Bubble Bobble Restoration

Drewdah

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Rancho Santa Margarita, California
I've been watching craigslist for any arcades for sale in my area and found this little gem today for $150 and jumped on it. It looks like it was originally a Track & Field cabinet, but was converted to the romstar flavor of Bubble Bobble.



I did a little digging inside the cabinet and the kickpanel under the control panel is a little destroyed, but the wiring, board, and monitor are in amazing shape.



Once I removed the panel behind the coin door I actually found the original manual for the game from 1986 covered in dust.



I'm currently in the middle of a Street Fighter 2 --> Vampire Savior 2 conversion and cab cleanup, but I think with a little bit of control panel cleaning and a new coat of paint this thing is going to find an awesome place in my game room.
 
Since this came as a conversion only, what would be the most appropriate cab for a restore?

I'm currently putting mine in a dynamo until i can find an acceptable taito cab.

Chris
 
I think a classic green taito is a good cab for this game. Matches one of the dino's. Classic blue would be cool too. Also, a ton of Joust style cabs became Bubble Bobble, so I think that would look natural too. Great game.
 
So I when I purchased this cab I was given three keys that that were supposed to go to the coin door, the back panel and an additional padlock on the back panel respectively. Well I was about to open the cabinet up to start cleaning it out and found out that I was given the wrong keys and do not have a key to the padlock on the back. I already called the original owner who I purchased the cab from and he said he didn't know the third key he gave me wasn't to the padlock and admitted he'd never tried to open up the back of the cab

Here's a photo of the lock (you can see the original back panel key hole to the right)


Does anyone have an effective method for getting this lock off without the key? I read online and found a few options like: buying a lockpicking kits and learning how pick the lock and buying a dremel tool and cutting through it. I'm strapped for cash at the moment, so making another tool purchase is not an option.

I've got a hand saw and a drill - does anyone know if I can just drill this lock and force it open?
 
Your best bet is to get it picked. I had a pad lock on the back of one and it took Eseyo1 like 5 seconds to open it.
 
You should be able to pull the monitor and have access to the bolts that are holding those brackets. Without buying a lock pick set or hiring someone, that is what I'd do.
 
Ouch! If you can't get into the back of the cabinet somehow, so you could just remove the bolts from behind; I think your best best is BOLT CUTTERS. Find someone to borrow a set from, you'll have the lock off in 5 mins tops.
 
Bolt cutters will never work on that lock. Do what treborlicec said and go from the front. Either by removing the monitor and being careful while removing it because it is still connected from the back, or remove control panel, coin doors whatever you can and reach in and remove the bolts holding the brackets.
 
I know you said "no new tools" but you can get an 18" socket extension pretty cheap and that will save you having to crawl in to the cabinet to get at the !#$#%$ bolts.

Alternatively, you can drill out the bolt heads. Use a center punch to put a dimple as close to the center of the bold head as possible. Use a 3/16" drillbit to drill a pilot hole and then a 1/2" drillbit to drill the bolt head down to the shaft of the bolt. Then use a pair of visegrips to tear the bolt head off.

ken
 
Yeah, I'd definitely pick the lock. Though, obviously if you don't have a set or the skills, it's a moot point.

I'd defer to the others suggestions of trying to get to the bolts by removing the monitor or drilling the lock out.

If it were me, I'd try to find a more suitable and/or nicer looking cab than that Super Pac-Man (Classic Taito, JAMMA Taito, HS-1, etc.). Bubble Bobble definitely doesn't belong in there IMO. :)
 
So I had a few hours with it today and made some more progress.

I was able to reach in the coin door and unscrew the brackets holding in the front panel (I needed to replace this anyway). I was finally able to get a good look at the board and the power supply and it all looks like its in great shape.




Although I can't say the same for the front panel. As you can see from the picture it looks like someone Van Damme kicked the coin door out of frustration and fractured the MDF. Luckily this thing was just bolted on with brackets, so it should be easy to replace.



Finally, after hearing all the recommendations here I poked around the top of the cab and saw this vent that once unscrewed to uncovered a circular opening just big enough for my arm to fit through and within arms length of the bolts holding on the padlock.



10 minutes later and it was off!



Next steps for this cab are to replace the front panel, disassemble the control panel and possibly replace the overlay, then probably give the whole thing a new paint job. I sanded down a layer of the black paint on the side just to test it and it looks like the original Track & Field white/blue artwork was just painted over with spraypaint.

At the moment I don't have the luxury of finding a more suitable cabinet for the game, so for now I'm just going to try and clean this one up and make it shine. I have saved searches set up on craigslist for people getting rid of coin-op games for cheap, so maybe something better will turn up in the future.
 
Glad to see you found an easy way. That type of lock will ruin bolt cutters, but you can drill out the soft brass keyway with a 1/4 inch bit and all the pieces will simply fall out. I have done it in less than two minutes.
 
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