I aquired this cocktail table while I was living in an apartment in college. It worked for a couple months and then the monitor died because we were just too damn rough with it. Something that’s 20+ years old cannot take beatings like the newer models. For various reasons, mostly financial, I haven’t bothered with it until now.
Last month I considered selling the unit and using the money for who the fuck knows what. For whatever reason, Kim was horrified at this idea and told me we should do what we can to get it going again. This was certainly not something I was expecting to have come out of her mouth but then again she’s into saving every last receipt for Target we get but never looking at them again ;)
Our options were to go with a full restoration or strip everything out and convert this vintage unit into a MAME arcade cabinet. To go with the full restoration, we’d have to start small: one of the controllers is shot (2P), the monitor is shot, and one of the bulbs for the coin door is burned out. The place I aquired the unit from didn’t have any keys for it so we had to damage the coin door in order to gain access to the DIP switches and as such, that will need to be modified/replaced as well.
The other option is to go w/the MAME arcade cabinet. The MAME install would require numerous controllers, boards, wiring kits, and a new monitor (I don’t feel comfy with replacing the aracde monitor with a TV or PC monitor as it wouldn’t be the same — even with an ArcadeVGA board). I can’t see sinking $500+ into the cabinet after I rip everything out just so I can play a couple extra games (I wouldn’t be creating a new controller board, it wouldn’t be right!)
So I decided to go with option number one and do a full restoration. This isn’t going to be a quick and dirty thing. I’m going to take my time and buy the parts over a period of time and learn about what the hell I’m doing.
I decided to start small and safe. I figured that replacing the second player controller would be a good place to begin so I purchased a replacement controller off of EBay for $33.99 with S&H. That should arrive sometime this week. I’ll be sure to do a play by play on that one ;)
I’m working on finding a replacement monitor. It’s likely that I’ll end up with a Pro Vision 19″ CGA monitor (~$170). From what I have found out so far they work just fine in the old Ms. Pacman units and they are more reasonably priced than the Wells Gardner 19″ K7200s ($230). Hopefully I won’t fucking electrocute myself while trying to swap them out. Just reading about discharging the old monitor scares the living shit out of me: “place one hand behind your back or in your pocket to make certain that the electric current doesn’t travel across your chest.” Uhh, great.
I talked to a couple of people (and Kim was doing some Internet research) and we think we have found some experienced people that might be willing to do this for us. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Wish us good luck and see all the pictures from today here (mobile).
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