LSGreger

When everyone shows me their goodwill finds, this is how I feel!

Today's finds
A Tomy robot from the 80's.
A breast pump plug that is perfect for the NES. Lol. 
A PS2 game
And a probably-bad plug & play. 
NOTE to @Arenafoot:  They also had Arena Football for PS2, and I almost bought it.  But the disk was scratched, and I knew it probably would not work.  
 

Post and discuss cool retro items you find in the wild.
 
Today I found these laser disks (Pioneer) for $2 each.   I don't have a player, and I hear they are pretty finicky anyways...but I couldn't resist.  Also a couple of Playstation AV cables for $0.50 each. 
 
 

Thanks for doing this. I always have a soft place in my heart for kids who need help. Hope you meet your goal!

Someday, whenever I win the lottery, I'll have one. 
 

The first item I'm ready to announce as part of the raffle/giveaway/reward is an Atari 7800/2600 Control Pad CX78, made by @RetroGameBoyz!
Once the winner has chosen this item, it will be shipped directly from RetroGameBoyz.
Description
Professionally designed brand new, handmade game pad that works great with the Atari 7800 (2 button games) and 2600 (1 button games) and other Atari 2600 (1 button games) joystick compatible consoles and computers. Provides a new way to experience retro games on the original consoles, computers. Also works with Retron 77 and Atari Flashback 8 systems too!
Atari 7800 (and 2600) - 2 button
- Brand NEW Circuit Board - designed to work with the Atari 7800 console
- A direct replacement for Atari 7800 Controller and 2600 Joystick
- Much better than the CX78 Euro controller
- Super responsive directional pad and fire buttons
- Light weight and comfortable
- New Black Gloss Case
- New 10ft cable
- Custom decal (wood grain)
- (B) left button - action 1
- (A) right button - action 2
- (B) and (A) both fire button 1 with Atari 2600 games
- (Start) moves right (simulates menu selection where applicable)
- (Select) moves left (simulates menu selection where applicable)
- Does not work with Flashback 9

Thanks for doing this. I always have a soft place in my heart for kids who need help. Hope you meet your goal!

No way!
If people don't trust me, that's tough for them.
When I do the drawing, I will do it live & record it.
I can tell you right now that I will be shuffling the list 12 times, as that's my favorite number. 
Also, I'll make sure I have enough prizes for everyone who donates. The winner of the giveaway will have the first pick, then the next in line will have the second, etc. until everything is gone.

Sooooo... 😀
Several of you have already been kind enough to donate to my Extra Life fundraiser this year. You guys got me off to a great start (I'm currently at 41% of my goal) but I'm always looking to do more.
The event is coming up in a few weeks (November 2) and while you can still donate through the end of the year, I want to make another push to exceed my goal on or before gameday.
Therefore, I've decided to do a raffle similar to what @Atari Creep did for his Alzheimer's Walk fundraiser. For every dollar donated (retroactive for all of you who have already donated!), you will receive one entry into the drawing.
Now you must be wondering, "What are the damn prizes??"
That's a great question. Stay tuned & I will be posting them here over the next couple of days.
I have some ideas already and they include gift certificates relevant to the retro gaming scene, some classic toys and who knows what else I can find. Mainly, it will be gift certificates since you guys already wiped out my excess retro game collection.
Here's the link to donate: Storm's Extra Life Page
(Our own @fergojisan is part of my fundraising team. You can join too and together, we can rule the fundraising galaxy not as father and son but rather as good pals.)
Disclaimer: Only those who let me know that they donated for the giveaway will be entered into the drawing. Again, those Atari.IO members who have already given are already entered but none of the other donors from outside Atari.IO who have already donated will be. That said, with @Justin's blessing, I may open it up to other retrogamers, nerds, etc. from my Twitter & IG followers and possibly the very few posters who know of me at AA.
-----------
What is Extra Life??
It's a 24 hour gaming marathon (EDIT: 25 hours! Daylight Savings Time!!) to raise money for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. Since its inception in 2008, Extra Life has raised over $50 million for sick & injured kids. I'm raising money for the Connecticut Children's Medical Center (yes, I know I live in NY now, but it's basically CT. It's a long story.) All donations are tax-deductible.

There is a really good pinball sim on Steam (for PC) called "Pinball Arcade" that does a really good job of recreating real tables.  They have a "free" table to try every month, and it's fun to try each one.  Highly recommended.
 
 

I said I would show when it arrived.  Very excited about this one!!

She's a bit grungy but working.  Dual DD disk drives, too!  My Atari hardware collection is complete.  And, before I get asked, its a 1040 STfm in a 1040 STe shell.  I don't think it has the Blitter processor.  Will know when it is taken apart to clean.  Santa came a day early.

While I have an appreciation for all things Atari, I also love to sit back and play some pinball from time to time. In late 92 early 93, I was stationed in Witchita Falls for my AF Tech Training as a jet mechanic. Well at first, we were restricted to the dorms but they had a small arcade. This was when Mortal Combat was huge so everyone crowded around that machine. In the corner I found two pinball machines and became obsessed with them. They are still my favorite tables to this day!

