Arcade Raid in France - tons of pics

aeroflott

Well-known member

Donor 7 years: 2013-2016, 2018, 2020-2021
Joined
Jun 7, 2009
Messages
1,307
Reaction score
1,073
Location
Wiltshire, United Kingdom
So last weekend, I was part of an absolutely crazy arcade rescue mission. After a 1,000 mile round trip to France, done in just 36 hours, a group of us pulled nigh on 40+ rare 70s & 80s classic arcade cabinets from a condemned building. There's lots of cool pictures and a couple of videos. It was a ridiculous thing to do in hindsight, but we had such a laugh and brought back some real gems. Anyway, here's my write up.

Enjoy:

https://arcadeblogger.com/2017/09/15/arcade-raid-abandoned-house-vive-la-france/

37098483051_0440c2979d_b.jpg
 
I just seen the movie "It". No WAY I'd go in the room with the balloon games
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1431.jpg
    IMG_1431.jpg
    136.5 KB · Views: 90
  • IMG_1432.jpg
    IMG_1432.jpg
    105.1 KB · Views: 73
Thanks all. It was very much a group effort, turned out to be a fun weekend.

That Irish Steeplechase cabinet is awesome.
Very cool story.

The Steeplechase was actually built in Paris in the Socodimex factory. I'm not too sure about the history of Atari in France, but it seems they acquired a large part of Socodimex in 1974, and used it to build and distribute their Bronze age cabs in Europe (presumably before the Ireland plant was established?).

I'm picking it up next week from the guy who brought it back in his van. I'll post more pics when I do.
 
That is amazing. Those pics from the upper floors really gave a good impression of how far we can go! The shot of him stripping the LL next to the abyss was nice...
 
Thanks all. It was very much a group effort, turned out to be a fun weekend.



The Steeplechase was actually built in Paris in the Socodimex factory. I'm not too sure about the history of Atari in France, but it seems they acquired a large part of Socodimex in 1974, and used it to build and distribute their Bronze age cabs in Europe (presumably before the Ireland plant was established?).

I'm picking it up next week from the guy who brought it back in his van. I'll post more pics when I do.

Very cool.
Did you guys by chance pick up parts for a second Steeplechase?
I'm working on putting one back together and could really use all the buttons.
If so, let me know.
Would be willing to pay a decent price plus international shipping.
 
Man, thanks for taking the time to document this raid. Great article, amazing pics, and fun videos. Some rare pieces there despite condition, nice to see parts stripped and saved on cabs that were too far gone or in too scary a spot to remove the full cabinet.

Sega Gee Bee............wow.
 
Does the Steeplechase have the 8-track in it? Believe it or not it was originally designed to have one, I don't know whether it was just prototypes or if it ever got released, but all boards still have the port on the PCB. If it does try to digitize the tape ASAP as you'll probably never see another, I saw one on Ebay a long time ago and have been kicking myself ever since for not jumping on it.

Awesome work! It's a shame you couldn't save the Lunar Lander. But at least you rescued the Battlezone!

At least he saved most of the parts, that'll either help somebody salvage another cab or perhaps allow them to convert an Asteroids to it as some have done.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom