Free Friday Story

YellowDog

In Memoriam

Donor 2011, 2013
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Messages
9,851
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158
Location
Humble, Texas
It actually started Tuesday night. There was a CraigsList ad for a free Ms Pacman. No way! Fired off an email expecting nothing and got a reply. "My wife posted this without my knowledge...". Ruh Roh Raggy, rubble!

Not wanting to get shot as part of a domestic dispute over a family heirloom, I quickly emailed back for them to please keep me in mind when they came to a mutual decision to send Ms. P. packing.

10 minutes later another email. "How soon can you come get it out of the garage?". I emailed back that it was too late to get my buddies truck and I was stuck in meetings until Friday. The usual kiss of death on free stuff. Next email, "sounds good, what time?". This never, ever, ever happens. So we set a time and I got their address. This morning, I borrowed the truck and we (my buddy had to work, but his wife decided to ride shotgun) headed out to find Ms. P.

When we got there, the couple was very nice. The story was that the guy's father had run a bunch of 7-11's and had saved some video games, Ms. P. being one of them. A couple of years ago he went into an apartment and stored it at their house. By then it was not working. They had someone out to get an estimate on fixing it. The estimate was high so out in the garage it sat. Fast forward to this morning. we stopped in, they showed us the game. Talked a little about it and then helped load it up.

I unloaded it a little while ago. Took some pictures and couldn't leave well enough alone. I drilled the lock out and this is what I saw:

picture.php


Everything was there and looked in good shape. The outside needs some cosmetics, but it has never been flooded, so the cabinet is solid. Just needs new levelers (and I was going to order some anyway).

The marquee is the best I have seen in a long time. The colors are still bright.

picture.php


The front panel had dehydrated Slurpy on it and the side art needs some work, but it is not too bad.

picture.php


The bezel is shot though. (Lower left corner is peeling big time). And the control panel needs to be stripped and repainted with a new overlay. But the joystick works great.

picture.php


After checking out, I did what any of you would have done. Multimeter in hand, I found two dead fuses. A couple quick replacements later, I plugged in in fully expecting nothing. About 20 seconds later a loud noise. Still nothing on the screen. Another 10 seconds and I was ready to power it down. Wait, something just moved on the screen.

Slowly the picture began to form. I ticked the coin wire and got the coin up noise. No way. Pushed the start putton and the music sprang to life.

An honest to god 2 fuse fix on a free Ms Pacman.

I'm buying lottery ticket for tonight...

ken
 
You cant beat free! And what a freebie! The only way you can beat that is if they paid you to take it away. Congrats!
 
Wow - the "can;t get it for a few days" is indeed the kiss of death. You are extremely lucky to have found the last two honest and decent people on earth lol. Nice find!
 
That's awesome... Hopefully a cap kit or worse case a rejuvenation will speed up the monitor warm-up. :)
 
Glad it went to a KLOV member. I sent an e-mail as well but you were obviously the first. Looks like you finally got your wife the Ms. Pac she wanted. Congrats!
 
I have to pull the bezel so I will pull the monitor at the same time. I have a WG4900 chassis that was recapped recently I can swap in , or just swap a whole new monitor in and that should take care of it. Then it's either buy an new bezel or one of the repro underlays.

Right now if I buy new from pac-man.com for the cosmetic stuff, I'm looking at:
Code:
[FONT=Courier New]Bezel     $99[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]T-Molding $25[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]CPO       $39[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]Coin Box  $22[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]total    $185[/FONT]

I probably won't re-stencil the sides. But I will refinsh the control panel.

Now to start to clear some of the projects that have sat all summer waiting for cooler weather while I slowly acquire the Ms P bits and pieces...

ken
 
"probably just needs a fuse"


Wow, thats an awesome score!

I scored a mspac for $30 a year or so ago. It was non working but came to life after about an hours work.
 
I have to pull the bezel so I will pull the monitor at the same time. I have a WG4900 chassis that was recapped recently I can swap in , or just swap a whole new monitor in and that should take care of it. Then it's either buy an new bezel or one of the repro underlays.

