"Totally Amused" Arcade - Humble, TX

This is Callan's place. Glad to see he finally got it open. Bit dissapointed he didn't call though.
 
Yeah. He didn't even post on the HAAG list. I would have definitely gone. Probably a good thing I didn't see it or I never would have finished the Bubbles.

ken

Edit: Wow, I never would have found it anyway. I never look in 'video gaming' as a category :(
 
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We already have a similar deal in Joystix downtown.

In this case if its on Saturday during the day that would work out much better for me than Joystix does on the late evenings.

The key is how many games they've got and what state of (dis)repair they are in -- Joystix probably has in the ballpark of 100 or more on their showroom.

We'll see how many that Totally Amused has up and running...
 
Totally amused is supposed to be open every 2nd and 3rd Saturday of the month which are the Saturday's on which Joystix is closed. They are open during the day.

There is about 7 non-working games and some of the pinballs still need to be shopped out and there are at least 90-100 games IIRC.

There are two Duramolds one of which is a Bubbles as well as a dedicated Major Havoc. So you can find some rare games you might not get to play elsewhere.
 
Totally amused is supposed to be open every 2nd and 3rd Saturday of the month which are the Saturday's on which Joystix is closed. They are open during the day.

There is about 7 non-working games and some of the pinballs still need to be shopped out and there are at least 90-100 games IIRC.

There are two Duramolds one of which is a Bubbles as well as a dedicated Major Havoc. So you can find some rare games you might not get to play elsewhere.

What the heck is a Duramold?
 
What the heck is a Duramold?

This is a Duramold:

bubblestrash.jpg
 
What the heck is a Duramold?

See here:

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7145

And

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7226

They also had some (very very few, like probably single digits) duramolds for Sinistar. And there's a rumor of a red duramold. Don't know of any other games to use a duramold.

I have an interesting (to me at least) tidbit on the Williams duramold cabinet. A buddy of mine that worked for Williams in the pinball line (until they got rid of their pinball line) said that the company that actually made the mold and made the duramold cabinets called Williams several years later to ask them what they wanted to do with the mold. Williams said they wouldn't be using it anymore. The company didn't want the huge thing taking up space at their company anymore either, so they drove it over to Williams (unannounced) and unloaded it on Williams' loading dock.

The thing was huge, like 3 times the size of the cabinet. Williams didn't want it either, so they moved it over to the dumpster (never even entered the building). Was gone at next garbage pick up. That's one piece that will NEVER be reproduced!
 
What the heck is a Duramold?

See here:

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7145

And

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7226

They also had some (very very few, like probably single digits) duramolds for Sinistar. And there's a rumor of a red duramold. Don't know of any other games to use a duramold.

I have an interesting (to me at least) tidbit on the Williams duramold cabinet. A buddy of mine that worked for Williams in the pinball line (until they got rid of their pinball line) said that the company that actually made the mold and made the duramold cabinets called Williams several years later to ask them what they wanted to do with the mold. Williams said they wouldn't be using it anymore. The company didn't want the huge thing taking up space at their company anymore either, so they drove it over to Williams (unannounced) and unloaded it on Williams' loading dock.

The thing was huge, like 3 times the size of the cabinet. Williams didn't want it either, so they moved it over to the dumpster (never even entered the building). Was gone at next garbage pick up. That's one piece that will NEVER be reproduced!


There were Bubbles, Sinistar and Blaster duramold cabinets produced. They were made out of a virtually indestrucible polyethelene plastic.

ken
 
I am glad to see another classic arcade open up. Especially since mine didnt make it outside the Air Force base here. I have been adding plastic molding to my knowledge base, and may be able to make a copy some day.
 
Interesting. So some games had duramold and regular cabinets? Or was it primarily duramold for the entire run of a game?

Why didn't they catch on? Having an indestructable cabinet sounds like a good idea.
 
Interesting. So some games had duramold and regular cabinets? Or was it primarily duramold for the entire run of a game?

Why didn't they catch on? Having an indestructable cabinet sounds like a good idea.

There were both cabinets for all three. I couldn't even begin to guess at the numbers, but there were more regular cabinets for both Bubbles and Sinistar.

There were a lot of reasons cited for the lack of acceptance. The most common was just the appearance. Arcade operators like the square cabinets so they slide together and maximize the wall space usage. The duramold cabs were round with a square base, so they took up about the same footprint, but it looked like the space wasn't fully used. There were also rumors of people squeezing in behind them and pushing them over. The big security bars over the cash box that ops had on hand didn't fit, so they had to buy special ones (ops hated buying special anything). They seemed to attract people trying to destroy them. Lots of little issues that mostly boiled down to "they look different".

I'd love to get one, but they are so rare now that just the cabinets cost more than some new games. And parts, ha! If it doesn't come complete you can forget finding parts or reproductions for them. :(

ken
 
i heard theres a shrinkage issue over the years and it made some of them inoperable
 
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I read somewhere that the cabinet would shrink and the monitor would fly out and kill lots of people!
 
Is that with or without Viagra?
 
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