November 18, 2009

I ended up buying the games mentioned in the post below. I’m not 100% sure what to do with them yet, but the guy made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.

Most likely I’ll end up trying to sell the majority along with some other games I have. But a mixture might end up in an arcade once I recover my costs from this past trip.

So now, I own 30 arcade games (2 being redemption games) and a Pepsi machine. I think I could stand to sell a few.

Here is a list of my current games and their general condition:

Donkey Kong – Red cabinet, working.  I will NEVER part with this game.
Donkey Kong JR – Donkey Kong cabinet, working
Golden Tee 98 – Working
Burgertime – Working
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Board and power works but I need to build a control panel and find a 25″ monitor
Golden Tee 97 – No clue on the condition. It’s complete but the back of the monitor makes fireworks when it’s turned on.
Donkey Kong Jr – Cabinet but I have the parts to make it complete Possible multicade.
Super Mario Bros – Cabinet but I have the parts to make it complete. Needs a cap kit for the monitor. Possible multicade.
Donkey Kong Cabinet – Original DK cabinet that I painted red. I have a DK3 board I can put in it. Possible multicade.
Crown’s Gold – No working. The monitor keeps blowing fuses. I’ll probably give this one up soon.
Centipede – Cabinet is in rough shape but it is mostly working. I can either fix the power board or supply an external 12v dc I think it was.
Golden Tee 3D – Working but needs a cap kit installed which is on hand.
Kid Niki – It powers on but the monitor is in rough shape. Has Q*bert burn-in. The cabinet is a little rough so I’m not sure of its fate.
Haunted Castle – Working and is a really hard game. The cabinet is in kind of rough shape.
Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters – Working but monitor needs a cap kit. It’s a converted Sanyo 20EZV so I might try to find a Wells Garnder to replace it.
Mortal Kombat 3 – Working but needs a cap kit.
Virtual Fighter – I’m not sure I checked this on yet.
Fisherman’s Bait – Supposedly working, but I still need to check it.
Hammer Head – Redemption whack-a-mole type game. Mostly working but one shark head is busted, one does not score, and one does not pop up.
Wing Shooting Championship – Supposedly working, but I still need to check it.
Fighting Vipers – I’m not sure I checked this on yet.
Virtual Fighters 2 – Working but the screen is dim. I’m not sure if it needs a cap kit or the brightness turned up.
Area 51 Max Force – Appears to be working flawlessly.
Revolution X (1) – I can hear the game when it boots but the monitor is not working.
Suzuka 8 Hours 2 player – Supposedly works with steering problems. I haven’t checked yet.
Gun Blade – 50″ Monitor – Working but the screen is somewhat dim. I don’t know if there’s something wrong with it or if there was too much light in the room.
Revolution X (2)– Working. The screen appears a little wobbly at first but clears up. One of the guns doesn’t vibrate as much as it should.
Police Trainer – Appears to be working fine.
Star Wars – Sitdown Pod Racer – Like Revolution X (1) above, I can hear the game play but the monitor doesn’t come on.
Frantic Fred – Appears to be working OK. It is a redemption type video game. It might or might not remain as Frantic Fred. I could use the 19″ monitor for something else.

September 7, 2009

I’ve had some arcade game movement in the past couple of months so I thought was time for another update.  I still haven’t made much ground in any of my restoration, although I was able to (poorly) paint the Donkey Kong cabinet I picked up in Louisville.  I picked up a new paint gun so I’m going to have to take another shot at it.

I also patched and (mostly) prepped my Donkey Kong Jr cabinet for painting.  I want to get it ready to paint before doing the cabinet mentioned above so I can knock them both out in the same day.  I decided both will be turned into Red Donkey Kongs and I will either install original DK boards or go with a 60-in-1 multicade setup.

As far as purchases go, I picked up a couple of cabinets in Ohio.  The first was a non-working Crown’s Golf game I picked up in Cincinatti for $20.  I messed with it a little but no luck getting it going yet.  I figured it was cheap enough so I might as well pick it up.  Maybe I could use the monitor or power supply.

