The Imperial Shipyards
Imperial Entertainment TV and Movies => Gaming Corner => Topic started by: Clonehead on April 05, 2020, 05:02:26 PM
-
I had discovered these things recently and am hooked on the possibilities of having my own personal slightly miniature arcade.
I’m a little behind the times and have missed a couple of these before they turned scarce.
I’m looking for the Centipede and Astroids machines.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
-
These so looked like fun when I saw them in walmart. Clint, they look fun. I assume they work just like we old foogies are used too?
-
Pretty much, just no quarters needed buddy
Pretty cool considering the real thing would cost ten times more.
Astroids can be scratched off the list as I have a line on an Astroids Deluxe machine that was a Costco exclusive and has six games on it
Still need a centipede and their Star Wars Trilogy arcade game is high on my to do list.
-
If I find that Star Wars Game I might get it too. I will look at my walmart the next time I go in. I assume you can find these at most major retailers?
-
There is a list on the website of dealers but the major ones here are Walmart,target, Best Buy, Home Depot, eb games,GameStop.
I haven’t seen a Star Wars cabinet in the wild yet.
That one was released last October at the higher price point of $500
If you can find one shipped for $450, it’s a good deal.
https://arcade1up.com/collections/cabinets/products/star-wars (https://arcade1up.com/collections/cabinets/products/star-wars)
-
That is definitely the one for me. Man, might have to bite if I can find one.
Did this one even make it to regular retail Clint?
-
That is definitely the one for me. Man, might have to bite if I can find one.
Did this one even make it to regular retail Clint?
i imagine this would be something you would see in a Best Buy somewhere, prior to the holidays.
It all probably has to do with price point.
I believe we are around the 3rd year of production for these games with more than one tier of how fancy they are on not all but multiple units.
I think year 1 was Astroids and centipede with deluxe versions of each being released the next year as exclusives. That second year also probably contained galaga, rampage, final fight, mortal combat, and pac man. I think the latest wave was turtles, marvel super heroes, golden tee, and Star Wars. Looking at burger time, nba jam, frogger coming up this year. I believe we will see a special edition release of the Star Wars
Cabinet possibly.
The term Riser, refers to a stand the cabinet sits on to make it taller.
No riser is good for small kids, riser is good for big kids.
Anyways, most of my cabinets were $200 marked down from 3
The new ones start at 3, more for turtles and Star Wars
-
Thanks for the information Clint. You are really getting me interest in these.
-
Clonehead sent me a video to hit up on Youtube. How cool is this (about 12:50 in)
-
I may have to move this to my collection thread.
Since the only thing made by these guys more rare and hard to find than a centipede machine is the riser boxes that raise the cabinet by a foot, I bought some 1/2 inch MDF this weekend and built a couple. Some paint and some stickers and they will be fine.
Yes, Shawn, it’s lookin a little like an arcade around here.
-
Man, with a stencil or like you said stickers you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
Great stuff Clint, off to the front pages. I am so envious of your arcade. When can I come over and play!
-
You don’t need no quarters, buddy.
Would you believe I’m actually in talks with one of the aftermarket decal companies who asked my opinion on the design for a set of Astroids Deluxe cabinet and riser add-on decals?
I’ll show you the transition when I get a set, they are made to help the riser Look like part of the cabinet and blend the factory cabinet graphics down to the riser.
Oh, and the UPS man is bringing me a stand up Star Wars Arcade cabinet tomorrow.
-
I can't wait to see what decals you cook up. Are they gonna do a decal set for your new homemade risers too?
Looking foward to seeing your new stand up Star Wars Arcade. Are you still getting the sit down version?
-
I seen that video from the CES show but that version, when they release it, will probably be some kind of special addition which is a real
Release with some kind of extra goodie, a stool
Pack-in, a decorated riser pack-in, a lighted marquee where the original release didnt have one...
As of yet, I don’t see that version or the golden axe cabinet from the video on their pre order list. Might be a later in the year thing.
Sooooo, mine is a gen 3 standard edition released last year that will be more loaded with factory amenities than any cabinet I have bought thus far. Stereo sound where it is mono in all my others. Not only does it include a riser but it will be a decorated one. And, the marquee is a lighted one.
That should be about a 100 lb box
-
Indeed, the way you set up your machines does make it look like an arcade! Plus your epic carrera race track! It looks fantastic! I'm sure your grandson never wants to go home :D
It's crazy that those boxes are so rare by now. I'm sure you could make them yourself if there aren't any left. Just fantastic - so much nostalgia here! Thanks so much for sharing!
-
Wow, I can't wait to see your SW Set. Sounds like it will have a great deco.
-
I know you are probably chomping at the bit
Still busy at work I’m there now
The box showed up scuffed and very dusty. Sellers pretty much always ship in the retail packaging so not the best chance of getting a Minty one, Shawn.
I built the riser first and then the cabinet.
I got it together by 10:00 last night played it once and went to bed.
-
Like a monolith before me, it stands.
I tried to be skeptical with this, my Katana of a purchase, after only one round of easy mode Star wars arcade last night but after playing a few rounds when I got home today, I am not only hooked but a bit mesmerized by how much it reminds me of playing the real thing. I am literally taken away in the same way the Astroids Deluxe game does to me. It’s like I’m replaying a memory of a moment that occurred over 35 years ago.
Darth More, it’s actually 3 grandkids, all boys, and only 2 of them have seen only one machine as of yet. Imagine when they step into a room full of them.
-
Daggone that looks nice Clint. So cool. Off to share to the front page while I try to come up with excuses for not getting one myself.
-
Got a shot of the three grand kids jammin on the Rampage machine.
-
Man, I would so take em on Rampage. I can eat em up! Such a fun game. Man that looks good Clint. Did you get your graphics yet?
-
I did get my graphics set a couple of days ago for Astroids deluxe but haven’t had time to get anything applied yet. They look good and the colors match. I will put on the top two front panels first. I have the front mocked up for the one shot
-
Wow, you kicked these up a few notches. That front panel just looks awesome!
I am so envious. so envious. I so want to do something like this, but don't have the space. If I can get my act together and thin out some of my collection that ain't my focus I am gonna so do some of this. I wish I lived closer. On second thought, maybe its better I don't cause I would probably already have bought these.
Off to the front pages. Thanks for getting this out and showing us Clint.
-
That looks awesome Clint and I bet it's getting a real work at the moment lol.
Ron
-
Those panels look really outstanding. Wonderful finishing touches!
-
I didn't know they even had even minier versions too. Here is Centipede:
https://www.wayfair.com/furniture/pdp/arcade-1up-centipede-countercade-ljhy1008.html
-
Yes, the countercades look pretty cool as well. Made of the same durable stuff as the cabinets I hear.
Your sit down Star Wars cabinet just went up for pre order last night.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Star-Wars-Arcade-With-Bench-Seat-Arcade1Up/248851348 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Star-Wars-Arcade-With-Bench-Seat-Arcade1Up/248851348)
-
I so want this. So cool!
Off to share.
You gonna get one Clint?
-
I thought I heard tell that they might offer one in ESB deco but with the same games. I also heard they may offer the chair by itself also, as an add on for the stand up owners like me.
-
I didn't hear you say no?
-
No, you didn’t hear me say no.
Let’s talk about our experiences with the real Atari Star Wars coin op games.
Mostly in mall arcades in kc, I can only remember playing the Star Wars stand up a few times and the original sit down cockpit version probably only a couple of times. Now the empire coin op, which seemed to be more rare, I only ever seen and played once or twice and I think they were both cockpit machines.
The Star Wars game was kind of an enigma of the arcades back then, usually posed front and center. I remember the cockpit version having a back viewport behind the seat where another waiting gamer could watch the progress over the players shoulder. Atari was still running a lot of vector graphics games back then and this color vector representation of 3-d flight was one of the first ever experienced this side of say, a Commodore64 flight simulator by many back then.
I don’t know about the Jedi game but the first two certainly seem to be perfect copies of the original ROMs that the arcade games used although Empire seems to look a little better than it did.
Oh, and I got a couple of those front panels wrapped on the Astroids Deluxe machine earlier in the week. I need some practice but it looks ok.
I need to get the other three on the riser box.
Waiting on a part to customize a different cabinet in a different way that could show up tomorrow.
Oh, according to various sources, Walmart has been throwing some mad clearance prices at some of these older cabinets that sometimes drifts over to the newer stuff in stock. “ look on YouTube for these stories”
Shawn, I’ve heard of a couple of the older ones going for as low as $1, that’s right, 1 dollar paid for space invaders, $1 paid for final fight, the more common story is $50 for a Galaga, street fighter,Astroids, I have even seen a Star Wars go for $50
Head of the turtles going that cheap but usually it’s $199 that they get slashed to. If I could find a centipede it could cost me $1-$50
I did make a search tonight and found a $50 final fight cabinet. I had considered snatching it up and just collecting the parts I need to turn it into a centipede.
-
First off awesome graphics. So taking that to the front pages.
Man, I did like a mega quick check on walmart.com and don't see any prices that awesome. Man, my Walmart never really clearances stuff out right. They put a red sticker on it at original price many times. I think it must be easier for them not to clearance something and then I guess they ship all their unsold toys or clearance items elsehwere?
Anyhow, was sure hopeful there for a second. I will keep checking though, thanks for the tip.
-
I should have been more specific buddy. Those prices will never be reflected on Walmart.com. It’s in the store that the big discounts occur. Try to imagine 10-20 percent of the country’s stores doing this.
It requires a physical presence at the store to find out what they have and what it really costs. Until that bar code hits the scanner, you will not know for sure. Many stores still have stock in the back room of these just waiting to be asked for.
-
Here is my clearance score for today
Final fight at Raytown Walmart for $50
-
Ok Shawn, try hitting this link and entering your zip code to see what comes up. It’s like a local Walmart arcade game search engine. I can’t vouch for the in stock or unknown thing. When I search Star Wars, they show a bunch at different locations close to me where they could cost $50, if they were in stock.
https://deals.consolekits.com/ (https://deals.consolekits.com/)
-
Man thats crazy, if what it says is true I could get the Rampage System for fifty bucks if I drove an hour.
And then I see the Centipede System for $1, but the stock status shows as unknown? I guess that would be you just show up, give em the code and hope someone would go look for you.
-
Awesome deal by the way.
-
Yes, a Rampage for $50 would be very cool. If I could get another one for that price, I would invest in a much more pricey all over graphics package , lit marquee included, to convert it to a Defender or Joust cabinet.
Since I only have one, my plan is to go Rampage when we dress that one up, lit marquee and all also.
Speaking of those, look at the pretty lit Space Invaders marquee kit that I got in the mail today from arcademodup.com, also an eBay seller.
Plexi in the front, I think, the see thru graphic in the middle, and a thick shaped and machined clear acrylic mounting piece for the back wrapped top and bottom with metal trim. That back piece has the correct slots for accepting other body pieces and holes for mounting screws during cabinet assembly the thing is weighty and very cool looking, especially held up to be backlit. The graphics are perfect and a more classic representation of the real thing as the new design on my factory cabinet marquee was changed to reflect current licensing ownership. I’ll show you that later.
-
The kit includes an led strip whose plug can be wired through the included splitter to power the strip using the same cord as the cabinet. The only thing missing is a mountable toggle switch to turn it off when you want. I’ll probably wire the whole cabinet to a remote outlet so I can just key the remote for individual banks of cabinets to come to life.
Or I’ll wire a switch in.
The newer cabs like Star Wars or Marvel have a separate power source on the PCB just for powering a lit marquee. You plug it in and it powers up your light when you hit the On switch on your control deck.
-
Man that is nice Clint.
-
So I put it in today.
First shot shows the factory static marquee with the new trademark logo on the cabinet and its replacement in my hand with the more classic trademark logos and artwork. Part of the reason I chose arcademodup’s space invaders to be the first to replace a stick marquee with is because of this difference. I appreciate that classic look of the older design.
Installation required me to pull one side of the cabinet off to get the old marquee out. The bottom wood filler piece that is screwed into the factory marquee must be removed and transferred to the new acrylic back piece with holes there to receive the three screws. That assembly screws back onto the led screens wood frame. The factory marquee has a couple of wood pegs for placement and strength but the new marquee only requires two supplied screws going through the side cabinet holes to mount.
The two way splitter that is provided is hooked up easily enough but the extremely long LED light tape strand that the marquee end powers took a little thought. Most use the lower inside lip of the back piece behind the graphic pointing up with good effects but that was less than a third of the strands length so started at the back panel, and then hit the plexiglass lip and I continued to wrap it around the side and the other backside of the serial number panel and back around a time and a half before the tape ran out.that back panel got two rows and is angled towards the backside of that marquee so, I figure it will light it up ok.
