December 9, 2008

I finally snapped some pictures of the lot of games I picked up a few weeks ago.  In the pictures you’ll see the Golden Tee 3D, Kid Niki, Haunted Castle, and Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters…

October 28, 2008

I had not mentioned it here before, mainly because I didn’t want to alert someone to swoop in and steal my deal, but I reached an agreement to buy a few arcade games this past weekend.  There had been an ad on Craigslist for some time, advertising these games for sale.  The person selling them was initially asking $500 for a lot of 4 games.  But, over time, we discussed it and I got the lot for a grand total of $250.

The ad did not offer much of a description, but from my conversations with the seller, I found out three of the games were working fine, while one had an unknown problem.  One game was sitting in their house and was in pretty good shape while the others were in a storage building and collecting cobwebs.  The 3 in storage were in somewhat rough shape, but nothing that couldn’t be repaired.

The Games

The non-working machine is a Kid Niki: Radical Ninja.  The cabinet is in decent shape but needs cleaned.  There are dings, scrapes and scratches that need patched, but it won’t be too difficult.  I will probably end up replacing the t-molding on it as well.  However, I would like to get the machine in working order first.  I really have no idea what’s wrong with it.  It looks like someone has replaced the normal cord with a plug from a PC power supply.  Plugging that in will kick off the fan, but nothing else happens.  No sounds, no lights, nothing.  I supposed I will start with checking voltages.  I have a few other games to restore before this one, so it might be awhile.

The second game is Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters.  The cabinet is in OK shape but, like mentioned above, needs some patching/painting.  It powered up right off the bat and seemed to be working great.  However, I noticed that the top of the screen is cut off.  I think this is usually an indication of a bad capacitor, so I’ll get the monitor model information and see if someone sells cap kits.  If not, hopefully I can dig out the schematics and give it a capacitor overhaul.

The next game is probably going to become a favorite of mine.  It is Haunted Castle, a game from the Castelvania series.  The game works great.  All controls are functional and the monitor is full, bright, and with no waviness.  However, there’s always a catch.  The cabinet is in very rough shape.  The bottom must have gotten damp at some point, because the cabinet is breaking off.  Fortunately, the sides are lower than the actual floor of the machine.  So, I might be able to whack off the overhang and do some minor patching around the bottom and give it some feet.  The cabinet won’t be 100% complete, but it will look a lot better if I can pull this off.

The final game, and one I really wanted, is a Golden Tee 3D.  This is the machine that was sitting in their home.  From an operational point, it seems to work fine.  The monitor might need a cap kit because I saw a little waviness, otherwise it’s really bright with little to no burn-in.  The trackball, however, is a little rough.  It has been dinged up over the years and rolls rough.  I might be able to clean it out, but ultimately I will probably end up replacing it.  I will most likely have to drill out the locks and replace them, but it’s a small price to pay.

So there it is, my treasue I found tucked away in eastern (not “Eastern”) Kentucky.  I’ll post some pictures when I get a chance to snap some.  I guess these will turn into projects V, VI, VII, and VIII.