New User and New Project. Galaga/Pac Cocktail.

Finch

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First post here, although far from my first post over at Neo-Geo.com where I may already know some of you.

Neo-Geo.com was a good starting point for my first Project, a CMVS system (With PICS!)
http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?213582-Finally-completed-my-CMVS!

But now I've just bought a midway cocktail cabinet off craigslist and I plan to go about restoring it into a Galaga/Ms Pacman cocktail. The cab is, as far as I can tell, an original Gorf cocktail that looks like it's undergone a few minor repairs over the years. It's currently not working but according tot he previous owner, it was all perfectly functional until the monitor went out (original 19" G07) although now I get lights and ventilation fan and nothing else, so either the audio went out too or Gorf crapped out.

I wanted to run it with a modern Pacman/Galaga reunion board so I'm not sure how much of the original Gorf hardware is compatible. I'm not sure if a modern board can, or should be run off a 1981 Gorf powersupply.

I'm sure I'll have gobs of questions throughout the process, and depending on what I do, might have a complete set of Gorf hardware for sale at some point (pending it's operational abilities).

Here's a few quick ugly phone pics of the cab and internals.
 

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man i'd love to have that Gorf as is...lol...looks like it is in pretty good shape.

good luck with your project. Where are you located?
 
I'm in Santa Cruz, CA.

I'm no big fan of Gorf, but I love Galaga and my girlfriend is crazy about Galaga cocktails and was really the one that decided we needed one.

I feel kind of bad converting it into something else, but neither of us really want a Gorf cab. It turned out to be in far better shape than I thought it would be, I didn't except all the original internals. I was mostly hoping for a cheap cabinet and monitor so I could start from there and not have to build my own.

If I could trade it for an already working Pacman/Galaga combo cabinet I would, but people seem to want some pretty large amounts of cash for those.
 
You'll probably have to spend a lot of cash turning that into a Pacman/Galaga.

Sell it, start over. That's my suggestion. End result is you'll have the machine you want, and give someone else an opportunity to rescue a dedicated Gorf cocktail - an uncommon game.
 
You'll probably have to spend a lot of cash turning that into a Pacman/Galaga.

Shouldn't be too bad. $200 for a Galaga Pacman reunion board, $30-40 for a new PSU, I already have all the controls. Other than some art and wiring I'm good to go after I repair the monitor.

The original Gorf artwork is not salvageable so once you take that off it's just the same as any other midway cocktail. I'd rather someone take the Gorf internals and give it the restore it needs.

I'd happily trade the thing for a Galaga/Pacman cocktail but I doubt I could sell it for anywhere near the price Galaga/Pacman tables go for.
 
I'd happily trade the thing for a Galaga/Pacman cocktail but I doubt I could sell it for anywhere near the price Galaga/Pacman tables go for.

So, your first thread in a forum where people work to preserve classic machines is about taking a dedicated classic cocktail and converting it because you can't afford one of those newer, non-classic machines. Is that right?

Just sayin'...
 
If this is true it sounds like a good prank. You tease all the people looking for classic machine that has droves of people search for it and turn it into a good game, but newer and not classic.

You'd find plenty of people to take the Gorf off your hands for more than you paid for it and start with someone much less rare.

It's kind of like taking a rare classic unrestored car and replacing it with the insides of a limited edition new car. Sure it can be done, but that doesn't mean it has to be.
 
if he ends up parting this out...and I can get the parts, almost all of it will be going to get my Gorf back on the road again...so, even though a classic cocktail bites the dust, my gutted Gorf will fly again....i pretty much need everything for mine...it wont go to waste.

...just sayin'
 
if he ends up parting this out...and I can get the parts, almost all of it will be going to get my Gorf back on the road again...so, even though a classic cocktail bites the dust, my gutted Gorf will fly again...

Not helping. *slaps forehead*

Never mind. Giving up...
 
If people are going to be so up in arms about this why doesn't someone make me an offer for it? If mindbinge takes the innards there will be a new working gorf machine in the world. If there is anything wrong with the boards I'm sure not going to be able to fix them, but he will. If this was a cabinet that was totally unique to gorf I sure as he'll wouldn't gut it, but as it is it's just a standard midway cocktail cab with 3 peices of art that make it "gorf" all of which are pretty worn or partially torn off. Mindbinge has an original gorf standup, that's really much more unique.

