You're making me wonder what the stats are for how many people try to abuse arcade machines in a country like Japan versus the United States. (Not that people in any country are gonna be entirely honest, but the entitlement to break the system and the comfort to brag about it seems cultural.)
In fact, that could be why some of the machines weren't better protected against that stuff in the first place, right?
There are some great scenes in Rebels of the Neon God [1992] by Tsai Ming-Liang (Taiwanese filmmaker) where the main characters steal the main pcbs from some arcade machines and try to resell them to the arcade owner lol. Wonderful film, recommend it - some great scenes in those arcades.
In fact, that could be why some of the machines weren't better protected against that stuff in the first place, right?