Anybody for Sinistar....for $50.

[Muel]

It went to a fellow KLOVer!!!!

Yellowdog was right... this was a beast to deadlift and muscle onto the back of my pickup!

I have yet to fire this badboy up - it was already dusk when I picked it up at the end of their driveway and just got a brief look at the game. Boards and monitor were all there.

The guy that owned this Sinistar had worked for Atari in the day and he was responsible for porting games to their game systems - he was in charge of the programmers that wrote the code for their Atari game systems.

The Sinistar that he sold me had never been used in an arcade and was sent straight from Williams to Atari to have the programmers port Sinistar to their game consoles. It was only played by Atari employees (and his family after Atari closed shop when he acquired it) - according to the seller.

It looks like it is in great shape physically - I'll get a better look at it in the morning. As far as it working - I dunno yet. He had said that the last time he had it on, it was 10 years ago and that we'd have to cart it all the way down his driveway to plug it in. (I wasn't gonna lug this thing anywhere other than to the pickup bed!) He was just happy that it was going to a good home. (I'm happy too!)

I'll post some better pics of it over the weekend. CL ad has been pulled.

-MUEL

 

[Paul Olson]

Nice snag Gino! That sounds like it could be the deal of the year there. Those are badass looking cabinets!

 

[Muel]

Thanks Paul, I had been looking for one for a while now. I couldn't believe that this one popped up in my backyard!

I've been able to unload arcade games from the pickup by myself on the uprights - but this thing is a beast and weighs a ton! I need to wait until morning to get help to unload it.

I can't wait to start checking this game out!

I can't believe that I finally actually snagged a deal! (Thank you Jehuie for passing on this one.)

 

[Spunkmeyer]

Muel, congrats! What a great pickup and story to have to go along with it.

 

[airlair]

That is definitely the deal of the year. Congratulations. Sinistar and Red Baron would probably be the only two cockpit games I would ever consider. I believe the Sinistar cockpit actually has stereo sound too. Sinistar was the last new game I remember playing at my local arcade before it closed down and I drove a long way to find my upright. Congrats again!

 

[KevinMullins]

I believe the Sinistar cockpit actually has stereo sound too.

Yes, via dual sound boards.

Friggin' AWESOME snag!!
I would have creamed myself if one ever showed up around here for $50.....jeez.
And for one with limited use like that is just the icing on the cake ya know.

 

[jehuie]

Thank you Jehuie for passing on this one.

Your welcome. I didn't exactly pass on it. I actually missed her call-back because I had my phone silenced while watching the new Harry Potter movie.

Congrats on an amazing pickup. Invite me over to play that sucker sometime!

I truly don't have room for something like that anyway. But man, I would have figured a way to squeeze it in somewhere!

 

[local413]

Batteries!!

Make sure to pull out the 10yearold batteries ASAP!! Hopefully they haven't leaked all over the CPU pcb.. Easy game to get up and running if no battery damage.. 90% of the ones I've owned just needed a new or rebuilt PS..

Amazing find man! So awesome that you picked up a (AUO) game!! Hehe Atari Use Only

Did you ask him if he has any other hardware or documents from ATari? Also, he's your best lead to more games that fellow employees bought from the company

 

[GackAttack]

Great snag!

Nice job Muel - and the back story is a great one to tell friends, too....

I think that most of the games we get (that aren't for flipping - jehuie, ahem!) are 1/2 because they are fun to play and 1/2 because of the memories from our youth. The history of where it came from or how we acquired our collection is just icing on the cake !!

...oh ya, and pics or it didn't happen

 

[Ghostnuke]

I can't imagine the sinistar coming at me in stereo. I think I'd crap.

 

[Finch]

Congrats Muel, I'm glad someone was able to score that. What an amazing deal.
I saw it on CL and just had to pass it on. Glad it went to a good home.



haha, your right up the coast from me, I'm down in Santa Cruz.

 

[Muel]

Ok, so she's outta the pickup truck now and ready for a cleaning! It doesn't look like it will need too much work as far as physical repair, just detailing.

It didn't fire up. The first thing I checked was the power cord - sure enough the wires were frayed and no voltage to the transformer.

It's getting power now that I replaced the plug end but the PS is putting out too much voltage.

I'm getting:
-6.0
+16.3
+6.3
+17.5

It's definintely off! I'm sure that the RAM is probably fried and will need to be replaced if it got more than 5v and 12v.

I already swapped out the PS with a known tested one from Yellowdog that has been running in my Joust and virtually the same power output. There must be a transformer problem.

I will swap in my Joust transformer board when i get back from vacation on Sunday and let everyone know the progress.

Here's a few pics, more to follow in a few days.

 

[30FathomDave]

Wow! What a deal!! Welcome to the club, sir. That one looks super clean. I'm sure you'll have it up and running in no time.

 

[warp655]

wow! that looks really nice . Nice grab .

 

[Muel]

I ended up giving the guy $150 in the end. (I was feeling way too guilty at just $50) He was VERY helpful and had all his family and freinds out to help me load this in the truck. The Atari stories he told me were priceless though! At $150.00, this was still a great deal and he was happy with that.

They admitted that they did not research the price and that they just really needed it out of their driveway. I'm just glad that they didn't research the one for sale on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-Sinistar-C...&otn=5&po=LVI&ps=63&clkid=1528720196301731486

 

[mattosborn]

I ended up giving the guy $150 in the end. (I was feeling way too guilty at just $50) He was VERY helpful and had all his family and freinds out to help me load this in the truck. The Atari stories he told me were priceless though! At $150.00, this was still a great deal and he was happy with that.

Nicely done! I don't really have space for a cockpit like that, but if one like that came up around here I'd certainly find a way! I'm sure you'll have it running in no time. Enjoy.

 

[Muel]

Yea Matt..
I don't have the space either! But I'm gonna find a way to make the games all fit. I'm at Pismo Beach on a mini vacation until tomorrow. I'm dying to get home to tinker with the game and finish doing the cleanup and detailing.

I was trying to see if there was any info on VAPS as to how many cockpit versions of Sinistar were actually produced. Anyone chime in if they know!

 

[Muel]

$50 Sinistar - I live !

I LIVE !

Well, so far I have repaired the power cord (the end needed to be replaced.)
It also had a bad transistor on the heatsink assembly that caused it to put out wrong DC voltages. I replaced that transistor and it fired right up!

The joystick is the only thing not working properly - it won't go right at all and after a while of playing, it will only go left and up. I replaced the Molex connector on the interface board. I'm sure that there's something wrong on the opto board, I'll check it out tonight!

I HUNGER !

 

[That80sGuy]

You should drop the guy an e-mail and let him know you got it working.

 

[Muel]

Actually. that was part of the deal. We agreed that when I got it working again, that he'd be able to come over to my garagecade and see it in its former glory!