A funny thing happened on the way to the Dollar store...

Iggy

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A funny thing happened on the way to the Dollar store...

Prolog: BitD I practically lived at a pool hall/arcade. Long story short; it was owned by my then best friend's parents. It burned down in '84. In return for helping them move the salvageable stuff out, I was given Lunar Lander and Paddle Battle.

Present day:

It's almost noon, and I'm in the mood for some Monster(tm) drinks. I grab my cane and start hobbling my crippled ass up the street. I know the house the above aforementioned parents live in, but I never go knock on their door because I never know when they're home. They happened to be outside, so I head down their driveway to chat for a few minutes.

We talk about this, and that, and a few other things. I mention that I just picked up a Dig Dug. I was asked, "Do you want a Poker machine?" I told them I already have one, but that led to the obvious question......

"What else do you have in there?"

"Well, there's the driving game(Pole Position), and some others."

I'm not going to quote the whole conversation.... but imagine the look on my face, when I discovered that those cabinets, as damaged as they are, are still in their possession.

I've posted the pictures from the day the place burned down.... I know those cabinets aren't in great shape. Some of the marquees and bezels melted, some shattered from the heat. There's potentially some water damage as well.

If any of them still work after all this time, it'll be considered a miracle.

That's actually not important. I want those cabinets. I know I don't have any room to put them.... but that doesn't matter. My wife may want to hang me.... but that doesn't matter. I want them, and I want them badly.

The people I'm talking about have a garage loaded with stuff, and they are looking to clean it out. What all is in there, is anyone's guess. I'm hoping I can, as I did 31 years ago, trade labor for cabinets.

Imagine.... not just getting the games you played in your youth, but the same actual cabinets. That's one hell of an adrenaline rush.

I may be about to jump in WAY over my head, to try and get (some of) them running. But just imagine the final outcome....

Me...... hanging from a tree.... with several bullet holes in my torso.... and my wife looking to cash in my life insurance policy. ;)

For the record, I highly doubt any of you would take them on.... and I don't mean that as a slight. But you can get project cabinets in a lot better condition from lots of places, and pretty cheap. I'm not worried about getting "scooped" on this.
 
That's an awesome story ! I think it would be cool to even leave evidence of the fire and make them playable just cause the story is so cool . Nice score ! I was trying to get my hands on the major havoc I played as kid but so far no luck .
 
Great story..
Personally i wouldn't go out of my way to restore too much of the burnt parts.
I would make them functional and playable..

Your arcade has risen from the ashes. I hope you have a phoenix in your collection.. Laughs..
 
I hope you get some of them man. I would love to have some machines from my childhood arcade.
 
There are many corrosive chemicals in the air in a fire. Anything electronic needs immediate attention if you are likely to save it. Now....if a game was fairly well sealed and/or away from most of the smoke then you can get lucky.

You could possibly salvage some stuff by replacing all socketed chips and their sockets but really, any exposed metal is likely to be questionable.

I would take a good hard look inside those cabs before you move any of them or make any deals

I hope there's some you can save !
 
I have been thinking this whole thing over.... I'll take my chances on bringing them to the house. Worst case scenario, it'll result in some junk I'll have to dispose of myself.

If I can take possession of them, they'll likely have to sit in the back yard(wrapped in layers of plastic and covered with tarps) on palettes for the time being. I really have nowhere in the house to put them. Anything that actually DOES work... I'll figure out SOMETHING to do with it/them.

Basement access sucks here. There literally is nowhere to put them except on the main floor... living room and dining room. But, they've been in an unheated garage for 30 years.... what else, really, can happen to them?

The good thing is, it's literally less than a football field's length from where they are, to where I want to put them.

I am not even sure when this will happen. I just like giving lots of thought to a plan. The better plan I have, the more likely my wife is to not pitch a fit.

I will, when it does happen, run power outside for testing purposes(assuming it's not bloody well freezing). If it comes down to it(meaning, it's cold as shit outside) I can always pull the boards and the monitors. I have(or can make) room for those inside. I'll just have to be sure I label everything. Then leave the cabinets outside covered for next spring.

My wife aside... the neighbors are going to LOVE this. (Yeah... a bit of sarcasm there).
 
There was an article in the paper about a local guy who, back in the 50's or something, took his first car, a 1934 Ford, out the the landfill to get rid of it. Fast Forward sixty years, and he went out, DIG DUG IT UP, and restored it. If he can do that, you can do this.

Link for the car guys.
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=35383520

Pics or it didn't happen.
Before.
130157.jpg



After.

