My next project

quses

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A Bally Centaur II.

Pretty highly-regarded machine, unfortunately, this game is not in the greatest of shape. It is missing the backglass, has some water cabinet damage, and major playfield wear. On the plus side, it appears to be complete in terms of boards and playfield.

Unfortunately, I can't justify restoring this game to factory. A new playfield and backglass would cost more than the whole machine is worth. So this is going to be my first major restoration/mod project. I'm going to re-theme the game.

My first objective is to make sure the game is playable and functional. Then I'm going to tear it apart, rebuild the cabinet, repaint the cabinet, then take apart the playfield and repaint it (with a new theme) and then come up with a new backglass. I am not sure what theme to use -- it depends on whether it's possible to create any custom sounds in the game or I'm limited to the existing gameplay/sound. Any ideas?
 
I know folks have talked about doing custom sounds, but not sure anybody's managed it. If the "say-it-again" board works, you'll have some interesting sounds in the game regardless of what you go with on the Squawk & Talk. Not sure that any of the S&T-equipped games have sounds/speech that don't mention the name of the game - Flash Gordon, Eight Ball Deluxe, Fathom, Centaur - they all mention the name of the game when you start up..Medusa doesn't however.

Somebody definitely went to town with that black sharpie; if there's any game that makes a sharpie fanatic happy, it's got to be a Centaur with it's B&W playfield ;)

If that cabinet wasn't so damaged, I'd think it may still be worth getting a repro playfield, and tracking down a backglass. Perhaps wait and see if you can find another Centaur II in similar condition (but with a better cabinet & not missing the backglass), and make one good one between the two? Such an awesome game; would be a shame if it can't come back to life, but under the circumstances I understand not wanting to put a bunch of money into this particular one.
 
I know folks have talked about doing custom sounds, but not sure anybody's managed it. If the "say-it-again" board works, you'll have some interesting sounds in the game regardless of what you go with on the Squawk & Talk. Not sure that any of the S&T-equipped games have sounds/speech that don't mention the name of the game - Flash Gordon, Eight Ball Deluxe, Fathom, Centaur - they all mention the name of the game when you start up..Medusa doesn't however.

Somebody definitely went to town with that black sharpie; if there's any game that makes a sharpie fanatic happy, it's got to be a Centaur with it's B&W playfield ;)

If that cabinet wasn't so damaged, I'd think it may still be worth getting a repro playfield, and tracking down a backglass. Perhaps wait and see if you can find another Centaur II in similar condition (but with a better cabinet & not missing the backglass), and make one good one between the two? Such an awesome game; would be a shame if it can't come back to life, but under the circumstances I understand not wanting to put a bunch of money into this particular one.

I'm definitely going to bring it back to life, but as you can see, it has the big three strikes (backglass, playfield and cabinet damage). If it were a Centaur, it might still be doable, but the odds of finding a good condition Centaur II backglass is probably pretty slim. I will keep my eyes open though.
 
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