This topic has been given a lot of coverage in the various newsgroups and arcade collecting forums. I’ve done lots of research and read all the comments I could find. I’m also lucky enough to have a good friend that knows a great deal about electronics and was kind enough to share the pros and potential cons of bathing them. After talking with him I decided to give it a go.

I neglected to take a couple of before pictures to show the nasty grime covering these three G07 chassis, but we’ve all seen similar parts. Any arcade pcb’s that have been sitting around in a warehouse for 20 plus years are bound to be covered with crud. Makes it hard to see what you’re working on when trying to do repairs and sometimes a standard cleaning just doesn’t do the trick. So into the dishwasher they go! (more…)

A long time ago I had the opportunity to work on site during the construction of the Orlando FL Disney Quest. I was a product designer at an architectural firm and my company wanted me to head down to the site and make sure the products worked right. While I was there I got to snap a few pics and recently came across this one. They had the start of a nice classic arcade.

I don’t really remember if the games were ever on during that time in the construction, but I doubt I would have had time to play them anyway. It was a short visit and I had a lot to get do.

I recently made the road trip from Chicago to McLean IL, to meet up with my good friend Jeff at the Arcade Museum. What is the Arcade Museum? Just a little piece of arcade nirvana located right off I55 on your way south to St. Louis. If you don’t find what you’re looking for at the next St. Louis Super Auction, you can at least pop on over to the Arcade Museum and get your fill of classic gaming at its best.

John Yates, the avid collector responsible for the museum, has created a cozy little place to play a bunch of true classics. When we arrived there were a handful of customers playing games and a few volunteers working hard moving new games into place and keeping the ones on the floor working 100%. (more…)

If you’re into arcade game repair, or have been in the hobby for awhile, you’re probably familiar with the Programmable Atari Test Station, or PAT-9000. This elusive piece of test equipment was sold by Atari to operators and would assist them in troubleshooting and repairing both raster and vector Atari circuit boards. It wasn’t a cheap item back in the 80′s and if you can find one now it would likely cost a small fortune. Oddly enough, I spotted these two gentleman moving one into the back of a Volvo.

This unit was purchased by a Chicago local and while it had been badly hacked by the former owner, Bill K was able to repair it and get it 95% of the way to full working operation. Imagine that, repairing the repair equipment. The proud new owner will be making the final adjustments and repairs which includes building a housing for a vector and raster monitor to complete the package. A pretty amazing find and a great piece of history.

This one is among my favorite Willis overlay’s and while I admit it’s not as amazing as the stainless steel original, at least there was an attempt to make it blend with the theme and artwork of the game.

Lots of robots pulled from the side art and colors from the bezel. Not a bad replacement and perhaps better than the dark factory replacement cpo that was offered direct from Stern. This Willis Berzerk control panel overlay is in great shape and produced with their typical quality production. I will happily add it to the archive.

Looking for a stainless steel reproduction for your Berzerk upright? Pre-order yours now! Likely the last time I will revisit this project, so if you need one, let me know.

If you know anything about classic arcade games, the name Wico should be familiar. They’re the famous makers of the Wico 4 and 8 way leaf switch joysticks, a “must have” for many classic restorations. While they were standard equipment on many of our beloved classics, finding complete NOS Wico joysticks gets harder and harder every day. Those knock off replacements just don’t stack up to the originals. So what does Willis have to do with it? I’ll tell you. (more…)

Anyone familiar with my little game room will also be familiar with the constant battle I’ve had with water. Water from the window wells, water from the drive way, water from ice, water ruining carpet, etc. Well this time I have something new, a leak in the ceiling, yeah! (more…)

If you were following my original post about the Nevada Magic cabinets, with the very cool monitor rotation mechanisms, then you’re in for a treat.

While I had done a little research to find out more about these fantastic cabinets, I couldn’t find much. There are flyer images online and some location images, but that’s about it. Thankfully Berg Håkan, the owner of the games in my first post, came through with a step-by-step description and some detailed shots of the cabinets, take a look! (more…)

Here is another fine example of Willis artwork, this time a replacement overlay for Donkey Kong Junior. While this may not be the best choice for fixing up your DK Jr, you have to admit that Willis produced a quality product. I’m not talking about the design, bash that if you want, I’m talking about the materials. Quality screen printing on 3M paper with clean die-cuts, better than many of the overlays produced back in the day. (more…)

Victim: Midway’s Galaxian upright video game

At approximately 26 years of age, this poor Galaxian met a brutal end in a cold warehouse, on Chicago’s southwest side. Born in 1979 to NAMCO, but adopted for the United States by Midway, Galaxian soon proved his earning power on the streets. With its two way joystick and single fire button, this game tore up the space shooter genre and earned its operator big bucks. Unfortunately, as new games were added and interest faded, Galaxian earned less and less until it was finally stored away. There it sat until 2005 when the operator performed the final conversion, turning Galaxian into dumpster lining, via sledge hammer.

This sad collector was several months late to the scene, or the game would have been saved. All that was left from the horrid destruction of such a classic video game was the name tag. To view the scene of the crime, check out my warehouse raid post. Save those classics!