Possibly the most rare ms. Pacman cabinet??? PLEASE HELPPlease help!!

Oliver13

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Possibly the most rare Ms. Pacman cabinet, ever??? PLEASE HELP!

SUPER UPDATE!---
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I just heard from RJ, the owner of the other Ms. Pac Proto, this is what he had to say-


"Hi All,
Sorry Joe never got a PM from you? Just rechecked.

I am also guilty of very seldom looking at facebook..................

You would think that since we both work at hte same company and phones are our business we would talk more

I am here somewere. Sigh, working to much. Have not been on the group to much.

The game is sitting over at Jeffs place. He now has 2 of them. I picked the one up in the picture from a guy that lived next to an engineer that worked for Bally back in the day.

The only thing I found out about them is that they were going to put them in bars and they tried a few and it did not work out."


So, things are starting to fit together now!

Jeff- Im sorry that I was skeptical, but you never know right? I'd still love to see pics of your machines and learn any further info that you may know.

I was told there was only 9 made, SO, do we have the only 3 known to survive or do you know of any others out there?

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UPDATE- I just spoke with the guy that I bought it from and he corrected himself and said she said she worked at Midway/Bally! He must have been confused earlier?

ALSO- I got her first name...... Bobbi

So, more clues to the puzzle now! Any good detectives out there that might be able to find a Woman named Bobbi that worked at Midway/Bally in the 80's?

Anyone know where I could start to even look?

The guy is still looking to see if he still has her contact info. I really hope he does but that's something I probably cant count on... We'll see.

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Hello all you smarties out there! I MIGHT HAVE JUST FOUND THE HOLY GRAIL OF ARCADE MACHINES!

I have something quite interesting on my hands; here are the pics to wet your whistle and further down I will explain how I got it and what little information I was told about it.. I will also post detailed pics inside and out, below-


My wife is in this pic just to show how big this thing is-

IMG_9422.jpg


SO heres my story-

I acquired this from Craigslist this weekend from a college dude that isnt really into games and wanted to get rid of it due to space and needed the cash. I ended up paying $450 for it.
THIS IS WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING - I asked him where he got this from (being that I have never seen anything like it) and he said that he moved here (Phoenix) from Chicago not so long ago and traded a nice TV for it from a woman. Well, turns out that the woman worked at Namco (He claims) and she told him that it was given to her from the company and that there were ONLY 9 MADE!!!!

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And here is where I now stand. I have put in hours of research and cannot find a single spot of information about this or any of the other 8 machines out there.... No picture, text, ANYTHING.

This is what I DO know-
It is definitely vintage and original from 1982, I can just tell from how it looks and feels from the inside and out. The machine's cabinet is honestly very high quality, it is made of a very nice solid wood, NO LAMINATE! Heavy-duty stuff! Varnished or shellacked.

It does not look like a home custom project at all, its WAY too high quality and made way too well. These things you can tell pretty quickly just by looking at it.

For some reason, it only plays Pac-Man right now, it is set on free play.

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I will continue the next post, as i am only allowed 5 images per post..
 

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THE HOLY GRAIL - Continued

There is a VERY strange little red button on the control panel, possibly to switch from Ms to Regular Pac?

The red button doesnt do anything when pressed, BUT when in "Self Test" mode, It makes a noise when pressed, telling me that it is hooked up and working. I just dont know what it is supposed to be doing??? "Self test" also says its an UPRIGHT, which makes sense but its just such a wierd cabinet, its like half cocktail half upright!?!?!

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The on/off switch is right under the control panel, on the left side.

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Another strange thing is- There is no "attract screen" when it is on and Idling.. It just stays on a basic - Push start button, etc... - See pic.

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There are tags in the inside that have hand written numbers and printed Ms. Pacman text..

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THE HOLY GRAIL - Continued

This is a really wierd part- There is a Serial number written on a piece of big masking tape on the back.. See pic- It is definitely old crusty tape. Very interesting..

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Here are some pics of the inside and coin mechs, they seems almost untouched. The counter is pretty low and It still works when I put a quarter in it change, although that will be the last time I put a quarter in it!

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I guess Ill leave it at that for the moment.. Maybe Someone here can help me out on getting some info for this very interesting find.. I am dumbfounded!

Also- Im in the process with the guy I bought it from on retrieving the original woman owners contact info. He thinks he can find her contact info and if he can, I am going to get ahold of her in an instant!

Thank for any thoughts or comments, Please let me know if youd like to pics of anything else on the machine that might help narrow this mysterious machine down..
Oliver
 
I think it's pretty cool. I like!

Did the person work for NAMCO or Bally Midway? Those games were not made or sold by NAMCO in the US - especially ms. pac. They were sold and made by Bally Midway in Chicago.
 
They are prototypes
I have 2 of them
One like yours on the first one they made

YOU DO!?

Do you have any other info? How rare are they, how many were made?

Why cant I find any info on them?

Are both of yours Ms. Pacman?

Can I see some pictures? I dont mean to be skeptical but Id have to see it to believe it. Especially since I have scoured the internet and havent found a single image of one..

Thanks in advance :)

Oh, also- What does the tiny red button on the CP supposed to do?
 
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Gotta admit... I really dig that cabinet. Prototype or not, the cabinet is just kinda cool. I can almost imagine it gracing some living room back in the early 80's (like my parent's w/ orange shag carpeting) with a plant up on top of the shelf above the marquee.
 
I think it's pretty cool. I like!

Did the person work for NAMCO or Bally Midway? Those games were not made or sold by NAMCO in the US - especially ms. pac. They were sold and made by Bally Midway in Chicago.

I was told that she said that she worked for Namco, which, yeah- doesnt make that much sense. But strange that he got it from Chicago and Bally/Midway was in Chicago..

Im too confused.
 
btw no attract mode when set on free play is standard issue, u should have attrace mode once its set to take quarters again, but when it has credits it will probably do the same iirc...
 
Did you follow the red button wire to see where it goes?? I would assume it was a credit switch for when it was not in free play mode. I put one in mine because I did not want the screen burn from being stuck on that screen in free play. I would advise you to switch it back unless you want massive screen burn.
 
btw no attract mode when set on free play is standard issue, u should have attrace mode once its set to take quarters again, but when it has credits it will probably do the same iirc...


Would you happen to know how to get it off of free play?

Also, would that not be a good idea since the coin counter is soo low? Should I just keep it low and how it is?
 
Did you follow the red button wire to see where it goes?? I would assume it was a credit switch for when it was not in free play mode. I put one in mine because I did not want the screen burn from being stuck on that screen in free play. I would advise you to switch it back unless you want massive screen burn.

Yeah, I followed it and it goes to the main board with a bunch of other cords, I believe..

Do you know how to get it off of free play mode? Is it simple?

I could try it to see if it works ..

Thanks
 
YOU DO!?

Do you have any other info? How rare are they, how many were made?

Why cant I find any info on them?

Are both of yours Ms. Pacman?

Can I see some pictures? I dont mean to be skeptical but Id have to see it to believe it. Especially since I have scoured the internet and havent found a single image of one..

Thanks in advance :)

Oh, also- What does the tiny red button on the CP supposed to do?

guess you didnt look too hard, took me about 30 seconds to find these...

http://s134.photobucket.com/albums/q115/RJALLEYARCADE/MS PAC PROTO/
 
Well you Sir, are a wizard! I could find any for the life of me!

Do you know any info about these Protos? Im guessing they are pretty scarce..
 
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