Restoring the classics…
Archive for April, 2008
Donkey Kong – Original Flyers
Apr 15th
As is customary with all of my games, here is a front and back scan of the original marketing flyer for Donkey Kong:
Jeff’s Arcade WordPress Launch
Apr 11th
Welcome to the new home of Jeff’s Arcade, formerly jmphillips.net. Besides a fancy new domain name, I’ve switched content management platforms. The old site used Joomla while the new site will make exclusive use of WordPress.
I have grown extremely fond of Joomla over the years, but found it to be too complex for a simple website like mine. I will continue to develop sites in Joomla, but think that WordPress and many of its social networking features are a better fit for the content of this site.
All of the articles from the old site has been transferred over, and jmphillips.net now automatically forwards all traffic to jeffsarcade.net. I still need to re-code many of the image links as they still point to the old site, but they work so I can take my time with that part of the transition. To help with the loading times of the site, most images for a post will not appear until you click the “read more” link.
I’m not sold on the theme I’m currently using so the look and feel of the site may change over the next few days as I experiment with different themes and then begin to customize them. If you have a link to jmphillips.net on your website, you will probably want to update it to jeffsarcade.net. I have submitted the new site to the appropriate search engines, but It will take some time before it’s indexed.
The focus of the site will remain the same, to provide you with information about my arcade restorations and hopefully in the near future to chronical the building of my small basement gameroom.
Donkey Kong Pictures
Apr 10th
The newly acquired Donkey Kong machine made it’s way from the garage to the basement last night. I finally got a real good look at the cabinet and the work that it’s going to require. The control panel and joystick are shot and will be completely replaced. The joystick has no springback, the jump button is the wrong color and the instruction sheet is warped and wrinkled and the plywood base has numerous cracks.
There are numerous areas on the cabinet that need to be filled with wood putty or Bondo and the entire cabinet will eventually be repainted. I’ll also be applying new side art, however the side art currently on the cabinet is in pretty good shape.
Donkey Kong Arrives
Apr 9th
My personal “holy grail” of arcade machines finally made it’s way into my collection. I purchased this machine from the same collector who I got the All American Football cabinet from. We worked out a deal and it now has a new place to call home.
The game, of course, is Donkey Kong, in my opinion the greatest arcade game of all time. It was released in 1981 by Nintendo and snatched up most of my quarters back in the day. You can read all about the game on the Killer List of Video Games.
The machine is in decent shape and 100% working. The picture to the left is not my machine, it is a stock KLOV image. It has a few dings and holes that will eventually need to be patched up. The joystick is not original and is very sloppy, so it will eventually be replaced. As a matter of fact, the entire control panel will eventually be replaced. This one is eventually getting a full, ground up restoration to include new paint; new side art; a new control panel, joystick and buttons; new t-molding and a coin door makeover.
Lack Of Updates
Apr 7th
Progress on all of the arcade restorations has come to a screeching halt. Not because of lack of desire, rather a lack of free time in the schedule. Traveling soccer season has started for my son and daughter, which means two nights of practice each week and games on the weekends. Track season has started for my daughter which means track meets during the week and on the weekends. Baseball season has started for my boys which means baseball practices scheduled at various times during the week. Fortunately, baseball games don’t start for a few more weeks. I think you get the idea….time to work on the arcade machines is limited.
The good news, I’ll be adding another game to the collection tomorrow. It is supposed to be working and in pretty good cosmetic shape. I’ll post some pictures of the new additional Wednesday or Thursday. All I will say right now…it’s the machine I’ve wanted since starting my collection. If it’s working and in good shape, it’s getting plugged in for some quality playing time. Any restoration on it will wait until I’m done with All American Football and Track & Field.
