Lodgenet hotel N64

[BoringSupreez]

I went on a trip to my grandma's house in Wyoming in 2007. One of the we stayed at had that exact same type of Lodgenet N64 you have pictured, it was in Jackson Hole. I couldn't believe it, especially since the hotel was constructed sometime in 2005/6. It was way overpriced though.

Actually, on the same trip, I saw another N64 in an unlikely place. The unaccompanied minors waiting room in the Denver airport had an N64, Snowboard Kids, and another snow sports game, it had snowmobiles in it. A kid I talked with said that the smart kids brought their own games with them to play, such as Mario Party. The controller sticks were in horrid condition, you had to push them all the way to get any movement. It was still better than watching their copied VHS movies on their other TV, which could only display various shades of the color purple for some reason. Anyway, don't you think by 2007 (6 years after the N64 left the market) they would have bothered getting something newer?

[CRTGAMER]

I picked up a LodgeNet N64 Controller, Data Cable Box and Power Supply room package at the Swap Meet for five bucks. Looks like everything that was from one Hotel room except the controller holder tab.



LodgeNet N64 Controller
Just like a regular Nintendo 64 controller. Note the Nintendo Logo under the Analog stick. This is actually the Nintendo brand with an additional button panel. The extra buttons communicate to the cable data box to select channels, movies and games to rent. The games were $6.95 an hour, probably why the controller is in such good condition. Instead of the regular N64 cable there is a "phone line" data cable that connects the N64 controller to the data cable box, so it won't work on a regular n64.

LodgeNet N64 02.jpg (254.99 KiB) Viewed 4079 times

LodgeNet N64 Data Cable Box and Power Supply
Some very nice commercial RF Cable leads were attached. Looking at the Data Cable box there is RF TV Out, Power Input, MTI Data Input, RF Cable Input and Game Data Controller Input. The Power Supply is robust at 120 Volts 19 Watts. It has an extra AC port, perhaps for the TV?

LodgeNet N64 03.jpg (221.24 KiB) Viewed 4080 times

LodgeNet Data Cable Box Opened
Pulled the cover, it had tamper resistant T-5 Torx Screws. As expected, no N64 inside, just a RF Modulator and a few chips on a PCB. The business end of the N64 controller LodgeNet buttons. The box would determine to pull from the TV Cable and MTI jack what the tenant wanted to watch or purchase. The box has an individual room number and code stickers. One of the chips probably has the digital information that reads and send information back to the Manager Office custom Ram filled N64 and Server.

LodgeNet N64 04.jpg (184.84 KiB) Viewed 4080 times

N64 LodgeNet Console - The Imortant Piece I'm Missing!
The custom console that is needed to complete the package. The Custom N64 with extra Ram for game downloads from LodgeNet Servers. If only I had found this at the Swap meet with the other components! It could be hacked to pull in N64 ROMS!



I hooked up everything I bought, unfortunately not even a service menu would appear. Looks like the LodgNet N64 and the server is needed to get everything to work. Even though it is unplayable without the rest of the pieces, a nice collectible novelty.

Someone at Assembler also confirmed individual room units would not work by themselves. Click the link for a nice pic of 4 controllers, 5 set-top boxes, 5 power supplies and 1 stand for the controller.
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/sh ... post436161

[Ziggy]

A while back, the room I stayed in at the Hershey Lodge had a SNES game service. It was the first time I played LttP. Funny enough, I recently found a picture some one took of me while playing it.

[gtmtnbiker]

The Power Supply is robust at 120 Volts 19 Watts. It has an extra AC port, perhaps for the TV?

19 watts is very small, definitely insufficient to power any sort of TV.

[DinnerX]

The Power Supply is robust at 120 Volts 19 Watts. It has an extra AC port, perhaps for the TV?

19 watts is very small, definitely insufficient to power any sort of TV.

I think the ac port would be regular wall power.

Nice find CRTGAMER.

[CRTGAMER]

The Power Supply is robust at 120 Volts 19 Watts. It has an extra AC port, perhaps for the TV?

19 watts is very small, definitely insufficient to power any sort of TV.

I think the ac port would be regular wall power.

Nice find CRTGAMER.

Thanks, I'll visit the Thrift store this week and see if there are any surprises buried there.

Concur with DinnerX, the power supply input is 120v 19w and the output is 17.8 Volts at only 600 Mili Amps for the Cable Box. The AC port needs no conversion from the direct wired wall plug, the internal transformer is bypassed for the AC outlet. The 19 Watt rating is for the internal transformer to step down the voltage for the cable box.

I noticed from the OP, the TV has the cable box built right in. A big investment with all the custom built TVs, maybe why older LodgeNet systems are still used in some Hotels.

[fastbilly1]

I noticed from the OP, the TV has the cable box built right in. A big investment with all the custom built TVs, maybe why older LodgeNet systems are still used in some Hotels.

That and lodgenet got exclusive contracts for hotel chains for incredibly long terms. A friend of mine use to work for Lodgenet and their contracts were sometimes for longer than 20 years.

[CRTGAMER]

I noticed from the OP, the TV has the cable box built right in. A big investment with all the custom built TVs, maybe why older LodgeNet systems are still used in some Hotels.

That and lodgenet got exclusive contracts for hotel chains for incredibly long terms. A friend of mine use to work for Lodgenet and their contracts were sometimes for longer than 20 years.

Maybe your friend can offer some insight the way the Lodgnet N64 games work?

The way I understand it is each room has the N64 controller and Cable Box "modem", the Manager Office has the custom Ram filled N64 and the Lodgnet site maintains the N64 Roms for the $6.95 hourly rentals. My guess is the Manager office also has a PC to communicate between the local LodgeNet N64 and Lodgenet Online games and movies.

It seems maybe the Manager's Office would have multiple LodgeNet N64s to accommodate all the rooms that might be trying to access at the same time.

I am thinking if one has a LodgeNet N64, maybe it could be hacked to load N64 Roms. A novelty since there are other ways to get N64 imports and betas, but would be great to get it to work.

[fastbilly1]

It is a very simple system for how it all works. They use to be a rack of U2 mounted N64s, just like the one you posted. However, not too long ago they upgraded to a single server that hosts roms for every one of their machines - Think of it like a thin client system. I was very upset when he said they destroyed most of the rack mounted N64s - I wanted a set for my house, even if they didnt work.

[CRTGAMER]

It is a very simple system for how it all works. They use to be a rack of U2 mounted N64s, just like the one you posted. However, not too long ago they upgraded to a single server that hosts roms for every one of their machines - Think of it like a thin client system. I was very upset when he said they destroyed most of the rack mounted N64s - I wanted a set for my house, even if they didnt work.

Wait a minute! Looking at the pic, does this mean the game roms were on locally, right on the RAM Chips of the LodgeNet N64?

Someone over a assembler posted about just winning an auction on one, hopefully will get a followup review.