Impromptu Arcade Game Pickup Last Night (UPDATED)

Les Manley

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I got really lucky. I never even saw it originally, a buddy messaged me about it 2 days after it was posted. It was listed as non-working on an online garage sale group but said it was cross posted too so I figured it was on CL and everywhere already. I looked at the post and there were a bunch of questions and interest. Person had it listed as best offer and had mentioned she would take $100 when someone asked, so I figured it was long gone. Then yesterday, another 3 days even later, someone else asked if it was still available. When she said it still was I couldn't believe it, so I contacted her right away and went over there last night to get it. She said tons of people inquired about it, but no one came to see it except me, which was a good thing for me. I guess everyone else assumed that someone else had gotten it already like I did. Anyone who would have went over there saw the condition it was in would have grabbed it right away. I expected a water logged train wreck, so I was pretty happy when I got there.

The story goes it was in a woman's mother-in-law's garage for the last 20 years. It hasn't been touched in all that time and now they are cleaning out her house because she past away. The game is in really nice physical shape, no gouges or broken corners and it isn't water damaged. It has an original owl coin door which is pretty cool. She had no idea where the keys are, so I'm going to have to drill the locks, so I can't wait to see what is inside this 40 year old time capsule. I think I'm going to film the opening like Heraldo did when he opened Al Capone's vault. I'll probably end up with the same result as him too. ;)

This is the best pic I have since the game is still in the van. I'll update for fun later on when I check it out.
 

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I got really lucky. I never even saw it originally, a buddy messaged me about it 2 days after it was posted. It was listed as non-working on an online garage sale group but said it was cross posted too so I figured it was on CL and everywhere already. I looked at the post and there were a bunch of questions and interest. Person had it listed as best offer and had mentioned she would take $100 when someone asked, so I figured it was long gone. Then yesterday, another 3 days even later, someone else asked if it was still available. When she said it still was I couldn't believe it, so I contacted her right away and went over there last night to get it. She said tons of people inquired about it, but no one came to see it except me, which was a good thing for me. I guess everyone else assumed that someone else had gotten it already like I did. Anyone who would have went over there saw the condition it was in would have grabbed it right away. I expected a water logged train wreck, so I was pretty happy when I got there.

The story goes it was in a woman's mother-in-law's garage for the last 20 years. It hasn't been touched in all that time and now they are cleaning out her house because she past away. The game is in really nice physical shape, no gouges or broken corners and it isn't water damaged. It has an original owl coin door which is pretty cool. She had no idea where the keys are, so I'm going to have to drill the locks, so I can't wait to see what is inside this 40 year old time capsule. I think I'm going to film the opening like Heraldo did when he opened Al Capone's vault. I'll probably end up with the same result as him too. ;)

This is the best pic I have since the game is still in the van. I'll update for fun later on when I check it out.


Sounds a lot like my first Asteroids pick-up. Woman bought a house and the previous owners left an "old, non-working arcade game" in the basement that she wanted gone. I got there and it was BY FAR the prettiest Asteroids specimen I'd seen to date. Except for a couple chips in the CP paint, it was FLAWLESS. She charged me $25, and was apologetic about charging even that (her husband insisted that she try to get SOMETHING for it). The game played blind, with a single dot in the center of the screen (which intensified when the ship was firing) Replaced one obviously burnt resistor on the monitor deflection board, and all was fixed!

Hope you find the same good fortune.
 
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before drilling the lock, look to see if it has a number on it. If it does, call a lock smith and see if they happen to have a key. I did this for a roof rack I bought and a tool box. Was like $7-10 for the key.
 
Congrats! I love Asteroids! Like Galaxian or Space Invaders, it never gets old to me.

Tom
 
Sounds a lot like my first Asteroids pick-up. Woman bought a house and the previous owners left an "old, non-working arcade game" in the basement that she wanted gone. I got there and it was BY FAR the prettiest Asteroids specimen I'd seen to date. Except for a couple chips in the CP paint, it was FLAWLESS. She charged me $25, and was apologetic about charging even that (her husband insisted that she try to get SOMETHING for it). The game played blind, with a single dot in the center of the screen (which intensified when the ship was firing) Replaced one obviously burnt resistor on the monitor deflection board, and all was fixed!

