Taito Space Invaders -- A collectors saga

p1001

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Flash back a little over 2 years. My house is about to go up for sale (sold in 3 days) and I get a call. "I leased out my warehouse and I have to be out right away. Only thing left are 3 games that you can have for free but you gotta' get them out now." This is a customer of mine who is in the construction business. The building is in a no so pleasant part of Chicago's west side.

The games are Joust, Williams Bonanza, and a Taito Space Invaders. I call a fellow collector who has a truck and make a pitch..."Pick these up for me, hold onto the SI for a couple three months and keep the other two games for your trouble."

Done.

I had asked the status of the SI. "Game worked but the sound was bad. We sent the boards out for repair and they disappeared." OK, good enough. I pick up a working board set from a while back and shelve it.

Fast forward to tonight. Settled into my new house. Construction of the game room is finished and I'm moving my games in one by one. Most have been dry docked for over 2 years. Tinight I crack open the SI and guess what I see? Boards. L-Shaped boards. Maybe this is my lucky day. I check voltages, find a bad fuse and replace it. OK, I fire it up. No Go. Hums like a bitch.

OK, I find the replacement board set (after an hour of hunting through my crap) and damn, it's a 3 board stack. Great. So close to a happy ending but fell a bit short.

Here's what I need....
1) Working replacement L-shaped Taito board set
2) Place to get the old boards repaired (to keep as a spare)
3) Lower coin door hatch - see picture below
4) Someone who wants to buy or trade for a working 3 board stack

Can you help me out?
Hans O

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try this website: http://www.elektronforge.com/

they just fixed my Sea Wolf boards and are very reasonable. Go to "category 2" and you'll see they fix your SI (taito) boards.

I sent my boards thru the mail in a plastic tub, wrapped tightly in bubble wrap too. UPS and USPS will not be breaking my shit this time....

Post a want ad in the wanted section here on the forums for the lower coin door....if you haven't already
 
+1 for Elektron Forge, they did my Taito SI board set, GREAT!

try this website: http://www.elektronforge.com/

they just fixed my Sea Wolf boards and are very reasonable. Go to "category 2" and you'll see they fix your SI (taito) boards.

I sent my boards thru the mail in a plastic tub, wrapped tightly in bubble wrap too. UPS and USPS will not be breaking my shit this time....

Post a want ad in the wanted section here on the forums for the lower coin door....if you haven't already
 
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Operator near me has 2-3 taito L-shaped SIs in the basement that I keep meaning to snag...

With a little adapter, you can drop midway SIs into Taito... might be worth looking into if you can't find spare boards.
 
I used Elektron Forge for my repair. They are way overpriced though. They are also pretty slow and I have seen alot of ppl have had communication problems getting repaired boards back from Alex the last 6 months or so. Check the NG posts's. Otherwise I have run both SI and SID Bally Midway L-shaped boards in my Taito SI with no problems and no adaptor. I currently have the original Taito L-shaped board in mine with the Braze SI multi game installed on it. It's great! Of course we all know Braze and JROK make the best kits so thats no suprise. :D

ps- Good luck on the bottom coindoor. That one could be a tuff find.
 

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Elektron Forge is what I would recommend. I didn't have the commo and shipping problems because I dropped the boards off myself, but Alex does a very good job.
 
Already sent Alex an email. Waiting for a reply. Still would like a spare, though.

try this website: http://www.elektronforge.com/

they just fixed my Sea Wolf boards and are very reasonable. Go to "category 2" and you'll see they fix your SI (taito) boards.

I sent my boards thru the mail in a plastic tub, wrapped tightly in bubble wrap too. UPS and USPS will not be breaking my shit this time....

Post a want ad in the wanted section here on the forums for the lower coin door....if you haven't already
 
Hi Folks, been a while since I've scanned KLOV:

I'm not sure why anyone would think we're overpriced, but I'll admit we can be slow in responding sometimes (usually in the summer, when I try to have a life). We've almost always got a backlog of emails, and sometimes they just roll off the bottom of the screen and we never get to them in time. We've not had anyone's boards for six months (without their consent) that I can recall. Sometimes when a project drags on too long we offer to send the boards back at no charge, but usually they ask us to hang onto them and repair them when we can. Seems like an equitable way to handle things, at least IMHO. Some folks just have expectations that are higher than we (or anyone else) can reasonably meet; we're a small business in a small niche of a small industry. I'd like to be able to provide communications as good as [insert your favorite vendor here], but we're doing our best given the reality of Reality and always trying to get better.

Anywho - mostly just wanted to say "hi" to the KLOV crowd...
 
Hi Folks, been a while since I've scanned KLOV:

I'm not sure why anyone would think we're overpriced, but I'll admit we can be slow in responding sometimes (usually in the summer, when I try to have a life). We've almost always got a backlog of emails, and sometimes they just roll off the bottom of the screen and we never get to them in time. We've not had anyone's boards for six months (without their consent) that I can recall. Sometimes when a project drags on too long we offer to send the boards back at no charge, but usually they ask us to hang onto them and repair them when we can. Seems like an equitable way to handle things, at least IMHO. Some folks just have expectations that are higher than we (or anyone else) can reasonably meet; we're a small business in a small niche of a small industry. I'd like to be able to provide communications as good as [insert your favorite vendor here], but we're doing our best given the reality of Reality and always trying to get better.

Anywho - mostly just wanted to say "hi" to the KLOV crowd...

Everyone knows you do quality work, some of the best. Also this is a hobby and people should have patients with orders, very few people fix boards now adays and it is easy to get back logged.

People should also not complain about prices. The components can be hard to get or expensive for such old boards. It sometimes can take a long time to trouble shoot let alone someone that completely fried their boards and created multiple problems.

I would hate to see one less person fixing boards either.

Emails are another thing and those should be answered. People have the right to know what's going on with their boards. A few days is one thing. Also people should know it take you time to do this and people should not be emailing every week are my boards done yet, are my boards done yet.

You are right this is a niche hobby and most people who work in this hobby are doing it in their spare time and some have a full time job too or are just a small business like your self. We live in a world of instant gratification it seems. People need to have some patients.

Dave
 
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I also went with Elektron Forge for my board repairs. Alex has been very responsive, he gave me a list of all repairs needed once i sent my boards in and I am getting the boards back with the Space Invaders multi-kit installed for a very reasonable price!

Wick


In the Arcade:
Working: Galaxian, Gorf, Golden Axe, Missile Command, Commando, Flash Gordon, Terminator2, Mr Do, DigDug, Gauntlet2, Berzerk, Joust, Zaxxon, Centipede, Space Zap, Tron, Altered Beast, Gyruss, Defender, Ms Pac-Man, Robotron

Projects(somewhat working):Galaxian,Vanguard,PolePosition,Space Invaders,Frontier- Pinball
 
Braze SI kit is great!

Which Space Invaders multi game?

Braze Technologies I hope. I know some other people offer a rom swap type kit that is just 2 games but the Braze Multi Space Invaders kit is awesome. Has more games and is really fun. I highly recommend it!
 
That cab looks familiar, wonder where i hav eseen it before?


Take car Hans
Troy

Im going to be up that way expo weekend, so you need to stay away from the traveling so that i can see the new game room
 
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