswitch" PCB

On this PCB, there are 4 dipswitch banks, they control the weak/strong timer, coin function, "MAX time interval for operation" "Timer selection for rotary motor" home position, and joystick/button settings. You cannot adjust the gantry motor speed with this PCB, but you still can adjust the claw strengths with the 2 dials on the PCB. You can also set the machine to Prize Every Time with this PCB.

Weak/Strong Timer

What is unique about Guan Shing claw machines is that the rigging system on them is not based on a set payout rate, it is based on a weak/strong timer. The claw grabs on the strong setting and remains on it until it reaches the top, no matter whether on the weak or strong timer. On weak timer the claw will be on the weak setting for the amount of time the weak timer is set to, when the weak timer runs out, the claw will be on the strong setting for a set amount of time, before returning to the weak setting once the strong timer has ran out. The machine will continue this loop even when not being played.

Other Information


 * Mighty Atom cranes are extremely rare in the UK.
 * In Blackpool a Mighty Atom crane can be found with a white control panel, normally they are pink.
 * At Palins in Towyn, a Mighty Atom crane can be found with a different sign on it, it stills says Mighty Atom, but the sign is white with stars on it.
 * In Skegness, a Mighty Atom crane can be found with a joystick, and the LCD display board can be found on the left of the control panel, rather than ordinarily being on the right.
 * A common fault on Mighty Atoms are that the rope lights on the side don't fully work, either one side works out of the two, or neither work at all.
 * There is an extremely rare 2 player version of Mighty Atom, it is very similar to Giant Dolphin cranes as the prize chutes are on either side of the machine. There is also no writing on the marquee, it is quite clearly a Mighty Atom though as it shares the same colour scheme as the 1 player version and has a similar control panel.