Also, I found a deal on a Golden Tee 98 in Columbus.  The listing said the game worked, was upgraded to Golden Tee 2k courses, had a “new” monitor, and a new power supply, but the image was upside down.  Easy enough, I thought.  Either the monitor was installed upside down (it could happen) or some wires were switched.  But, when I got up there, I saw that the image was actually split with part of it being upside down.  It appears as though the frequency is wrong for monitor.  But it’s a standard res monitor and a standard res game, so that’s not it.  Everything is wired properly.  For now, I’m stumped.

I had a 25″ TV taking up space that I wasn’t using, so I purchased an RGB to NTSC adapter and inserted it into the cabinet.  Unfortunately, as expected, quite a bit of signal is lost in the conversion process so it’s not the best solution.

However, just a few days ago, I saw an ad for some games available near Cincinatti.  Available were a Ms Pac-Man, a Nintendo Playchoice 10 with 7 games, and a Teenag Mutant Ninja Turtles.  If I had the right vehicle, I would have returned with all 3.  Unfortunately I only had room for one, so I opted for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  The cabinet is exactly the same as My Golden Tee and it was working, minus the control panel.  So, I bought it primarily for the 25″ monitor.

After returning home, installing the monitor in my Golden Tee, and firing it up, I found out that this particular monitor requires and isolation transformer.  Oops.  I immediately blow a fuse.  Fortunately I’m prepared for this and have more fuses handy.  After installing an isolaiton transformer I had laying around… I blow another fuse.  Not good.

I go online and seek help from the fine people at KLOV.com.  They gave me some hints of what might have gone wrong with too much power.  It looked like a lot of work ahead.  I removed the monitor chassis and found my ground trace on the edge of the board was completely fried.  That was an easy enough fix by running a wire to bypass the burned edge.  Someone told me to check the bridge, that 2 of the diodes would probably be shorted.  Bingo.  I had to google to determine what the bridge was, but I found it and 2 dead diodes.  After a trip to Radio, I mean, The Shack and a couple of assorted packs of diodes later (wouldn’t you know they didn’t have the exact ones I needed in their packages) I replaced the 2 diodes and hoped for the best.

In the off chance that my isolation transformer was bad, I lugged the 25″ monitor back downstairs to try in the TMNT again, since I knew it was working fine before.  Fortunately, it fired up and worked just fine.  After reinstalling it in my Golden Tee and replacing the sync wire, I finally got to play the game it was meant to be played.

I still have a couple of small issues with the monitor but nothing major as of this point.  There’s a small spot at the top of the screen where the image is shfted but it’s not that noticeable yet.  The monitor will need a cap kit anyway, just to freshen it up a bit, so hopefully that will take care of that issue.

And finally, my Red Donkey Kong has taken its spot in the game room.  I still need to do some touch up work to it, but it’s cozy for now.

So that’s my update.  I now have 4 (mostly) working games sitting in a garage about 3 hours from here, 2 Donkey Kong cabinets in my game room (1 having a Donkey Kong Jr board installed), a Golden Tee in my upstairs office, 3 Nintendo cabinets, a Centipede, a Crown’s Golf, and a TMNT cabinet in the garage.  I need to start making room soon.

January 11, 2009

Here’s what I alluded to in my comment for the MAME cabinet.  I traveled to Indianapolis to pick up another cabinet.  Yes, it’s another Nintendo cabinet.  Yes, it’s another Donkey Kong.  However, this one is special.  This Donkey Kong is one if the few original Donkey Kong conversions from Radar Scope.  And it’s mine, all mine.

More pictures will soon follow.  It will need some work.  Most noticeably there are a couple of bad corners, the back edges are a little splintered, and some dings and scratches will need to be filled and painted.  And of course it will need new t-molding and new side art.  I want to attempt to get away with only touching up the bad spots so I can keep most of the original paint job in tact.  I don’t know when I’ll get around to working on it with all my other projects, but when I do, I will update my progress here.

November 9, 2008

I took the 1st step in my second Donkey Kong restoration project.  I finally decided to clean out the inside of the cabinet.  There is only one word to describe what I encountered… na-has-ty.  I thought the cabinet had some water damage, but it turns out it was just caked on dirt.   So, I swabbed and swabbed and swabbed with a rag and soapy water until I got all the gunk cleaned out.   I refused to take pictures so I wouldn’t have to relive that nightmare.

Now that the hard part is over, I can begin the real work.  The next step will be to remove everything else (coin door, etc) that I didn’t have to remove to clean out the inside and then I can begin the sanding.