It was a slight juggle getting the marquee and the back panel together without disturbing my light tape wrapping but it did go without too much of a struggle.
-
So I got the side on and screwed back together and plugged it in and was impressed by how good it looked. I mean, that thing pops nicely and light distribution is fairly even and bright. The graphic looks crisp and clean and the colors look right. It took several shots to find something similar to what our eyes would register. There are only the two main screws coming in from the sides of the cabinet into the acrylic that can faintly be seen as ghosts threw the graphic. It doesn’t bug me much here. I wonder how it would look on a white backlit marquee?
Those strips of metal too and bottom serve to sandwich the two materials and graphic together plus block for light bleed. I almost wish they didn’t protrude on the graphic as much as they do. It doesn’t bug me here but I’m wondering about that white background again, if they are all this way, that is. The slight light bleed isn’t too bad up front and the trade for all of these gripes is that the kit seems to be very well made, the graphic looks great and the materials used are of good concept and quality and certainly their job for $60.
I think it looks great, the whole presence of Space Invaders is different now. There is a more expensive alternative out there with a more high end touch to it but it is more than twice as much and I think I can live with this stuff.
I want more.
I think the Rampage cabinet needs one.
-
That looks really nice Clint. Very nice.
Off to the front pages.
-
Thanks buddy
More pics popped up of the Star Wars sit down version at Arcade1up https://arcade1up.com/products/i-star-wars-i-™-limited-edition-seated-at-home-arcade-game (https://arcade1up.com/products/i-star-wars-i-™-limited-edition-seated-at-home-arcade-game)
Still available for pre order only from walmart
Includes blue led backlighting on the cab, how thoughtful
-
Looks sweet. Man, I am gonna drop some not so subtle hints to my wife about what a great gift this would be for a SW Fan.
-
The deals have gotten $50 cheaper for the stand up model. Brandsmart members or the right page at Walmart.com will get you the lowest price today
At the same time, those crazy Walmart clearance prices kind of fueled the fire for the covid spawned buy up of all of the older cabs.On eBay I’ve seen that $50 Rampage go for $500 this week. If you could find a $1 Centipede, it would sell for $600 now, it’s so rare.
I finished applying the graphic set to the Astroids Deluxe riser box.
I did a little better than last time and was pleased with how they turned out. Still a novice at this, the important part is to have a clean surface for your decal. Isopropyl alcohol got wiped with a lint free cloth across the three sides to be covered to remove any dirt, oils, fingerprints off of the surface. The decal to be used is positioned on the side keeping in mind where to best leave any overlap to be trimmed. The factory riser boxes have the side panels inset slightly at the corners and I had made the first two home made boxes the same way. Confirming to that ridge will take some surface area of the decal also so I allowed for that when positioning as well. Some frog tape was used to attach the decal with backing to the riser to allow for a hinge so I can work with the first half and not have it shift.
I have my tools ready, it’s go time
-
The pros know a cheat for the novice decal application that I intend to employ here.
Lift the free side and peel of the backing of that first half. Using a sharp hobby knife, cut off that backing piece while holding the decal in position. Here is the cheat, spritz some water mixed with a touch of dish soap to the surface and or the sticky side of the decal. I just kind of used a sponge for this but a little spray bottle would work better. This makes it easier to work out the air bubbles/wrinkles. Then, using a car squeegee, I carefully brandished the decal down, kind of working it left to right as I got some down and proceeded to the end of the decal. A bit of the soapy solution on the blade of the squeegee helps lessen the friction while you are working those bubbles out.any fold or crease areas are worked in as well, first with the squeegee blade, then with a fingernail or the handle of my knife.
-
Once you get the one side, remove the tape and do the other side. When you get it all done, break out the xacto and trim up any unwanted overlap.
-
For the final step, I used a hairdryer to heat up the decal and worked with the squeegee to get any more air out and lock it into place. That heat will help the bonding agent on the back of the decal to set.
Go easy with the heat in this step and give yourself time to work an area. When the heat hits that semi wet surface, both the water and air left underneath will expand more than you expect. I thought it turned out ok. It was fun to do and I look forward to another one. It sure dresses up the bottom of the asteroids deluxe cab.
-
A few more shots. I had inquired to the seller about making this set because I was so impressed with how the set he offers for the original Asteroids cab looked. I haven’t gotten that set yet, but I intend to.
I did order a lit marquee kit for the Deluxe cab yesterday.
-
You are really turning these into works of art Clint. So cool. I need to check that link again and see whats out there. I would so love to find a few of these.
Off to the front pages with this update.
-
Had the grandson over on Friday. Someone caught these action shots of him wearing the proper headgear while playing Pac-Man.
-
I like the old school feel of these arcades. The artwork on them is very cool as well
-
That is so cool Clint. Great stuff bud.
I also showed my wife that new Star Wars sit down set. She thought it was cool so I took it that she didn't say no!
-
Hey, great pictures, Clint! Looks like you're having a fun time with your little one! I even found a mini arcade for you today! It says it has 240 mini games installed and might even fit 1/12 scale figures!
(https://i.imgur.com/LNWlCl7.jpg)
-
Hey, great pictures, Clint! Looks like you're having a fun time with your little one! I even found a mini arcade for you today! It says it has 240 mini games installed and might even fit 1/12 scale figures!
(https://i.imgur.com/LNWlCl7.jpg)
that is cool it looks like it has a coin slot.
ill have to find a pic but Walmart has been selling a line like that that looks good with 1/18th scale figures.
-
Absolutely awesome work Clint.
Ron
-
Thank you Ron
Got another lighted marquee kit from arcademodup in the mail the other day. Asteroids, this time.
Installation went as well as last time. One thing you have to do with these is remove the lower wood strip off of the stock marquee and screw it onto the marquee backside using the pre drilled holes. I did a similar configuration with the long LED strip but it turned out much brighter this time. I may have to stuff a sock up there or something on the inside to tone it down.
-
3 more shots
-
Wow, that really lit that up didn't it! Nice.
Off to share on the front pages.
I am leaving hints right and left about what a great gift that SW System would be. It can now be pre-ordered from wal-mart!
-
Let’s do a little cab review
A couple of weeks back, I managed to score this, probably the more collectible cab out there, the Arcade1up Atari 12-in-1
That first year of production showed quite a bit of popularity that inspired two exclusive cabs to be released. The regular Asteroids included 4 games, asteroids/tempest/ lunar lander/major havoc
The Costco exclusive 6in1 added asteroids deluxe and
Gravitar. This, what I thought was a Best Buy exclusive, is called a deluxe edition and includes those 6, the 4 from the centipede cab, centipede/millipede, crystal castles, and missile command plus 2 more Quantum and Liberator making it 12. Interesting to note, the original released 1up centipede featured a vertical mounted LCD screen where this one has a horizontal mounted screen. The thought is that horizontal works better for asteroids but the big difference is how missile command plays. Designed to be horizontal, on that ole centipede cab, it’s play screen would be placed in a letterbox format that made it much too small.
I have some opening and general assembly pics here. This is a first gen cab so, that means only 1 speaker and no deck protector.
-
Now that I think about it, I’m almost sure they made the screen switch to make things work better for missile command. The control deck has been reconfigured to accommodate for the trackball and for the 3 side by side buttons for launching from your three bases. Now the new control deck does wonders for missile command and centipede feels alright, the asteroids themed games seem a bit unfamiliar because their button locations changed somewhat. I’m sure you could re learn this and grow comfortable with it. It doesn’t make those titles unplayable. Some complain about the trackball for some reason but I don’t have a problem with it. Some complain about the spinner which is mainly there for Tempest but I don’t hate it. That thing could spin a bit more freely as could the trackball but it’s not like we are talking about a $2500 coin op machine. There is an aftermarket spinner available to import for $50 if one so wishes.
-
Part of the special edition package was that it included a riser box to assemble and set the cab on, which was nice as they are so hard to find.
The deco is centipede with a black background on one side and Asteroids on the other with a marquee that has graphics and logos for both. Alternate graphics for both can be found going down the screen bezel sides. I am working again with eBay seller Justin, from gulfcoastdecals, to come up with a custom graphics add on package for this cab and its riser.
I mainly wanted this cab for missile command which is a blast and I’m glad I got this version instead of the white centipede version with the vertical screen. Centipede is a lot of fun also and I do believe this cab saves most of the recorded high scores.
It used to be a thing in the arcade to put your initials next to your score that would be displayed during the games demo modes.
Bragging rights.
As far as regular releases, the only cab more rare than this one right now would be the white centipede.
I can’t believe I found one new and unspoiled
-
Wow, another great one Clint. Does that mean you are not looking for a centipede cabinet now?
-
Wow, another great one Clint. Does that mean you are not looking for a centipede cabinet now?
since it is now the “holy grail” I would take that cab if I found it for cheap but no, Shawn, because of the screen change, I would rather have this one
-
I kinda figured. I swear I am gonna use that link you gave me to maybe try and track down one next week. I am finally feeling well enough to get out and about I think.
-
Ok Tamer, here is a guy who spent under $500 “ not including the 1up cab price” to mesh the guts of a 1up Star Wars cab to online repro decals and online reproduction blueprint made pieces of the full size original arcade sit down cabinet. It’s a bit wonky but there is some interesting history about that original Atari Star Wars game in there. You will have to bear with it to see the good stuff
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xinJW0uZbg8 (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xinJW0uZbg8)
-
Wow, not that is some dedication there. So cool.
I am gonna take this one to the front pages.
-
https://www.escapepodonline.com/collections/arcade1up/products/arcade1up-star-wars-the-empire-strikes-back-complete-art-kit (https://www.escapepodonline.com/collections/arcade1up/products/arcade1up-star-wars-the-empire-strikes-back-complete-art-kit)
Here you go Shawn. Here is an Arcade1up cabinet graphics set from escapeponline You could use to dress a stand up cabinet as Empire, and get the sit down Star Wars to display and play both versions at the same time.
Thanks to escape pod for the shot.
-
Wow, that looks sweet too. Just awesome graphics. Man, getting harder to resist this one.
-
I got another package from Gulf Coast decals the other day.
It’s time to dress up the Asteroids cab some more.
I used a factory riser box this time, with the notch in the front. These graphic sets are always cut with square edges so some careful trimming, notching, brandishing, and trim hole filling were needed where that notch occurred.
Part of the front and both side riser decals had some extra length that I have seen some folks wrap over and around the top lip of the riser box. I did this and used part of the cut off lip scrap to patch a couple of holes in the corners. I think it turned out pretty cool.
-
Before and after
-
Before and after
Graphics applied fairly well without issue and the colors look good. Ole Asteroids has a more commanding presence in the lineup now.
Sweet!
-
I lost the post with the loose kit pics
Here they are. I didn’t use the decals around the bezel as I prefer the more factory look there.
-
Wow, that looks so much better. Man, what a difference a few graphics can make. I like seeing this artwork so much better than seeing the words. Off to the front pages.
Man, I would love to come over and loose a few hours here Clint. You are creating something awesome.
-
Here is a good deal at Walmart.com
https://www.walmart.com/ip/STREET-FIGHTER2-BLACK-SERIES-ARCADE-1UP-HEAD-TO-HEAD-TABLE/671751086 (https://www.walmart.com/ip/STREET-FIGHTER2-BLACK-SERIES-ARCADE-1UP-HEAD-TO-HEAD-TABLE/671751086)
At $349, this new release Black series street fighter 2 cocktail arcade cabinet would be about $150-160 under retail after taxes. Free shipping with the Covid about. Box will not be marked plainly.
I have been wondering about their cocktail cabinets. There are two deco versions available for both street fighter and pac man. I think the Black series versions are the prettier. Street fighter should have 12 games on it.
-
Sounds like a good deal.
-
Still just part of a bigger project, I installed my Tempest lighted marquee today. From a different seller, grandstand arcades, the design was similar but didn’t have screw holes for the lower stock marquee lip to mount with. Turns out, the assembly fit so tight and nicely that the screws were not needed and the new marquee holds it into place.
The led strip was mounted to a wooden piece of channel which I taped to the back of the cabinet to illuminate the marquee. A power cord splitter, extension, and in line led light controller are all included as separate pieces. The light controller has a wireless remote to control off on , brightness control, and effects.
I’m going to have to find more of those for my other installed lit marquees.
Also, I can’t remember mentioning that Arcade 1up was going to release 3 different virtual pinball cabinets around August, one of them being a Star Wars cab with 10 different games.
What I’ve seen of the games when it’s running is pretty amazing.
-
Looks good Clint. I could see wanting control over the brightness. Off to the front pages.
-
So sorry for the delay, busy times.
So it must have become obvious by now that the $50 final fight was to get a facelift become a custom Tempest cab. I had purchased a used 6 in one PCB and swapped it out with the old pcb.