130149.jpg
 
Prolog: BitD I practically lived at a pool hall/arcade. Long story short; it was owned by my then best friend's parents. It burned down in '84. In return for helping them move the salvageable stuff out, I was given Lunar Lander and Paddle Battle.

Present day:

It's almost noon, and I'm in the mood for some Monster(tm) drinks. I grab my cane and start hobbling my crippled ass up the street. I know the house the above aforementioned parents live in, but I never go knock on their door because I never know when they're home. They happened to be outside, so I head down their driveway to chat for a few minutes.

We talk about this, and that, and a few other things. I mention that I just picked up a Dig Dug. I was asked, "Do you want a Poker machine?" I told them I already have one, but that led to the obvious question......

"What else do you have in there?"

"Well, there's the driving game(Pole Position), and some others."

I'm not going to quote the whole conversation.... but imagine the look on my face, when I discovered that those cabinets, as damaged as they are, are still in their possession.

I've posted the pictures from the day the place burned down.... I know those cabinets aren't in great shape. Some of the marquees and bezels melted, some shattered from the heat. There's potentially some water damage as well.

If any of them still work after all this time, it'll be considered a miracle.

That's actually not important. I want those cabinets. I know I don't have any room to put them.... but that doesn't matter. My wife may want to hang me.... but that doesn't matter. I want them, and I want them badly.

The people I'm talking about have a garage loaded with stuff, and they are looking to clean it out. What all is in there, is anyone's guess. I'm hoping I can, as I did 31 years ago, trade labor for cabinets.

Imagine.... not just getting the games you played in your youth, but the same actual cabinets. That's one hell of an adrenaline rush.

I may be about to jump in WAY over my head, to try and get (some of) them running. But just imagine the final outcome....

Me...... hanging from a tree.... with several bullet holes in my torso.... and my wife looking to cash in my life insurance policy. ;)

For the record, I highly doubt any of you would take them on.... and I don't mean that as a slight. But you can get project cabinets in a lot better condition from lots of places, and pretty cheap. I'm not worried about getting "scooped" on this.


I use to seeing post where people just go get all the machines then throw them up and
say "Hey look what i found" lol.
 
I heard about that guy and the car. That actually made national news(may have been a slow day.... I can't remember). But you've got a point.

I sat my wife down last night, and told her all about it. She got a little stand-offish about it at first, but I gave her the whole plan; Bring them here, put them on palettes in the back yard, pull the electronics when the weather turns cold, and wrap them up for next spring's projects. I told her there was likely 2-3 we wouldn't need; Super Pac-Man and Dig Dug, because we already have those. The one detail I *DID* forget to mention to her, is how many cabinets we're talking about here. If memory serves..... there should be 10-15 in there. They had a few machines out on location that weren't in the fire. I honestly don't know if they ever brought them home, or sold them. The ones that were involved in the fire are: Joust, Centipede, Donkey Kong, Robotron, Dig Dug, Stargate, Kangaroo, Super Pac-Man, and Pole Position. They had an Asteroids, and a few others, somewhere. I can't remember which games and I don't know what happened to them.

The absolute first thing to do, is get them here. I've already put word out that I'll need some palettes.
Second thing will be to go over each one, give them a good cleaning(particularly the controls and wiring), checking the fuses, obvious stuff.
Third will be the testing phase. See what's wrong. What's getting power, what's not.
Then prioritize the repairs. Which games do I want most, and how easy/difficult/expensive are the fixes. What am I willing to let go of. Frankly, if I can get the Super Pac-Man running, I'll replace the one I have with it, and sell the one I bought. Dig Dug is going to be more problematic... I have the game, but the more rare cocktail version. Which one do I keep?

I also have to "pre-plan" the home arcade I want to have sometime down the road. And how do I keep the cabinets that will have to be stored in the back yard safe.

My wife, God bless her, is not as upset about this as I thought she might be. Possibly because I did tell her that I wasn't planning on taking over the whole main floor with them. Maybe because she knows how strong headed I can be. Or... maybe it's because if I'm spending some money on these things, I won't spend it on alcohol and become totally useless. Then again, there's the possibility she's just quietly trying to figure out where to hide the body. ;)
 
In my opinion, you should prioritize the repairs, so that the ones you want to sell, get repaired first. Brings in more cash and less to store, therefore, less to make the wife mad. :) And, Dig Dug upright wins over cocktail hands down. Cocktails are blah to me and way less attractive, IMO.
 
Yea, pics if you do get them

One of my favorite arcades was on a fishing pier. A huge hurricane came through one year and wiped the whole pier down along with the arcade machines, pool tables ,etc.

What I always wondered was if any machines were actually blown out into the ocean and if parts of them are still there
 
, there's the possibility she's just quietly trying to figure out where to hide the body. ;)

Sleep with one eye open laughs.

