Different Pac-Man bezels?

[Spunkmeyer]

Hello all,

I'm totally new to this, having just picked up my first cabinet, so please bear with me if this is a dumb question. I didn't find anything in the archives about it...

On a Pac Man cabinet I got, I noticed that the bezel art is slightly different than what I usually see in the "Instructions" area. Are there different versions of the bezel art for the machine? I'm just curious if maybe this indicates if it's an early, late, or unoriginal bezel.

Pic is attached... thanks!

 

[FrizzleFried]

Looks like the bezel in the KLOV database?

 

[Spunkmeyer]

No, mine is different in the lower left corner - the area that contains instructions. There's less verbiage and no graphics like the KLOV database image you show.

 

[Riptor]

Wow thats pretty interesting. Is the bezel glass? It looks like it is. Maybe its an early machine or something. Check the serial number on her. I will check all my machines and see what mine have. Im pretty sure all mine have the graphics in there. I do have a fairly early build pac, #5,096

 

[Spunkmeyer]

Wow thats pretty interesting. Is the bezel glass? It looks like it is. Maybe its an early machine or something. Check the serial number on her.

Yes, the bezel is on tempered glass. It's peeling pretty good, too, so I have no doubt that it's an original item and it shows no signs of a later repair to the area. The cabinet itself is in very rough shape... if there was a serial number, would it be located on a paper tag, or stamped somewhere? Either way, I haven't come across anything.

(EDIT: I saw via Google that it should be stamped on the back. Nada. The back door is also missing, and there's no paper tags inside. Like I said, this cabinet is in pretty rough shape... lots of plywood surface splitting on the sides and no original artwork remaining. It had been sanded over at some point in the past. You could see it was yellow at one time from the inside overspray, but the top layer of it was textured black paint.)

 

[TheDrewster]

Check all around the inside of the cabinet. Every so often you might find an ink stamp with the serial. I have one on my Pac and Galaxian, but not on my BT. So its only on certain cabinets.

 

[Riptor]

In the back of the machine, the serial will be stamped in the top edge of the plywood. Its usually on the left side but occasionally is in the middle or right.

 

[Talon2000]

I've got a #1192 and it's stamped on the back edge of the plywood top. They also had metal plates with the serial # stamped on them on the back. Sounds like that may be missing. The only other place would be the instruction tag stapled to the inside, but it sounded like all your paper tags were missing.

I would almost say that the art work faded, but looking at the right side it still has artwork.

 

[Spunkmeyer]

That top edge is pretty ragged, but there's definitely a five digit number there, unless it was supposed to also have a letter at the end and then it might be less. Looks like it could be 36897, but that's just an educated guess.

No tags or other info anywhere else in the cabinet. It came with a Jr. Pac Man board and the wiring was pretty far gone/incomplete, and no monitor, so there's no telling how many different things this cabinet has been in its lifetime. Coin door is really beat up too. I got the whole thing for pretty cheap ($40), so it's possible that a franken-cabinet was assembled for the sale.

 

[VectorJunkie]

It must be from an early machine... The flyer might give us some hints. It looks like the mini had text only on that side of the bezel. What little of the upright bezel you can see also looks like just text. Maybe they started with text only and then changed to add the graphics pretty early on.

Too bad the took all the shots from that damn angle so you cannot see the instruction card.

 

[Spunkmeyer]

VectorJunkie, that's a great find! Thanks for sharing it.

 

[Spunkmeyer]

Riptor, I'll be really interested to hear what your early cabinet bezel looks like.

 

[Riptor]

Riptor, I'll be really interested to hear what your early cabinet bezel looks like.

Checked out both my machine, they have the standard run of the mill art with the graphics in it. But who knows if it has its original bezel or not....

 

[cleverlyj]

notice where it says "pac-away" on the instruction part? that's weird. wonder if it's some kind of vintage repro or something.

 

[Spunkmeyer]

I looked as close as I could at the flyer graphic posted by VectorJunkie. The bezel for the cabaret and the text spacing of the upright in the instructions section (what's visible, anyway) seem to be the same.

Of course, the flyer also shows the cabinet having black t-molding! Will the insanity never end?

 

[VectorJunkie]

I looked as close as I could at the flyer graphic posted by VectorJunkie. The bezel for the cabaret and the text spacing of the upright in the instructions section (what's visible, anyway) seem to be the same.

Of course, the flyer also shows the cabinet having black t-molding! Will the insanity never end?

Flyers usually show prototype machines since the artwork is done before the game is released so changes may still occur after the photos.

Edit: After reviewing the text block shapes between your bezel and the flyer, they are pretty much identical. Same number of blocks, the outline of the right side matches for each block, etc.

 

[Spunkmeyer]

Well, knowing that it's theoretically this uncommon, no way in hell am I going to alter it in any way! I should probably clearcoat the back of it (as mentioned in archives) to help protect the paint as best I can.

 

[Riptor]

notice where it says "pac-away" on the instruction part? that's weird. wonder if it's some kind of vintage repro or something.

Probably just a misprint or something. There's a few midway boards out there with "pack man" stickers on them, have one at home.

 

[keithsarcade]

Is yours a Cabaret? Maybe thats the difference?

 

[Spunkmeyer]

No, it came with a full-size machine carcass. I'm convinced now that it's not original to the wooden cabinet, based on the serial number I think it has, but it's probably either an early or prototype bezel.

Frankly, I my decide to sell it, as it likely has a lot more value to a Pac-Man collector than myself. I bought the cabinet for reuse of the shell, and the fact it came with this particular bezel is serendipity. If it's rare, I'd rather it be enjoyed by someone that celebrates it's rarity, and can possibly install it in a machine that's correct for its age -- which I don't seem to have. Like I said earlier, this carcass didn't have good original art, is pretty banged up, and will likely end up containing more bondo than wood by the time it's done.