Did Atari do factory LL PCB to Asteroids mods ?

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Did Atari do factory Lunar Lander PCB to Asteroids mods ?

I just bought a Lunar Lander cab that has been (or factory was?) converted to Asteroids.

It currently has an Asteroids Deluxe PCB in there, but included in the deal was this PCB....

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It's a Lunar Lander PCB but is "hacked" to Asteroids with an extra PCB. There are no Atari logo's or brands or anything, but the job looks extremely professionally done to me.

I wonder if Atari did LL PCB mods BITD ? We all know the first Asteroids cabs were converted LL cabs, but I didn't hear about the PCB's also being modded ?

Or were there maybe kits sold BITD ?
 
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I don't have an answer for the question but will agree that whoever did that mod knew their shit. The add on board looks bench made, and the wiring look pro. I hope you find an answer, I too would like to know!
 
I don't have an answer for the question but will agree that whoever did that mod knew their shit. The add on board looks bench made, and the wiring look pro. I hope you find an answer, I too would like to know!

Yeah right! That is a very cool conversation piece right there. Very cool. :beerchug:
 
That is very, very cool. It looks like a factory mod based on an Asteroids board with a smaller but similar layout/vintage daughter-board that I've got.
 
Andy told me (on the vector list) that Atari did sell Asteroids like this in the UK. Not sure if the cabs were Irish built, I asked him if he knew...I don't remember seeing an Irish built LL cab ever ...?

Yeah I had seen the pic of the prototype board in Retrogamer magazine but I don't think this is proto, the PCB is not vero-board so I think they did at least a decent number of these.
 
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WOW!!!! Now that is a rare find.. I have only seen one other Lander board like that.. I do believe that came out of the factory like that.. Its identical to one I saw 6 or 7 years ago.. I dont think its a prototype, but it could be?? I would have a hard time removing that mod if it was my board..

Again very cool find:cool::cool::cool::cool:

I have a few Asteroids boards that have factory daughter board mods, but nothing like that.. Much smaller boards, but they look to be the same color as yours..

I checked out your link.. Nice work so far on your Lander project.. Love the 10c on the Owl Eye coin door.. How did the Shipping rate work out with that ebay auction??
 
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Kind of ironic how the LL boards are so rare, and here is one converted to a more common Asteroids

I thing it's rarer as it is, so worth leaving like that I guess


Having said that, if you ever want to sell it . . . . :p
 
Kind of ironic how the LL boards are so rare, and here is one converted to a more common Asteroids

I thing it's rarer as it is, so worth leaving like that I guess

Having said that, if you ever want to sell it . . . . :p

Well that is a big issue....or should I say...was. Because I am pretty confident that it is not a factory mod after all. And here is why:

Exhibit a:
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The monitor has a clear burn of Lunar Lander. It's not too clear on this picture, but I can see the "mountain" of LL and on top you can see texts like "Altitude" "Velocity" etc. All signs of that it has run as a LL for a long time. There is also Asteroids burn though, so it has been running (apparently still a shorter time because it is less) as Asteroids for some time too.

Exhibit b:
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Just another Asteroids maquee right ? Wrong.....where is the Atari logo ?? Not to mention the copyright text.....

Exhibit c:
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If you look at this picture you can see that the Asteroids artwork is on a thick layer. First I thought it was one of those "short" version CPO's from Arcadeshop.com but it was too thick.
 
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Also: there is a white line around the artwork AND the game's instructions, which normally are on the bezel, are printed on this CPO !

So I removed it to see what was under it. The lead me to

Exhibit d:
{WARNING, THIS EXHIBIT MAYBE SHOCKING TO CLASSIC ARCADE MACHINE LOVERS !}



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Ouch. Is that sad or what ? Maybe I can cut-out the Atari logo and make it a key-hanger ? everything else is close to EOL.

All this proves to me that it left the factory (in the US, see the serial stickers) as a Lunar Lander and was operated that way for quite some time. Then it was converted with apparently a bootleg kit.
 
Look on the backside of the control panel... does it have LL holes cut?

Nevermind... you posted as i was writing.
 
Worst part of the side-art....I may try some touching up. I'm not annoyed by it at all, knew it was there and IMHO there's little wrong with it, it's like wrinkles on a human...
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And then I couldn't resist to try this:

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I just put it on loosely to have a look...
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Ah, so now it's a bootleg no-one is interested anymore ? LL cab not nice enough ? :p

Checked out the modded LL pcb a bit more today.

There are 39 wires soldered from the mod-pcb to the main board.
There are also a couple of wires soldered on the solder side from one point to another.

But de-converting it will require more than just removing those wires...

There are a number of traces cut on the PCB so these will probably need to be bridged.
No biggie...

Once I get the monitor up and running and the power supply and ARI checked I want to see if my original Asteroids board will run in it (I do think I can put an Asteroids board on a LL harness right ? Just to see if it runs attract...)
That board is working 100%.

Then I'll try this board as it is now. It's not in great condition though, a lot of dust and rusty pins....this has been in a moist area... IF it is running Asteroids I will reconvert it.

After all, as cool as it is, a working Lunar Lander board is much more worth to me now. I do have another one that is supposed to be working but having a spare is never a bad thing, esp. with freaking expensive boards like this !

If anyone feels the desire to get the mod-board from me to convert his LL PCB to Asteroids....be my guest :D :D
 
I took a picture of the board that I saw years ago, cant find it now.. might be on my old laptop that puked.. Im pretty sure it looked the same.. I would not rule out that it came out of the factory like that.. However asteroids boards are a dime a dozen.. Convert that baby back and start playing some lander:)
 
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