Karma, history, ethics and arcade repair

jehuie

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So my Centipede has been acting up ever since I got it. Sometimes it works fine but other times it misbehaves in odd ways. I pulled the back off and started looking into it today. As often happens, I found in the bottom an old token from the glory days. This one was labeled "Roller King".

Now I don't know where Roller King is or was but I always find it interesting and it sort of makes me feel nostalgic when I find these things. So I tucked it in my pocket and continued my work, feeling better about things already.

I checked my voltages and they all looked good. Then I pulled the main board, laid it on my work table, switched on the light and set to pulling out all the socketed chips. They looked relatively clean but just for good measure I gave them the Tarnex treatment (following proper safety guidelines since death isn't funny).

The whole time I was working I was pondering that lone token I found. And the question popped into my mind...Is it right to remove a piece of history from a game like that? Doesn't that deprive future generations from enjoying and reliving the history of the game? The more I thought about it, the more certain I was sure this was true.

As I reassembled the game and screwed the cpu board into place I decided that as an act of good karma I should replace the token back into it's spot on the bottom of the cabinet. Doing so, I was certain this would ensure that the game would begin working just like new. I was so confident that I put the back door on and moved the game back into position.

I fired the game up and got jail bars. Repeatedly. The game is dead.

I never really believed in karma anyway.

Next time I open the thing up I'm keeping the token.
 
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Centipedes make great mulitcades.

I've actually been considering that. Someone was selling boards that can be configured for just the trackball games. If anyone has a good one I'd love to hear about it. That way I can play Millipede (a better game anyway) and Crystal Castles and stuff.
 
You know, this site is starting to creep me out. It's the trends that keep happening. Either I read about it, then it happens to me, or the other way around. I know there is coincidences, but this is happening too often.

For example:

I had a bad experience with mail delivery a few months back. Had a package disappear. One that I got from ebay, It was a cheap stuffed animal that I got for the wife for shits and giggles. Nothing...
The damn thing just disappeared in thin air. Then come to find out, that a few people around the same time were having missing packages or stolen ones.

Then, came the damaged packages trend. I get a damaged package with two broken marquees in it. All of a sudden so are many other folks on here.

Then came a certain game upgrade or fix. It happens to be the same games that I'm fixing or upgrading!! The popular MK board Q&As that have been poping up as of late for the past month. Or the SF tend of hacks and Q&As.

And all of a sudden this thread.

I was just cleaning out my cabinet during this restoration/conversion project that I'm currently doing.

In the bottom besides a ton of dust and dirt grime, is a torn off tag of a little nemo stuffed animal. Also a few blue tickets from some amusement place in Indiana. No tokens though. I did however find $3.50 in quarters.

I vacuumed the mess out of that thing since the inside prolly never seen the light of day in 10 years. I did just about the same thing Jehuie did day before yesterday.

So now, I'm having a problem with my game. I think I'm having a problem with my arcade monitor to be exact. Yep! Oh what are the Q&A threads about now for what monitors? WG7000!! The same one I have.

Also I've been spotting some shady ebay sellers. Yes these things happen a lot. But in the last two days, I've seen more threads about the problem sellers than multiple threads of anything else.


Can we get a couple of KLOVer's win the lottery and make a thread about it? That way I can run out and buy a powerball or something worth millions?

rant/ :D
 
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I think you should sell the token on e-bay... I hear they are going for around $950.00!!! :eek:

Sorry your game didn't work.
 
I am drumpf right now.





...if you cared.


*hic!*
 
In this thread, we discover which kloverz don't clean the insides of their games. ;)
 
I say keep the coin for yourself, why put it back in the cab? The fact that you started a new topic and spent time gushing about it, shows me you have an honest sentiment for what you're doing. After our generation there will only be a few that will have honest arcade memories, and kids born in the last 10 years won't have childhood memories of spending hours in arcades. Not like we did. Shit, I was born in 1982, and a lot of people here would probably contest that I truly experienced the arcade scene. I totally wasn't there for the early 80's arcade boom, I was there in the late 80's-mid 90's, and watched everything go to shit after the fighter craze. I watched the arcades die here as the consoles started to dominate.

I understand what you're getting at, but I think that coin has more significance to you, and I think it will be taken better care of, enjoyed, and the memory will be preserved better amongst us and our children that we've force-fed this addiction to.

What if someone doesn't find that coin, or bother to take it out, and the cab ends up in a landfill someday?

Go find a common token like a chuck e. cheese and throw it in that cab. I think you'll appreciate that coin more than most kids will in the next 200 years.

Maybe an antique dealer finds it in a 150 years and sells it for $1,000 Vicebucks - because in the future, we'll switch from the USD to the ViceMikey Dollar.
 
Whenever I find a coin or token in a game I'm working on I keep it as a kind of 'lucky charm'. I feel like I'll have better luck while working on it if I keep the coin/token close to the game, like in the coin bucket.

After I finish with the game sometimes I just put the coin in my change pile, but I do have a couple games that still have them in the bucket. I've actually got a couple quarters from one of the first Tempest restores I did permanently rolling around in a small plastic container with assorted arcade screws, nuts and bolts.

It's funny because I'm otherwise not a superstitious person.
 
Interesting Jehuie...found this one at the bottom of my Gyruss. Incidentally, that's my home town hang out, I spent most of my teenage years chasing girls and playing the arcade games at Roller King. (Does your token have both addresses on the back?) They had two versions because for a short time, they had two locations in Modesto. Here's the one I found:
0304170641.jpg

0304170642.jpg
 
I think your problem might be that when you moved it back, the token bounced around on top of the fuse block and shorted out half the things in the cabinet.
 
I must have found a unique coin in every cabinet ive aquired. Sometime more than one, i keep a pink floyd coffee mug with at least one coin found in every machine . when i moved
i thought somebody took the cup or it got lost because i couldnt find it.
It popped up 4 months later in the toolbox i use for my cars.
 
Here's a history lesson; when then thread was born, I was a young and healthy 34 years old. I also was engaged to a really hot blonde with big boobs.

Six years later, she's gone and I'm the one with boobs.; karma. Thanks for the reminder. ;)
 
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