I saved every one of these pictures to use as Windows wallpaper.  I'd love to see these things in person, but I guess the pictures are a good second option.
https://www.creativeboom.com/inspiration/ray-harryhausen/

 

I saw this and had to share it.  SPACE INVADERS - THE BOARD GAME is a combination of a deck-building card game with a measured dose of board game strategy mixed in.
In SPACE INVADERS - THE BOARD GAME, 2-4 players defend their moon base against the SPACE INVADERS by moving their cannons across the game board in order to gather intelligence about the enemy above them. Destroying SPACE INVADERS provides powerful cards that are then added to the players' hands. Gathered intel may be used for targeted research to further enhance the player deck capabilities. The game is driven by a total of 242 Action Cards, energy cards and researchable technologies.
Check out the campaign:  Kickstarter

ZMan Games has announced its second board/card game based on Choose Your Own Adventure Books from the 80s. I bought the "House of Danger" game and the game is played with cards and a small board. It is set up into five chapters with objectives to complete each chapter. You can make decisions, but you sometimes will need to make a 6D roll on a certain attribute to beat the "Danger Index". You also have a Psychic meter which will progress you into certain areas of the game. There are also several items you can collect to help you through the game. It combines the old quirky humor the R. A. Montgomery was known for in his books so it relates to all generations. I recommend 1-4 players and you cooperatively try to finish the chapters. It combines simple, easy to learn gameplay while not being bogged down by reading the story all the time. The new game is called "War with the Evil Power Master" and looks like it will play a little differently, but will definitely be on my wish list.

ZMan Games has announced its second board/card game based on Choose Your Own Adventure Books from the 80s. I bought the "House of Danger" game and the game is played with cards and a small board. It is set up into five chapters with objectives to complete each chapter. You can make decisions, but you sometimes will need to make a 6D roll on a certain attribute to beat the "Danger Index". You also have a Psychic meter which will progress you into certain areas of the game. There are also several items you can collect to help you through the game. It combines the old quirky humor the R. A. Montgomery was known for in his books so it relates to all generations. I recommend 1-4 players and you cooperatively try to finish the chapters. It combines simple, easy to learn gameplay while not being bogged down by reading the story all the time. The new game is called "War with the Evil Power Master" and looks like it will play a little differently, but will definitely be on my wish list.

So a buddy of mine calls me up and asked me if I wanted his non working Ms Pac-Man cab. The deal was that if I fixed it, he could play it whenever he came down, which I had no problem with. This is what the cab looked like when I got it. 

The cab was pretty beat up. Just running my hand across the sides made the paint fall off of it. Someone had painted the entire cab black. 

As you can see the cab was in pretty bad shape. So even before I tried to make the thing actually work, I painted it black. I primered it first before doing so. 



At this point I actually tried to make it work. I found some wires that looked like they were spliced into. I figured these were the connections for power. There was no power plug when I got it. I got a PC power cable, cut the end off and spliced it into the existing cuts in the wiring. When I plugged it in, it powered on...however with some problems..

The screen was all distorted. I had found 10 different knobs in the back of the arcade. I turned all of them to see if it would fix it. Nothing did. I thought maybe they all have to be dialed in perfect. After 3 days of messing with these knobs, I was getting frustrated. I was staring at the back of the cab when I saw this metal bracket with a hole in it. I shined a flashlight through the hole and I saw a potentiometer with a screwdriver slot on it. I grabbed a screwdriver and turned it clockwise and it made it worse. So I went counterclockwise all the way and it made the screen totally clear! ...with some minor distorted on the right part of the screen . Just had to slightly turn it back clockwise to get rid of the distortion 

After that I spent a few minutes to dial in the colors properly. 
At this point, I got a proper power cable for the cab and installed it. 
The control panel overlay was pretty dirty and torn so that got replaced. Put some new buttons too.

When I got done with that, I wanted to go all out. I ended up getting a repro glass bezel and installed it. The repro is very high quality. Very happy with it. 

My friend had got this thinking if he couldn't fix it, he was going to keep the Marquee and get rid of it. Knowing that I got this machine for free, I got a new Marquee and gave him the original. Got a high score save kit as well.

Last thing I got was the panel art and new T molding. When I got the art in, I realized that if I were to install the front part as is, the coin door chop off the forehead of Ms. Pac-Man. So I had to raise the coin door 4.5 inches.
 

I also was able to hide the bolts that hold the coin bucket in place below the surface of the wood so I didn't have to shove them to the front of the artwork. Once that was done I installed the art along with the new t molding. When I installed the cab was finally finished!

I wish the color of the panel art was a closer match to the control panel overlay, but in the end, I think it came out pretty awesome. I'm forever grateful that my buddy gave me this arcade. It's definitely in my top 3 favorite arcade games of all time. It was a lot of work putting this thing together
Here's a side by side of the before and after!

 
 

What this guy did is incredible. 🤯 Hats off to him.
 
 
 

Wow, I never win anything. Thanks! 

Congrats @LSGreger! You won the drawing! Please send me your address within a week to claim your prize!
👍

I don't play scary games now, but Tutankham on the Atari 2600 was spooky to me when I was a kid.

One of my favorite games is Super Ghouls and Ghost on the SNES. I think it also qualifies as a Halloween/Scary game. The capcom music alone sets the scary mood!

One of my favorite games is Super Ghouls and Ghost on the SNES. I think it also qualifies as a Halloween/Scary game. The capcom music alone sets the scary mood!

Cool!

My favorite scary game is Atari "Haunted House".  Honorable mentions to Dreamcast "Typing of the Dead" and Intellivsion "Dracula". 

Thanks!