I did get the rest of the graphics set in and I had an extra clear deck protector to boot. My spare 6 in one control deck came in so it went on Asteroids deluxe and the control deck with the arcade spinner mod got the Tempest control deck graphic. I ended up just taping the decal with backing onto the deck protector and used an exacto knife to trim the button and switch holes with. I figure rather than trying to stick the decal down, I can just leave it unloose under the deck protector, safely screwed in place.
I trimmed the cutout for the spinner so it would fit on top of the spin knob in an attractive way and stuck it into place.
The screen bezel decal was quite a challenge and if there is a next time, I may cut that one into separate pieces to apply.
I am working on getting a set of graphics for the riser to extend that basic beam design down on three sides.
Oh, I got the remote working for the marquee light also so you can leave the unit plugged in and turn it off and on with the remote.
I’m pretty happy with how it turned out and I am exploring the possibilities of doing another cabinet face lift in the future.
If I were to try to sell this thing, it would fetch a pretty penny, I’ll bet.
-
More pics. I thought the control deck turned out well.
-
Another one or two
-
Clint you just amaze me with these builds. I could see a vending company that restores and sells these machines hiring you. You are making works of arts out of these things. Thanks for sharing.
Off to the front pages.
-
Thanks buddy, it is a lot of fun.
Last night I got the graphics upgrade set added to the Space Invaders machine. Another of seller gulfcoastdecals sets, this one includes yellow pinstripe material to use on the riser box exposed edges to match the factory paint on the cab edge. There was plenty of stripe material left over and I applied some on the black upper and lower frame of that aftermarket lighted marquee I had installed some time back. A Bit chunky but definitely better. I also added the remote sensor to the marquee so you can leave the unit plugged in and use the remote to turn the marquee on and off.
-
Shots of that marquee
-
And more shots of the cab
Got some work to do on my Black Series Pac Man cocktail machine coming up shortly.
-
I was just talking about space invaders with my daughter just yesterday. Her big go to game now is the Sims on my PS4. She just bought some vampire expansion pack. Kids!
Off to the front page. It looks awesome Clint.
-
Wow! That looks incredible. The remote controlled marquee is a great idea too.
-
Late thank yous
Shawn, I used to have this Rollercoaster Themepark builder game on my PS2, I think, that I used to really like. The park patrons would get sick and throw up if either your rollercoaster was too wild of a ride or if it was located too close to the food court.
Still excited about these Arcade1Up machines, I haven’t gotten word on the delayed release dates and shipment of their virtual pinball tables beyond that the first version, Marvel, which should be in the US now and is expected to hit pre order customers by the 8th of next month. They weren’t lost at sea, as was rumored, although Arcade1Up did instead lose a bunch of Outrun driving cabinets and a bunch of replacement parts and or accessories, like they would sell on their website.
As far as what I have, I went ahead and bought another big graphics package from Escapepod to redecorate my Rampage cab to be a Joust themed cabinet. I had also purchased a lighted marquee kit from another vendor. The first kit has a translit graphic for the marquee included. To be mounted onto a clear sheet or pane of glass and then, lit from behind.
Since I had the marquee kit as well, this piece was extra.
Also, the large kit included a good looking, but not arcade accurate looking, CPU cover for the control deck. Separately in their store, Escape pod had a different Joust control deck overlay to serve as a repro piece for the original arcade cabinet. Not sure why they didn’t include this one with the 1up cabinet set other than the 3 player rampage controls on my deck might make it seem wonky.... I don’t know. So I bought the arcade overlay as well and made it work for the control deck, more on that later.
That means I had that extra control deck graphic now also.
My plan was to incorporate these extra pieces into a custom riser box for what will be my Joust cabinet.
First two shots are mock-ups
A factory riser front piece was cut to accommodate the extra marquee graphic. Not mounted yet, I have placed the extra control deck graphic about where I want the bottom of it to be.
I used components of the area I trimmed off to build some interest on the lower lip and sides of the hole and trimmed the marquee hole opening and the top edge of the whole piece-with 1/2 inch red electrical tape.
I don’t have the tape on the top in these shots
-
That is gonna be nice Clint. Time to go share this.
-
Thanks buddy
I got a free scrap of plexiglass from the local hardware store and after trimming to fit, applied the trans light graphic in the same fashion as normal, being careful not to scratch the plexiglass backside as I worked. Then I mounted the plexiglass piece flush to the backside of our front panel with a hot glue gun. Black electrical tape was used on the backside at the edges to serve as a light blocker.
-
The assembled riser box has another wall section behind the front decorated wall that serves as part of the framework that supports the cabinet weight. It’s only a couple of inches behind the front wall and should be a perfect place to mount a length of LED light tape.
I bought a little set from Menaurds that included a small run of tape and a splitter with the right connectors that would allow me to power it, the cabinet, and the cabinet top marquee all from the same power source with no wire cutting
Adhesive backed, I arranged the light tape in a shape I thought would
Work well and then reinforced its position with some electrical tape.
I cut and folded some light blocking partition pieces out of aluminum foil that would both keep light from the LEDs from bleeding out from under and over the riser and be able to reflect light back towards that translit decal at the same time. After final assembly, I think the foil amplifies the amount of light in the area slightly
-
After final assembly, I’m satisfied with how bright the graphic is lit. I am glad I used the foil. I used electrical tape to attach the foil and overlapped the edges to block light bleed.
This should be pretty sharp when the decorated cabinet is sitting g on top of it.
-
Clint has anyone told you that you are one crafty fellow? So smart using that aluminum foil to focus your light. It looks great.
Off to share on the front pages.
-
You are making me blush.
Check out these first two shots of the Rampage cab sitting on a home made riser. You can see why I want to decorate this one as the sides are a bit plain. As soon as I found the kit, I knew I wanted to decorate this one as Joust, my favorite game emulation on this cab. Rampage is pretty cool and looks and plays just like it should with the three sets of controls on the control panel. Defender looks and sounds good but the rampage control configuration ruins it and you never have a sense of the arcade controls which are difficult and spread out anyways. Gauntlet looks and sounds pretty good although it’s only a two player port. There was a two player arcade version but I remember the squat four player version which was a blast to play when it was filled up.
It’s unfortunate they couldn’t have ported the four player version, at least so you could fill the three sticks on this cab with players.
Then, there is Joust, another Williams classic that is a true port of the arcade classic and plays wonderfully with either one or two players onscreen simultaneously.
This was a Gen 1 cab from Arcade1Up released in 2018
Perhaps an afterthought compared to the bigger names that were released with this first Generation, this cab has reached a new popularity amongst the collectors of these machines and Rampage, new in its box, would easily fetch 3 times or more as much as I paid for it.
Among other new cabs hitting this spring is this new Atari legacy 12-in 1 which should nicely demote both my custom Tempest cab and my gen1 12-in-1 except for the fact that In these shots, the 17” monitor appears to be oriented vertically which would work well for both Tempest and Centipede but not some Of the other included games. I doubt the new factory spinner would top my aftermarket one.
That coin door is just a sticker but some of the other cabs released this spring, like x-men, will include a more realistic faux plastic coin door
I would like to put that decorated riser under my Custom Tempest cab
-
First up, from arcademodup, came the lit marquee kit which went in without a hitch. Next, another of the escape pod kits graphics, the screen bezel sticker was applied. I put this one on in several pieces as the one piece application killed me when I did it from the Tempest kit. Less about lucky guessing and more about accuracy
I had forgot about protecting the plexiglass backside while applying this one and ended up having to buff a bunch of scratches out with car wax before final installation. I believe I put the graphic on the frontside, covering the Rampage graphic and covered any exposed edges of the green graphic with black manic marker
-
Looks spot on to me. I am so envious of all your arcade systems. So awesome.
Off to share your update on the front pages.
-
Another update
After the bezel comes the control board graphic and the front kickplate graphic. I did the control panel as before and used the plexiglass deck protector as a guide to cut for controls and doctored up with a magic marker to cover any panel graphic color seen underneath. As I mentioned, the control panel graphic is not the one that was included with the kit but was a replacement for a full sized Joust arcade cabinet. It had that original look so I used it instead and just cut it around those wonky Rampage controls. It was roughly the same size and shape as the Arcade1Up sized one. I like the way the two graphic stone slabs transition from the control panel up to the bezel. The kick panel turned out good and I now only lack getting the large side panel graphics on.
-
Clint that just looks fantastic!
Off to the front pages.
-
Thanks buddy
Let’s talk about Arcade1Up pinball for a second
I have a decent YouTube review from cooltoy here, that gives a good idea about how the Marvel table looks and works. There is not a lot of gameplay shown but versions of the Zen games have been available to play on Steam for some time now.
I have preorderd this one and though it has been delayed once or twice, it is scheduled to be released by the 8th of next month.
They are manufacturing all three styles one version at a time in the same factory so, Marvel comes first, then comes Star Wars, then, Attack from Mars
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_mT_mAreOM&pbjreload=101)pbjreload=101[/url]
-
I loved Joust! That is a masterful, I mean, its really beautiful. Nice job. Its amazing to see how you have transformed this.
-
Pinball is just plain fun. My father in law has a 70s version one in his basement that still works great. They really built older things that last. I like this too. Would love to have a Star Wars themed one.
-
Starchaser!,thank you! you are showing your age. Joust was always one of my favorites also. Those old Williams arcade games always had the coolest sound effects.
Ok Shawn, here is a video showing the other YouTube reviewer who got a preproduction pinball machine that has the Star Wars version.
Not a lot of gameplay here either but it gives you a pretty good look at the machine and how it functions.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JigRU07O8hI)[/url]
-
Wow that is nice. Wish I had the space for it.
-
You wouldn’t keep it in the box, I hope?
-
You wouldn’t keep it in the box, I hope?
Depends on if it was vintage or had really great art on it. DH
-
I doubt it
Got the joust cab up in its custom riser now. I only lack putting the large side graphics on.
I did get a note from GameStop the other day. Apparently at least one of them, Star Wars, I think, will arrive this week
-
looks great with all those other cabinets. Nice work.
Off to share on the front pages.
-
Guess what, Shawn? I got up in the night and found this on the front porch. I was supposed to sign for it so it must have been late when it arrived.
I had gotten another delay email about the Star Wars version just the other day. Middle of next month, possibly.
I’m going to put this bad boy together today
-
Very nice Clint! That looks outstanding! I can't wait to see it put together. Bet you are working on it right now.
-
I really didn’t get it together until Saturday night.
Assembly wasn’t too difficult as the lower body of the beast is pre assembled and all you have to put together is that top marquee/score board back box and bolt the legs on. My one glitch was that one of the hepatic feedback solenoids wasn’t working and I ended up opening the table up to tap on the solenoid a couple of times until it started functioning again. The table is designed to open up that way for servicing.
That hepatic feedback as delivered by 4 different solenoids built into the cabinet body, is what really makes this virtual pinball so convincing. You feel it when you key the flippers, you feel it when the ball is bouncing off of bumpers.
This machine is certainly built solid enough. At 95 lbs, it can take a shake or two which is good as the internal accelerometer allows you to tilt the machine to affect the ball while in play, like a real pinball machine.
More later but wow, Shawn, this blows my other arcade machines away in quality, presentation, and just plain fun. As cool as this one is, the Star Wars version will be even better.
-
Looks pretty sweet to me Clint. Nice build. I look forward to seeing your Star Wars version.
Off to the front pages.
-
By now I have an enthralling respect for that Marvel machine. It is truly a thing all its own and replicates in an enjoyable and brilliant way, the excitement and thrills of the real thing. I was never a big real pinball guy because the video games had me so excited back in the day. I feel I understand now what I was missing.
We had some friends over last night and I had a four player Ghost Rider game going on that was an absolute blast.
This one showed up at the end of the porch, in between rain storms, on Sunday morning. The required signatures were ignored again, I was lucky to have poked my head out the door to find it.
Kind of like the marvel machine, I will grow to favor a few of the ten offered tables more because of table design than subject matter. Those few tables I love the heck out of. This Star Wars machine will be even better, I’m betting
-
Nice Clint. Can't wait to see that one go together. Good thing it looks like it showed up in one piece as the delivery folks sure ain't doing their job it sounds like. Glad you are having fun with the Marvel machine too.
-
Shawn, I am ready for final assembly. This one is to go downstairs so I will put the legs on and throw on that back DMD box and plug her in down there. At 90 lbs and full of sturdy legs, I wasn’t sure how it would fare down the stairs. I would say possible but awkward fully assembled and at least the DMD box should be removed.
The marquee box with the dmd and speakers is the only component that you need to assemble as the main body is already together. I’m itching to play Ghost Rider on the Marvel table even as I approach putting this one, which will certainly be better, to its initial test.
