Category Archives: arcade

MC restoration: the what not to do post.

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Okay, art time. The creases were especially fun to deal with, and — exacerbating the issues below — the arcadeshop sideart was thinner than the exceptional quality stuff that Phoenix Arcade puts out.

A little paint and some light sanding on mounting brackets and exposed bolts makes a world of difference.

I mentioned this part in the last post, but here it is in more detail. As the original side art was applied bare and the surface (minus areas I patched) still appeared to be in good shape, I figured I could get away with applying the new side art the same way. Unfortunately, the process of laying and lifting the art pulled up tiny bits of particulate, marring the smooth surface. Here’s a closeup of the results in the sunlight:
blemishes

Hot tip! Never skimp on surface preparation. Seriously. Annoying lesson to learn after spending so much time cleaning up the rest of the cabinet. A couple coats of primer and a good sanding would’ve gone a long way.

Speaking of screw ups, I managed to stretch out the front of the control panel overlay as I was lifting it to remove an air pocket, resulting in some noticeable creases. I should’ve just used a pin. Sigh.

Overall, the cabinet does look a bit better now that everything has settled, especially when it’s not being hit with direct light.

Monitor, harness, coin door, and boards installed… it powers up (and makes the low wah wah wah sound), so that’s a start! Time to troubleshoot the guts.

Missile Command restoration

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Okay, time to get back into gear and finish up the Missile Command cabinet restoration. Last time I posted about it, I’d just rebuilt and polished the Trakball. Here’s what’s happened since then.

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Unlike the TRON, the original Missile Command sideart peeled right off, albeit in many little pieces. I love how the artwork has baked into the cabinet — it looks neat, and helped with aligning the new art just right, too.

The cabinet was mostly solid, with the typical beat up edges and corners. A bit of bondo and a lot of sanding cleaned up most of the damage.

The original lower wood piece had been through hell, so I used it as a basic template and made a replacement.

Post paint and prep work. In hindsight, I really should’ve put more time into the sides of the cabinet. I figured that since the original side art was placed on bare wood, and since the wood was apparently in good shape, that I could get away with doing the same with the reproduction artwork. Unfortunately, every time I had to lift the side art during placement, it’d pull up miniscule bits of wood, marring the smooth surface. A proper coat of paint or two would’ve prevented that.

The Missile Command side art sat rolled up in a shipping box through spring, so, much to the annoyance of my wife, I flattened it out over a couple of weeks on the dining room table. Note the creases, they were especially fun to work out during application.

link love 05-29-09

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Honestly, I’m just happy to have an excuse to post an I, Robot image for link love.

The Law No Jumping

I’m glad that Jason McIntosh has released a new episode of jmac’s arcade, as I missed the original episodes back in 2007. Each arcade gaming vignette is maybe five minutes, and very much worth a listen. [via GSW]

Also, Jamey Pittman’s pretty amazing Pac-Man Dossier, discovered through Jason and the GSW article above.

Speaking of reading, Well Played 1.0: Video Games, Value and Meaning is out, featuring essays written by all sorts of video gaming and internet folks. Go get it, it’s free (also available in printed book form).

Tracking down the fifth ghost.

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Remember the story last year about the haunted Ms. Pac-Man cabinet that was initially offered as a free giveaway on the Boston craigslist, and then re-offered the next day by its new (and supposedly freaked-out) owner?

A friend, intending to purchase a Ms. Pac-Man cabinet anyway, has taken it upon himself to track it down. Scam, hoax, or the real deal, he’s gonna work his way to the bottom of the sordid tale, and hopefully end up with an arcade game in the process.

From what I can tell after a few minutes of cursory browsing, while several Boston-area collectors did attempt to make contact immediately after the ads were posted, none of them heard anything in reply. The story appears to have gone cold from there, so if there’s anything you can fill in from beyond that point, be sure to let him know.

link love 05-01-09

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Swine flu swine flu, whatcha gonna do…

SC3 party

Collector Steve Hertz hosts the semi-annual SC3 arcade parties at his house in Claremont, California, where attendees get to try their hands at retro consoles, play rare arcade cabinets, and meet other gaming enthusiasts. Here’s his recap of last weekend’s party. Also see COIN-OP TV’s coverage.

Bubbling back up due to the XBLA release, read all about the History of Virtual-On. Downloaded the demo last night, looking forward to some quality time with the game this weekend.

Oh, and to toot our own horn for a moment, Jet Set App’s first app, BottomLine, just went live on the iTunes Store. Games soon, we promise.