A man walks into a barber shop

and sits down to get a haircut . He takes a look around and notices an Asteroids Deluxe sitting in the corner with a “for sale” sign on it. Wait just a minute. You thought this was one of those “man walks into a barber shop” jokes didn’t you? Well it isn’t, and he did, and there really was an Asteroids Deluxe sitting there with a for sale sign on it. Did you really think I would make a joke out of something as serious as an Asteroids Deluxe sitting in a barber shop with a for sale sign on it ? You should know me better than that by now so just settle down and let me finish my story would ya ? Ok, where I was? It was about 1989 when our previously mentioned young- at –the- time hero Miles walked into Judy’s Barber Shop in Boise. He saw the game for sale and thought it would be the perfect gift for his 10 year old son James who would soon be coming to live with him. Now most people would be content walking out of a barber shop with just a haircut. Some would be happy with a cut and a designer hair brush or bottle of fancy shampoo to rejuvenate their scalp. Not our young hero Miles. He left that shop the proud new owner of an Asteroids Deluxe arcade game. The arcade game and son James took up occupancy at the house and all was well. Miles really was a hero in the eyes of son James and the game got a chance to work its arcade magic one more time. About 10 years would pass before the Asteroids Deluxe finally had lost its luster and ended up in the family storage unit. Sadly, it would sit there for another 10 years without seeing the light of day.

The time had finally come to empty out the storage unit and this is where I enter the story. I saw the ad Miles placed on Craigslist and made the call. Luckily the Asteroids Deluxe was still available. We set up a time for the next day to meet at his house. Father and son went to the storage unit and retrieved the old arcade game from what had become a makeshift tomb. When I arrived at their house the game was sitting in the back of a utility trailer. The machine was dirty and run down on the outside, but almost seemed to be begging for one more chance to coin-up and do its thing.

We talked for awhile about the game and how much fun it was to play back when James was a kid. I promised them visitation rights and that it was going to a good home and capable hands and would be given the attention it sorely needed and deserved. I paid the asking price of $100 and loaded the game into the back of my old Ford. I circled around the end of the court and drove back by and with a smile and a wave we were off. The game was on the first leg of its journey back to reliving its glory days.

There was not much that was very deluxe about this Asteroids when it first arrived. The blacklight was burned out and the blue monitor overlay was missing, two of the key ingredients that make this game special. The overlay was cracked. There was a ton of dirt and grime on the cabinet. The monitor went from partially working to completely dead then the whole game seemed to just give out. This game needed a trip to one of those fancy day spas to bring that old glow back but seeing as no such place for arcade games exists just yet, my garage will have to suffice. It was time to do a little revitalizing on a tired game.


First I installed a cap kit, replaced the chassis transistors and replaced the blown fuses. I then looked for what was causing the rest of the game to give out. It ended up being one of the slip on connectors at the bridge rectifier under the power brick. I fixed the connection, stood back, and powered the game on. My hunch was correct. This machine still had a little something to prove. I played a quick game and went back to work. I installed a new blacklight and blue monitor overlay, a new control panel overlay, white buttons, cones , a door lock and painted the coin door and marquee brackets. I detoxed the sideart and the treatment was complete. Another classic vector saved and added to the collection. The game really has regained its luster and is ready for action. See for yourself.

This is beyond what Botox can do. Going to need a new overlay :


Looks like a deep cleansing is in order:

I sent a sample of this to the lab. I am in quarantine as I write this:


A slight build up on the mirror inside the game :



I found this power cord a little shocking. It was replaced :


Duke seems to approve of the outcome:



Not sure what is more difficult, landing a Boeing 747 perfectly in the middle of a runway or landing an overlay that has not been die-cut perfectly in the middle of a control panel:


I detoxed the sides of the game :



This Asteroids really is looking Deluxe again amongst a row of Ataris:



The End.

Endangered Species.

“Are you sure I won’t be imposing?” I said into my end of the phone. It was after all mid-afternoon on Mother’s Day when the call came inviting me to check out a Space Duel. “Not at all “, he replied. A few minutes later and I was in my driveway heaving the R2 unit into the back of my truck and then heaving myself up on to the red vinyl bench seat of my pre-bailout era Ford F250. The R2 is really my old refrigerator dolly with the extra set of wheels that kick out in the back. I bought it from a retiring operator many years ago after raiding his warehouse. On the drive down I came to realize that it’s been exactly 20 years since I had anything more important to do on Mother’s Day. I don’t think I ever feel quite normal when it rolls around each year. And with not feeling quite normal and nothing better to do, I might as well go look at an arcade game.

All I knew going into this one is that the game was not working. With an XY monitor as part of that equation it can get a little scary. A few miles down the highway and a few gallons of gas later and I arrived on the scene. I walked to the shop out back and saw the game. Aside from the control panel overlay the cabinet was in great shape and worth saving. I took the back door off the game and glanced inside. Looked like some mice had shown this old Atari some love and I will leave it at that. I unplugged the monitor and then plugged in the game. Flipped the switch and all I heard was a hum. No power to the game board. Checked a couple connections and tried again. Nothing. Plugged the monitor back in and tried one more time and smoke came pouring out. This was not good. We agreed on a price of $125.00 and I pulled the truck around to load the game. Nothing gets the nostalgic juices flowing better than rolling down the road in my 1977 Ford truck with a 1981 Atari Space Duel riding in the back. Other than a few sideways glances on the short trip home, it was uneventful yet fulfilling.