It's not like all the serials match on mine or anything, it's been partially restored/repaired once before. If someone took all these internals and stuck them in a different midway cocktail cab they would have exactly what I have right now.
 
If it was me, I would just sell the Gorf and save the money towards an excellent condition USED Ms Pac/Galaga reunion on eBay or somewhere. You can find them around $1,000 occasionally on the 'Bay (That's how I found mine). Ended up only paying $900 for a like-new machine that a gal just wanted to get rid of. eBay happened to offer me a "10% off" coupon (up to $100 off) that particular week, so I only paid $900, and the lady got her $1K. I'm certainly not rich by any means, but why pay a few hundred dollars for a pieced-together "poor man's" version of the game, when you can probably find a next-to-new "official" version for just a little more, and save yourself the time and headache of having to build it yourself? JMHO... Or maybe this alternative: RESTORE the Gorf yourself to like-new condition, then sell it and use that cash for the Reunion table... Just a thought.
 
Wish I had the extra time and cash to have picked that up off CL, I saw it sit there for a while too. I guess you can't save them all.
 
Say I let all of you sucker me into restoring this instead of turning this into a project cab.

A. Does anyone know of a source for Gorf cocktail control panel overlays. The ones on there now are some sort of printed textured plastic.

B. About how much would a totally original working matched serial number (my bad on previous post, they do match) Gorf cocktail be worth...as I will be promptly selling it as soon as it's restored.

C. how do you repair the fake vinyl woodgrain stuff? Can I just put a new layer on top? or can the old stuff be stripped?

This is kind of pending the hardware working. I'm sure I can fix a powersupply (although it seems to work fine and has been repaired previously) and I'm going to repair two blown resistors on the audio amp tonight and see if I get sound, but if there is something wrong with the game board I'm at a loss.

I'm not against restoring original hardware, but I bought this hoping for an empty cab +monitor and a pile of crap I might unload on ebay to someone who needs some spare parts. As I've had more time to dig around in there It's looking more and more like this is all a totally original complete set, which I do feel bad about gutting.
 
I would post better pictures of the whole game if you want an honest evaluation. From the couple pictures you posted it looked like cosmetically the game was fine.

As far as I know the CPOs have never been repro'd, but from your photos the ones you have look mint. The top underlay has been repro'd, not sure if yours is bad enough to warrant replacing.

I would focus on getting the board working and then see if you could sell it as a whole before tearing it apart. A few years ago I had a completely trashed Gorf cocktail that I received empty and I was trying to restore but I could never find parts. Maybe after you fix it and play it Gorf will grow on you, especially if you and your lady are into the Galaga style.

Just my $0.02.
 
About how much would a totally original working matched serial number (my bad on previous post, they do match) Gorf cocktail be worth...as I will be promptly selling it as soon as it's restored.

If you restore it, it won't be "totally original". Get it working and sell it as original.

I would focus on getting the board working and then see if you could sell it as a whole before tearing it apart.

Or, what pmichelsen said. :D
 
My advice is: sell the thing as-is to a collector who wants it. Probably for what you paid for it +/- $20. I don't suppose you had to shell out a lot of cash for a broken Gorf cocktail, and finding a gutted or non-working Ms Pac cocktail should take you less than 2 weeks in Nor Cali. and cost less than $100. It will honestly be less work for you.
 
someone on here has a NOS set of Gorf Cocktail CPO's on ebay....just fyi if you go that route.
 
@Mindbinge: Do you have a link for those CPO? I haven't seen them.

@pmichelsen: The one CPO you can see in the picture is great, but dirty. The other is mostly torn off, I just got a shot of it's good side :( The top overlay is cracked and ugly and someone tried to repaint part of the glass black, by hand, with a crappy brush, so I need a new overlay. Glass is decently scratched up but a local glass shop will make me a new one for $50

Not sure I'll ever get used to the switched joystick and fire button, what were they thinking!


I'll post some new pics soon.
 
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