Games You're Scared to Even Turn On

[p1899m]

None I'm scared to turn on but I expect my tempest to die or show signs of issues every time I turn it on. Pretty sure I've rebuilt the AR two or three times yet it still seems to go bad. I've rebuilt the power brick and the monitor has the LV. Not sure where the issue lies but one board died in this machine and was replaced by another working one. Still the power issues always loom in the back of my mind.

I also have a temperamental tazz mania. Although when I got it the game was non working so I guess it's status has improved.

 

[demogo]

Star Trek!

It's the only game I'm afraid to work on or even touch!

And sure enough, it's on the fritz now.

 

[ifkz]

This thread makes me nervous. I own most of the games on that keep being mentioned...Maybe I'll move the priority of my Tempest PCB kit and Omega Race power supply rebuild up a little.

 

[gorfchampion]

Not scared to turn any of them on, just disappointed that there is usually a couple of games(sometimes more) that break down right before I have a party. Last year 3 gave me problems, got 2 fixed but Defender kept resetting itself in between games; this year it was Asteroids Deluxe. Got it fixed right before the party started.

 

[OregonPacman]

I am not afraid to turn on any game that I own. I would however, be afraid to turn on Pole Position or any game with a G08 vector monitor (I don't like it when things are on fire).

 

[Arcadenut]

Not sure why everyone is having problems with Tempest. Mine has been very solid for the past 7 years. (Knock on Wood!)

 

[demogo]

And my Spy Hunter has been pretty reasonable. I think they are mainly painful to get working in the first place; once I got mine working it has mostly stayed that way. Although I'll be damned if I can figure out why my last gas pedal pot only lasted about 18 months before getting flaky and having to be replaced.

 

[cadillacman]

Do you have any of those in your collection? I now have 3 of them.

Q*Bert
Tempest
Space Wars

Is it just me? I am so scared something may be wrong with them when I turn them on, that I usually won't bother unless there's a damn good reason. No news is good news as Gary Gnu used to whisper in my ear. I think that sucks.

My effing tron. It curses me at least once a month with issues because its mad i brought it back to life..

 

[thebman80]

I use to get worried about my Asteroids Deluxe. Every time I turned around something else crapped out. The monitor is a lot more solid than it use to be but winks every once in a while I thing the HV diode needs to be replaced after that I think it will be fairly rock solid. Marble madness always worries me one time I turned it on and it didn't work but I cleaned the chip legs and it booted back up. The only other reason MM worries me some is that the Daughter cards keep going up in price and if it does break down don't know what it's going to cost to fix it.

 

[Shavenyak]

My effing tron. It curses me at least once a month with issues because its mad i brought it back to life..

Plus one!

I had so many issues with mine I sold it. I'd really like a working one though.

I don't have anymore that give me that feeling, RIGHT NOW. But I know that feeling.

 

[SuperGunGuru]

I think I can also add Star Wars Trilogy to my list. Mine is still running the original Mitsubishi projection monitor and it crapped out on me again recently. I don't want to spend $900 for a Wells Gardner drop in replacement LCD and I'm stubborn so I plan fix it again. The biggest problem is there is almost no documentation other than a convergence chart I found. Oh well.

 

[orion3311]

Crapped out as in bad convergence? Get good STK chips from reputable source (NOT electronix.com), make sure you check ALL the resistors and picofuses around the 2 convergence chips, and if I were you I'd mount a nice quiet 5" computer fan on the car-radiator-sized heat sink they usually use for those chips.

Most of those projection units are almost if not identical to their tv counterparts, so look for a simliar size/vintage mitsubishi tv schematic and it'll prob match for the most part. I happen to have a complete service set for mine which I think is a WS--something something-46.

 

[SuperGunGuru]

Crapped out as in bad convergence? Get good STK chips from reputable source (NOT electronix.com), make sure you check ALL the resistors and picofuses around the 2 convergence chips, and if I were you I'd mount a nice quiet 5" computer fan on the car-radiator-sized heat sink they usually use for those chips.

Most of those projection units are almost if not identical to their tv counterparts, so look for a simliar size/vintage mitsubishi tv schematic and it'll prob match for the most part. I happen to have a complete service set for mine which I think is a WS--something something-46.

Unfortunately crapped out as in lost vertical deflection. I went over the chassis looking for bad solder joints and touched up some things but it didn't help. My next plan is to re-cap and change the STK chip on the vertical deflection card. I'll keep my eye out for a TV counterpart for this projection monitor. Any kind of documentation would be better than nothing. My static convergence is okay, but the dynamic is out of whack. I was hoping to work on that problem, but first I gotta get deflection back.

 

[Tornadoboy]

The only games I've been afraid to turn on have been the ones that came with so much crap in them I was afraid they'd go up in flames, but other than that I see no reason to have a game if I'm not going to use it, and besides pretty much anything can be fixed. (aside from fire damage)