I have been involved with several products being developed and released. Two were specific to a certain computer, the TI 99/4A with the AMS and SuperAMS cards, and the other was a general computer peripheral, the TV RGB to S-Video Video Turtle.

All have been highly rated in several publications and online 'zines. One piece of advice I have always held onto was this "never announce until ready to ship". Which means that things get done in the "quiet" until ready.

It was around September 2000 that Tom Zjaba and I had discussed MAME controllers. From this initial conversation, I set up what we wanted for a Home Controller System:

Dual Joysticks
Right/Left handed pushbuttons, 4 being the minimum
Standard 1 & 2 player buttons, and coin buttons
A trackball
A spinner

With this in mind, I contacted an old engineering friend to setup the interface. At the same time, I did some research on interface boards, and that paid off handsomely!

With the I-Pac, and the eventual Opti-Pac Plus from Andy Warne, the problem became one of layout, as compared to design.

I had my brother, Walter, start designing the layout of the now-named Devastator, using Autocad 3D. I had two goals for this layout:

1.) Bring the arcade experience immediately to the user!
2.) Make it almost indestructable!

Once the layout was finished, I started the initial purchase of parts and interface boards. Other than the use of the Fultra Spinner, which uses several Happ parts, and the interface boards, the Devastator uses 100% arcade parts.

The toughest problem initially was finding a wood worker to make the first box. I am no carpenter, and fortunately my engineer friend's old roomates dad is. And, the box you see in the site(white sides) is the prototype. This is also the Devastator that was so enthusiastically reviewed by Tom in Retrogaming Times#46. And, also reviewed by the Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter, Chris Seper-article came out on July 23 on page two of the Business Section, "Small Wonders".

Contacts can be everything, especially when starting your own business. My platoon Sgt worked for a lumber/furnature company in Akron Ohio. Not only did I get great deals for lumber, I also got a new box-which more closely resembles the original blueprints and is a much neater and cleaner design.

So, we are ready! We have the supply of arcade parts, the needed interface boards, and the spinners. Plus, we just got 10 Devastator boxes from Carter Jones, and the new logo stickers to go with each!

We are in this for the long run, with other reviews and interviews coming out, and the word getting spread around.

We are very excited about the Treyonics Home Controller System: Model 9908.

Known simply as the...Devastator.


Click here for more details on the Devastator
or contact Jim Krych, the Devastator creator if you have specific questions.