Got my grail...Berzerk

trickman

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Last weekend I was able to pick up my grail. I've never traveled for a machine before, but this one just happened to be only 6 miles from a cousin of mine near St. Louis, MO where I was able to stay overnight and pick up the machine the next day. Thanks to joneddy for selling it to me. Great guy and a pleasure to deal with.

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I also took a detour and brought it to Ottumwa, Iowa for people to play it during the Twin Galaxies festival. I knew Joel West (Berzerk/Frenzy champ) was going to be there, so we brought it in and he played some doubles Berzerk with me, which was a blast! I also asked him to sign the inside of the coin door, which he was nice enough to do.

joelberzplay2.jpg


joelberzplay1.jpg


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The cabinet is in fair shape, but it has the Spaeth ZZPU board in it that switches between Berzerk and Frenzy. No acid damage on the boards which made it worth it to me. Cabinet, control panel, monitor, etc. can all be altered/fixed/restored if I want to in the future. I was more worried about the condition of the board, and it's solid. Monitor has curl, but I'm getting the chassis repaired and capped this week. I've also started filling in some of the damaged wood parts already.

All in all, a good purchase with a fun story to tell.
 
very nice, that CP looks very good still....

Berzerk might be my favorite machine after my SW cockpit, although Q*bert probably will take over that spot once its running.

Be extremely careful if you are going to clean the backside of the bezel....mine had some tiny parts flake w hen I did, and it gutted me....

Youre lucky with that ZZPU !!!
 
Nice! This game is also one of my favorites since I was a kid on the 2600. Getting your grail, and then getting an autograph as well. Plus It looks to be in great condition. You seem to be winning here.
 
Thanks guys! Yeah, Shusler...you know I was looking for this one. Long time coming, but owning one is finally a dream come true. Being able to play doubles on it with Joel West on the day I picked it up was an unexpected bonus, and an experience I'll never forget. I've been a Berzerk nut for as long as I can remember. Playing one as a kid and remembering all the voices, sights and sounds, playing it on the 2600, owning an unopened copy of it, having the arcade marquee for years, even the board game, etc. Having the actual machine just helps to complete it all.

It'll be getting some upgrades over time. First the monitor fixing, then some better buttons (the ones I have are original, but cracked all over the place) and then I'll be doing some work on the stick (it's a little loose).
 
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As for the image problem, I wouldn't call that 'curl', I'd call it 'keystone'.

It's due to a problem in the yoke or the output section.

You can swap the two wires going to the vertical section of the yoke to narrow down where the problem is.
The image will appear upside down when you do this.
If the keystone jumps to the bottom, the problem is with the electronics. If it stays at the top, the problem is with the yoke.

Kerry
 
As for the image problem, I wouldn't call that 'curl', I'd call it 'keystone'.

It's due to a problem in the yoke or the output section.

You can swap the two wires going to the vertical section of the yoke to narrow down where the problem is.
The image will appear upside down when you do this.
If the keystone jumps to the bottom, the problem is with the electronics. If it stays at the top, the problem is with the yoke.

Kerry

Thanks! The whole chassis was taken out yesterday; it'll get a full cap treatment and be back in within a week.
 
Awesome! I got one recently too, and I love it. Haven't gotten the zzpu fully working yet since it seems to be pickier about power than the original board. Need to try an ATX supply with it with an adapter.
 
Congrats on the pickup. I've seen a few pop up recently but they were either too much or sold too fast.

I saw your game at the festival, but never got a chance to play it. You had it parked next to my games.

Joel is a great guy, we played Berzerk on the vectrex for a while. It was the first time he had ever tried that version.

Had a lot of fun at the festival, hope it happens again next year.
 
Joel is indeed a great guy. Myself and Vic Osinaga both played a mini-Berzerk tourney at Richie's awhile back with Joel as well. Very close but the old man got us both, 42k to 41,500 to 40k. Props to Joel.
 
My Berzerk machine was modified years ago to play Berzerk and Frenzy. It uses two complete boardsets and a a crazy wiring scheme and a little circuit board with some chips on it. There is a button on the side of the coin door to switch between the games. It's the only one I have ever seen set up this way.

I think Bezerk is a better game. I think my high score is around 12k but I haven't really played it a whole lot. My main issue is that the game is very slow until around 8K, then it seems to get incredibly hard. I do have the player's guide which is cool to have if you are really working on getting better at this game. I'd be thrilled with a 20k score....
 
Ottumwa, Iowa? My company has a large project out there at the power plant. Does Twin Galaxies have many events there? I could end up there for work eventually.
 
Yeah Ottumwa IA. Hopefully there should be another TG event next year as well as another Grassroots game expo. There may also be a small Tim McVey Day (of nibbler fame not OK bombing fame) in January. Turn out for these events though, have been lackluster, so if one or more of these are canceled, it unfortunately wouldn't surprise me.
 
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