-
That looks awesome Clint. Man, you are really getting the whole Arcade Feel in your house now I bet.
Off to share the latest on the front pages.
-
Got some shots here of the main body with the legs on and attention brought to just how sturdy the leg attachment points are with stainless steel hardware of a heavy duty style. This machine was meant to be knocked around some because of the accelerometer and ability to tilt or nudge implemented.
Got the back box on and everything appears to function properly. I was busy yesterday so I only had time for a quick round of Han Solo and I loaded up the Empire Table to see it and let me tell you, the John Willams soundtrack is the immediate star of the show, presented in tight crisp stereo sound that seems mixed in a way that almost separates the instruments for you with those two channels. One of the problems the video reviewers would experience with this machine is how bold the soundtrack is and how it’s copyrights would get their videos taken down because of infringement.
Very awesome so far. I will get a chance to really play it today.
-
4 tables into it now. I am already calling 3 of them the stars of the show but I’ll have to play em all to be sure. The soundtrack and various Star Wars universe sound effects are really tugging my heartstrings here and the alternate voice talent isn’t bad and for two or three of them, there quotes are pretty convincing. This is very cool and like the marvel table, I’m wanting to connect this unit to an actual stereo system with a sub. Don’t get me wrong, the presented set of speakers do a great job of delivering a loud stereo experience. I just think that if a juicer sound system was implemented, to work simultaneously with the stock speakers, may make an already killer experience that much more jaw dropping.
I took a few more shots a while ago. We did re arrange the arcade last week and you can see it’s new configuration in the background. I had strung a color changing strand of LED lights behind a few of the machines to add to the flavor.
Oh, I had been trying to track my order through GameStop’s site before it arrived and as I had said, it showed up unexpectedly.
When I track the order now, it claims it’s still awaiting carrier pickup and that it’s supposed to arrive next Wednesday.
They had changed that date twice since I got it.
Silly posties, they have me nervous now. I keep checking the front porch at random, thinking I might find a pinball machine out there.
-
Daggone that looks nice Clint. So awesome. Thanks for the quick review. Sounds awesome to me.
Off to share this on the front page. And yes, I have created a "special box" at the end of my driveway for big packages that my posties seem to use better, but its still not a lock by any means.
-
Very cool, beans,buddy.
I believe I have it narrowed to two favorite tables but still haven’t tried at least 3 yet still.
I picked up a little 50 watt Logitech 2.1 pc sound system with a sub at walmart and some connectors to give our Star Wars tables existing sound system an extra layer of punch.
Here are some more shots of the arcade
-
Wow, so beautiful.
So you gotta tell me your favorites of the bunch.
-
Got some pics of the Star Wars box. Figured you were curious.
My current favorites are the pinball machines of course. The stand up I keep going back to is the 12 in 1 to play Centepede.
-
Packaging looks awesome Clint. Hope you haven't gotten any more front porch surprises.
-
So I brought home a new cabinet last week.
Walmart had dropped their price on last years Simpsons Arcade1Up by $130 so I went ahead and pulled the trigger and brought it home.
Originally released in the arcades in 1990, the side scroller beat ‘em up features 4 player simultaneous play action like TMNT but with the Simpsons
The sleeper part of this cab is the included gem Simpsons Bowling using a track ball for a fairly enjoyable bowling sim utilizing Simpsons characters.
This is the first “live” capable cab I have gotten and with its Wi-Fi connection, I can either play 4 player Simpsons online with others or, and this is the nice part about the “live” cab, I can download a new firmware update straight to the cab which is nice, especially considering that upon powering it up for the first time, the bowling game
Was a bit glitchy and had no sound.
A quick update over the Wi-Fi cleared it right up.
So on some of the newer cabs, they have been including a plastic casting of a coin door with a faux lock, hinges, and a pair of faux coin slot push button using a tinted plastic clear piece with a company logo sticker
Up in the inside of the top most part seen from the outside.
When I originally assembled this one, I seen those and knew I wanted to light up those clear buttons from behind as they were sometimes in the old arcade machines.
Being a four player cab, this one included two faux coin doors with two coin slots each.
I carefully measured and drilled 1/4” hole at the center of where the button is located over the front panel. Then, I mounted a light tape strip with white leds positioned to shine through the four holes with packing tape. A $5 splitter powered the light tape from the main power source and, the tinted plastic took care of the color.
I wasn’t worried about front light bleed from the rest of the string so I just put it back together and it looks great.
I really do like those coin door pieces. I want some more.
-
After reassembly, the coin doors look great.
This is a pretty cab anyways, I think
The original arcade game had the miscolored blue shirt on Bart and it carried over for this port.
-
It looks awesome on the front pages Clint.
So great seeing all those old games given new life.
-
That is really cool! But...it looks a little out of place in your living room/family room:)
-
Clint when is game night? You have a full on arcade now!
-
That is really cool! But...it looks a little out of place in your living room/family room:)
My normal habit is to assemble them in the living room and bathe in their glory there for a few days before making the voyage down the basement stairway to join the others in the growing arcade.
I put the Simpsons where Marvel super heroes was and put it next to Final fight.
15 stand ups
2 cocktails
2 pinball machines
I can power up the 18 machines downstairs with the racetrack, tunes, and lights without any sign of blowing a breaker down there.
I can think of a cab or two that could use some kind of coin door treatment, several that need graphics and marquee augmentations.
I want to hook up Star Wars pinball to a home stereo system with a sub, many to dos like the race track, there is always something to be done.
Game Number twenty needs to be something special
Too bad Tron is so expensive
“Marvel pinball is still upstairs in the hobby room.”
-
Man, that is beautiful.
-
Thanks buddy
I will have some updated shots to post as I have re arranged and gotten more of course.
But first I needed to sadly report that the crown jewel of my arcade, the Arcade 1up Star Wars pinball has developed some problems that make it nearly unplayable. The sound quit working, every once in a while, when you power it up, the music will start
Playing but when you choose a table it disappears. The machines presentation of our favorite soundtrack had a presence that could not be denied. The voice actors for the in game stuff are about half sounding pretty good and the other Half sounding a lot less close.
I figured if it was a software problem perhaps I could fix the issue with an update. If these pinball machines were wi-fi friendly, like some of the newer cabinets, I could update right at the machine.
All of my connections looked good, now the second are DMD screen has stopped working. These things aren’t cheap and finding some sale on a site somewhere for a new one is/was starting to look like the likely option. My son in law who is acing courses towards an IT type career had found where the first generation of these
Machines released had an issue with one of the PCB modules overheating which in turn caused other systems
To fail, I believe. I remember one of the early pre order delays was blamed on early testing and how many continuous hours one could
Run for.
So I have filed a Ticket with customer service program and although I am way out of warranty, will see if there is a replacement option.
I know they took the parts department part of their site
Down last Year Sometime
I had ordered
From there a time or two before it went away.
-
Man, I am hating to read this this morning. I hope they have a decent option for you.
-
Update
Hi Clint,
Ticket# 190002
Thank you for contacting Arcade1up support.
Despite the expiration of your warranty, we would like to remedy the situation and send you the part needed to utilize your game to its full capacity. While this is outside of our normal policy, we would like you to get the most out of your Arcade1Up gaming experience.
We have placed an order for Speaker board 'H' for your Star Wars Virtual Pinball * 8073; you will be notified with the tracking number when it is shipped from our warehouse.
Once your order is processed and shipped -- will receive a tracking number. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask!
We wish you the best. Stay safe and happy gaming!
Shawn, I was so overjoyed when I read this email today.
That was literally my “Obi wan kenobi, you’re my only hope” moment.
She will be back up and running in no time, I hope.
Much thanks to Harry and the guys at 1up’s customer service support team. I was kind of sweating bullets on this one.
-
Man, that is great news Clint. I hope this is what you need.
It sure makes me want to do business with 1Up too.
-
Shawn, You may consider reserving that sentiment through this next story. Go ahead and kick me now as I could use one.
No, I haven’t heard an update from 1up on the Star Wars pinball replacement part, I instead, went and pulled the trigger on their 3rd pinball machine, the Attack from Mars machine that boasts 10 table emulations of classic Williams pinball machines from the 90s. It had went on sale over the holiday weekend. $300 off was the lure for me that made it about $200 cheaper than the original pre order for this unit when it went down 2 years ago. I ordered this one from Walmarts site and checked free delivery.
Fed ex does not deliver around here past 3:00 anymore.
Anyways, after some touch and go with Fed Ex including a $5 charge to request an after 5 delivery which was not honored as he showed up at 2:30 and I built the beast in my basement that night. It was late when I was done so the next morning, I went to fire it up before work and get a game in and, alas, it doesn’t work. Back glass lights up, DMD screen works, sound works and sounds good, main screen is doing this red,green,blue,grey test pattern all the time. Boo, guess the review isn’t going to happen.
I have to start another ticket now with their customer support staff.
-
Crap, that sucks Clint. That would drive me absolutely crazy. Great looking machine though.
-
So, after some troubleshooting with the machine guided by tech support, it’s been decided that they are to send me a replacement LCD screen with a replacement PCB, possibly attached to the back,for that one. It occurs to me that a part from Star Wars would fix attack from Mara and a part from that machine would fix Star Wars. I hope that they hurry with those parts.
-
Replacement LCD for attack from mars has shipped.
Now that was quick.
I tried attacks top module over Star Wars bottom and their predicted fix for that one was correct. It was good to hear that one again
-
Sorry about all the frustrations with this, but it does sound like the vendor is being responsive - that's happy and not as common as it should be. Its great that you were able to figure out the "swap" to fix the Star Wars game.
-
Well this stuff is just too expensive for them to not be responsive. Glad they are though. Sounds like their fixes will work. Keep us updated.
-
Got the screen via UPS on Friday. Installed it and seen no difference. I put the extra screen that I pulled out and put it away in a box. To be a spare, I suppose.
Still very forthcoming with responsive emails, they are now accelerating this ticket into another ticket and are mailing me a new lower PCB which attaches to said screen and everything else.
I’m getting pretty familiar with the guts of these pinball machines. On Attacj from Mars, I did move the two side solenoids further forward, to the bottom side of a panel you rest you hands on while playing. Those two fire when you hit your flippers.
-
Sounds like you are closing in on the problem. It has to be frustrating though. Glad to hear they are still working good with you. They should for the amount you spend.
-
It’s been a while, time for an arcade update.
Attack from mars is fixed, it wasn’t the screen but a new lower PCB that the machine needed. A week after that part arrived, the Star Wars pinball part arrived and has that one up and running now.
I had taken that Galaga partycade apart and retro fitted its screen, bezel, marquee, control panel and speaker panel into my gen - Galaga standup cab.
Got new graphics from arcade graphics.com for Galaga, final fight, tempest,Star Wars stand up, Atari 12 in 1,and Mrs pac man applied.
I had picked up Ridge Racer before attack from mars, I thought.
It had a media sound system and some LED lighting enhancements.
I picked up a used Street Fighter vs X-Men 3/4 cab off of the Offer Up app.
For Black Friday deals this year, I picked up the Street Fighter big blue 8in1 I think. The 3 darkstalkers games is what I was going for here. And I picked up the T2 cab which was marked down by at least 3 hundred bucks.
The big blue cab power adapter failed within two days. Already contacted, their support porthole has a replacement coming.
T2 has a sound glitch which I thought an online update would clear up but hadn’t that I am going to approach them about today.
The sound kind of pops and disappears sometimes. I’ll have to take a little video of it to send to them and see what they say.
-
Wow, sounds like you get one thing fixed and then another thing pops up. Kudos for sticking with it.
-
Quick arcade update.
Note the lighted jewelry case of Star Wars unleashed figures.
-
Wow, I'm impressed with your determination on these projects! Love the display case. You've got a great little arcade going there.
-
Man, that is one fun room. Love the Unleashed stuff. Think I have a few of those around somewhere.
-
Thanks guys, the more I work on the area, the more I fall in love with it.
Two more from yesterday with the case, and then I’ll show you what I’m working on now.
-
Nice, wish I had kept a few more of my Unleashed items.
-
Also shots from yesterday, I usually run the overhead lights on in here but turned em off for this shoot.
As you can see, I have been augmenting some of the cabinets with LED colored lighting effects within the riser for under glow and behind/on top of the cab for some back glow. Some are bulbs, some sticks, and some tape lights. That Tempest cab actually has black lights under and over.
The newer cabs, gen 3 and beyond, all have integrated USB ports in their PCBs now that can be used to power all but the bulbs. The LEDs keep the power consumption low. I can run all 19 cabs,3 pinball machines, lights, a radio, lights in the pretty cases,2 media sound systems thus far, “one in ridge racer, and one in Big Blue street fighter”,the race track, a 75inch flat screen, a surround sound system, and still haven’t blown a breaker.
