Asteroids Reliability?

flyingpan777

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Hey Everyone,

I was thinking about getting an Asteroids game. I'm a little apprehensive on another vector. I had a Tempest and while I love the game, it was a pain to keep running. I had the boards repaired 3 times. I eventually sold the game.

What about Asteroids? Is it more reliable?


Thanks.
 
Yes.

Just do the proper things like cap kit the monitor and be sure to have a nice working power supply and boardset.
 
Maybe you're not lucky or i'm very lucky but i have an Asteroids, Tempest, Gravitar, Major Havoc, Star Wars and more vids, and for the last 12 years, i had no problems with all those games.

Check the game properly, connectors and cold solders and specially the power supply and your game will be very reliable for many years. The worst ennemy for your boards are heat, if necessary, remove the back doors from your games to make them cooler or add a fan near your boards.
 
Asteroids was the first game I bought, back in 2002, and it works perfectly today never having been down for anything more serious than re-seating the processor. My Tempest, on the other hand... Well, let's just say I was scared every time I plugged it in. I was actually glad to get rid of it, even though I love the game very much. I spent a lot on that damn thing in repairs.
 
+1 ... Asteroids was the game which got me into this hobby. Was one of the first games I got (bulk buy of 5-6 vectors) back in 1994 (or so). It failed once (logic board issue) but has been solid for the last 20 years or so. It's also the game I play the most. (knocking on wood now that I've written this) :cool:

Vectors are not unreliable. IMHO
 
My only vector game is an Asteroids. Only thing I've done to it was touch up weak solder joints in the monitor PCB, a known culprit. It's been rock solid otherwise, but also didn't see commercial use beyond 1986 according to the seller I purchased it from. Got the Braze kit too.
 
Most Tempest problems are the bad connectors from the boards monitors.
Those kind of connectors is problematic also with Williams games.
Change them all for the molex kind and enjoy your games :)
 
I think it depends on if you are running the game(s) on location. I have had Asteroids last between 8 months to 14 months and then "something" breaks on it. Tempest has broken at least 2-3 times. I highly doubt someone has those running 12 years straight 11 hours a day with no issues.
 
With a properly rebuilt power supply (and new big blue), along with a recapped chassis, Asteroids is a really, really reliable game.

Weird that Tempest has a stigma for being unreliable. Mine's been fine for over a year.
 
Only had my Asteroids for about 2 months. I still watch the screen every time I turn it on to make sure that it is up. The guy I got it from bulletproofed the monitor first. It seems to run quite happily. I leave it on as much as the other games. It ran for about 30 hours one time with no issues. I have the Braze HS kit and like it. However, I can't put up better than 36.5K.
 
My asteroids has seen two boardsets and two AR-1's
Didnt really rebuild the monitor too much, bought the board from Ray at GRC in PA.
Fires up without a problem now.

The tempest machine got the monitor full rebuild , but i once had the ARII quit on me.
other than that.. both machines still fire up better than some of my other machines.

Before you buy either....... What matters most is the state of the monitor that is in it.
If the monitor is awesome,, but if the board is screwed up its still a safe buy.
My buddy just bought a tempest that had a nice monitor but the board needed 125 bux worth of repair. he now has a nice tempest.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. I appreciate it. I'm on the lookout for an Asteroids!

I did all of the bulletproofing to Tempest, so I'm thinking it was a flakey boardset. Unfortunately I dont have the skills or the tools to troubleshoot these boards. It's too bad too because Tempest is one of my favorite games.
 
Pretty much any vector (or other) game can be made to run reliably, with the right work.

I repair a lot of boards, and very occasionally you might get a board with an obscure and intermittent issue that can take some time to pin down, but even those boards will run fine once you figure out the problem.
 
I have a Tempest, Battlezone, and Asteroids. Asteroids has been the most reliable and easiest to work on vector for me.
 
I recently placed an asteroids cocktail for 3 months and it never shut off... No problems. Next, a customer is placing an asteroids u/r that will run continuously ad infinitum.

http://pinballmd.com/asteroids-deluxe-repair-in-progress/

These are really solid games (assuming your monitor is capped and connector terminals are good). I also sold a working battlezone 5 months ago and it is still up and running 24/7.
 
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Hey Everyone,

I was thinking about getting an Asteroids game. I'm a little apprehensive on another vector. I had a Tempest and while I love the game, it was a pain to keep running. I had the boards repaired 3 times. I eventually sold the game.

What about Asteroids? Is it more reliable?


Thanks.

There are probably dozens of rastar games less reliable than Asteroids.
 
Name 12. :D
OK, I'll start -> "anything with a laser disk player".



Not entirely true. Yes, the LD-V1000 and other older players had issues, and were not cut out for the arcade environment, but I've owned multiple Dragon's Lairs with newer players, and they've all been solid.

I think there are multiple examples of games that had inherent design flaws (like the LD players, 6100's, etc), but in most cases the community has identified those problems, and come up with solutions to address and eliminate them.

A better question would be what games/boards have existing design issues/flaws that have NOT yet been addressed, and could be improved?
 
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