We woke up Saturday morning to some wet snow, but still decided to take Jeff’s mini van instead of my SUV, it had more space. My youngest would stay with Jeff’s family and visit the Indy zoo, while I took my oldest along for the ride. Never too early to infect him with the collecting bug and I hoped he would enjoy the experience. The ride was easy and the school wasn’t that hard to find. It was huge and it was red.

The building had seen better days and was a little dangerous, but that just makes it more interesting. My son thought it was spooky and wanted to know if we’d see any ghosts. Ghosts of classics long past perhaps, but not much more. The hallways were dark and strewn with all types of debris. The place had definitely been picked over and according to one of the locals, collectors have been pulling games from this place for over 20 years. At one point it was packed solid, now all that remained were a few dozen conversions, cranes, EM games, and a small mix of more recent titles. Regardless of the selection, it was still fun to poke around. How often do you get such an opportunity?

The building had some amazing old woodwork, with gorgeous banisters and wainscoting on almost every wall. A matrix style phone could be seen in each classroom, with child height and wall length chalkboards everywhere. The place must have been amazing back in the day. Strewn about in the various rooms were remnants of a once thriving coin operated business. Empty boxes for long gone NIB games, conversions galore, bootleg artwork, and even custom made cabinets for some unknown bootleg game. The place was saturated with arcade history, it was awesome.

Weird poker games, burned out pinball shells, collapsing walls, broken SAMI EM glass, and plenty of dust. This place had it all. You could just taste the lead in the air from all that flaking paint. While games on the second floor would have to be hauled down the massive flight of stairs, at least there was a loading ramp off the back of the school to make it easy to pack up the vehicles. All purchases would be wheeled out the back after payment and quick inspection by the operator. People were orderly and Brent kept things moving along smoothly. We were lucky enough to get a short tour by Elutz who also knew the operator and had permission to wander freely. He showed me the “bootleg” room where they used to strip non-earning games and turn them into something else. It was an awful mess but it told an interesting story. How many games met their fate in this room? The piles of power supplies, kit boxes, and stacks of bootleg artwork speak volumes. This was all that remained after decades of collectors coming in and pulling the best parts.

There were a bunch of pong clone type games to be found, worthless really, unless you like that kind of stuff. A funky Allied Paddle Battle and a converted Paddle Battle stood prominently on the second floor. The shell of a Kee tank, a converted bi-plane and a more-or-less complete bi-plane could be seen. A few EM games missing parts, a row of EM pins, a pretty nice looking Bally Road Runner, more flaking paint and a couple of cute little DECO Astro Fighters rounded out the second floor. The DECO’s were the reason we made the trip in the first place. Three of the DECO’s were located on the second floor, one on the first. My Magliner with stair climbers made the descent down the massive flight of stairs quick and easy.

If the main structure wasn’t enough, there was also another building across the street that housed many of the pinball machines that were for sale. Not only did it have pins and more games, it also had a giant hole in the roof! Ugh, never good to see that as you know the games would be trashed. I know a few guys got some deals, including a sweet Taxi pinball that went for a great price. Jeff and I were out of space for the ride back so I didn’t spend much time in this space, plus Edward wanted to show me the cabinet building room and I was eager to get back on the road. The cabinet room was where they used to build and assemble cabinets for the conversion kits, bootleg or otherwise. There was still a nice pile of woodgrain laminate on one table, lots of wood debris, old tools, including a nice press brake. It reminded me a little of dptwiz’s old work space We wandered around in a few of the rooms snapping photos, what a crazy place. I could spend a ton of time here, but it was time to get moving. We still had to load up the Deco minis.

So how many DECO mini cabinets can you fit in a mini van? The answer is four. With the easily removable bases we were able to tetris the cabs into place with ease. The original three fit so well we decided to take the fourth one too! We weren’t sure if any of them would work and it would be better to have the whole bunch to mess with at once. One of the cabs had a bad base and it was left behind, I may go back for it one day. You can see the games packed in the van and then nicely cleaned up sitting in Jeff’s garage. Pretty cool little machines, much better than their tall, boxy cousin.

I loaded up one of the nice machines and the part machine into my 4 runner, packed up our gear, grabbed the kids and headed back home. Got back Saturday evening in plenty of time to unload our junk and move the game into the basement for cleaning. It was a great trip and I’m glad I got to experience the school house raid.

Due to its massive size and height, a missing step makes this game pretty tough for little kids to play. I would need to recreate the step so my boys could enjoy the game and with Fall quickly approaching I wanted to get this done ASAP! I had nothing to start with other than some basic dimensions from the void at the front of the cabinet, but a request for help out to fellow collectors yielded great results.

Another collector and SAMI owner, “lostarcade” on KLOV, had access to his game and was kind enough to take a ton of pictures of the step. He also worked up a quick drawing for me to reference. Thanks! This is exactly what I needed to get started. I quickly cut the needed parts from some sanded surface plywood and a 2×3 I had on hand.

