Another Donkey Kong Machine

2 weeks ago I picked up another Donkey Kong cabinet from a high school friend (thanks, Nick!).  The cabinet is in good shape and complete with the exception of a monitor.  I have a monitor I could use that would require an inverter board, but I’d prefer an original Sanyo 20EZ monitor.  I have a couple leads on a monitor but nothing set in stone yet.  I planned to use the spare monitor in my Centipede cabinet, which has a serious case of burn-in.

My intention is to run Donkey Kong Jr. in this cabinet.  Here’s the question…leave the cabinet original colors, etc. and just run Jr. in it, or completely convert it to a Jr. cabinet with orange paint, new side art, bezel, control panel and marquee?  Pictures later.

Operation Wolf Pictures

Sunday, I uploaded a few pictures of my recently acquired Taito Operation Wolf cabinet. I haven’t had time to post about the upload and don’t have time right now for a long drawn out post about the cabinet. If you are interested in the pictures, you can find them in the Operation Wolf photo gallery. You can see some minor cabinet damage, but overall it’s in pretty good shape. The only thing planned repair-wise is a cap kit on the monitor. More later….

Centipede Lives

Just a short update today. I didn’t get around to taking pictures of the Operation Wolf cabinet but hopefully will tonight. While troubleshooting my newly acquired Centipede cabinet, I came to the conclusion that the power supply was bad as I was not getting the proper voltages to the monitor. I ordered a “refurbished” power supply from Quarter Arcade. I received the power supply, advertised as tested and working, via Fedex today. After removing the old supply and plugging in the new one, I powered on the game. Viola! Centipede lives! I had to tweak the monitor a bit as it was scrolling but I now have the image stabilized. Knowing that the game is fully working, I can slowly start restoring this cabinet, along with my on-going basement remodel.

Operation Wolf

Sunday, I picked up another game for my collection. I have been working on this one for a few weeks. I was alerted to a non-working Taito Operation Wolf that was sitting in the garage of a house that was for sale. For those unfamiliar with Operation Wolf, you can read the history and details of the game on the Killer List of Video Games. I had my father, a realtor, contact the owner and see if he was interested in selling it.

Continue reading “Operation Wolf”

Centipede Pictures

As promised, I finally have some pictures of my Centipede game acquired last week.  Be sure to check out the previous post for pictures of the Golden Tee conversion cabinet.  If the mouse pictures from last Friday weren’t enough to scare you off, the condition of this cabinet probably is.  Truthfully, it’s not in terrible shape, but it needs a lot of work to make it presentable.  I bought this one sight unseen and in hindsight, should have requested some pictures of the cabinet.  Still, for the price I paid, I can probably get it working and restored for about the cost of a working machine in nice condition.  Continue reading “Centipede Pictures”

Golden Tee - The New Cabinet

As promised, I have a bunch of new pictures today of my Golden Tee cabinet that I picked up over a month ago and of the Centipede cabinet that I picked up last week. First up, the Golden Tee cabinet. For anyone interested in the story behind this cabinet, check out my last post on this topic, A New Addition, A Project Revisited.  Once you see the pictures, I think you’ll agree that for $20, with a working 25″ monitor, this was definitely a great deal.  Continue reading “Golden Tee - The New Cabinet”

The Joys Of Arcade Ownership

Today is just a teaser post.  I still don’t have any pictures of the new Golden Tee cabinet, but I do have three pictures of my newly acquired Centipede cabinet.  I mentioned in my post yesterday that this one was in rough shape.  Today, I decided to take the monitor bezel off for a good cleaning.  That led to another discovery. Continue reading “The Joys Of Arcade Ownership”

New Game Added, Another Coming

Well, it’s been a hectic month.  When I last posted, I promised pictures of my newly acquired Golden Tee cabinet with 25″ monitor.  Those pictures haven’t been taken yet.  I’ve started removing the parts from my All American Football cabinet to put in the new cabinet and am slowly returning the All American Football to it’s original state.

Yesterday, I picked up a non-working Centipede.  This one is in very rough shape and needs a lot of cosmetic repair.  It’s going to get a full restoration eventually, similar to Dig Dug.  I’d like to get the game working first before committing a lot of time to the restoration.  Pictures will be forthcoming.

I also made an offer last week on a non-working Operation Wolf.  I just got a call that they accepted the offer.  I will probably pick it up sometime this weekend.  Again, pictures will be forthcoming.  In summary, I owe you pictures of three new cabinets.  Stay tuned.

A New Addition, A Project Revisited

Regular readers of this blog will recall a project I started several months ago.  Being unhappy with the gameplay of Leland’s All American Football, I decided to strip the cabinet and convert it to a Golden Tee machine.  I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to pick up another cabinet which have altered my plans, probably for the better.  Continue reading “A New Addition, A Project Revisited”

The History Of A Game

Like many collectors, I often wondered about the history behind each of my games. Where was the game originally located and who had the pleasure of playing it? The clues are often cryptic, from the “Potts Inn 1986″ penned on the bottom of my Donkey Kong coin box in black Sharpie to the names etched in the sides of my Track & Field game. The best clues I’ve found for any game came as I was thumbing through the documentation included with my Elevator Action. Continue reading “The History Of A Game”