When "A mystery Arkanoid cabaret" and "Just an excuse for a road trip" meet
I made a semi-impulsive purchase and drove off to Boischatel just east of Québec City on Tuesday to pick up an Arkanoid cabaret! Yes, that's five hours driving each direction from Ottawa for a Pong "reboot."
I know, Arkanoid is not usually uttered in the same breath as "a must have classic" or "grail game," and it's admittedly not one of my must-haves. But when I was reading through Quebec Kijiji ads, it caught my attention because 1) it was a cabaret and I've been on the search for a second one, and 2) it was a Pac Man-style cabaret. It was posted for $250, which I realize is not a bargain by any stretch, but I jumped at it -- everything closer was mostly 60-in-1 full-sized uprights on the higher end.
Judging from the seller's original ad which appeared last week, I thought the wood of the cab appeared too light to be an original, but from the photos it looked like someone certainly used Midway as inspiration. In fact, back in March I had noticed a similar style cabinet for sale from a vendor in Saint-Anselme, Quebec called Ben Amusements (http://www.benamusements.com); I corresponded with the owner at that time and he mentioned that he had sold one of the Arkanoids (he had two cabaret Arkanoids, and one Renegade cabaret. You can still see then on his site under Jeux Vidéo on the left). I wondered if the one I found on Craiglist was indeed the same Arkanoid? The only way to be sure was to drive out and pick it up!
Given the distance, I wrote the seller and after a little back and forth he agreed to hang onto the cab for me until I could make the trip in about a week. Over the ensuing days, I fretted momentarily that it wasn't worth a five hour drive each way, but those thoughts were soon eclipsed by the desire just to head out onto the road and have a good old fashioned arcade road trip. Fortunately, the trip ended up being worth it, even if I spent a little more than I wanted.
A few more e-mails, and the date was set - I would meet the seller on Tuesday at his residence. After getting the day off, everything was set -- I headed out for the road:
Of course, being a road trip and all, there was the obligatory stop at a local Tim Horton's for coffee and a doughnut.
The road was wide open, so I made great time, arriving in Boischatel an hour early, which gave me the chance to check out the small community and the view:
2:30pm finally rolled around, and when I saw the cab in person, I was more confident that it was an after-market cab based on the Midway style. I did find a simple "Fabriqué au Canada" sticker that also contained "model" number (AR 87-16) and "game" (Arkanoid). It was a quick visit; I had to turn around right away and start heading back with the game in tow:
When I got home in the evening, I managed to move the game into the basement solo thanks to a dolly, but not before some crashing and cursing as I lowered it down the all too narrow staircase. Overall, it seems like the unit has good bones (knock on particle board); it was used in the wild, so it has coin door/box, it coins up, decent 13" monitor (albeit with Arkanoid burn-in, but not bad in most games). Since Arkanoid is circa 1986, it's also Jamma wired. For good measure, I tried out the 60-in-1 I bought last year, and it worked nicely save for the lack of decent control due to the spinner.
More curious about the cab, I wrote the owner or Ben Amusements again to ask if he could share anything about the history of the cabs. He confirmed simply that it was made by his company. I wanted to follow up with more questions, such as how many he built, did he fabricate the cab panels himself or did he have a supplier, etc, but I'm reluctant to bother him with questions about the history of a sold cab when he's trying to run a business. I'm guessing by the model info that the cab was fashioned in 1987 to house conversion boards like Arkanoid.
I'm also curious about how closely the measurements of this cab match up with a cabaret original? I noticed on the back, for example, that the cabinet lacks that plastic piece (for air circulation or to accommodate part of the monitor?) Do I take an operator original cab and "convert" it to its Pac-Man cabaret inspiration? I've been back and forth on that question.
Thanks for reading!
I made a semi-impulsive purchase and drove off to Boischatel just east of Québec City on Tuesday to pick up an Arkanoid cabaret! Yes, that's five hours driving each direction from Ottawa for a Pong "reboot."
I know, Arkanoid is not usually uttered in the same breath as "a must have classic" or "grail game," and it's admittedly not one of my must-haves. But when I was reading through Quebec Kijiji ads, it caught my attention because 1) it was a cabaret and I've been on the search for a second one, and 2) it was a Pac Man-style cabaret. It was posted for $250, which I realize is not a bargain by any stretch, but I jumped at it -- everything closer was mostly 60-in-1 full-sized uprights on the higher end.
Judging from the seller's original ad which appeared last week, I thought the wood of the cab appeared too light to be an original, but from the photos it looked like someone certainly used Midway as inspiration. In fact, back in March I had noticed a similar style cabinet for sale from a vendor in Saint-Anselme, Quebec called Ben Amusements (http://www.benamusements.com); I corresponded with the owner at that time and he mentioned that he had sold one of the Arkanoids (he had two cabaret Arkanoids, and one Renegade cabaret. You can still see then on his site under Jeux Vidéo on the left). I wondered if the one I found on Craiglist was indeed the same Arkanoid? The only way to be sure was to drive out and pick it up!
Given the distance, I wrote the seller and after a little back and forth he agreed to hang onto the cab for me until I could make the trip in about a week. Over the ensuing days, I fretted momentarily that it wasn't worth a five hour drive each way, but those thoughts were soon eclipsed by the desire just to head out onto the road and have a good old fashioned arcade road trip. Fortunately, the trip ended up being worth it, even if I spent a little more than I wanted.
A few more e-mails, and the date was set - I would meet the seller on Tuesday at his residence. After getting the day off, everything was set -- I headed out for the road:
Of course, being a road trip and all, there was the obligatory stop at a local Tim Horton's for coffee and a doughnut.
The road was wide open, so I made great time, arriving in Boischatel an hour early, which gave me the chance to check out the small community and the view:
2:30pm finally rolled around, and when I saw the cab in person, I was more confident that it was an after-market cab based on the Midway style. I did find a simple "Fabriqué au Canada" sticker that also contained "model" number (AR 87-16) and "game" (Arkanoid). It was a quick visit; I had to turn around right away and start heading back with the game in tow:
When I got home in the evening, I managed to move the game into the basement solo thanks to a dolly, but not before some crashing and cursing as I lowered it down the all too narrow staircase. Overall, it seems like the unit has good bones (knock on particle board); it was used in the wild, so it has coin door/box, it coins up, decent 13" monitor (albeit with Arkanoid burn-in, but not bad in most games). Since Arkanoid is circa 1986, it's also Jamma wired. For good measure, I tried out the 60-in-1 I bought last year, and it worked nicely save for the lack of decent control due to the spinner.
More curious about the cab, I wrote the owner or Ben Amusements again to ask if he could share anything about the history of the cabs. He confirmed simply that it was made by his company. I wanted to follow up with more questions, such as how many he built, did he fabricate the cab panels himself or did he have a supplier, etc, but I'm reluctant to bother him with questions about the history of a sold cab when he's trying to run a business. I'm guessing by the model info that the cab was fashioned in 1987 to house conversion boards like Arkanoid.
I'm also curious about how closely the measurements of this cab match up with a cabaret original? I noticed on the back, for example, that the cabinet lacks that plastic piece (for air circulation or to accommodate part of the monitor?) Do I take an operator original cab and "convert" it to its Pac-Man cabaret inspiration? I've been back and forth on that question.
Thanks for reading!

