If a game were to be reproduced from scratch...

DPtwiz

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What game should it be? I've been kicking this around for over a year. I am confident it can happen, but it's got to be the right game. Vectors are out - no monitor source. It will be hard enough to come up with raster 19" monitors.

Has to be a rare enough game that makes it worth the price for brand new. Ideas?
 
There's a few possibilities there, but always something to make it tough.

Missile Command cockpit. I don't have access to one to copy and a new trackball would be tough.
Discs of Tron . Controls would be tough, plus Disney would probably take offense.
Food Fight. One I considered alot - joystick would be tough.
Warlords - the cocktail may be doable. But Darin just ran the last of the repro stuff.
Tapper/Timber - the cab hardware would cost a ton of money.

Not bad choices, but its tough to find a game worth the price without a piece being hard to make.
 
I don't remember who told me, but someone looked into the cup holder reproduction, and it was very expensive. As far as I know, its a cast part, and plated too.
 
Frenzy
Wizard of War
Bubbles
or....maybe someone with the knowledge to program fpga could create a completely new game.
....or a sequel to an existing classic.
 
maybe zoo keeper?

clearly you would want a game that is

1.rare
2.has wide appeal
3.commands high dollar used
4.not a vector

Certain very popular titles would probably sell well even though they can be readily found such as pac man and ms pac but of course there are licensing issues with those. Maybe something like centipede might sell well?

What about sinistar? Or a less common williams game?

What about pepper II, venture, hard hat, or even mouse trap? Possibly even teeter torture? Pepper II, Hard Hat, Venture and teeter torture all use basically the same cab and control panel. Venture uses a unique joystick and teeter torture uses a roller control but all use basically the same board set with different rom info. Also the IP holder of Exidy seems to be willing to work with the community and would probably work a reasonable licensing deal. Since he has allowed the games to be in MAME for free it could even be a project where someone could make an entire new board set sort of like a jrok multi williams that would run all these Exidy games. I do know that Exidy games have went from selling in the $150 range complete and working to the $400-500 range over the past few years. I've also seen the boards go from $60 working to closer to the $150-200 range working more recently.
 
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Atari System 2
Atari/Namco late 80s cab (IE for Galaga 88, Pac-Mania, Dragon Spirit, etc.)
Paperboy flyer version

Trying to think of other games which had some popular titles and reused the same cab design for all of them... nothing else really springs to mind at the moment.
 
maybe zoo keeper?

This would actually be a really good one. Small, likely easily reproduced metal package. Raster. Fun game, would probably be enough demand to justify a run of art, stencils, PCB, etc. And they could even make a auto paint stenciled version like the Ms. Pac run done recently.

Only snag I can see is that there might be resistance to buying in to reproduce that game due to cost. Building a full repro cab is not the smallest investment, and I'm not sure that ZK usually goes for about $1200-1500 in like new condition (which is about what it would cost to build a new one not including shipping, taxes, etc.).
 
This would actually be a really good one. Small, likely easily reproduced metal package. Raster. Fun game, would probably be enough demand to justify a run of art, stencils, PCB, etc. And they could even make a auto paint stenciled version like the Ms. Pac run done recently.

Only snag I can see is that there might be resistance to buying in to reproduce that game due to cost. Building a full repro cab is not the smallest investment, and I'm not sure that ZK usually goes for about $1200-1500 in like new condition (which is about what it would cost to build a new one not including shipping, taxes, etc.).

It would be great if someone could modify and simplify the board set. I have to pray every time I turn mine on. I actually own two Zookeeper's to try and make it easiar to troubleshoot. Anyway, Zookeeper is my vote for a full reproduction game.
 
maybe zoo keeper?

clearly you would want a game that is

1.rare
2.has wide appeal
3.commands high dollar used
4.not a vector

Professor Pac-Man. Certainly not wide appeal but really damn rare. However, that makes the PCB a problem. You can build the cabinet but nobody is going to populate it with hardware without running MAME or a multiboard.
 
Professor Pac-Man.

Woo... I dunno about that one. Sure it is rare, but it is a trivia game that is rare because it was poorly received. I can see there being a small, rabid Pac fan base that would have to have it, but can't see it making a 20-25 interest minimum to get stuff reproduced.
 
I had even thought of qbert. With jrok working on the multi board again. Maybe complete minus monitor and PCB. Add your own crt or LCD and plug the PCB In and go.
 
Example : Quantum

Kind of a neat idea, but not feasible IMO.

Why? $$$

When we're talking $600+ cabinets, $500+ PCBs, misc art numbering into the several hundreds, controls and other bits put ANY reproduction machine well over 2 large - more than these games cost when they were new. And that's a threshold I don't think can be easily broken, either financially for most members, or psychologically. I know, I know, inflation, value of the dollar, blahblahblah - regardless.

We're talking a dozen or more collectors with deep pockets who all desire the same game (and don't already own it - which the deep pocketed collectors do). I just don't see it.
 
Your figures are a bit high, and no, these wont be something for the low to mid level collectors. Edot would be one where the new one would be in line with a mint original.
 
Your figures are a bit high...

I respectfully disagree. Actually, my numbers are quite conservative. Considering I left out monitor (NOS, or at the very least the tube, plus MINT chassis, wherever that comes from), wiring, power supply, cabinet metal parts, I could go on and on.

The 2 figures I quoted actual prices on are based on your $600 MsPac cabinets (which is pretty simple compared to most), and the reproduction Quantum PCBs - which cost over $500 to build, not including time and labor. Other boards have been considered, and they weigh out about the same, pricing repro PCBs out of the market for most games, since very few original boards command those prices.

I think you will find that completely reproducing even a simple machine like Donkey Kong or PacMan from the ground up is going to crack 2G's, but go ahead and sign me up for a brand new $1500 Food Fight/Zookeeper/Super Punch-Out!!/Super Bagman as soon as you get them finished :D
 
reactor
mad planets
zoo keeper

I think missile command cockpit is doable. there are more than enough 4" trackballs out there..
 
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Mortal Kombat...the first one, does repro side art even exist for that one yet?

I know I will be chased off with torches for that one but, plenty of monitors and boards and the joysticks, the only hard part is the original cab and side art itself, which is what you'd would be making, so in my book that makes it ideal or...

Berzerk, there is already a silk screened repro control panel, A lot of folks are content to ditch the bat stick, and the side art isn't anything too hard to reproduce. Hell there are plenty of boards/kits even for this one.
 
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