sad arcade story

p1899m

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So I recently got a call about 4 cocktail games. Was basically told either I was gonna buy them or they would be going to the dump that day. I went to check them out and what I saw were four games that had been stored sitting on the dirt in a backyard partially covered by a tarp for at least a couple years. The games are a bootleg galaga that was originally a galaxian, scramble, centipede and tron. I made a pretty low offer and he accepted.

All but the scramble had unsalvageable cabs. All had some wiring chewed through by mice. After a bit of testing I found the bootleg galaga to be a total loss except for the dead monitor which i assume I can fix. The board was dead, the switcher was dead and even the iso was dead. I guess if someone really needed a cp for a galaxian it would be useable for the metal panel itself.

Centipede was actually one of the most beat of them all but somehow actually showed signs of life. The monitor needs to be capped but works the AR seems to work, the power brick works and after replacing a bad pokey the board now works correctly. I did have to fix some chewed wiring to get it to this condition but it more or less works and most of the parts are there except the top glass.

Tron is missing one joystick but other than that it's complete. After fixing the chewed wiring and swapping in a working linear PS I was able to get the game to come up when the top of the cab was half open. There must be a wiring issue because if I closed the top the board won't boot and I just got a white screen on the monitor. Been working on making sure the board set is 100% in my upright. I think I just have one last issue to work through before it's 100%. Still need to test the spinners and crack open the one joystick and see why it doesn't fire when the trigger is pulled. but for the most part I've got a working torn now. Or at least the parts minus a good cab for them.

By some miracle the scramble cab was almost perfect other than some light hand wear to the corners. The coin door had rust and the top glass was delaminating but the cab itself was solid and almost looked new. Even the screened art on the cp's is pretty nice and with a little tape and paint work the areas where the black is worn can be repainted and it would look like new. Once again wiring issues but I pulled the board and tested it in my jamma cab with an adapter. The game has no sound but otherwise works.

The saddest story has got to be the scramble though. While parting out the other cabs that could not be saved I decided to pull the parts from the scramble as well so i could paint the worn parts of the cab. Unlike the other cabs which I completely gutted I only pulled the parts that might be damaged from the scramble. Now I need to mention that my roommate and I have been working on the loft area of the house and slowly turning it into a bar with new paint, new flooring etc. So there has been a lot of trash piling up in the back yard and a couple trips to the dump. Of course we have decided to haul any other trash we have around the house but don't need to the dump too. Being that it's trash and my roommate (a marine who's finished serving) likes to break things, he had decided to take a sledge hammer to various trash bound items like VCR's a broken lap top or basically anything that was deemed trash. Now I had talked to him about the scramble and basically told him my plan to restore it and how the other cabs would be trash but this one was gonna be kept.

So after work Mon I pulled the scramble into the back yard for painting. The areas are small enough that I was just going to prime, sand and use a satin black from a rattle can. After priming I realized I didn't have the satin black paint I thought I did. So i took a trip to home depot. When I walked through the front door I saw my roommate in the back yard, sledge hammer in hand and nothing left of the cab but the base and the coin bucket. I just stood there in shock. I was pissed but more just deflated like just drained of my energy. apparently he thought it was trash since it was in the back yard. To add insult to injury he didn't bother to smash the trashed cabs that couldn't be saved first. I was pissed, and he apologized but it was done and the cab was destroyed. I still haven't even been able to look at the pile of rubble. Not sure I want to even though there still might be some salvageable parts left. I guess the good news is I pulled the main parts like the monitor, board and luckily the cp's. The coin door, PS, wiring and other misc stuff were in the cab when it got smashed.
 
Did the Scramble cab has STERN logo or the space cadet on the sideart? If the Stern logo, don't sweat it... If it had the Space cadet, then whoops. :confused::eek:
 
Did the Scramble cab has STERN logo or the space cadet on the sideart? If the Stern logo, don't sweat it... If it had the Space cadet, then whoops. :confused::eek:

these were all cocktails so I guess they are not that unique like an upright but still it was in beautiful condition.
 
I think these games have been in a thread here before.......
 
I think these games have been in a thread here before.......

anything's possible but if there was a thread with them I haven't seen it. Seller also wasn't a collector and had never posted them for sale to the best of my knowledge. He was just a friend of a friend who heard I collected contacted me.
 
When I walked through the front door I saw my roommate in the back yard, sledge hammer in hand and nothing left of the cab but the base and the coin bucket. I just stood there in shock. I was pissed but more just deflated like just drained of my energy. apparently he thought it was trash since it was in the back yard. To add insult to injury he didn't bother to smash the trashed cabs that couldn't be saved first. I was pissed, and he apologized but it was done and the cab was destroyed. I still haven't even been able to look at the pile of rubble. Not sure I want to even though there still might be some salvageable parts left. I guess the good news is I pulled the main parts like the monitor, board and luckily the cp's. The coin door, PS, wiring and other misc stuff were in the cab when it got smashed.

What a roommate. I would never take a sledgehammer to anyone's property (no matter the condition) unless they were standing right there and told me to do it. Sad story indeed.
 
I will pour a drink out for your Mr. Scramble. :(

You need to reach an agreement with your roommate about when/if things can get smashed. That's bullshit.
 
What a roommate. I would never take a sledgehammer to anyone's property (no matter the condition) unless they were standing right there and told me to do it. Sad story indeed.

I've known him for years and he has had permission to smash other things. This was just a mistake which he did actually feel bad about. He's not a collector so he doesn't see things in the detail that we do. I'm sure I mentioned at some point that the other three cabs would be trash. I'm sure that mixed with the cab being in the backyard made him think it was ok. Not that it was ok. He said he would get me another one but I told him that's not really realistic as we all know that it was the condition of the cab and originality that made it special not just something you can go get another of.

In the future I will be more clear on these things and I think he will be more cautious. As to the comment about getting my own place, I own the house I'm in so I could kick him out if I wanted but as much as it sucks I value a friendship more than a game. Not that I ever expect this will happen again.
 
Well that does stink! Your roommate should feel bad... and you can have fun taking advantage of that for a while too :D
 
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