Museum of the Game® & International Arcade Museum® Forums
I was lucky enough to recently pick up a tutankaum on the cheap..nonworking. Aside from the horrible popcorn paint that I am carefully removing - the game is clean and appears to be untouched. Gameboard was immaculate as well was the g07. No burn.
The guy I picked it up from is certainly a character. Nice neighborhood in a well to do area in CT. He picked it up in the 90s from a shop that sold pinball and vids. He paid extra to have the guy put the popcorn paint on.
The guy said it just stopped working and offered to plug it in. I have learned never to test a non working game onsite if the seller knows it's not working, if it happens to fire up or you fix it onsite the price goes up!
All I asked was to open the game so I could look to see if all the parts were there. He was able to open the back up but not the bottom which has the pcb and ps (locked area on the bottom that has a pull out drawer). Apparently he didnt have the key to open the the bottom and hasn't for a long time. So I asked when he did have it open was there boards in it? He said all he remembered was a metal plate.
Luckily my skinnyass arm was able to reach in through the wiring hole and I felt some boards. Phew!
I could go into why I think this dude and his neighbor who came over were characters. Lots of talk about prison and strip clubs..but that's for another post maybe..
After loading up the game and chatting him up he hands me some extra locks and keys..the. just says keep them? Wtf?
So I get it home, fangle the lock open and there the boards are. Unhacked and beautiful. The only thing missing from the entire game is the 3amp fuse connected to the incoming ac line. Its not burnt. It's missing.
I was able to find the fuse holder cap that was randomly rolling around. The fuse itself was nowhere to be found. The fuse cap was broken in a way that would no longer allow the fuse to be held in. So replaced that, pulled the dc out plug ensuring no power was going to the board so I could safely test voltages with a meter. I was fully expecting the fuse to pop or find ps fried.
DC voltages were right on!
Alright so time to plug in the monitor and pcb surely one of those is screwed up right? Nope not really. It fired up!
Some graphic artifacts came up. Shut down the game, pushed in a few roms that came a bit loose. Bam. Perfecto!
The g07 was so crisp and clear I didnt even need to adjust it nor do a cap kit.
This has never happened to me. It really was just a fuse.
Most people would be happy and just move on. I myself dwell on unanswered questions. I message the guy who sold it to me explaining what was wrong and out of curiosity asked if he knew why the fuse was missing. He doesn't remember ever messing around with it and stuck to the story that it just stopped working one day.
So my question to the collectors community is what do you think really happened?
My only theory is that the game starting showing artifacts and at some point he did find the key, opened the drawer, inspected the fuse and couldnt figure out how to pop it back in because he broke the cap? I feel like this would be something I would remember doing. Why would he play dumb? Why would he give me these random extra locks?
It boggles the mind. For the record. "Its just a fuse" does happen! Kind of.
The guy I picked it up from is certainly a character. Nice neighborhood in a well to do area in CT. He picked it up in the 90s from a shop that sold pinball and vids. He paid extra to have the guy put the popcorn paint on.
The guy said it just stopped working and offered to plug it in. I have learned never to test a non working game onsite if the seller knows it's not working, if it happens to fire up or you fix it onsite the price goes up!
All I asked was to open the game so I could look to see if all the parts were there. He was able to open the back up but not the bottom which has the pcb and ps (locked area on the bottom that has a pull out drawer). Apparently he didnt have the key to open the the bottom and hasn't for a long time. So I asked when he did have it open was there boards in it? He said all he remembered was a metal plate.
Luckily my skinnyass arm was able to reach in through the wiring hole and I felt some boards. Phew!
I could go into why I think this dude and his neighbor who came over were characters. Lots of talk about prison and strip clubs..but that's for another post maybe..
After loading up the game and chatting him up he hands me some extra locks and keys..the. just says keep them? Wtf?
So I get it home, fangle the lock open and there the boards are. Unhacked and beautiful. The only thing missing from the entire game is the 3amp fuse connected to the incoming ac line. Its not burnt. It's missing.
I was able to find the fuse holder cap that was randomly rolling around. The fuse itself was nowhere to be found. The fuse cap was broken in a way that would no longer allow the fuse to be held in. So replaced that, pulled the dc out plug ensuring no power was going to the board so I could safely test voltages with a meter. I was fully expecting the fuse to pop or find ps fried.
DC voltages were right on!
Alright so time to plug in the monitor and pcb surely one of those is screwed up right? Nope not really. It fired up!
Some graphic artifacts came up. Shut down the game, pushed in a few roms that came a bit loose. Bam. Perfecto!
The g07 was so crisp and clear I didnt even need to adjust it nor do a cap kit.
This has never happened to me. It really was just a fuse.
Most people would be happy and just move on. I myself dwell on unanswered questions. I message the guy who sold it to me explaining what was wrong and out of curiosity asked if he knew why the fuse was missing. He doesn't remember ever messing around with it and stuck to the story that it just stopped working one day.
So my question to the collectors community is what do you think really happened?
My only theory is that the game starting showing artifacts and at some point he did find the key, opened the drawer, inspected the fuse and couldnt figure out how to pop it back in because he broke the cap? I feel like this would be something I would remember doing. Why would he play dumb? Why would he give me these random extra locks?
It boggles the mind. For the record. "Its just a fuse" does happen! Kind of.