I think there are only two fuses for down there and one is the lights. I’ll attend to that one of these days. I am still framing.
-
You could rent out your basement. Folks would pay to have all that fun.
-
So it was more auxiliary lighting today.
Asteroids Deluxe got a riser light, as did the Simpsons which also got an upper bar for some back light.
-
T2 also got a light bar for its riser.
That case, Shawn, was an old retired Walmart jewelry counter/case that I acquired many moons ago. It was wired for a tandem connection to power the old tube fluorescent lights mounted in the top front corner.
I pulled those tubes out and installed some LED tube lights from Menaurds.
-
I do have the keys to this case and I use all of the drawers in the back to store my loose slot cars. I store them upside down so the silicon tires won’t warp under the cars weight.
I’m not sure at this point if I have that while unleashed collection or not. There are a couple of model kits in there as well.
-
Sounds like you can have the whole place active at once, that's pretty amazing. I agree with Tamer, you could rent the space out for parties :)
-
Heck, I would just love to sit in that room for awhile. And suck in all that 80s vibe.
-
You could rent out your basement. Folks would pay to have all that fun.
I know I couldn't do that. I've seen too many people messing around with stuff that's not their own.
Some folks seem to care less about things when they're not their property.
However I'm aware that these Arcades are built to bring fun to many different peeps. I can definitely see a phenomenal 80s party taking place in Clint's hobby basement :D
-
I also have these older pretty cases set up behind the pinball machines. The one needs its glass shelves replaced and I could use new lock and hasp hardware for both.
Them car models are mighty dusty.
Here is a pack of those light bars I am using. There are several different packaging options marketed by these guys and so far, this particular version contains the best value. 2x multicolor bars, usb powered, 2 x 6-9 foot tape light rolls. 1 x usb extension/splitter and 2 mounts with screws for the bar lights and a remote for $10
I think I’m going to add some under lighting for the pinball tables with the tape lights. Their PCBs also have USB ports I could power
From.
Also, I got another batch of graphics pieces for the arcade cabs from arcade graphics.com.
Pretty excited about these
See that “sorry” in yellow at the bottom? That’s what Bart is writing on a chalkboard. The front of the Simpsons isn’t going to be black for much longer.
-
It is nice seeing your set up. I could so see you renovating that one display case, SW style.
-
That’s a good plan, Shawn.
I love customizing these cabinets. Yesterday, I performed a simple mod to T2 to pretty up those wires from the guns that dangle down the front of the cab.
The original coin op T2 had the guns mounts on a shelf by the screen and were not removable from the cabinet. While this wired configuration is more comfortable and may have been necessary with the Sindon light gun technology.
This simple mod had me remove the plastic holster pieces for the guns from the control deck and simply cut the bottoms of the gun receiving pocket so that when back in place, those wires could be fed through that hole to be stored directly in the cabinets interior while not in use. Looks quite a bit cleaner this way. I also added a red RGB sound spectrum analyzer to the cabs top which you can see showing action during game play.
-
I have a couple more mods planes for T2. I had picked up these 5 1/4 car speakers out of the Walmart clearance isle for $20. I’m going to swap the little 4 inch factory speakers in the cab for these. Also, I believe I have a faux coin door coming for T2 as well. And, I’ll probably paint the guns black at some point.
-
Pretty daggone cool Clint.
-
Thanks buddy.
Here is an augmentation for Ridge Racer that I have seen other gamers do.
Using a set of pedal dress up coverings that I found at a Napa for $12, I dressed up the stock pedals on the game giving it a more realistic feel to your feet as the stock pedals seem a bit light and toy like.
-
Ridge racer also got a Marquee graphic replacement. Got a flexible translight replacement off of EBay and peeled off the adhesive backed sticker that is on the factory LED light box that serves as a marquee and slapped the new graphic in its place with minimal trimming.
I need to slap it in between a couple of pieces of plexiglass and possibly remove the white plastic layer over the LEDs prior to final placement.
I also installed a light upgrade to the under and behind lighting with a red RGB bar for the riser, pointing down towards the pedals and a red LED light bulb for the back, pointing up towards the ceiling.
-
Man, what a room. Nice upgrades. Like seeing that big tie on the wall too.
How often do you come down and play these? I would assume all your family members want to do get togethers at your house!
-
About weekly if we can manage. The largest bragging rights are usually observed when someone gets their name on the board on the Star Wars Pinball machine. I’ll go down everyday but I get as much fun working on the games as playing.
Let’s take a break from the custom cab work for a bit so I can show my new purchase. Not my most frugal game pickup this year but it was discounted.
The biggest release of the year, marvel vs capcom 2, has been sold out most everywhere despite being a new game and demanding a higher price point.
In my searches, I found an open box version on Best Buy’s site that was described in “satisfactory” condition for about $130 off of msrp after taxes.
I had it in my cart for like 4 days as I mulled it over. I would rather wait for it to go down some more in price but couldn’t be sure if they would produce any more or not.
I finally pulled the trigger yesterday and had it picked up before lunch.
The open box description was because of some damage the box had suffered during transit. Inside, the components were unharmed.
Assembly time.
-
Nice. Another one for the collection. How many do you have now?
-
Shawn, it’s fluctuating. This makes 20 stand ups and 3 pinballs in our current configuration.
Not in use are 1 cocktail and a partycade which are for sale currently. I let the other cocktail go last week to someone who wanted it for his wife.
I don’t quite know what to think about the random fire sale of these items at half off prices these last few weeks. One thing that always gets me is a discount, especially a deep one.
A few more pics of MVC2 and I gotta go to work. Take note of that faux coin door. I’m going to do a quick mod to light up those coin slots during assembly.
-
I gotta say at some point that this is the best light up marquee that Arcade1up has ever done. There for a while, they were including a light
Box with a sticker slapped onto a piece of white plastic over an array of leds that almost always came off looking washed out.
This version is back to old school with the translight piece mounted in the front of the box with the array in the back and distance between. I won’t be replacing this one.
So, during assembly, when it came time to Instal the coin door piece, I first pulled the white stickers out of the inside of the coin buttons. Then I measured to locate and drill two 1/2 inch holes with a butterfly bit right behind where the coin button will be on that lower kick panel. On the backside, I just grabbed a color change length of light tape and mounted it so that one bulb would shine through each drilled hole to illuminate the coin buttons. This string is USB powered which I plugged into the handy USB port on the games PCB to power.While in red plastic, the coin button can be a variety of hues with alternate colors behind. If I go to add under and behind lighting to this cab, I would go purple light this time. If I make the coin door lights blue, they would look fairly purple to continue the theme.
Oh, and the fire sale continues. Last week, sams club put their NFL Blitz cab on liquidation. Been out 3 months, online, lit marquee, riser, 4x the company’s brand new and improved 49 way joysticks, msrp $600
They marked em down to $300 on their site but if you are able to find one in a store right now, I have heard a report of $214 and even $174 for this $600 4 player online cab. Plus, this sams club bundle”bigger box” includes a stool as well. I think they charge $80 for those sometimes.
This comes after a week and a half early Black Friday sell off of Big Blue “that’s what they call that tall street fighter stand up” at $200 off, T2, Simpsons, turtles, rage racer, $300 off, I think dig dug,tron,dragons lair and a few others went $250 off. Blitz was $100 off. And since then, the prices have fluctuated up and back down for some. Crazy times
Sams club marked down the Ultimate Legends cabs also. The legends ultimate is $350, the legends mini is an eye catching $200, and their crown jewel, legends pinball, is $400. That one alone is marked down by $333
It is a larger, nicer machine than my tables and I never picked one up because it cost so much more. Awful tempting stuff. I have to keep an eye open, for the next crazy markdown.
-
That went together well Clint.
Sounds like you are gonna be adding some new stuff too.
-
That would be a correct assumption, Shawn. Got the sams club Blitz still in its box, waiting for love right now.
Marvel Super Hero’s got its new graphics upgrade yesterday. Two pieces sent, on for the kick panel and one for the riser. That kick panel graphic had to first be measured and cut in two pieces for that leaning upper panel below the control deck and then rendered on individually. Bad old Thanos’ ugly mug will be greeting us from now on. If you are wondering about the defender marquee, I will show that I had replaced the marquee in the defender cab with a more factory accurate looking one that wasn’t washed out like this light box graphic is. I have a replacement, printed slip on graphic piece coming that will just snap on over this marquee after I peel the defender marquee decal off of it. There was a version of the marvel cab that included a lit marquee much like this one so, the power supply needed was already there on the game’s PCB
Notice the purple coin buttons on MVC2? Multicolor strand turned to blue and shined through the red plastic.
I think I will give that one a purple glow today and see how it looks.
-
Here is a shot of the defender with its replacement marquee. I’m still fiddling with getting it dim enough. Light shading
And, some shots of MVC2 with some new Monster brand led bars for under and over/behind lighting. Not shown was the Logitech Pc sound system I also put in it. I split the main feed to give half the PCB Audio to the stock speakers behind the marquee and the other half went to the sub amp for the sun and another pair of logi speakers, all of which I crammed into the riser box this time. Since you can regulate how much power the amp puts out independently, you can balance between levels of stock speakers and aftermarket amp to your preference. This cabinet has a great soundtrack and it is loud and proud now.
-
That Thanos graphic is just outstanding.
-
I think so also, buddy. Sure spruced up the marvel cab. Can’t wait to get that marquee squared away.
So, during the liquidated sams club Blitz cab assembly, although I want to rob these faux coin doors for other cabs, I figured I would go ahead and light em up while still worn by the Blitz cab.
Using some craft tape to measure and mark where I wanted the holes to be, I used a 1/2 inch butterfly bit and bored holes behind where the coin buttons would be. I also dug the white Stickers out of the back side of the coin buttons.
-
Using a roll of tape light leds from that same RGB set, I just powered the roll using the USB port in the games PCB and used packing tape to mount them so 1 bulb would be at the center of each of the coin button bored holes.
-
The result is quite satisfying.
As I mentioned before, I plan to rob these coin doors to mount on Ridge Racer and T2 and will slap a nice blitz aftermarket graphic on the front to color it up and to cover the holes.
I had snagged another translite blitz piece in case the stock one looked horrible but i think it will pass and have stuck that graphic in an overhead beam and shined an LED light on it for an extra decoration. I think I’ll fab up some kind of light box up there for it.
I think this is a pretty looking cab and that control deck is just stunning. Those joysticks are the much improved 49 way version and top the sticks on any other cab that they make.
I understand it is pretty fun to play online, especially if it is with friends.
Playing this one with the son in law last weekend was a blast. We had that cabinet rocking around like a music box clown on a spring we were so passionate about our games. I may have to bolt the thing to the floor.
-
I am telling you this is better than any arcade I went too while I was young, and we had a place called Funland that was awesome!
-
Shawn, I remember this place in KC called Malibu Grand Prix that had a great arcade built in top of a pretty cool go cart track.
The second crazy sams club item marked down by $330 or so that I caved on arrived this week. The At Games Legends pinball machine. I hadn’t picked on up yet as they are normally more expensive than the other pinballs that I have gotten.
This thing is bigger and badder than my other pinball machines and is quite upgradable and expandable allowing for download of other tables, games, game streaming, online play and leaderboards.
I have about 40 tables on it currently and have ordered a zip drive from an Etsy seller for $40 that has over 700 arcade games on it with a vertical build configured for this machine and it’s beautiful 32 inch vertical playfield display.
Yes, there is an optional control deck for the pinball machine that would work well for this that I have already ordered although, I believe you could connect an old USB controller, like the ps3 controller with its charging/data usb connection.
With the controller board attached, you may be able to use another USB controller for a second player position while playing games on this build.
As you can see, Shawn, fed ex left the box a bit scuffed when they dropped it off but thanks to the excellent factory packing by At Games, I think this thing could have fallen off of a moving truck and still be alright.
A couple of notes, these used to be delivered in two separate boxes but they have since combined into one.
Also, I believe in the past that downloadable content like game packs used to be loaded into a partitioned USB Zip drive and loaded onto the machine from there but now, there is 10gigs of internal memory allotted for this
-
Another nice addition. Me and my aunt played the heck out of space invaders back in the day. Awesome they made a pinball out of it.
-
That machine, Shawn, is on a whole new level.
I need to make another thread for that one.
Atari 12 in 1 and Final Fight got the last of their graphical upgrades yesterday.
I was kind of on a roll. Applying these graphics doesn’t scare me anymore.
I thought the look of both cabs were wrapped up nicely when I was done.
-
After finishing up these, I have a serious Simpsons cab makeover to show.
-
I love that pinball machine! That Final Flight cab looks great.
-
Beautiful stuff Clint. Love that centipede graphic stuff.
-
Thank you guys! Starchaser, that pinball machine is going to blow you away.
