Anyone ever seen a beat up Star Wars?

Altan

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This is a good thing... but every pic of Atari Star Wars is in pretty darn good shape! It's a beautiful game... were players back in the day very kind to it?

Has anyone ever seen a trashed Star Wars?

Just wondering...

... Altan
 
Well, if you think about it, a majority of people played Star Wars because they loved the movie. Hence, if they had a love for the movie, they were more likely to respect the game and not beat the heck out of it when losing. Just hearing those digitized voices on the game as a kid even for 1 or 2 minutes gave me a thrill, instead of leaving me mad.

Operators on the other hand, learned that vectors were finicky and costly to repair. So they probably were more likely to baby them when moving them rather than incur a costly $300 repair.

Just my theories of course.
 
My theory is Star Wars instinctively requires two hands so you didn't have the leaning on the cab that games like Pac Man experienced. Add to that the finicky nature of vector games in general and I doubt the Star Wars games were on the floor anywhere near as long as Pacman or Donkey Kong.

I also don't remember any cig burns. I assume this is because there was nowhere on the cab to let your cig rest.
 
My SW has bubble gum on the side art which was topped off with a nice layer of spray paint from an Op.

Otherwise it's in nice shape, just the usual red fade.
 
The busy side art also probably didn't show names/words scratched in the side as well as some other games with large solid color expanses.
 
I've seen several pretty rough ones. Owned one and almost owned a second one. But overall you seem to be right with that observation. They tended to get grabbed by SW fans who loved them I think.
 
The last SuperAuction up here in Milwaukee featured a pretty abused Star Wars... the cab was pretty rough, IIRC, and it was missing part of the controls.
 
Here is my entry for most beat up Star Wars. Haven't started on it yet. You might notice it kinda has the leans.
 

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I dont recall myself ever vandalizing any game back in the day. We were there to play them not tear them up. Obviously not everyone felt the same way.
But your right most star wars machines are in pretty good condition.
 

You really should enter this in the 2011 restoration contest. Very nice. Who is it that's always on here asking if anyone ever restored a Star Wars? Noice or someone. :)

Very cool though. Good to see one of those brought back from the brink!
 
I dont recall myself ever vandalizing any game back in the day. We were there to play them not tear them up. Obviously not everyone felt the same way.
But your right most star wars machines are in pretty good condition.

I think there has been far more damage done to arcade games due to neglect than through outright vandalism. People buy games and take them home and just don't take care of them (or know how to). But with Star Wars I think people tend to protect them better because they suspect that they have real value to someone.
 
I agree. I doubt mine was abused. I think it was actually dropped, (breaking all the glue bonds) . The torn up edge, and corners I bet are an artifact of being moved after being damaged. Oddly all 4 levelers are intact, but the bottom was screwed to the sides at a point where the left side was bearing the weight. I had to end up gluing BOTH sides back on. The only things not working when I got it was a solder joint on the deflection board and the X pot and the left thumb on the flight controller. Im not sure mine was ever even in an arcade.. Theres 19,000 on the meter, but the coin door (broken also) had none of the guts, and from what I can tell, never had any of them. I cant find any evidence of anything being mounted to the back of the door. No scratches, dust, etc.
 
I have a SW upright that i got from someone in MD. Someone kicked through the right of the coin door to get at its contents. When i got the game, there it was all kicked in / foot size hole. I bondo'd and applied a decal - looks good as new. I also applied new side art, but it didnt really need it. Overall, the game was in good shape but someone really wanted to get to that coin box.
 
I have 3 candidates for "abused" Star Wars uprights. I know we have seen our share of cockpit candidates that have been badly converted.

The first candidate has a hole the size of a small dish platter in the side. It may have been dropped off a truck or fell over and smashed into an adjoining cabinet. Hard to say.

The second candidate has had the top of the front kicked in and the coin door damaged as well. Probably by a frustrated op who couldn't get the amplifone working.

The worst of the three appears to have had laminate applied to the sides and then removed. It looks like it has leprosy. The Yoke was removed and the panel was converted to Street Fighter. I swear. I had hoped to enter this cabinet in the restoration contest but am a little strapped for time right now. Time will tell. Might be a 2 year project for me the way things are going.
 
All games were threatened with being trashed by players but not all were.

However abuse/trashing due to handling, transporting, age, and being on all day, sure. I am sure burned out marquees, monitor issues, controller issues and so on, you cannot stop that stuff from happening while people played them. The games were there to make money, not look nice.

Its like saying I've never seen a beat up Twilight Zone pinball machine. Well, there are or were plenty. Cabinet damage, broken PF plastics, PF wear, faded artwork, rusty legs, and so on.

Same goes for an AFM. The is one PF ball hole that will eventually get worn away, down to the wood just from playing it. Faded artwork and so on...

I've seen both examples.
 
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