I need to go take a hot shower now…

October 19, 2008

I am gearing up for tax season.  I believe I have all my projects set.  That is, unless I run across another deal.

If you’ll look to the left, you’ll see I have 4 total projects listed.  The first, of course, was my restoration of an original Donkey Kong machine.  But, I also have a second Donkey Kong cabinet that I picked up a few months back.

Donkey Kong – Project II
This will be my next project.  I haven’t decided whether or not I will keep the machine once it is completed since I already have one in my game room, or sell it to fund my other projects.  I mean, who wouldn’t want a Donkey Kong machine upstairs and downstairs?

Popeye – Project III
I was torn between turning this machine into a Donkey Kong Jr or a Popeye.  I ultimately decided on Popeye.  It is a Super Mario Bros machine I picked up in town for $100.  Once I finish the above restoration, I will start on this one.

Donkey Kong Jr – Project IV
Or maybe I will move directly into this one instead.  I said I settled on a Popeye machine for the Super Mario Bros cabinet, but that’s because I fell into a deal for a Donkey Kong Jr cabinet.

Any way I go, I have my work cut out for me this winter.  As with my original Donkey Kong project, I will keep track of my progress, costs, and anything else that might pop up.

Here are the cabinets lined up in my garage.  By the end of winter, I hope to have them lined up in my game room.

September 6, 2008

I have had the worst luck trying to buy arcade games lately.  Basically, I have had people sell out from under me, raise the price, and I suspect just lie about their intentions.

Allow me go into a little more detail.  It started when I posted an ad to Craigslist.org, stating I was looking for vintage games.   I got an email back about someone in Indianapolis selling 3 cabinets (a Pac-Man, Pac-Man Plus and a mystery cabinet), a 4th M.A.M.E cabinet, parts, and a Ms. Pac-Man marquee.  All for $200.

This email was from a third party.  Apparently he was trying to sell the cabinets for someone he knew, or someone who contacted him though his website.  I expressed interest and received more details.  I was second in line to buy everything, but the first person had not been in contact.  So, it was soon settled that I would be the buyer.

I proceeded to borrow a truck (I can’t fit everything in my Rav4) and was preparing to make the 3+ hour trip.  Then I get word that, for whatever reason, the sellers decided they wanted more money (I think it was $250).

The third-party came back and stated the seller might come down to $200, but that would not include the parts.  This was unacceptable as the deal was for the cabinets and parts.  So I told them as much.  I know $50 isn’t *that* much but the deal was set and they changed the terms.  I was not willing to come across as a pushover.  I then said I would take the 3 Pac-Man cabinets, parts, and the monitor from the 4th for $200, other than that, no deal.

I never received a response.  But, c’est la vie.

About the same time, I inquired about a couple of games near Columbus, Ohio.  I was set to make the trip to buy a full size, working Mario Bros. and a Sega Outrun.  I believe it was going to be $250 for both.  The deal, again, was in place.  But the day before I was set to make the purchase, I get word that they “received an offer they couldn’t pass up” on the Mario Bros. game, but I could still buy the Outrun.  So, again not being a pushover, I told them the deal was off.

Thirdly (actually, this was the first one that started the whole mess) from the original Craigslist posting, someone contacted me saying they had a Donkey Kong Jr. machine for $100.  They originally purchased this from a friend that was moving.  The machine was complete, but the monitor wasn’t working.  Again, just like in the other situations, the deal was set and I was ready to drive to Indiana to pick the machine up.

Then, a day or 2 before, I am told the guys wife, who hated having the machine around before, decided she wanted him to put the time into fixing it.  So, the deal was off.

And finally, my latest adventure which is still in progress.  I see and ad about arcade games for sale so I inquire.  I ask if they are still available, what are they, and what are the prices.

The first response I receive is they are available and make an offer.  OK, but I don’t know what’s available.  But then shortly after I receive a follow-up email with the names of the games and to come by and make an offer (or place a bid as they put it) if I am in the area.

I reply that I am about 3 hours away and just dropping by is out of the question, so if they could tell me how much they are wanting to get out of the games, we can go from there.  I receive yet another email, this time with pictures.  I am told, again, to make an offer.

