The Armor Attack gamble...

hatrick

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I picked up a non working Armor Attack a couple weeks ago. I paid more for a non-working game than usual, but something told me as I was checking it out that it would be an inexpensive fix to get it going.
I knew for sure the monitor was dead, but nothing more. First thing I did is have ArcRevival test the board set in his Armor Attack (Thanks Dave). Report came back that it was working 100%.
Nice, that made the price I paid for the game much easier to swallow.
I found some cold solder joint on the monitor, replaced a couple transistors and was able to get the monitor to show signs of life, but the vectors were not lined up properly. Lots of poking and prodding around trying to track down the cause, and finally I decided to swap the DAC's to see if the vector issue followed the DAC. I fired up the game and the monitor looked perfect. Turns out that the DAC's just needed re-seated. I never would have guessed that one.
Now I have a fully working Armor Attack that looks pretty decent. My 13 year old daughter loves to play two player with me, so that makes it a worthy investment right there.
 

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Picked it up... you can say that again, picked it up and carried it up the stairs from the guys basement. It's good it was an easy fix, the cabinet is nice and it was worth saving. Great game. Would have went after it myself if i didnt have one.
 
Haha, I completely forgot about carrying it up the stairs. I must have blocked it from my memory as a traumatic experience. Thanks for helping Dave.
 
One of the Best games on the Planet!! I played the one at the Seattle Show last year for over an hour. Nice pick up!!
 
It is one of those basic games like pong, rip off, warlords, and boot hill(gun fight), that come down to player one vs player 2(or 4) raw competition. Totally different experience from a one player game against the computer. Gotta give a shout out to Intellivision baseball for home console two player awesomeness.
 
Just curious if your left side art is as nice as that right side?

Our cabinet looks almost exactly like that except the left side artwork is mostly missing and I've read about a few other people who have had their left side art gone. :)
 
Glad to see you got her going! Is the monitor "new" as advertised?? I thought it was a little strange the guy was claiming to have a "new" monitor (Well, he said it was 5 years old but never used). From my recollection they've not made a "new" vector monitor in 25+ years....
 
Armor Attack was the first game I ever bought when I started collecting in the early 90's. I paid $35 bucks at auction for it, and it worked and looked okay :)

Trivia: What does the morse code at the beginning of the game say?

Answer: Don't join the Navy.

I love the extra things like that they put in their games, the Star Castle background star field, ect.
 
Trivia: What does the morse code at the beginning of the game say?

Answer: Don't join the Navy.

I love the extra things like that they put in their games, the Star Castle background star field, ect.

Wow... never heard that before. That's just awesome! :beerchug:
 
Glad to see you got her going! Is the monitor "new" as advertised?? I thought it was a little strange the guy was claiming to have a "new" monitor (Well, he said it was 5 years old but never used). From my recollection they've not made a "new" vector monitor in 25+ years....

It looked just like any other monitor to me. Couldn't see where it was "new" at all. Not sure why he was saying that.
 
It looked just like any other monitor to me. Couldn't see where it was "new" at all. Not sure why he was saying that.

The tube could have been new. It has zero burn, and was really clean. The deflection pcb, however, was definitely not new. I just figured the guy meant "new to the game", not literally brand new.
I've often said "I put a new monitor in it" and really mean I just took the dead one out and replaced it with another old monitor.
 
Just curious if your left side art is as nice as that right side?

Our cabinet looks almost exactly like that except the left side artwork is mostly missing and I've read about a few other people who have had their left side art gone. :)

The left side art is mostly there, just not as good as the right side.
 

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