While a part of me say go for it, Finding a woman who will put up with you can be a rarer thing. Don't get sucked into a project that going to cause you grief later on.

I wonder how many arcade machine your wife is going to get in the settlement and How many KLOV members will deal with her to get a game or two. Laughs
 
All down to the wife's rules. :) Can't picture too many wives that would put up with us. LoL

My wife always rolls her eyes of course, has recently limited my use of her vehicle to transport machines (I put a small scratch/dent in the fender), but she's itching to get a Ms. Pacman, Ladybug, and authorized/pushed me to purchase the Tron that is the most recent machine I've obtained.

Tim
 
Leaving them out exposed even under tarp isn't going to work. A friend of mine tried this and thought he'd completely water proofed them with tarp. The humidity and moisture that formed underneath the tarp destroyed the sides with mold and swelled up all the particle board cabinets. Total time left outdoors was about 2 months in the fall in Philadelphia. He stored them on two sets of standard wood pallets -- some on the grass and some on a concrete patio thing. He ended up trashing all of them. True story.
 
Imagine.... not just getting the games you played in your youth, but the same actual cabinets. That's one hell of an adrenaline rush.

That would be way too cool! Sometimes I wonder if my game was the one I played as a kid since it was at a low volume small bar and mine came from the same state with a low play count. Doubtful, but you never know. Would of been cool if it was a requirement to have a log sheet on the back of games to log the dates and locations of games, lol. Well... if I ever get a chance at time travel, I'll go back and pull the cabinet out from the wall and get a look at the serial number, lol.

I'd love to have the actual Spy Hunter from my childhood. That was the first game I'd keep bugging my parents to drive me down the road a few miles to play, lol. Oh and, keep the Dig Dug upright for sure! That's definitely one of the earliest games I played as a child... I wish I had one and I honestly like it much better than say Donkey Kong...
 
Prolog: BitD I practically lived at a pool hall/arcade. Long story short; it was owned by my then best friend's parents. It burned down in '84. In return for helping them move the salvageable stuff out, I was given Lunar Lander and Paddle Battle.

Present day:

It's almost noon, and I'm in the mood for some Monster(tm) drinks. I grab my cane and start hobbling my crippled ass up the street. I know the house the above aforementioned parents live in, but I never go knock on their door because I never know when they're home. They happened to be outside, so I head down their driveway to chat for a few minutes.

We talk about this, and that, and a few other things. I mention that I just picked up a Dig Dug. I was asked, "Do you want a Poker machine?" I told them I already have one, but that led to the obvious question......

"What else do you have in there?"

"Well, there's the driving game(Pole Position), and some others."

I'm not going to quote the whole conversation.... but imagine the look on my face, when I discovered that those cabinets, as damaged as they are, are still in their possession.

I've posted the pictures from the day the place burned down.... I know those cabinets aren't in great shape. Some of the marquees and bezels melted, some shattered from the heat. There's potentially some water damage as well.

If any of them still work after all this time, it'll be considered a miracle.

That's actually not important. I want those cabinets. I know I don't have any room to put them.... but that doesn't matter. My wife may want to hang me.... but that doesn't matter. I want them, and I want them badly.

The people I'm talking about have a garage loaded with stuff, and they are looking to clean it out. What all is in there, is anyone's guess. I'm hoping I can, as I did 31 years ago, trade labor for cabinets.

Imagine.... not just getting the games you played in your youth, but the same actual cabinets. That's one hell of an adrenaline rush.

I may be about to jump in WAY over my head, to try and get (some of) them running. But just imagine the final outcome....

Me...... hanging from a tree.... with several bullet holes in my torso.... and my wife looking to cash in my life insurance policy. ;)

For the record, I highly doubt any of you would take them on.... and I don't mean that as a slight. But you can get project cabinets in a lot better condition from lots of places, and pretty cheap. I'm not worried about getting "scooped" on this.

I would help you clean out the garage for free if i lived closer to you. Just because of the sentimentality of the pieces to you.
 
Thanks for the advice, and encouragement. My wife also likes to roll her eyes about these things, but she's got her eye on a couple. We both know it, she just doesn't like to admit it.

My step-son is "threatening" to move out...... he's 21(don't even get me started about him). That would completely open up the basement for this project. The only problem then, is how to get them in there. The back door access is tight, to put it mildly. I'm going to have to get some accurate measurements, and hope there's a way to finagle them through that doorway. More than likely, I'll have to wrap them in something to prevent more damage.

I'm going to take a look at that part, today. One good thing, is I can get a rough estimate from my Lunar Lander cab if the basement is even an option.
 
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