Finally got my order from Szabos arcades for custom made rear colored translite slip covers for a couple of stock 1up marquees that looked pretty washed out. These things are not cheap and shipping is slow with no real communication. About 5 weeks for these to show up but the quality is outstanding. The premise is that you can just peel off the stock stick on graphic from the stock marquee and just slip this on over that bright illuminated rectangle of plastic. While it works fairly well, I ended up cutting out the front part of that outer housing so the slip on piece would get the full blast from the LED lights mounted behind using a Dremel tool.
Remember, this factory marquee actually came from the Defender 40th cab.
I had replaced it’s marquee with an acrylic piece from another vendor.
-
There was a protective sheet of film that had to be peeled off the fron of the Szabos piece, revealing a glossy surface with bold color. So after the switch, I was amazed at the bright rich color. Very nice. I can see the to need to trim that frame a little tighter to the edge and, since this marquee has wrap around art on the top and bottom, I could scrape the factory paint off the frame edge to illuminate some of the top and bottom as well.
-
Pretty daggone nice Clint.
-
That is super cool! The colors are wonderfully vibrant.
-
Yes, those Szabos pieces are True works of art. Pricey but worth it.
Now, for the Simpsons, I undertook the largest cab mod job yet.
On Etsy, a seller, graphixarcade, has made available conversion control decks for all, I think, of the four player 1up cabs to a regular sized 2 player deck, made out of MDf, withgraphics, t molding, and an acrylic protective cover, in order to make these games narrower to save floor space and ultimately, fit more cabs on the floor.
After a few weeks, I got my panel in the mail and diligently went to work switching out the buttons and trackball from the stock deck to the new one.
The title game, Simpsons, is a 4 player beat ‘em up like the turtles. For that game, each control set was specific to a certain character so, to make it a two player deck while maintaining the choice of all four characters meant that I had to splice the wires from the unused sticks to the sticks that were used, with the right characters spliced to the right sticks. 16 connection points, 8 per stick. Only took me two or three times to get it right. By the time I was done, I think I know where all these wires go by heart. I also managed to swap out his t molding for the factory t molding that was around the old deck.
The colors don’t quite match. I had to route out the new decks edge groove with a dremel to get it to fit as it’s guide keel was a bit thicker
-
So with the new deck tested and working. It was time to tackle a front end graphics package from arcadegraphix.com that should give this cab a different feel. The lower riser graphic went easy enough but the upper kick plate piece had two coin door images which I hate and had planned on covering up with the stock coin doors. For some reason, they located the door image about two inches higher than their factory mounting holes are so, I had to relocate and drill holes through the new graphic to mount the doors and for lighting the coin button. Each door piece has six mounts, and there is a crosspiece of the cab structure in the way for the top two mounts. I had to shave them off to make room but the doors still seem solid with 4 mount at each. What a pain in the butt.
I included a shot of the protective film being peeled off the Szabos marvel marquee piece. I got one of those for the Simpsons also, it’s going on next.
-
Same process for the Simpsons marquee. Peel off the sticker, take a dremel and cut out the front part of the white plastic, shaving some of the black paint off the top and bottom lip to let some more light through, and slip on this beautiful cover. Man, what a difference.
-
A few more reveal shots
I had forgotten to mention that I had picked up a Dig Dug cab from Walmart as well, marked down by $200. I think the cab looks pretty but the marquee needs love and it has one of those crappy side lit screens that may need replacing. But look at the Simpsons!
-
All the extra awesomeness you put into it Clint.
Look fantastic.
I would spend all my time in the room trying to get sun burn off all the awesome lightwork.
-
Yes, I have been experimenting with a set of 26x8 inch translight marquee pieces that o got from an eBay seller. I have them mounted on a beam in the basement with led shop lights in the beam web to illuminate. I’ve been using various bits of white foam packing to dim the light put out. They may seem a bit too bright still but I like the effect.
Got a shot here of the new dig dug cab and possible placement of the factory blitz marquee down low with a light source.
-
I’m a bit rusty shooting videos
Please bear with me
Got a couple here
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AsgPkq5Ykjc (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AsgPkq5Ykjc)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=90Emo3pnS6M&feature=youtu.be (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=90Emo3pnS6M&feature=youtu.be)
-
Clint, you've the nicest arcade in your basement that I've ever seen! They are more popular in Spain than here in Germany, but rather expensive. I've never played on an Arcade machine, yet, but airhockey is what I loved playing as a kid once on every holiday in Spain. Good air (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0xAWmTbInM) and good memories there.
-
Man Clint, these just rock. Off to share those two new videos.
Like I said this is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. You have created something awesome.
-
The Simpsons turned out really nice! But... I'm tickled by "Dig Dug" that totally made my day.
-
Thank you much! Yes, Dig Dug is a cute looking machine. I couldn’t help but order one of those Szabos arcade slip on marquees for that one as I know it will show up looking stunning. “I ordered one for Star Wars also, Shawn”
I got another one of those wall marquee signs that Walmart sells, this time, x-men Va street fighter. I had the idea that they might look nice together so I hung em over Marvel which also got some blue RGB backlighting. Could of swore those signs were level, perhaps it’s the floor. I think I’ll swap those two to get the lighter one up higher and further away from that machine with the same marquee.
I also picked up one of those 16 foot led neon strip packs that I spread out on the floor on the one side. Wi-Fi and smartphone control for that set, with a 110 plug and a control pod in the cord with limited functions.
This stuff is pretty flexible, I could make a neon sign with it if I wanted.
-
Pretty sweet Clint. Love all the light work. Like I said I would just sit in the room and watch the lights.
-
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/jUNCbTpPmIY (https://m.youtube.com/shorts/jUNCbTpPmIY)
I’m rearranging those marquee signs again.
Here is a video I shot a month or more ago finally posted to YouTube.
I need to do another update video here shortly.
-
Awesome.
Off to share.
-
Thanks buddy. Here is what is was into yesterday.
I finally got done Messing with those wall marquees and have them in a new arrangement now. I like how the yellow from the pac man sign looks with the red backlighting from ridge racer cab. I placed the newest sign, x-men vs sf, up over the Pac Man cab, next to the ALP. I need to get a different cord for that one.
The ALP- the At Games Legends Pinball machine there is truly a wonder which I haven’t described yet. Still need to make that thread. When ignore it has an attract mode set to shuffle through 80s and 90s mp4 music videos. That is what it’s doing in this shot. That bitpixel display above is showing the marquee of the last game I had highlighted. That thing works like a marquee that displays an 8 bit image for most games and scrolling text for the ones not supported with some animated versions thrown in the mix, we are talking thousands of games supported. I’ll get to that. I also have a lcd version, not shown, that is supposed to be way cooler but I may need some tech help to get it running as I haven’t been able to thus far. My plan is to make a swing mount for those two displays hanging over the pinball machine, possibly with some extra speakers thrown in.
So, I’m working on modding two cabs now, x-men vs street fighter got some new kickplate graphics and is about to get a marquee graphic upgrade as well. You seen T2 laying in its side in the one shot. Well, it’s getting some love also and I got a feeling about that one…….
-
Looks good Clint.
-
Thanks buddy.
Since many customers complained about the bright-washed out factory marquees, the after market sellers who make and sell replacements for the graphic image on the front produce them a bit darker, geared for what is thought as too strong a light source. While the colors are bold on this replacement X-men Vs street fighter from DB Graphics, this stock defender marquee light box isn’t bright enough to show em off to their full potential.
More light was needed. With soldering iron in hand, I rigged a jumper wire from the 12v power supply feeding the marquee-on the hotter side of the resister, to supply power to these 4 light strips, cool white and yellow. All have resisters built in so I just had to wire and mount with some packing tape and I was off to the races.
I went a little over the top, as usual here. I think the two yellow strips would have been sufficient. I ended up diffusing those side lights some with some thin foam sheet placed over the strips. It’s bold and bright now.
I have more goodies coming for this cab, to finish off the lower riser. It’s going to be a showstopper.
I have more marquees to brighten up out there. And, speaking of showstoppers, T2 is going to be a gobsmaking brain melter if you know what I mean. I need to shoot a little wip video for that one
-
That lighted it up really good!
-
Yes buddy, it did.
I’ll have to put together a how to video for that. I have more of em to do.
Here is a sneak peek on T2. It’s going to be special
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fH-mBeBfJFg (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fH-mBeBfJFg)
-
That looks fun too.
-
THe X-Men vs. Street Fighter lighting is outstanding. I love all these projects, you are quite the lighting expert :) Its really cool how you adapt things to get the effect you want. I'm looking forward to T2 - that'll be a great reveal.
-
Thanks guys, starchaser, I have been experimenting with a new lighting technique that I felt I needed to share straightaway. I had been looking for diffuser material like cotton for the LED nano lights I had mounted behind the coin doors on T2. instead I tried something completely different…..I deflected,reflected,and magnified the light by using broken shards of glass mounted in front of the LED nanos. I think this technique would work well for augmenting an led fire effect both inside a scale building and out. For a campfire, you could mount actual shards of glass vertically and light them to look like convincing animated flames licking up.
I’m going to start another thread about this over in the resource and reference section with some more video
Check out the video this crazy looking effect
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/jSw-Rb-k5Ig (https://m.youtube.com/shorts/jSw-Rb-k5Ig)
-
Oh, after about an hour on the phone this morning, I was able to talk Best Buy into an RC Wiley price match for $400 off for Killer Instinct.
Guess I’m getting another cab, the wife will be pleased. It’s supposed to show up on her birthday, Wednesday, she will really be pleased.
Perhaps I can sneak it in and downstairs again without her noticing….
-
LOL. Are you going to suprise her with her new system? LOL Clint, good luck with that. I haven't been able to sneak anything past my wife for 25 years!
Now that flame effect is just awesome. Works great. Off to share this!
-
Looks cool, like embers. Would also be geat for campfire in a diorama, in conjunction with cotton.
-
I lucked out, I guess. KIller Instinct was delayed by a day and will show up sometime today. It’s snowing and she was talking about going in late so I’ll just cross my fingers.
JDeck, I went and stopped at a train store on the way home yesterday and picked up a couple more simpler light controllers that only put out a different version of the flicker effect so I could experiment some. A campfire was exactly what I had in mind
-
Good luck on today's schedule, Clint! Maybe play some trash metal to drive away your cares. Maybe she'll leave earlier then. Happy belated Birthday by the way! The flicker effect looks promising! Cannot wait to see how you turn the LEDs into a campfire! And awesome that you have a train store nearby, too!
-
Being so close to Kansas City, I know where a handful of train and hobby shops are, but there is this one that is very old school in that you walk in and there are different sections but, piles and piles of stuff, 8 foot high sometimes. They have a lot of cool groundwork and diorama type stuff at that store but there is another with a much broader selection I can think of. Ok, I’ll have to do that tonight before I integrate that circuit into Terminator somewhere. I keep wanting to set up a wrecked model car or a slot car on fire. I keep wandering about experimenting with simulating some moving smoke with a little fan pointed up and some streamer paper waving or something like that. Model train guys have steam locomotives that burn an oil to generate real smoke. They have little individual burners you can get to generate smoke for diorama applications, like a line of buildings with smoldering chimneys. You could rig up a smoking stovepipe with moving LED fire in the stove. Or rig up the generator under/within your LED fire array.
So, Killer Instinct showed up yesterday. I did get it snuck into the house and downstairs. I spent all day working in Terminator so I didn’t even open it. I did re arrange the arcade a bit to accommodate. At this rate, I’m going to have to designate an overflow area.
So, I started working on a second lower marquee for T2 to sit on the riser box in the front. I’ll use the stock marquee piece that I replaced above and light from behind with a larger LED fire effect and something for Arnie’s red eye like above. I needed a platform to mount lights and such that the bottom of the marquee would set on. To get the desired height, I trimmed up some wood stakes and screwed together3 layers to make a platform 3/8 thick, screwed to the support pieces on either side and with a hole for wires to feed the leds power.
-
So, you can imagine the mess that Insued, with me running wires and a crapload of lights and broken glass and different materials to try to integrate.
I will go over all of the banks and functions of the lights involved at some point. Still not done adding lights down low but I’m close and I’ve started adding glass. The EL wire will get thrown on also. I have several videos of the mess, I’ll try to mix em together and post em.
Not ready for the pre final reveal yet, but getting close.
Pre final because there a couple more elements I want to integrate.
-
And here is the video
That last shot shows the marquee in the dark, it’s worth the wait
I had been working on this thing for a day straight not liking how it looked and then when I turned the lights out, I liked it a lot more and had a more clear picture of how I wanted to direct light placement and transfer” by way of the glass or possibly some fiber optics thrown in” and, that campfire effect, probably, and some white
For behind Arnie
I wish some of the colored ones behind his face would shift left a bit
https://youtu.be/PNfkVuwY_rs (https://youtu.be/PNfkVuwY_rs)
-
Very nice Clint. Off to share.