I reply that the games I’m interested in (Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man) all look in decent shape but I have no idea how well they work, their stability, etc.  That being said, I offer $700 for the lot of 4.  I figure it’s a good starting point to negotiate.  But, like before when I try to deal, I get no response.  Granted, its only been a couple of days but they were so fast with their first set of emails.

That is where I stand.  I have had 3 “sure thing” deals fall through at the last minute.  I suspect the person in this current deal I’m attempting to work on wants some insane amount of money for their games.  Close to $200 a game is not a bad price for the machines listed above, especially if I am willing to take 4 off their hands not even knowing their real conditions.

I guess we’ll see how this last negotiaion goes, but given my past fortune, I’m not expecting anything positive to come out of it.

March 18, 2008

Unfortunately, I didn’t record this game, but I received my highest score ever a couple of days ago.

I had removed a chip from my machine to see if it would cure a problem I have with my Donkey Kong 3 machine. It didn’t, by the way. So, I put the chip back in its proper spot. I decided to play a game to make sure I didn’t mess anything up. And during that first game testing the machine, my first game in about 3 days, I scored 238,600.

Do you hear that Brian Kuh? Do you hear the footsteps coming up behind you? Yeah, you better be scared.

March 13, 2008

Ever since I saw Steve Wiebe owned it in King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, I knew it was a good book and wanted it.  It jumped to the top of my want list (well, #2 to a Donkey Kong machine).

However, the search has been rough.  I read success stories online of people stumbling across it at a yard sale, or used book store for a quarter.  But, it seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth.  During my search, however, I learned of more books that dealt with the strategies of Donkey Kong.  I stumbled across How to Win at Video Games – A Complete Guide (it is far from a complete guide by the way) and How to Win at Video Games by the editors of Consumer Guide (the same people that wrote How to Win at Donkey Kong) on Amazon.  So, I immediately ordered those.  While the latter is not the spiral book in the link, it is, as far as I know, an original of the same revision.

There is also another book on eBay currently that I want, which is called Playing Donkey Kong to Win.  But, the auction is out of my price range so I’ll wait to find it on Amazon or in a book store.  And finally, The Video Master’s Guide to Donkey Kong is also on my list.  I trust this will be a good book because it is written by one of the best players, and friend to Billy Mitchell, Steve Sanders.

Back to my original point.  I was looking at the eBay auction for Playing Donkey Kong to Win and thought to search for, on a whim, How to Win at Donkey Kong.  My eBay search came up short so I thought, “well, I’ll just do a quick Amazon search.”  Which, lately, on the advice of Andrew my quick Amazon searches usually include Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, and any other country I can think of.

Success!  Someone on Amazon.com has it!  So, I click on the link… $25!?  I really want the book, but I already have the PDF.  Do I really want to drop $25 plus $4 shipping?  I thought about it, added it to the cart just in case I can convince myself to buy it.  Then, I notice Amazon is running a special.  For signing up to receive an Amazon Visa Card, they will credit $30 to my account.  So I did what anyone would do in this situation… I sold my soul to the credit card company for a free book.

Yes, I signed up for a credit card to receive a book for free.  Which, I have a history of doing such things.  A few years ago I went to the Cincinnati Reds opening day with Andrew and it was cold!  It wasn’t so bad when the wind wasn’t blowing, but wouldn’t you know, the wind was constantly blowing.  And, of course I didn’t plan ahead and wore short sleeves.  So, we signed up for a credit card to receive a free long sleeve shirt.  Let me tell you, it was worth it.  Then as soon as the credit card came, it got cancelled.  Sorry MasterCard.  You win some, you lose some.

Some people may be thinking I’m a horrible person about now.  But, I look at myself as being a sort of Robin Hood.  Credit card companies will not think twice about trying to take everything you own because you get caught up in ridiculously high interest rates (which some people can’t help but for a lot of people it’s just bad money management).  Anyway, this is my way of sticking it to the credit card companies.  I’m signing up for their offer, getting my “reward” and never using the card.  Nowhere in the agreement does it say I have to use the card.  So, why not go ahead and cancel if I’m never going to use it?

But, of course, now they have my contact information so they’ll just sell it to some spammers.  I guess nothing is ever really free.   At least I’ll have my (rare) book.

March 10, 2008

I scored my first 100,000+ game last night.  As the subject suggests, I hit 139,900.  Hopefully there will be many more of these games and even higher scoring ones.