Centipede LIVES!

jow

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Some know the story about how I got into this hobby but most don't. I came home to visit the family in the summertime of 2003 while school was out, and I walked out to my Parents garage to see an arcade game. It was Centipede and I had never heard of it. I grabbed a beverage, hit start, and after about 2 minutes I was hooked. What a fun freaking game. So simple yet so addicting. I had no idea you could buy arcade games for less than a small fortune and after playing it all weekend I decided I needed to own one. Thus the madness began.

Fast forward to 2007 and in the middle of a move the neck on the monitor of the Centipede broke and its been down ever since. My parents moved down to SoCal that year and since I lived up in NoCal, it sat...and sat...and sat. My Dad kept asking me if I knew of any places that fixed arcade games and I kept telling him I would fix it one of these days for him so he didnt have to spend any money on it. Its been sitting unloved in the garage the past 4 years.

I was fortunate enough to move down to SoCal this past month, and was determined to get this game up and running again for him. After a few weeks of searching for a nice monitor, one popped up on KLOV and it happened to be 25 miles from me. Done and done. I went up to San Clemente after work yesterday grabbed a beautiful G07 monitor from fellow KLOVer wisenheimr for a phenomenal price (thanks again Erik) and was determined to get this thing up and running before my Pops came back into town tonight from a business trip. The monitor came from a Scramble, so it had seen very little play and has almost zero burn. The chassis is super clean, and it looks great fired up. I really did luck out. After swapping out the frames, fabricating a little connector for the video and replacing the power cord, she lives again! Sweet!

Man I forgot how much fun Centipede is. I played a few games and put a measly high score up for him to come home to. Im sure he will be stoked.

Pic:

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All I need to do now is replace the marquee light and we are GTG.
 

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I hate this about you.

LOL!!!

This was funny. Great story Jow!

That is a measley score? Wow, I must really suck at Centipede :(

Centipede was born in 1980.
Joe was born in 1981.

You do the math.

Here's my math, FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!


LOL. I was 10 when this game came out, and I was mesmerized! I guess I could consider myself lucky to have played people's grails in the arcades. Centipede, Galaga, Space Duel, Asteroids, etc.

THAT is the math I like to do :D


Chris
 
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Here's my math, FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!


LOL. I was 10 when this game came out, and I was mesmerized! I guess I could consider myself lucky to have played people's grails in the arcades. Centipede, Galaga, Space Duel, Asteroids, etc.

THAT is the math I like to do :D


Chris

Ha, believe me I wish I had the stories and memories from back in the day like you have. I never was able to go to a real arcade because they were all closed by the time I was old enough to remember. My 'arcades' consisted of Chuck-E-Cheese, batting cages, mini golf places, and pizza parlors.
 
Did you get him a Braze multikit? No? What kind of son are you? :D Let me know if you have any free time this weekend, we need to get together...
 
Centipede was born in 1980.
Joe was born in 1981.

You do the math.
I went into my parents garage and heard this great song. Turned out it was some group called the Beatles. I had never heard of them, they were a band before I was born.

Centipede rules.
 
Did you get him a Braze multikit? No? What kind of son are you? :D Let me know if you have any free time this weekend, we need to get together...

I was thinking about that, but I dont know how into Millipede he was BITD. Maybe I'll start putting feelers out for a Millipede PCB.

This weekend is gonna be crazy with the 4th stuff we have going on, but I'll give you a call if we get some free time. You going back up north Monday?
 
Neat story! Centipede is freakin' sweet, too. The gameplay, the art, the controls... I hope to add one to my collection eventually.
 
I was thinking about that, but I dont know how into Millipede he was BITD. Maybe I'll start putting feelers out for a Millipede PCB.

This weekend is gonna be crazy with the 4th stuff we have going on, but I'll give you a call if we get some free time. You going back up north Monday?

I hated Millipede in the arcades. Not sure why, but I just did not care for it. Since I got the Multi-pede cocktail, I play Millipede more than Centipede. It's great!

Chris
 
I was thinking about that, but I dont know how into Millipede he was BITD. Maybe I'll start putting feelers out for a Millipede PCB.

This weekend is gonna be crazy with the 4th stuff we have going on, but I'll give you a call if we get some free time. You going back up north Monday?
Tuesday morning. I work Tuesday and Wednesday then off to CAX. Gotta love those 2 day work weeks. Sucks you're not going to be up there in time for the game Thursday night. I'm BBQing both Saturday and Monday afternoons, you're welcome to drop by if it fits in with whatever you've got going. Are you getting settled in yet?
 
Great story! When I was 12 or 13 I used to play Centipede in a bowling alley down in Libby, Montana...I loved it .

Now I own a mint Centipede and love it like one of my kids!!!
 
that's a great story joe. i bet your dad will be psyched. nice centipede, too. kickass game to play. you'll have to post you dad's reaction when he comes home to it.
 
Cool story Jow, I really love both Centipede and millipede. I get addicted to playing it.
I have a lot of memories at the arcade playing both those games. I don't think I can get rid of mine, call me crazy but I have gotten rid of Robotron, Tempest, Discs of Tron, Cheyenne.... and I kept Centipede :) haha
 
Nice job. I think if you like Centipede, you'll like Millipede. I'm hoping to get the kit into my Centipede cabaret myself at some point.

Oh, get that marquee light going, too.
 
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