Got me a Ms. Pac-Man cab!

[Kid A]

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!

 

 

Edited October 14, 2019 by Kid A

[RickR]

I love this so much.  Great work! 

 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

That's nice!  Another arcade saved from sudden doom.  Nice work.  I keep hoping I'll run across my favorite cab to restore someday but I haven't found one yet.

[TrekMD]

Wow, quite the restoration!  Looks great!

[DegasElite]

It is a marked improvement from its pre-restoration state. Looking spiffy!

[chas10e]

When I first saw this thread I thought "ugh-oh" ..... it turned out exactly as I imagined.

super - nice :)

[Atari Creep]

DUDE!!!!!! Amazing work bringing her back to life. WOW!

[Justin]

Dude that is so sweet! That's just to cool! Tremendous job!! 🙌 Great to see you breathe new life into this beauty!

[btbfilms76]

Wonderful work! We need more of this and less of the mini arcade movement.  Let’s keep these machines alive and kicking. 

[Atari Creep]

8 hours ago, btbfilms76 said:

Wonderful work! We need more of this and less of the mini arcade movement.  Let’s keep these machines alive and kicking. 

YES!!!!!

[StormSurge]

That is AMAZING!!! Great job!!!
 

One of these days I will have a cabinet. 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

5 hours ago, StormSurge said:

That is AMAZING!!! Great job!!!
 

One of these days I will have a cabinet. 

I'm with StormSurge.  Once of these days.  Galaxian is what I'm after but I'd settle for any decent one...even if it has to be restored.  That would be the fun part.  

[Kid A]

Thanks everyone! Restoring was a lot of fun and I wouldn't mind doing another one. Hopefully I find a beat up Galaga cab soon! 😂

I'm so excited to add this cab to the collection. I'm really happy with the way it came out. 

I wonder why arcade1up doesn't make full size cabs? Yeah, obviously it would cost more but I think it would be worth it. 

[dauber]

HOLY COW!! That is frickin' amazing! Thanks for sharing!

[Atari 5200 Guy]

4 hours ago, Kid A said:

Thanks everyone! Restoring was a lot of fun and I wouldn't mind doing another one. Hopefully I find a beat up Galaga cab soon! 😂

I'm so excited to add this cab to the collection. I'm really happy with the way it came out. 

I wonder why arcade1up doesn't make full size cabs? Yeah, obviously it would cost more but I think it would be worth it. 

It would probably take a while but I don't see why you can't build one from scratch buying used parts (motherboard, monitor, etc.) and such.  It would take a while longer but the end result would be about the same thing...wouldn't it or am I wrong?

[Kid A]

4 hours ago, kamakazi20012 said:

It would probably take a while but I don't see why you can't build one from scratch buying used parts (motherboard, monitor, etc.) and such.  It would take a while longer but the end result would be about the same thing...wouldn't it or am I wrong?

Well, if it's pre built, the convince factor is definitely there. 

[StormSurge]

I’m going to have to end up paying top dollar for one since I’d be lucky to know how to plug it in let alone build or restore one. 
 

I’m extremely jealous of your skills!!!

[Scott Stilphen]

Nice job, Kid A.  The coin door being lower has me stumped, though.  I posted some photos on KLOV and they said the cabinet was originally either a Galaga, or the front panel was changed at some point, because the coin door is one that Cinematronics used.

Edited December 16, 2019 by Scott Stilphen