I positioned and mounted the front panel blocking with glue and staples, adding some extra blocking just in case as it wouldn’t be visible anyway. I used a biscuit joiner and biscuits to add a little strength where the two pieces of cut plywood join. Then plenty of glue and staples to hold it together, with clamps in place while it dried overnight. The blue tape is holding some small pieces of plywood I glued back into place after they lifted from stapling.

The next step was patching, sanding, priming and more sanding before I gave the front and bottom a nice coat of black oil base rustoleum paint. I opted to only paint the edges of the top panel because I would be gluing on rubber matting anyway. This would prove to be a minor mistake later.

Once the first coat of paint was dry I gave it a light sanding, wiped it down and painted the final coat. Once that was mostly dry, I sized the rubber matting a rough cut the shape. I then used a straight edge to clean up the rough cut edges. Next was a thinned down coat of contact cement to both surfaces. After it dried out a bit I carefully matched up a corner and rolled the mat onto the plywood. With a pair of work gloves on, I rubbed out all the air bubbles. I used a large flat piece of MDF and clamps to clamp the surface and allow it to set overnight. I’ll need to wipe off the excess glue and touch up the edges (that I should have painted black!), but I think it turned out great. I’ll install the two leg levelers and the step will be ready to bring SAMI back into the game for my kids!

Special thanks to The Arcade Flyer Archive for the use of the Midway SAMI flyer image. Take a minute to check out the site, tons of info.

I didn’t have any other projects at the time and decided that I would do a cap kit, clean it up and even re-stencil the side art. I got started by stripping the cabinet and taking lots of pictures for future reference. Taking lots of pics during a tear down is a great idea no matter what game you’re working on. If you end up having to shelve the project you can always refer back to the pictures. The game had a Willis control panel overlay on it and a crackled original underneath. Little did I know that would lead to another whole project…

After a complete tear down I started sanding down the side and repairing the hidden damage with bondo. The wood must have sat in water for awhile because the plywood had taken on the soft, brittle quality. A pain to repair with bondo. I only managed to do a first coat on one side before I got the golden egg dropped in my lap. A warehouse raid and bulk buy 5 minutes from my old house. Bezerk would have to wait, but stay tuned!

It’s pretty deep at over 35 inches, not including the gun stock, so it was a slight pain to get in the back of my Toyota 4 Runner. I’ve packed a lot of games into this truck and most fit with the door shut. This one needed tie downs to keep the door closed. The tech helped me load it up and I was on my way.

While it has many of the key parts in fantastic shape such as the gun stock, trigger guard and bezel glass, there are some issues. Vandals at some point attempted to gain access to the side panel and ultimately kicked in the front. My guess is that the operator found it easier to just replace the damaged wood with this mismatched peg board front from another EM. They also put a metal plate over the access panel. Add a couple of lock bar holes and you have yourself the makings of a nice restoration. I know many EM collectors believe it is better to keep it original, but I’m not so sure in this case.

Inside the game was the original key, a manual of sorts and a schematic. The game also powers up and the recoil works perfectly. Shots register and Charlie moves around, but the animals don’t. This should be fun to clean up and fix. Another EM collector alerted me to the pinball pal website, a treasure trove of restoration parts for the old EM games, including Wild Kingdom. Stencils, belts and even new 8 track tapes are available. Excellent.

I’ve been told that Wild Kingdom is one of the better EM shooters, mostly because of the competition between the shooter and “Charlie”. I can’t wait to experience it first hand. Enjoy the pictures, I’m happy to be part of the EM club now!

According to KLOV the game sounds identical to moon patrol in every way, they even stole graphics from the Williams game for the instruction card. Bootleg games were a big problem for manufacturers back in the 80′s when arcades were booming. Why pay top dollar for a Moon Patrol when you could get a cheaper conversion kit for Moon Ranger? I also found this sticker inside the folder, just another instruction card with some hints of Engrish, perhaps for a cocktail table version of the game. Pretty fun stuff.

Fast forward four years and it’s time to revisit the project. I’m tired of moving the plexi around! Plus I need something to keep me busy while I wait for the Berzerk and Frenzy panels to return from the screen printer. Below you’ll see my sample plexi set and the jig I made from a set of canopy parts and plywood. The first set came out great but it needs some slight tweaking. I’ll only have enough material to make 12 sets, so if you need one, drop me a line!

This was the reward for completing the Arcade Aid challenge and guessing all 56 video games hidden throughout the city. I managed to get about 47 without help, not too bad. The ENCOM employee badge arrived in about a week and has an employee ID number, scan code and cool holographic sticker. For a give away item, this thing is fantastic. Yes, I’m a Tron fan and will wear this proudly.

Apparently it also gives you a clue to make it farther in the search for Flynn. Scanning the bar code on the ID badge will lead you to THIS website, for employee’s only. The contest/game has been around for awhile so of course you can find most of the answers on Google, but give it a shot first, lots of fun! Visit the official Flynn Lives website, create your login information and get started on your journey. Tron Legacy awaits!

This marquee is reverse screened on glass and in great shape overall, with none of the typical flaking frequently seen when artwork is printed on glass. It was a little difficult to photo graph and even harder to scan. The reflective quality of the glass was creating some weird shadows during the scanning process making the scans worthless. Anyway, a nice marquee for a great game.