Kid A

Think I'll stream this tonight. Loves me some Zelda! 

Think I'll stream this tonight. Loves me some Zelda! 

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!

 
 

I do love me some sports games!
This is completely unrelated, but I wanted to share anyway.  I've been playing an NES baseball game that I've never even heard of called "Bad News Baseball".  I don't think it would make a good high score challenge, but the game really got me thinking about NES vs. 7800 arguments (as in "the 7800 was just as good as the NES if they'd just written good software").  This game will really make you rethink that opinion.  The game has a level of polish that I don't think the 7800 can do.  The sounds (3 part music + speech + baseball effects) are astounding.  The quality of the text for scores and such (they look like an arcade machine).  The little cut-scenes (between innings, and my favorite -- the high-five line when you get a homer).  I honestly don't think the 7800 is capable of any of this to this level of quality.
 
 

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So the other day, I was able to hold it and snap a picture with a gold Nintendo world championship cart. See it here!
So I got to thinking. If you ever came up on something like this, say, at a thrift store for cheap, would you actually keep it in your collection or sell it? 
 
to be honest I don't think I could ever keep something this valuable in my collection knowing how much money I could get for it. I feel it would be cool enough just to say I owned it at one point in time.
 
What would you guys do?

Thanks you guys for all of your input. I am now a proud owner of an Atari 400 that doesn't look like it was tossed off a building. So excited to have it!
 

2'02"47

Yup!  Even the bottom of the console looks pretty clean too. I haven't even looked at it until now.

Funny thing... I just got this in from Japan yesterday!

The eBay listing I got it from stated that the pictures used were the general representation on what I would receive.  And looking at the pictures it looked kind of dirty and a little bit scratched.  The one I got looks almost brand new and appears that the second clear controller has never been used!

Funny thing... I just got this in from Japan yesterday!

The eBay listing I got it from stated that the pictures used were the general representation on what I would receive.  And looking at the pictures it looked kind of dirty and a little bit scratched.  The one I got looks almost brand new and appears that the second clear controller has never been used!

Funny thing... I just got this in from Japan yesterday!

The eBay listing I got it from stated that the pictures used were the general representation on what I would receive.  And looking at the pictures it looked kind of dirty and a little bit scratched.  The one I got looks almost brand new and appears that the second clear controller has never been used!

Funny thing... I just got this in from Japan yesterday!

The eBay listing I got it from stated that the pictures used were the general representation on what I would receive.  And looking at the pictures it looked kind of dirty and a little bit scratched.  The one I got looks almost brand new and appears that the second clear controller has never been used!

2'02"47

Digging up an old thread here, but seeing this brought back some memories. 
The 1st thing I bought on eBay were tickets to go see Radiohead in Santa Barbara on 6/30/2001
Those who are familiar with their music, here's the setlist.
Setlist
The National Anthem
Airbag
Morning Bell
Karma Police
Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box
Bullet Proof..I Wish I Was (1 False start)
Talk Show Host
Climbing Up the Walls
No Surprises
Dollars and Cents
Street Spirit (Fade Out)
I Might Be Wrong
Pyramid Song
Paranoid Android
Idioteque
Everything in Its Right Place
Encore:
True Love Waits (Thom acoustic)
Lucky
Pearly*
You and Whose Army?
How to Disappear Completely

Encore 2:
Cinnamon Girl (Neil Young & Crazy Horse cover)
Fake Plastic Trees
 
It was the 1st time I saw Radiohead and it was a life changing experience. I went in just as a super casual fan. Only went because I love going to shows and I went with my brother.
They pretty much became my favorite band pretty much after witnessing this show. It's a show I'll never forget. 

2'02"47

2'02"47

2'02"47

Digging up an old thread here, but seeing this brought back some memories. 
The 1st thing I bought on eBay were tickets to go see Radiohead in Santa Barbara on 6/30/2001
Those who are familiar with their music, here's the setlist.
Setlist
The National Anthem
Airbag
Morning Bell
Karma Police
Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box
Bullet Proof..I Wish I Was (1 False start)
Talk Show Host
Climbing Up the Walls
No Surprises
Dollars and Cents
Street Spirit (Fade Out)
I Might Be Wrong
Pyramid Song
Paranoid Android
Idioteque
Everything in Its Right Place
Encore:
True Love Waits (Thom acoustic)
Lucky
Pearly*
You and Whose Army?
How to Disappear Completely

Encore 2:
Cinnamon Girl (Neil Young & Crazy Horse cover)
Fake Plastic Trees
 
It was the 1st time I saw Radiohead and it was a life changing experience. I went in just as a super casual fan. Only went because I love going to shows and I went with my brother.
They pretty much became my favorite band pretty much after witnessing this show. It's a show I'll never forget. 

Digging up an old thread here, but seeing this brought back some memories. 
The 1st thing I bought on eBay were tickets to go see Radiohead in Santa Barbara on 6/30/2001
Those who are familiar with their music, here's the setlist.
Setlist
The National Anthem
Airbag
Morning Bell
Karma Police
Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box
Bullet Proof..I Wish I Was (1 False start)
Talk Show Host
Climbing Up the Walls
No Surprises
Dollars and Cents
Street Spirit (Fade Out)
I Might Be Wrong
Pyramid Song
Paranoid Android
Idioteque
Everything in Its Right Place
Encore:
True Love Waits (Thom acoustic)
Lucky
Pearly*
You and Whose Army?
How to Disappear Completely

Encore 2:
Cinnamon Girl (Neil Young & Crazy Horse cover)
Fake Plastic Trees
 
It was the 1st time I saw Radiohead and it was a life changing experience. I went in just as a super casual fan. Only went because I love going to shows and I went with my brother.
They pretty much became my favorite band pretty much after witnessing this show. It's a show I'll never forget.