Hope you find the same good fortune.

I've got my fingers crossed. Unfortunately I am not good at fixing games, so the easier the better especially for me. :)
 
Congrats! With the owl-eye coin door and yellow text on the bezel, that's an early production game. Should have a G05-801 monitor in it.

Not sure if I saw that one on CL or not. There have been a couple Asteroids games pop up locally for sale recently. I'm restoring both an Asteroids upright and a cocktail right now, so I'm not chasing any more Asteroids games. If it's not a secret, what was this "online garage sale group"? Something on Facebook?

Sat in a garage that long - hope no mice took up residence!
 
Congrats! With the owl-eye coin door and yellow text on the bezel, that's an early production game. Should have a G05-801 monitor in it.

Not sure if I saw that one on CL or not. There have been a couple Asteroids games pop up locally for sale recently. I'm restoring both an Asteroids upright and a cocktail right now, so I'm not chasing any more Asteroids games. If it's not a secret, what was this "online garage sale group"? Something on Facebook?

Sat in a garage that long - hope no mice took up residence!

Here's the serial number (I believe it is 834) and the reason it doesn't work for now...plug is missing. :)

I went and looked before I picked it up and I didn't see it on CL, so I don't know where she had it cross posted if she even did. The online garage sale group was a Facebook group for a neighboring town of mine.
 

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always check the back door before you drill. Plus you can usually turn the rear lock on an Atari door and open it without a key. I think I have drilled a handful locks in my lifetime. its far easier to shove a screwdriver between the coin door frame and door and pry it open.
 
always check the back door before you drill. Plus you can usually turn the rear lock on an Atari door and open it without a key. I think I have drilled a handful locks in my lifetime. its far easier to shove a screwdriver between the coin door frame and door and pry it open.

Thanks. I did do this. I had to drill a bit, but finally weakened it enough to move it without drilling it completely out.

After getting in there, I am excited! It's dirty on the outside, but man is this thing is clean on the inside! Manual and schematics look like they are literally brand new, even has the original plastic bag they came in. Backdoor sheet looks awesome, even the cardboard cover for the fuses on the power block looks brand new. Coin counter has 22,000 plays on it, but this game must have had an easy life. I don't see any visible issues off hand like burn marks on the boards or anything else glaring or broken. Marquee, bezel and cardboard shroud are all in fantastic shape. I am going to install a new cord tomorrow and see what happens. I would love to see this thing working again.
 
I know, pics or it didn't happen. Here are some more pics I took in the dark garage a few minutes ago. I'll get more when I try the new cord and give it a wipe down tomorrow.
 

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I think the biggest drag I am going to have with this cosmetically is that someone a long time ago decided that duct tape was the best thing to use to rest your hands on on the control panel and for some reason put one strip across the front too. I pulled it off and there is no damaged underneath, but it of course has the duct tape residue. Anyone know any tried and true methods for getting that residue off without damaging anything else?
 
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I think the biggest drag I am going to have with this cosmetically is that someone a long time ago decided that duct tape was the best thing to use to rest your hands on on the control panel and for some reason put one strip across the front too. I pulled it off and there is no damaged underneath, but it of course has the duct tape reside. Anyone know any tried and true methods for getting that residue off without damaging anything else?

goo gone? Magic eraser?

nice pickup by the way
 
Ok, so I tried getting it working tonight and no go so far. I get nothing, no lights, no neck glow, zero. I went through all the fuses. The 7 amp slow blow fuses at F1, F2, and F3 were all blown. The far left 5 amp slow blow fuse on the monitor chassis was blown too. I replaced them all and still no signs of any life at all. I wasn't expecting the game to work 100%, but I was expecting at least something to partially work. I am going to look at it again tomorrow, but I guess I am kind of stuck at this point. Any one have any ideas on where to go from here? I wish I was better at troubleshooting and fixing games, but I'm not at this point. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

UPDATED: SEE MY NEXT POST
 
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