Getting a post in before everyone comes over edition.
The ever-erudite Insomnia reviews SpaceWar!, an early multiplayer PDP-1 game, and one of the first true video games.
Black Friday sales games that you should really consider purchasing:
Happy Thanksgiving, all.
My latest project cabinet is a Missile Command upright, and my plan is to get it looking and working as close to new as I can. Step one: strip it down and get that big black ball rolling smoothly again.
The upright version of Missile Command was one of the few games (along with the first Atari sports releases) to use a massive four and a half inch Atari Trak-Ball. As these things take up a fair chunk of control panel real estate, most cabinets were designed with a smaller 2.25 or 3 inch trackball. Personally, I like the big ones.
PRO TIP: A 4.5 inch trackball is exactly the same size as a candlepin bowling ball, with similar construction. Feel free to swap out your beat up Trak-Ball for a candlepin ball with a skull embedded in it and save yourself a couple hours of polishing time.
PRO TIP: I didn’t even know candlepin bowling existed until last week.
Once Upon Atari part four and part five are online.
Chasing Ghosts, that other movie about breaking arcade high score records, is finally going to see a release, with several airings on Showtime in December.
Also from Peter Hirschberg, an iPhone version of Adventure!
Check out this beautiful home remodel and arcade.
Couple food blog additions to the local RSS folder: Kristi’s Vegas Musings, and Eating Las Vegas by John Curtas.
I guess sorry doesn’t really cut it right about now.
[minor spoilers follow, and I don’t wanna get yelled at]
Continue reading
I, Robot – Ground up restoration. Un-Choplifter this thing and bring it back to its former glory. So far I’ve found non-working pcbs, the pcb cage, and a hall effect stick. Still need a harness, marquee and bezel art, and ideally a new control panel.
Interstellar Laser Fantasy – Cabinet is in fairly nice shape, should only require some touch up work here and there once the control panel is rebuilt. No player or disc, so the current plan is to make it into a dedicated Daphne machine (anyone need Interstellar boards?).
Xevious – Cabinet is in solid shape, and with the spare cp, this one might end up being one I play with and turn into a MAME or multi-game. Also, I’m toying with the idea of mounting the upper artwork (directly below the marquee) to plexi with a soft backlight.
Missile Command – Ground-up restoration. Gonna be a lot of work, but at least the cabinet itself is in solid shape.
Omega Race – Ground-up restoration. Front art is all in great shape, side art needs replacing (awaiting thisoldgame.com repros), back of the cabinet looks like it was dragged down a gravel road, will need a bit of bondo work. Hoping the boards are good, still needs a G05 chassis and a few other bits.
The wife is right, I do not need any more machines right now. I’ve got enough cabinet projects to last me a full year, so unless someone wants to donate an upright Discs of Tron, I doubt I’ll be picking up anything new. It’s still fun to scan craigslist in the morning with coffee, though.
So, with the recent spate of arcade project posts, have I managed to convince any of you out there to take up this life leeching incredibly fulfilling hobby? Got a 2009 restoration (or collection) agenda?
