Pacman Restoration! Bringing Pac Back

arcadeaction

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I love Pacman. The game is fun. The sounds are great. I still get a thrill getting all four ghosts on the higher levels. I needed Pacman.

My first console game that I owned was Atari 5200 Pacman. And I played the heck out of it. I still remember my high score from back then: 647,960. For me, Pacman is classic like a '57 Chevy and it captures the arcade experience.

I picked up this little guy sitting alone in a garage after he had been brought down from NY many years ago. The game had been played so much the original joystick was virtually smooth. Bolts were falling off everywhere. The cabinet was in tough shape.

I REALLY wanted to preserve what was left of the feel of the original art, but how? I decided to spot sand and paint directly over it using the existing art as my template. In the spots that were worn away I just took a photo of the opposite side where it wasn't worn away and looked at that while I painted it in. I did all the painting with a few sample sized, color matched red and blue from Lowe's for $8, and color matched yellow for about $10. All the black was done with black Sharpie marker. I used a 4 inch roller and a foam brush for detail.

My goal was to make it appear like a nice "worn-retro t-shirt that you are still proud to wear" look and that's what I got I think.

I used a NOS control panel overlay, and an NOS marquee that had brown paper STUCK on it like no one was EVER going to use it...

On top I've placed original arcade flyers, my signed Pacman Fever CD, signed Billy M. hot sauce, and the original 5200 Pacman game... Time for some ArcadeAction!
 

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arcadeaction

arcadeaction

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some other photos... plus I had to change my avatar back to Blinky for this post which is a photo of a coaster I made.
 

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oldfandude

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I am in the process of taking apart my Pacman and that is EXACTLY how I was going to restore (repainting original art work) it!! I did it to a Ms. Pacman a few years ago the same way. Incredible job and you should be proud!
 
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arcadeaction

arcadeaction

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I am in the process of taking apart my Pacman and that is EXACTLY how I was going to restore (repainting original art work) it!! I did it to a Ms. Pacman a few years ago the same way. Incredible job and you should be proud!

Glad your Ms. Pacman turned out great with the direct paint method as well. I think a lot of cabs could be restored this way as long as the sides are relatively solid. I'm quite likely going to paint a Joust and a Moon Patrol this way as well. It's really just filling in areas of color and is less daunting than one might think it would be. It can save some dollars as well.
 
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