I have a small gallery on this site explaining the games currently in the arcade but I figured I would make a blog post about the current games in the home-cade. And also some of the upcoming things happening to the games. So here ya go.
1- Stargate
Let us start with the problem child of the group and the only game not currently working. Despite the amount of work that went into getting this one up and running from the DOA state when it came into our lives... it has decided to rebel against us as loving parents anyway. The next state of reliability repairs will probably happen this weekend. Those will include
- Rechecking the voltage on the new power supply
- All new RAM
- A 5114 NVRAM upgrade for saving data
- New board communication cables
We still plan to re-stencil the side art in the coming months now that the weather is getting warmer.
Latest Upgrade - New repo marquee (the original was missing a corner)
2- Outrun
You've come a long way baby! From the dirtiest game I have ever picked up to a fully working and great playing example. These are the things we have done to it since the start of the year when it came into the collection.
- Stripped most of the layers of black paint from the sides
- Total rebuild of the monitor, which now looks fantastic
- Rebuilding of the steering column with new springs
- New repo bezel glass (old one was terrible and all the paint was flaking off)
- Marquee light fixed and updated (it's an LED strip now instead of the old school fluorescent lighting)
- New center wheel yellow horse cap plastic
- All new power supply
- Totally scrubbed down interior, game no longer so-dirty-it's-fuzzy
- Rebuilt the amplifier
- Also have the mini version of the map "topper" but I haven't installed it yet
A deep sanding of the cabinet, repaint and new side art will all be happening this Spring. A new control panel is being manufactured as we speak, which the game desperately needs. Also the pedals which are badly bent and look like a relic from WWII will need to be addressed at some point.
3- Tempest
I have no idea why a 35+ year old vector arcade game is one of the most reliable games in my collection but I probably shouldn't jinx it. Other than cleaning it out we haven't done anything to this game. But coming up we will be...
- Replacing the control panel overlay (Already have a great repro from Phoenix Arcade)
- The coin door is missing one of the insert coin mechanisms. I have the parts, I just need to install them
- The cabinet damage on the bottom top will probably get addressed sometime this summer
4- Centipede Cabaret
The newest member of the family, it's running like a champ and only needs a new overlay decal. I don't plan on putting the optional side art on it, I love the woodgrain too much.
5 - Smash TV
Our Smash TV got a great looking new marquee to replace the faded one, and some nice new fresh T-Molding for the cabinet. I also replaced the audio communication cable for better audio reliability (Sometimes it would play the wrong audio). This game is pretty much as close to a time capsule now as one could hope for in a vintage arcade game.
6 - Ms. Pac-Man
Nothing really to report on America's favorite yellow female dot eater, plays and sounds great. We are planning to re-stencil this game in the Spring, the art on one of the sides is especially flaky and terrible. It will also need some minor woodworking to fix drilled holes and even up the bottom. The control panel overlay is newish; the original was in dire condition.
7 - Centipede Upright
Well this game is without a monitor currently, since I took the minty amazing one out of it and put it in place of the old terrible burned-in-to-death monitor that was in the cabaret Centipede. The fate of this game is up in the air currently. It will probably be traded to a collector for something else or taken to auction. The cabinet looks ok but actually has a lot of Bondo fixes and some water damage on the bottom. If this became a multi-cade, as much as I poo poo those things... I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it.
8 - Popeye Cocktail
We picked this one up from a local guy (like 10 minutes from our house) last summer. Very clean but not working well. I rebuilt the monitor and the amplifier. One of the cleanest and nicest Popeye cocktails I have ever seen. But then after playing it for a few weeks I remembered why I got rid of my old Popeye years ago: Popeye sucks as a game. It is truly the weakest of Nintendo's offerings from this era... and I even like Donkey Kong 3. So this one is no longer in our collection; we took it to a local auction. So it only needs someone who will love it... good luck Popeye.
It was home owned since 1985, and the gentleman whom owned it took very good care of it... despite the wack to the back of the cabinet. It has also been recapped in the last few years and has what I would call a low amount of plays. Thanks for checking out my blog :-D
I am amazed that the Tempest was the least problematic. Was it owned by a KLOV collector before you purchased it?