This NOS overlay came with the batch of donated artwork from a fellow collector, check out the original post if you missed it. At first I wasn’t sure what game this cpo was for as I couldn’t find any information about Video Ware, Inc., at the usual sources. I posted a few online inquiries and quickly had an answer.

The control panel overlay is for Champion Boxing by Video Ware, Inc., licensed by Sega. This game was released in 1983 by Sega, likely in kit form only for conversions. I don’t recall seeing the game on location and considering that Nintendo’s Punch Out was released less than a year later, I imagine Champion Boxing did poorly. Read the rest of this entry »

Another collector tipped me off about a Willis Elevator Action overlay for sale at the Eldorado Games website. I bought it because I had never seen the Willis version before, only the bootleg Spy Agent version. Well, I still haven’t seen one because this overlay is a bootleg.

How do I know? There are lots of reasons, the first one is that Willis never copied existing work. Read the rest of this entry »

Not the most exciting piece, but even boring control panel overlays have a place in arcade history. If you hung out at the arcade back in the late 80’s or early 90’s, you probably saw more than your fair share of generic control panel overlays.

This one is a standard space theme overlay, meant to be used with any number of space conversion kits or simply as a cheaper alternative to the pricey OEM* replacement parts. Read the rest of this entry »

If you haven’t seen it before, this is the Willis version of the Nintendo Popeye control panel overlay. Produced using high quality 3M paper with die cut holes and four or more colors in the silk screening, it was certainly a quality product.

However, the original was reversed screened on lexan and the artwork was a little more refined than the Willis attempt. I keep thinking about prismacolor markers when I look at the details. Read the rest of this entry »

Fellow collector “Steve23″ has been cleaning out his warehouse full of arcade stuff and trimming down his collection. He generously offered to send another batch of arcade paper work and some miscellaneous parts. (Missed the first donation? Check it out here.) Luckily for me he has a customer in the area and was able to piggy back a couple pallets worth of stuff along with a part shipment. I just had to head out to the facility to pick it up. I grabbed an enclosed trailer from Uhaul, which has to be the roughest riding trailer I’ve ever pulled, and headed out. I couldn’t take any pictures at the business, but here is a shot of all the stuff unloaded in my garage.

I haven’t had a chance to go through every thing, but skimming through the piles there were a couple interesting items. Read the rest of this entry »

Patient: Poker Machine UR, manufacturer unknown
Technician: Chris M
Problem: Game will not power on.
Troubleshoot: This poker game is in very nice shape other than a broken corner on the coin box door. I’m used to seeing these poker’s in horrid shape. This one was so clean I was hopeful for an easy fix. I unloaded the game in my garage and gave it a quick once over. Checked all the fuses and they were fine. Looked over all the connections and found a bad crimp on the single crimp wire near the transformer, the wire just pulled right out. Must have been a bad factory crimp as the wires were stapled in place and not easy to move around.
Solution: Pulled off the bad connector and extracted the pin. Crimped a new male pin in place and put the connector back in place. Powered it on and game fired right up with a nice picture on the monitor. I played a few hands and everything seems to be working just fine. I have no space for this game, so it will be hitting the sale page. Drop me a line if you have any interest in a nice working Poker Machine.

Patient: Simutrek, Cube Quest UR
Technicians: ???
Problem: Game would power up, but die after a few minutes. No sound.
Troubleshoot: I was just a lucky observer with this project, so I can’t provide too many details. (I will ask and update if possible) I did get to see the huge board set and the massive cage that housed it. What a monster.
Solution: The easiest way to work on this board set was to have it out of the cabinet, but the cage and cabinet has connectors that are all dependent upon one another. Sticking your head into a dark cabinet to probe with an Oscope is not a fun time, especially when the cab is in the garage during a wonderful Midwest winter.

The cage itself prevented effective troubleshooting, it was just in the way. What to do? Build an equally complex testing harness and power supply, of course. After many days of painstaking labor to develop and build a dedicated test station for Cube Quest, the tech was finally ready to get down to business.

After only a short time, the technician was able to get the board working, as you can see. One interesting bit about this game is that it was designed to work and play even if (or should I say when) the laser disc player failed. What you see here is game play minus the laser disk effects. Still pretty cool. The next step is to restore the sound and then connect the laser disc player to see if it will all work together. Want more info about this particular game? Check out the post over at rotheblog, happy gaming!

OK, simple frog pattern on the right to mimic the original tire tracks, pointing frogs around the joystick to indicate jump direction, got it. But what’s going on with that background? Is that supposed to be pavement or some kind of Rorschach test? I keep staring at it with my eyes a little squinted, hoping the secret message or shape might appear before my eyes.

It does bear the Willis name and even a part no, so there is no doubt that this version is the actual Willis Frogger reproduction overlay. It will hop on over to the archive. Enjoy!

• Scored an old RCA 19" today from an estate sale, free. I don't remember them being so heavy. New tube for Tapper! #

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%. Read the rest of this entry »