My first arcade cabinet! (pic heavy)

[Tilas]

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So, look what my brother found for me yesterday! It was at the recycling depot and was heading for the e-waste scrap heap, when he saw it and asked if we could take it off their hands. They said sure cause it would only cost them money to ship it out. So we took it home to the shop! It was dropped there by a owner of a bar that's been closed for about a decade. No water damage that we can tell, and while the case is a bit rough, it's nothing that can't be patched. If we can't get it fully functional I want to retrofit it into a MAME unit. Either way, it'll be a wicked project!


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Back of the beast. The Primary power button is on the button left, we taped it as it's made to not stay on if the back panel is open and we need to be able to fiddle with it.

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Back of the CRT

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Back of the coin slot and counter

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This is the game's motherboard. Classic. I found the original manual online (amazing what you can find on the internet) so I was able to figure out the play settings. Now to tinker!

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Power box and everything that can electrocute you. The manual actually says to perform a "Smoke Test", meaning, WATCH FOR SMOKE!

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Power switch box I'm guessing? To tell it how much power to send where?

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Underneath the joystick panel

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Side panels, some damage but but nothing that can't be repaired with some putty, sanding, and paint

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Secondary power button, for some reason this will not stay on, on it's own so we'll be taping that too lol.

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This is I am assuming the coin counter, which, if my calculations are correct, means this beast has had $31,254 pumped through it in it's lifetime. DAMN!

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And, Finally, I've been tinkering with it, gave it a quick cleaning (need to actually take the time to wash it) and for a brief moment... it had life! The screen booted up, it went past the "WINNERS DON'T USE DRUGS!" screen ( rofl ) and made it to the main screen. I put in some coins and it did accept them to allow 2 player mode... but it didn't register the controls and when I wiggled the joystick case and it all went dark. So, that tells me there's loose connections everywhere. I'll need to take some time and carefully check over everything.  But look! Proof that for a moment, it lived!


EDIT: Oh hey, post 5000! 

[True]

that is so cool!! 0___0

I was never good at these games but I always loved hanging out at arcades xD back when we had them, gosh i cant be THAT old, I swear this is what we DID when we were pre teen haha xD.

I think I'm most interested in the coin counter, those types of things are always fascinating, it kinda gives you an idea how popular it might have been back in its day. xD Good luck getting it to work! it sounds like you know what youre doing.

[kaoskat]

That's really neat! Congrats! And best of luck getting it to work!

[achab1984]

That is cool! I hope that your able to get it up and running fully

[xkappax]

Magic sword is probably one of my favorite arcade games of all time. That is awesome! It has always been my dream to own an arcade machine of some kind.

[Tilas]

Buahaha! PROGRESS! Most of the cables have been spliced at least once (you can see all the black tape) so I carefully took the old tape off, cleaned it, and retaped em. I also adjusted the little red knob on that power switch (figured why not), and when we turned the game on, it started! Music and all! I'm wondering if it was set at too low a power level? Unfortunately the buttons still weren't working, so I reset it into Test mode, which it actually entered! The joystick IS working, just not the buttons themselves. Once I can get the buttons working hopefully I can get it to go into test mode and runs some if it's own tests!

Getting closer!

[BlackCurtains]

That is awesome! I would love to have an original cabinet.
So sad that it was on its way to becoming scrap though Why would someone throw out something like that?!

[Ivaness]

That's awesome!

I dream to have a functioned DDR game. <3
By dream, I mean, I will rob an arcade of one. In broad daylight.
It doesn't even have to be DDR, it could be In The Groove too.
Just not Para Para Paradise. I hate that game.

[foalpatrol]

That is so cool, thanks for posting!

[banditpony]

Ah that's so fun! :3

[mlp4me]

That is a fantastic find! Congrats and good luck getting it fully functional again. :o)

[Tilas]

I'm frustrated. I've got it running, music, video, that all works. Only one joystick works, the first one. no buttons. From the reading I've done, that tells me either the other 7 buttons are broken, or the ground wire that daisy chains them all together is buggered. But I have no way to really test that theory, as everything is soldered together so I can't just disconnect the wires. >.>; But if it's the ground, why would only 1 button function? This is frustrating me to no end! I might just look into an entirely new button and wiring system for it... though if I'm going that far I might as well go all the way and get a new power supply and power bar just to be safe. ^_^; I dunno... gah. vile temptress.

(EDITS as to not double post lol)

I worked on it last night again, cleaning, checking tires, checking grounds and solder... and we finally got it working! The buttons were a little jammed so we beat on them a bit (who says violence isn't the answer LOL) and now all but the 2nd player joystick works fine. I mean it works, it just sticks a little. My husband, brother and I played it tag team for like an hour, and got to level 36/50, but then we glitched the game out and got the characters stuck in one of those spots where the AI takes over but the characters were in a spot they couldn't move. ; It was fun! Gonna play again tonight and try to beat it. I put the machine into free mode so we don't need to pump quarters into it. ; I am SO happy it's working, now to actually repair the cosmetic damage to the unit. Putty, paint, and bulbs. Need to get those lights working! After that... I really don't know what I'm going to do with it. I have no idea where to put it in the house, and it can't stay in dad's shop lol. It makes me want to build my own MAME unit though, now that I have an idea how.

[melodys_angel]

Oh, how awesome!  That's going to be a fun project to over hull

[Sugar]

What a great fixer-upper!

And I'm with BlackCurtains - who'd toss something like that?  Aren't vintage arcade games sorta sought-after as collector's items?  I imagine it depends upon the game, but still...

[Eviecorn]

WOW.  What an awesome find, and how amazing that you got it to work!  This is my dream.  Thanks for the photos and the chance to live vicariously.