Found a folder labeled “Moon Patrol” in this big stash of operator paperwork, but upon closer inspection it contained some cool color instruction cards for Moon Ranger, a bootleg of Moon Patrol.

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.

I’ll be polite and call this one interesting. Someone decided to bootleg a moon patrol control panel overlay, using the reverse screen process, 3M adhesive and die cuts for the buttons and joystick. Unfortunately they neglected the most important part, the artwork.

I’m not sure why so much effort was put into this bootleg, perhaps it was for one of the foreign made knock-off pcb kits that were so popular with some operators. Maybe it was just for a local group of operators that had a half dozen or more Williams Moon Patrols needing fresh overlays. (more…)

I traveled to the recent St. Louis area Super Auctions to hang out with fellow collectors and to scope out the goods up for auction. I had a great time and hope to do it again. (St Louis Auction) Of course when you’re also planning to pick up a nice DECO Burgertime, it makes the road trip a little easier.

I worked out a deal with Troy Smith of arcade unlimited for a non-working DECO Burgertime. He agreed to drop it off at the auction so I could pick it up during the preview the night before. (more…)