My First Arcade Cabs

[Pop Culture Portal]

Well, thought I'd finally take the plunge and spend some of my recent ebay money on a few arcade cabs I found locally listed on ebay.  Had to drive 2 hours to pick them up, but I was pleased with my purchase.

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And excuse the condition of the room they're in...I've gutted this room in our house so I could replace the wiring and walls.  

Here's what I know about what I got...they ALL need cosmetic work, mostly at the base.  Some are down right ugly while others just need a little patching here and there.  I think the Final Fight is the only true dedicated machine...all others appear to have been altered.

The WWF game works, but there is no sound and the characters are garbled...and that's not the right cabinet.  The control panel has peeled off in one large chunk, but I can't for sure see what's underneath.

The cocktail is void of any boards...has a monitor with burn-in...looks like Pac-Man.  It was being used, at one time, as Capcom Bowling.  A little sticker on the outside of the machine says "1988 P&P Enterprises."  Anyone have any clues?

The Final Fight game has a new cap kit and works perfectly.  Colors need to be adjusted, though.  The base of the machine, however, is a wreck.  Has some side art on it, but I'm not 100% sure this is the right cabinet for this game.  There are a few places on it where the blue paint has rubbed off and brown paint can be seen underneath.

The Magic Sword machine is empty, sorta.  It is filled, and I mean filled, with manuals, marquees, parts...you name it.  I haven't gotten in to it yet to see exactly what's in there.  I also don't think this is actually a Magic Sword machine but a Centipede.  I'm just going by looks alone, so, I'm just guessing.

The Victory Road machine is empty, too...don't think this is the right game for this cab either.  Lots of mish-mash of parts on the machine.

I'm really looking forward to restoring these things back to the way they should be....oh, and I paid $20 for each machine...$100 total.  

[Tynstar]

Very cool and great prices for restore job machines. I hope you have fun restoring them and keep a log if you will.

The 1988 P&P Enterprises could be a sticker for the company that rented them. A lot of the time coin ops in bars, restaurants, laundry mats etc are on someone's route.

[bum-man]

Nice finds, should be a fun project bring them back from the near dead.  Have fun!

[captain_nintendo]

Cool congrats.

[Pop Culture Portal]

First looked at the cocktail and it is a Stern...noticed a little name plate on its front after wiping some sort of black grease off its front. Maybe Berzerk?  Not likely though based on the position of the monitor...Scramble, maybe?

Thought I'd look into the WWF game...found "Williams" stamped on its inside and on the monitor...peeled back a little of the control panel sticker and find "Karnov" underneath...I think there's another sticker under the Karnov one...appears to be metalic.  Was able to get rid of some of the paint on the side of the WWF and find that its actually a Joust cabinet.

The Final Fight cabinet is either a Dig Dug or Kangaroo (haven't gotten to removing any of that paint yet) and The Magic Sword appears to be a Centipede.

The Victory Road looks to be a Rock-Ola Jump Bug. I peeled enough of the wood laminate covering on one side to read it. A small name plate on the back of the cabinet reads "Rock-Ola." Anyone have any ideas how I can remove the wood laminate "sticker" off the sides without damaging what's underneath or should I start looking for Jump Bug sideart (that's not gonna be easy  ).

[Sauza12]

Not too shabby for $100!  Final Fight is one of the machines that I want top end up with eventually.  Keep us updated on how the repairs are coming!

[den68]

hell you can't go wrong for $20 a pop. nice score. good luck restoring those beauties.

[tholly]

congrats on taking the dive into arcade machines....good luck with them........

[djbeatmongrel]

grats on the cabs. that was a great deal on them

[RetroGamer]

I recently picked up 2 uprights and a cocktail table all for $40. The guy even plugged them in and showed me what they did...... "nothing, absolutely nothing" (Sorry quote from the movie UHF) Anyways.... originally the guy wanted $40 a piece but when I got there and he looked them over a little better he decided $40 for all 3 of them, so of course I had to take him up on the deal.

After hauling the cocktail table home that same night, (in the back of my CRX with the hatch all the way up). I managed to borrow the parents van for the other 2 within the next couple days. (He needed them gone soon because he was in the process of moving).

One is Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator, the other upright is Zaxxon, and the cocktail table is G.O.R.F. (The guy forgot what it was, he thought it was galaga)

I decided to tinker around with them.... starting with the Star Trek.... when it powered on you could only see a small one inch red line.... nothing else. I had no idea what to do, finally I decided to mess with the reset and test switches, and after pushing the reset a couple times, the red line moved. So I kept hitting the reset a bunch of times and the red line was part of the title screen.... so I continued and it progressed. Now it totally works, except the sound effects and music, but the voices work. The guy thought some pieces needed to be replaced for the monitor to work correctly. So now one machine up and the others are less lucky.

The Zaxxon machine when powered on has a line running from the top to the bottom of the screen right down the middle. You cane see movement so the game is working. I believe the monitor needs to be replaced.

The GORF cocktail table monitor turns on, but the game doesn't start, I think it may just be a power supply problem.

I'm hoping to fix these up and perhaps sell them. Since I don't really have the space for them, living in a basement.

[Pop Culture Portal]

Nice story RetroGamer!  Wish I was close enough to you to buy those from you!

Yesterday, I finally gutted the Centipede.  I don't suppose I could actually call it gutting since there really wasn't much in there to begin with.  I did discover that the Centipede had been converted into a Ring King and then into a Magic Sword...what a hack job!

I searched through the majority of the wiring and other assorted hardware and found the original Centipede power supply assembly still intact, but rusty.  I removed it and have been trying to clean it up a bit, hoping it actually works.

Looks like the transformer is the only rusty part, but I've been told that the transformers rarely go bad...hope that's true.  Think I'll be ordering other assorted supplies from Bob Roberts in the next few days.