-
The video was great! It looks like you have a fire burning in your game - pretty great. I bet you are breaking a lot of windows for this ;D No really, I like the effect. Killer Instinct is brilliant! Glad you could sneak it in. Happy late birthday!
-
Thanks, starchaser, just 2 jars, a small light bulb, and a thermometer housing so far. I have so many projects in the arcade piled up now!
I was not familiar with killer instinct. I don’t remember seeing it in an arcade when it was there. I suppose it would have been a competitor for sega’s Virtua Fighter’s quarters, back in the day. This, like that, we’re the first of the 3-d polygon fighters.
The cabinet went together with a fight or two. The marquee looks ok, compared to some of their others but, I already have a DB Graphix translight piece to replace it with. We will get to that before long.
The included stool suffered shipping damage to the stool top with the graphic of the character “Spinal” I believe, having a split rendered by the tip of a forklift fork, I would bet. Replacement piece is already coming, thanks to their ever helpful customer support porthole. That deck protector lights up like on the Big Blue cab except, this one remembers the last setting when you switch it off. The older versions would reset every time.
-
Yep, the stock marquee didn’t make it another hour.
I peeled the stock sticker, cut the front out of the white casing front piece of the lightbox, cut two thin pexiglass pieces and sandwiched the graphic between. Taped into place against the now open stock marquee front. “opened to allow more of the LED light to shine through”
I think it looks better
Looks a bit less washed out and says Nintindo now
-
More marquee shots, fitting in more now
-
Thanks, starchaser, just 2 jars, a small light bulb, and a thermometer housing so far. I have so many projects in the arcade piled up now!
I was not familiar with killer instinct. I don’t remember seeing it in an arcade when it was there. I suppose it would have been a competitor for sega’s Virtua Fighter’s quarters, back in the day. This, like that, we’re the first of the 3-d polygon fighters.
The cabinet went together with a fight or two. The marquee looks ok, compared to some of their others but, I already have a DB Graphix translight piece to replace it with. We will get to that before long.
The included stool suffered shipping damage to the stool top with the graphic of the character “Spinal” I believe, having a split rendered by the tip of a forklift fork, I would bet. Replacement piece is already coming, thanks to their ever helpful customer support porthole. That deck protector lights up like on the Big Blue cab except, this one remembers the last setting when you switch it off. The older versions would reset every time.
Killer Instinct was a late comer (at least in my world) - mid 90's I think, after grad school, so didn't play it. I remember thinking that some of the characters were an homage to Harryhausen. Too bad about the damage, but really glad that their customer serivce is so responsive.
-
I want to get Killer Instinct for my bar, because the deco. I think it was more of a console thing. Onre of those Street fighter types. I've never played it, but it loks cool. If I was to get one that's the one I'm looking at. They're a decent price too, with a matching stool.
-
Man, that does look better.
Sorry about the stool. Glad their customer service is good.
-
Here is a couple shots of the new lineup on that one wall.
I had moved Big Blue street fighter over by the racetrack because it was so much taller than the others where it was. I put Killer Instinct where it was next to Ridge Racer.
And, to try to squeeze out some more room, I shifted that whole line 10 inches to the right so I could squeeze in Dig Dug on the left end next to the ALP.
One aspect of owning your own arcade”ish” is that while it is a pain in the butt when you have so many, re arranging the arcade is great fun.
I have everything working again in that side but need to sync some lights up.
KI needs lights behind its coin doors but I’m itching to work on T2 again.
See how washed out Dig Dug and Pac-Man’s marquees are? That is going to change real quick.
See how the lcd screens on those two also look washed out? Cheap side lit monitors. You want a nice led backlit lcd. May look into changing those out one of these days also.
-
That is so awesome to see. And running out of room!
-
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=irIJX_vWiok (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=irIJX_vWiok)
Finally getting back to this hurdle of the lower lighting array. It has progressed some with the light placement and I’m within 5 lights I think, from calling it done.
-
Somewhere or another, I came across this box of battery operated EL wire. This pack was to be worn with the battery pack at a party or rave. The wire requires an alternating current to work so a controller of some type is always included. I have seen 5 volt and 12 volt versions.
I had been sitting on this set for a while but think it would work with this project. Some el wire comes with a side tab that can be stuffed into a crack but not this version so, I’m supergluing it on. Where the two tails end at the bottom, they should sweep to meet each other over the marquee.
-
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mDc92uhOmGA (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mDc92uhOmGA)
Oh yeah, I’m liking this idea. Check the quick video
-
Yeah, that's cool! I really liked the video, too.
-
Man, awesome stuff Clint. Off to share.
-
Thanks Shawn, this project has been taking too long. It’s like I’m dragging my feet.
I had decided before yesterday that I wanted the E L wire to wrap the top of the marquee on the cab side and knew I didn’t quite have enough to complete the distance so, some kind of little filler widget will be needed. It would be great to have a little piece with like a die-cut terminator logo that I could light from behind or something.
So if I had another piece of E L wire the same length and color, where should I put it? 2 choices, wrap the riser top including to sweep down in front and below the lower marquee and turn the corner to head back down the sides. That length would end about at the riser back corner in each side. This was my initial thought. It is warned that glare on the screen could effect the light guns so I probably shouldn’t wrap the screen but, I think I could wrap all the way around the control deck, front sides and back, without it hurting and think it would be pretty cool.
If things get wacky? I guess I could do both.
I used the poster frame that came with the plexi that I have been using and cut some pieces to fit the marquee where it met the riser for the upper part and glued them in place.
For the lower part, I just wanted kind of a trim piece with a lip to contain the plexi bottom. I ended up using two pieces of right angle styrene and glued them together in a T. Top side to contain and bottom side to trim the top of that wood I threw under the marquee.
I’ll get a shot of the package. That led sound activated spectrum analyzer I have taken apart on my lap in the next post, if I de-case these carefully, they will fit, indicator screen up, at a right angle to the marquee to hit the console body right under where I swept they E L wire. The fit is tight and sharp looking and the programmable display is pretty cool. The two of them will be set to red, and analyze as a power bar, facing either direction, powered by USB also, I’m incorporating a non powered hub for these two and the first set of E L wire
With eBay sets, I have a 12 volt E L controller or two. The other one”or two possibly” E L wires on this cab will be powered by the 12 volts coming into the Light Genie,or main cab power, or factory marquee power…my choice.
-
You can see where I fit in the face of this spectrum analyzer on the right between the marquee top and the cabinet body, face up. I will have one on both sides with the gap in the middle covered by more of the same facing. I’ll glue em to the cab and allow the marquee to still be removable for servicing of the lights and to get to the mode buttons on the bottom of the spectrum analyzer units
This is going to be a brain melter.
I think my brain is partially melted from working on it.
Looking at the pics, I got to wondering if it would look cool to just have the length on the right end where the bottom of the “T” ends? The other side stops where the 2 ends. Could look either wonky or kind of cool and you can trim the dead ends of the E L wires to fit without hurting their function.
I may throw a piece of black tape up there to see what it would look like trimmed as such.
Or, I could have them end where the active lights of the spectrum analyzer start on each side. I suppose I should face them so the inside of the display represents the beginning of the display arc. I could face them either way and have several different sound displays to cycle through
-
Looks like you are figuring it out. I would be a mess at this point if it were me.
-
So I did get busy at work this week and as a result didn’t get much done.
Waiting for a few parts and some more patients for T2, I adopted a little side project.
I had accumulated so many RGB light tape sets that I wanted to incorporate some of them in a light array that hangs from the ceiling.
I had two 6 foot flooring trim transition pieces that I affixed light tape to, using enough to have 1 on each side. I positioned and suspended these pieces from the ceiling, over where the neon rope light is on the floor below.
I then cut some foam board pieces to mount on the bottom of the floor joists above the light array to reflect some more light.
-
I then cut and mounted more foam board behind, to reflect more light and a short strip in front to hide the individual LEDs from the observers eye and also to make the light brighter still.
These suspended sets have several colors available, all of which match the colors offered by the neon tube in the floor.
And here is a couple shots of terminator. I’m wrapping up instal on another piece of E L wire
Please forgive the mess, I’m making magic here.
-
So I thought that lower E L wire placement looked hokey and I re worked it this morning. It pays to mock-up this stuff with tape or something to decide, especially when I get into running a longer string of this stuff, like 12-16 foot worth, into one cab. It will take some planning to use and route the length right.
I had a different longer red piece I could of used but the hue of the red didn’t match the other wire so I went with this one.
-
I have too many arcade projects going on.
I have been picking up full sized arcade marquee translite pieces off of Etsy and eBay for display in the beam pockets of my basement overhead.
I had been wanting to make a stand-alone lit sign using one of these with a store bought shadow box. I found one marked down at Hobby Lobby for $15 and although the size wasn’t perfect for the most common marquee translite “8”x26””, it was close enough to work. The box’s glass insert measured 28”x7” so, I needed to choose the right artwork, something with a black border that I could extend to the sides without looking bad. The top and bottom would have to be trimmed to fit.
I had a menaurds tape light string that was 12
Volt with a splitter and extra patch cord to just patch in the power to one of the games’ power in jacks. The string itself was warm white and a touch short for my needs. I would have to add some more lights.
-
These things always look more washed out using a digital camera.
I still see a couple of cool spots but think it looks pretty cool.
I can’t wait to do another one like this. I believe Tron will be the next victim
-
That turned out nice.
-
Quick light upgrade for the marvel marquee here.
Got the zabo’s slip on acrylic piece some time ago but had been wanting it a bit brighter, especially around our heroes.
Check spidy, iron man, and cap for needed backlight.
12v tape light sections were the way again. 6 lights for too and bottom and 2-3 light arrays to the sides of the middle wired to the 12v coming in at the factory lighting array.
That looks better. If it looks a bit bright to the camera, it’s perfect for my eye.
-
So, guess what I got in the mail the other day? That’s right, it’s another batch of acrylic slip on marquee replacements from Zabo’s Arcades.
Double packed, individually bagged, these little beauties boast quality. Each is backprinted and come off looking like a piece of art. Part of the magic is when you get to peel off the protective film placed over the graphic and see that winning gloss shine get exposed.
This time, I got Dig dig and Star Wars. Guess which one gets switched first?
That original factory marquee sticker didn’t look as bad as some but I notice a design change in the placement of the tie fighters. Like Marvel, I will probably have to add some lights to bring this artwork to its true potential.
-
That does look a ton better. I so gotta find one of these SW systems.
-
Haven’t switched the SW one yet. Think they are in stock at Walmart.com, at that new elevated price.
-
Yeah, I am not paying that price, but who knows. I gotta find the good deals like you and Dan.
-
Sorry for the late update. Been busy and tired.
Have several items to report as I plow into arcade work today.
I made a new shadow box wall marquee, Stargate this time.
Dig Dug got moved and put in MK’s spot to make room for the new Legends Ultimate Mini because I needed it next to the ALP. You can see that I rendered DigDug 2 inches lower to make the cab height more similar. I may have to shift another alternate cab design over to that side just to add some variety to the cab shapes in that line. I did go ahead and peel the factory marquee sticker off and positioned that Szabo’s slip on marquee over the UN cut factory marquee front. Looks pretty but very dark. More lights are needed here. I think I’ll try to just add lights and possibly not cut the factory plastic front face out this time.
That last shot is a sneak peek”finally” of the at games bitpixel and bitlcd marquees mounted above the ALP but running through coinopsx on the at games mini next to it. These marquee images change with each of going on 2k different games that I have currently and many are animated.
I’ll have to shoot some video of that today.
-
Dig dug got some more light n the usual fashon
-
The tape lights I am using now are bright enough, I may get away without cutting the face out like before.
Still seems a bit dark but you can pick out the Szabos marquee in the lineup. It’s just that pretty
I also stuck some yellow vinyl on the t molding of X-men vs Street fighter to pop it up a bit. I ended up ordering the vinyl a couple of times trying to match the yellow of that capcom logo. More coming to that project
-
Looks good Clint. I am hoping it starts snowing so I can get some video game time in myself.
-
So the moment Shawn has been waiting for has arrived
First, I pulled the side screws to remove the full lit marquee assembly from the cabinet. Then I pulled the screws on either end and top and bottom from the marquee front cover and gently removed it from the back wooden part of the light box. I then re mounted the back part to the cabinet. That front cover will slip back on after I’m done adding lights.
That is the old cover with the factory decal in my hand there
-
While adding more lights, I also drilled a hole into the area above the speakers and attached a jumper wire to that 12v light power source which I fed a good length of into that area for later use to power a lower lit marquee or el wire later if I choose. The stock lights in this one were so dim, I just pita new strip right over the top.