Right now if I buy new from pac-man.com for the cosmetic stuff, I'm looking at:
Code:
[FONT=Courier New]Bezel     $99[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]T-Molding $25[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]CPO       $39[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]Coin Box  $22[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]total    $185[/FONT]

I probably won't re-stencil the sides. But I will refinsh the control panel.

Now to start to clear some of the projects that have sat all summer waiting for cooler weather while I slowly acquire the Ms P bits and pieces...

ken

No no no...there are much cheaper options for the same quality. check twistedquarter.com for the coin bucket and t molding. get the rest from mikesarcade.com or quarterarcade.com


ms. pac was my first free machine too. congrats
 
I was stuck in meetings until Friday. The usual kiss of death on free stuff. Next email, "sounds good, what time?". This never, ever, ever happens.


Wow - the "can;t get it for a few days" is indeed the kiss of death. You are extremely lucky to have found the last two honest and decent people on earth lol. Nice find!

This was kind of how I got my $50 Robotron (now playing very nicely in the gameroom).

Person posts an ad on Monday about a garage sale in a small town about an hour's drive south of me. The ad stated, among other things, that they were selling a Robotron arcade game.

Well, I figured it was one of those "we want $600" things, but I emailed anyway. The guy said he wanted $50. The cab was in okay shape, but the game didn't work - but it was complete.

Well, I couldn't make the drive out there until Friday night. The guy told me that he'd had a lot of inquiries (I'll bet) and he'd have to go with the first one who could get there, but that he wouldn't make everyone try to beat each other. he'd let the first one who said he was coming have a chance, and if he didn't show, then the next guy got a chance.

Well, I didn't have my hopes up. On Thursday night, I e-mailed asking "I don't suppose it's still there?" It was! I told the guy I got off at 5pm on Friday and would be there at 6pm to get it. He said he wouldn't be home until 6:30, so I said I'd be there at 7pm. I pulled into his driveway at 6:59pm. He tried to show me the insides and everything (even though he'd already sent pictures), but I was like, "It's a Robotron. Here's your $50."

Got it home, chnaged out the bad CPU with a good one I already had, repaired a chewed up anode cup, and it fired right up.

Now it's been all fancied up except for a new stencil job, but it's sweet.

My buddy is still pissed that he missed it. He emailed about it, but never asked how much. If he had known it was only $50, he would have made the trip the first night...
 
Right now if I buy new from pac-man.com for the cosmetic stuff, I'm looking at:
Code:
[FONT=Courier New]Bezel     $99[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]T-Molding $25[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]CPO       $39[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]Coin Box  $22[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New]total    $185[/FONT]


ken

Coin box can be gotten by that other guy or me anytime. New t-molding is cheaper from t-molding.com

If you want a new glass bezel, or can't find the art pieces elsewhere (due to twobits' copyright), you can always make a drive to Austin. If you walk in with cash in hand, Bob (the owner) will sell it for a bit less usually.

Probably not enough less to warrant the gas and time, but if you're going to be in Austin anyway.


Oh, and I'd be interested in where you're going to find the stencils to redo the cab someday...
 
Oh, and I'd be interested in where you're going to find the stencils to redo the cab someday...

I can do stencils by hand if I have the time and the desire (shortage of both right now :().

I got it in the garage and fired it up and can add a back door interlock switch to the list of replacement items. It is also going to take a little more board repair than I thought. Once I saw the screen, it is backwards!

picture.php


But it passes the memory tests or should I say the yromem tests.

picture.php


** sigh ** but the price was right!

ken
 
if the monitor is a G07, swap the brown and grey yoke wires.

if it's a WG, swap the green and yellow....
 
Also, you probably need to clean or reseat your chips and cards. Your sprites aren't in the right place...

11812421391.png
 
It's a WG, but I think it may have some other issues. I couldn't get a decent picture, but the lines in the maze are all broken up and Ms P isn't eating the dots, but she does eat the power pellets and the blue ghosts.

ken
 
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