Tag Archives: tron

Restoring TRON

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Here’s where I document the restoration of my TRON cabinet, a time honored tradition shared by many other owners across the internet.

I intend to strip down the entire machine, repair and paint the cabinet, replace all artwork, and clean up and fix any mechanical or wiring issues that remain. When I’m done, this TRON should be damn close to like-new condition.

TRON and Cyberball cabinets

(Cyberball is next, but that one is gonna be a bit more of a challenge)

I began the teardown this weekend, removed most of the fixtures and exterior bits, and sanded and repainted half the brackets. Discharging the monitor, something I’ve honestly been dreading for years, was a nonevent, and I’ll be pulling that and the boards out next.

I’ll list out my parts purchases as I go, partly with the intention of tracking how much I really end up sinking into this, and partly to make things easier for the next poor soul who wanders by with a restoration project.

Initial parts orders:

The TRON design documents.

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I came across this fascinating collection of documents last night while digging around some of the less-travelled corners of the internet, searching for specs and background on the TRON cabinet I’m restoring.

This following bit, from Dave Nutting’s response after attending the TRON design meeting, is particularly wonderful, and shows how little things in the game industry have really changed:

(by the way, Bill is Bill Adams, designer and developer of the game, and George is George Gomez, visual designer, and the guy responsible for the look of the cabinet)

Anyway, here are the goods. The design documents, outlining the seven (!) mini-games and basic gameplay features, a couple Disney memos regarding assets, and Dave Nutting’s followup mail about the game to Dave Marofske, then President of Midway.

TRON Design Document: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
Disney memos: [1, 2]
Daving Nutting mail [1, 2]
…or just download the whole collection.