Rare Thursday Arcade Road Trip

YellowDog

In Memoriam

Donor 2011, 2013
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Location
Humble, Texas
In a rare roadtrip Thursday, KatanaJoe and I went hunting the wild, the rare and the elusive arcade cabinets. Earlier in the week, Joe had found a pair of Joust cocktails on Craigslist and contacted the poster. The first one, which was still adorned with Joust artwork (and presumably Joust boards) was already spoken for but he told them to consider that the other one is sold. That was the start of the road trip. He had Thursday off and I decided to blow a vacation day and ride along. On the way, we called the operator that had the trashed warehouses as we would be passing within a few miles anyway. It turned out that he had just talked his boss into lowering the price of the NeoGeo 4 slot cabinet that Joe had been eyeing on previous visits. So, it was time for a new plan. First to go see the NeoGeo, then the converted Joust cocktail.

The NeoGeo was in beautiful shape, so Joe paid, we all loaded and down the road we went. We didn't have any time to go scrounging :( as we had another 40 miles to go to make the appointment to see the Joust.

On the way to see the Joust cocktail, Joe remembered somebody else out that way that he had contacted previously about a Kickman. Fortunately, he was able to contact the lady and we made arrangements to stop by after seeing the Joust.

The Joust had been converted to a LifeForce. New joysticks, some new buttons, no artwork and they had ripped the coindoor out and put a piece of black plexi over it. The game didn't boot and the monitor needs some work. So of course, I bought it even though the guy tried to extort an extra $100 out of me. We settled on an extra $25. The way that house looked, they can use a lot more than an extra $25. So l paid, we loaded and down the road we went.

The third stop was the highlight of the day. We weren't expecting a lot when we saw the buildings, but once the garage door went up, it was game on. I would have loved to have been able to stop by before everything had been so picked over, but oh well. They still had Joe's Kickman. It was a beautiful dedicated machine. The artwork was very nice. And they had two other rare titles. A Universal Space Panic (which Joe picked up) and an Exidy Spectar (which I picked up). Both dedicated and both cabinets were in excellent condition. In addition, there were several jukeboxes and a very cool Triumph TR8 that the owner was restoring. Joe also picked up a couple boxes of 45s and few old 33s.

So from heading out to look at a converted Joust cocktail we ended up with a NeoGeo 4 slot, a dedicated Kickman, a dedicated Space Panic and a dedicated Spectar. Oh yeah, that converted Joust cocktail, too.

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ken
 

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Whats up with that? You guys(Im gonna have to come up with a nickname for you two)get all the cool stuff,really digging the space panic nice pick ups.and sorry joe(I know he'll read this post)I didnt get back to you on the tempest but im trying to work a deal on a baby pac.
 
Terrible twosome!!!!

Yeah Roy I found the joust cocktail for Ken I was not even thinking of picking up anything and drive him up there to get it and then Ken told me well that would be just a waste to drive up for one game, Then I laughed and told my wife Ken said I have to buy something haha!!! The Tempest is there whenever you get the time to check it out Me and Ken are like Luke and Han I want to jump the gun on everything he always plays it cool and goes with the flow!!!!! See ya soon it was a real fun trip. Joe.
 
Cool story! Man I'd like a dedicated universal some day..

Hey, I just dug up a few nos joust cocktail sticks.. You interested?
 
Hey ken I was meaning to talk to you at the meet but got drunk and forgot,If you ever need to borrow my truck(providing im not on call)your more than welcome to use it,the a/c is off and on and its got a sputter but it has never left me stranded not even a flat(there is a new spare though)all the stickers are current and its ready to roll.Its not a full size truck but ive had 3 games in it at once,so if your ever in need one and dont want to rent one let me know,gas is cheaper than renting.

Roy
 
Hey ken I was meaning to talk to you at the meet but got drunk and forgot,If you ever need to borrow my truck(providing im not on call)your more than welcome to use it,the a/c is off and on and its got a sputter but it has never left me stranded not even a flat(there is a new spare though)all the stickers are current and its ready to roll.Its not a full size truck but ive had 3 games in it at once,so if your ever in need one and dont want to rent one let me know,gas is cheaper than renting.

Roy

Thanks Roy, I appreciate the offer. But beer money might be more than the rental cost...;)

ken
 
Just a quick update. I finally opened the Joust cocktail. It was pretty hacked. A switcher and JAMMA harness. The Lifeforce game looks dead.

I put a new switcher in and tested the harness. It seems to be working, so I threw in a 19 in 1 horizontal that I bought a while ago. The monitor has vertical curl and the picture is too small horizontally, so it definitely needs a cap kit. But it was a pretty clean hack on the control panels, so now I'm starting to have second thoughts about converting it back.

I just need to add a service switch so I can get in and reduce the volume a little and to put the card on freeplay. I might just leave it for a while. It would be nice to have a two player horizontal JAMMA cabinet for a while.

ken
 
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