I'm at a decision point on a thing here... thought I'd open up a discussion before I do anything rash. First, the back story:
Some years ago... maybe early 2000's... I bought a Tempest cabaret from a local operator/friend/weirdo (Edgar Mikeleski, RIP). It was complete, can't remember if I even powered it up... the cabinet was super rotten. Might have been partially underwater for a spell. The particleboard was crumbling... it was a mess. I stripped it of anything useful and trashed the cabinet, in the interest of good health and safety.
Flash forward five or ten years... a friend who was working on a vector game project asked if I happened to have a 6100 monitor. I did, and he gave me a reasonable amount of dollars for it. I was happy to have the bucks and help a friend bring another game to life... it made sense. No regrets there.
Now, in 2024... I still have most of the other conponents... meaning the harness, game board, and control panel. (Can't find the marquee. Did I sell it or give it away? Who knows.) I have a few power bricks kicking around, and a crate full of ARII's. I know Atari color vector monitors don't grow on trees... but I could probably muster up the bucks to buy one.
So... what to do? The crux of the issue is: I could build cabinet from scratch... or find another cabinet (Centipede?) to convert to Tempest... or just sell all the guts to some other person to help make their dreams come true.
Did I mention Tempest is maybe my all-time fave video game? And that I love cabaret cabinets? I feel like I'm answering my own question here... still would be glad to get yeralls opinions on this matter.