Nice and blindingly bright now
-
Not shown, I peeled the factory sticker off of the white cover and slipped it back into place over the back piece and then slipped on the Szabos piece.
What can I say, it’s astoundingly beautiful. Each of the 4 of those pieces I have purchased from Szabos are that way. Their vibrant color makes em stand out in a crowd. I’m quite pleased
-
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H4g8CS0If-M (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H4g8CS0If-M)
Here is a short video of my bitpixel and bitlcd marquees running in tandem from my at games mini running coinopsx. You can see me switch games a couple of times. I’ll make a longer video of this set of toys later
And then this should make your mouth water as well, Shawn
I have just placed an order from Etsy seller makerofthings, a stormtrooper armor piece seller, for this set of pieces for me to trim and install around the bezel area of the Star Wars cab to emulate the pieces found on the original arcade machine. Just stick em on with foam tape.
I think they look pretty cool
Thanks to makerofthings for these pics
-
Pretty sweet Clint. Off to share.
-
Still all over the place here
Simpsons marquee got a marquee light upgrade and 12 volt power passed down to the lower part. It also got new coin door lights wired to come on with the cabinet. That one turned out too bright but i have an inline dimmer I plan to install tonight that should help.
Bad pics
blitz got a marquee light upgrade and 12 volt power passed down and new coin door lights wired To come on with the cab now.
Think this is the first pic I have shown with the blitz wearing it’s new 2 player control deck.
Dig dug got new coin door lights wired to come on with the cab.
Need to do another walkthrough. I have more neon light rope up now, plus some color changing spots for the main overhead lights. Only 4 color choices on those.
-
It feels like neon magic. Looks so good Clint.
-
More lights, Shawn
In the web of the 8 inch steel beam below the living room floor above the drum set, I placed roughly 22ft of cool white and 12 foot of warm white tape lights to illuminate several 8”x26” reproduction arcade marquee translite pieces. The lights are wired to a 10000 ml 12 volt adapter running through a dimming circuit I can run with a wireless remote. “Good for when I rig em too bright as these dimmers are pretty inexpensive” also, since the preferred setting is too bright for the digital camera, I can dim for any pics I take.
There are also some flashing type functions built into the dimmers. I think some may even have a flicker function…….more fire effects
-
Truly awesome. I bet you can get a sunburn from all that neon glory.
-
Been getting busier at work here lately but I still have been working on stuff.
I got a half inch piece of plywood and cut to replace the riser front for X-men vs street fighter with a large hole cut in the front to display a big translite graphic that I picked up for the title from DB graphics again. I had requested a custom vinyl piece to hack up and skin this face with. Positioning the piece to apply wasn’t too hairy and the extra layer of protective film on his vinyl pieces always seems to make things easier and less scuffed when you get done. The main graphic filled the top and bottom and I had to slice and dice to fill the lower sides.
-
After getting that much on, I used the same yellow pin striping vinyl tape to cover the edges. I will trim that middle hole out with some kind of styrene angle piece configuration covered with the same yellow vinyl and then probably hot glue the translite into place. Any imperfections with my saw cut or vinyl placement can be hid with these angled piece placements. I’ll have to cut a piece of plexi or two for the graphic to sandwich in. I’m waiting for more of the yellow vinyl tape to arrive but I may work on that hole trim or it’s backlight array today.
-
I did get this mysterious package in the mail yesterday. Do you remember what these pieces are for, Shawn?
Oh, I also added a dimmer to the Simpsons marquee and swapped out the lights behind the coin doors for something brighter. They are wired to come on with the cabinet marquee now.
-
So, after some flash trimming, I have them lightly fixed into place with packing tape. I’ll have to scrounge out some double stick foam tape for a more professional placement if needed.
I think they look stunning. The perfect augment to this representation of that classic arcade cab. I’ll have to find a pic of the original standup to post.
-
May have to muster a coin door up for this one
-
Wish I had one of those.
-
I know, buddy. I have always been proud of that one and I can see more love being thrown at it in the future.
Got my trim pieces cut for the riser hole. I’m using some mid sized styrene angle pieces mounted with the corner at a 45 to the mounting surface. I only had one chance to get the compound miters cut right as they were my last pieces on hand. I’ll cover these pieces with the yellow vinyl and attach with super glue gel.
Got my plexi pieces cut for the graphic. I will probably hot glue the group together at the edges and I’ll hot glue from behind the trim to mount.
I also got my light tape strips mounted and soldered together with a lead drilled through that panel to access the upper cab through another drilled hole to get to the 12v lead that I dropped down from the marquee power source.
Come on pinstripe tape.I’m getting closer
-
I had considered some kind of sound upgrade for x Vs sf and settled on just adding the two 4 inch speakers I pulled out of T2 into the same panel as the lights. I figured if there was enough wattage, the extra two would give it more of a presence down low and it does sound better, even crunchier, on the low end. In the games List menu, you will hear a 90s Wolverine voice as you navigate and he sounds especially gravely now. It might vibrate the whole front plexi and translite like a drum just slightly. Probably dulls it down because of the multiple layers.
I added some yellow to try to more closely match the light cast at the top marquee. I added an inline low profile dimmer to the riser lights split from the marquee lights as the lower was too bright and was robbing the marquee power some at the same time. Now, the lower is dimmed by 3 clicks and all that extra power is distributed back up top to brighten it back up . Those little dimmers are handy to have on hand and are not very expensive. Perhaps $2 each if bought in 5 or more increments.
That last shot is a mock up
Still looks a touch bright, think it needs more yellow.
I got my yellow pinstripe tape in so, I can now tape the styrene trim pieces I cut for the hole border and glue this thing together.
-
All of these things just making your Arcade just so much cooler. Looks good Clint.
-
Work got busy extra arcade got snagged some.
Here are pretty much the final reveal shots of SF vs X Men. I added some conservative EL wire applications, and part of a multicolored light tape piece, mounted under a medium thin layer of packing foam to diffuse the light
Both el wire and the partial light tape are usb powered coming from a 4 port hub behind.
I went with the Ice Blue for the lighting to match one of those Walmart 1up wall marquees that used the same color around the border. I will have ti move that one back over to hang over this machine now, to show the color palates matching.
-
A couple more shots.
I need to clean up the dungeon but you can see it’s turning more into a Tron atmosphere as time goes on.
I have some of that stuff in the drum area now as well. I’ll have to take some shots after I clean up. Still refining on the neon tube. It’s a work in progress.
-
Man, loving that Tron them Clint.
-
Thanks buddy
I got another cab that I think is right up your alley, Shawn.
Big Buck World
I bought the cheaper Walmart version at $200 less which didn’t include the lighted marquee, the coin door, or the riser podium box.
I had some 3/4 plywood pieces laying around so I cut and threw one together that was roughly 4 inches taller than the standard height riser. I had been throwing 4 inches of foam sheet under the non tall cabs to make em taller.
I used 4 colors of paint and leaves off the ground as stencils to put this fall camo pattern on the box. Each consecutive side looked better
Than the last. I did 3 sides and left the back alone starting with an overall coat of satin orange.
I had a letter stencil set handy so I threw
Together a Big buck logo and sprayed those letters flat black. If I would of had some flat
Grey, I could of done some
Ghost leaves in the letters. May still consider it.
The game is cool, the light guns work well. I was playing it with the grandkids over the weekend. This is a mono cab with only one speaker, same with the pricey version. I may replace that speaker or add another somewhere. It is still east to hear.
Upon first power up, I noticed a thin black line going down the lcd screen. Not bad but still there. I’ll have to complain about it.
-
I think it looks good with the camo. I may find some little lights to shine upon that marquee. If you didn’t notice, I have overflowed into another
Area with this one
-
That's great! Nice work building the box and paint job is excellent.
-
Man, your leaf print is so good I have a gun or two I would love for you to get your hands on. So awesome.
Man, what I wouldn't give for a day in this arcade, playing all these works of art. Cool stuff Clint.
Off to the front pages. Might need to get a game like that, can't seem to find any big ones in the woods lately.
-
Thank you, Buck Hunter is to get some more love today. You are going to like it.
Yesterday, I was working on the shadow box marquee signs that I put together and hang on the wall. Spy Hunter is the newest. A hobby lobby shadow box with an arcade marquee translite print and some LED tape lights in the back.
3+ rows of warm white for spy hunter
3 rows of cool white for Galaxian
2 shorter rows of cool white for tron. Still looks washed out for the camera as LEDs will but just right for the eyes
So, what should I put in that 4th spot?
I’ve got 3 other midway marquee translites I could use
Mortal combat
Total carnage
Blitz
I was thinking about something even more classic…..
Rally x
Omega race
Or, wizard of war
Don’t have any of these but could get one fairly easily
-
That looks awesome! What a great place to decompress after work. If it was up to me, I would go old school and do "Wizard of Wor." That would be great.
-
Yep, I would go down and try to get a neon suntan everyday. Nice Clint.
-
Yes, I like the wizard of war idea
Put another shadow box sign together. Space Dual this time.
Gravitar there was one of the first ones I did. I think I need to re do the lights on that one now.
Big Buck hunter got an upgrade.
It now sports a 19 inch screen, went from 1 speaker to 3 with a subwoofer also and, I reworked the top to form a lit marquee using a translite print I had my graphics guy work up.
-
"More power!" Cool
-
Looks good Clint
-
I upgraded my Pac-Man. I swapped out the gen 1 upper half with a newer version with stereo speakers, 14 games, and a nice backlit BOE screen. The cab style was the newer legacy style like Mrs pac, with the swooped sides, inset CPO, and more tilted screen. I swapped out the kickplate and filler panels with the gen1 as they had graphics applied. The marquee is a dbgraphix translite with a plexi overlay placed over a 1up lit marquee that I added some cool white LEDs to to brighten. As in some cases, it looks perfect to the eyes but bright for the camera. The now typical Monster led usb pill light at the bottom and Manaurds usb led neon tube were applied.
In about the worst quality control example, Pac-Man was shipped with a scratch on the CPO deck made at the factory but here is the capper, they shipped the speaker panel with the speakers mounted but no holes drilled through the panel. Those woofers were facing wood. I drilled em out with a door knob bit and they sound better Than factory now.
The Tempest deal from several weeks ago ended up with them sending me several extra parts for my troubles including the marquee box we used here, and a riser box to put under the old gen1 Pac-Man body which I will reskin into a Galaxian. Graphics are ordered for that project, I’ll use my old gen1 Galaga cpo and PCB, I have a new screen and another lit marquee box to use. May have to augment it’s mono speaker somehow.
Skinning Missile command today
-
Here is a sneak peak on Missile Commands progress. I’m skinning the CPO next, and swapping some buttons out.
-
That is awesome. You've become quite brilliant at upgrading these arcade games. I'm really impressed.
-
Nice Clint. Very nice.
-
Missile Commands looks interesting! I'll have to look it up since I don't know what it is.
You got an amazing arcade collection!
-
Missile command was the second arcade game I remember having a trac ball. The first being centipede, both made by Atari.
In Missile command, you were in charge of three
Anti ballistic missile sites and your job was to protect representations of cities on the ground. You had the trac ball to direct the aiming reticle and 3 buttons,1 for each Missile base. At the bases, there is a representation of how many shots each base has. You can fire as fast as you can hit the buttons, simultaneously from multiple bases if you like.
Your targets are incoming missiles from the sky, aimed at your cities and missile bases. There is usually a bomber to take out each round as well.
As your fired missile reaches its designated destination, it explodes into a large cloud of energy that, hopefully, your target flys into before it dissipates. So, you have to time it right and keep track of your remaining missiles, all while defending from certain doom.
Each round you make it with at least one surviving city allows you to continue. As the rounds progress, the incoming fire moves faster and faster until it’s just too much to keep up with eventually.
Thanks to Reddit for that shot
That is a young Spielberg, unfortunately, in that shot
-
Got some before and after shots of the CPO, the control panel.
This graphic was actually used as a translite marquee on a different version of the coinop. I had my graphics guy make me a solid color version re sized for the control panel. I swapped those black buttons out with some extra ones with some variety that I had on the workbench. I used the cutout from the spinner hole and transferred it to the top of the spinner.
Marquee comes next.
-
That looks great, Clint!
-
I agree, looks awesome.
-
Thank you kindly.
Got the CPO placed. I have some trim pieces I need to shorten for the sides.
The original arcade marquee would of had speakers mounted in the lit marquee itself, on the left and right. I plan to do just that.
Here is a peak at Wizard of War and Battlezone marquee shadowboxes and one of Wizard hanging. I may brighten that one just slightly.
-
Those look good. If you are thinking about brightening Wizard, I could see that.
-
Just a fun room. Nice update.