Space Duel is a game I consider to be an endangered species. Like some animals of the wild kingdom that are hunted for their tusks and pelts, these games are hunted for their XY monitors. The big (arcade) game poachers would just yank the monitor out, sell a few other parts, and discard the carcass. These color XY monitors are not easy to come by and can fetch a high price. It felt good knowing this Space Duel was going to be saved from an unhappy ending at the hands of a poacher. The first goal was to get the game to play blind. The fuse holder in the bottom was looking pretty corroded. I metered the fuses and they checked ok. I took a fuse holder from another power brick that had a smoked transformer and swapped it in. Flipped the game on and I now had 5 volts to the board. Coined up a game and heard exactly what I was hoping for. I ordered the deluxe rebuild kit from Bob Roberts for the k6100. Rather than even bother troubleshooting the monitor, I felt it was better to just shotgun it with the $40.00 kit. After installing the kit and taking care of a few other loose ends, it was time to give it the smoke test. I double checked all the connections and powered on the game. I could hear the beautiful music that an XY makes when working properly. The picture came up and looked great. After a few minutes of adjusting the monitor it was time to play a couple games. I forgot how cool this game really is.

So the game is working great and now it’s time for a little cosmetics. I installed a new control panel overlay, cleaned the original buttons, and rattle-canned the coin door and marquee brackets. The game really made a nice turn around. After living off the grid for awhile, Space Duel is back among it’s own kind and in a place similar to it’s natural habitat. I took a few snapshots of the whole ordeal. Time to show them off like a proud papa.


The old corroded fuse block. I will give you one guess what is on there :



I hope the previous landlord kept the security deposit from the previous tenant:.



Mickey Mouse = Cool. Mouse that ate the insulation off of these wires = Very uncool :




Tastes like chicken ?





These wires both just fell right out of the molex plug going to the HV cage. That can't be good :



Amazing what an old toothbrush and some q-tips dipped in a little warm water can do:



Houston, we have a problem. Well, we had a problem, but nothing that a new overlay couldn't solve :



A new satin finish on an old Space Duel coin door works wonders:




A little bit of cleaning and the sides are looking good too:





This game is now off of the endangered species list.
The End.

Results May Vary...

Are you struggling with a coin-op collecting addiction? Do you fail to see a way out and feel overwhelmed, anxious and as though the people closest to you fail to understand what you are going through? Have you experienced any of the following symptoms:

1. You brought a control panel or playfield along to restore on weekend getaways, trips to the in-laws or even your honeymoon.
2. During Family gatherings and holidays you sneak out to the garage to work on machines.
3. You have called in sick to work on days you are expecting parts in the mail.

These are just some examples of extreme coin-op collecting addiction. You need to understand that this is normal behavior and it is your family and friends that need
treatment to cope with your addiction, not you.

Today is your lucky day. We here at Arcade-Revival have put together a plan for the friends and families of collectors so that they can understand, cope and nurture their loved one appropriately. It is at this time that we request you stop reading, step away, and direct your significant other, family member or friend to the computer so that we may start the procedure.

Dear family member/and or friend of coin-op collector,
This program will help you recognize, understand, and cope with the loss of your loved one to classic coin-op collecting. We regret to inform you that there is absolutely no treatment for him/her and that the recovery rate is less than .01% We understand your loss and have put together a list of actions to take in direct response to those of the loved one. Here are a list of scenarios and the appropriate responses to those actions. We encourage you to implement these immediately. Your family member may seem suspicious at first but will be too consumed by his/her addiction to give it much thought.

Here are some scenarios and responses:
Scenario:The addict is on craiglist or ebay looking for more machines or parts.
Response: Walk away/leave room.

Scenario: At a family gathering you notice the addict is not participating. You eventually locate addict in the garage working on a machine.
Response: Walk away/ leave room.

Scenario: Addict states that instead of going to Mother-In-Law’s for her birthday he is going to stay home and work on a machine.
Response: Get in car/drive away.

Scenario: Addict comes home with new machine that is clearly beyond the household budget.
Response:Walk away/leave room.

Scenario : Addict states he/she plans to attend coin-op show or auction.
Response : Walk away/leave room.



This is the pattern of responses that will help you deal with your loved one’s addiction and lessen the strain of the addiction on your personal relationship with him/her. Repetition is the key to success with this program. Once again, we sympathize with your loss and through this program we feel you can minimize the frustration and helplessness of the situation.Remember, it is you that has the problem dealing with it, not him/her. Good luck. You can now direct the addict back to the computer.

Dear classic coin-op collector,
This should help ease some of your anxiety and lessen the confrontations with your loved ones. Your family and friends reactions to your addiction may seem strange at first. This is normal and will diminish after the first few days. Results may vary.

Imagine...

It seems that each day we can add something new to the list of things that today's youth will have to do without. Without naming names or placing blames let’s just all acknowledge the fact that we are not allowing the children of today to enjoy the same world we grew up in. Innocence is lost. The list of things that will be banned, forgotten or extinct, things of both biological and man made origins is growing rapidly. One item in particular that I added to that list the other day will not make headlines. It won’t be the focal point of a government agency or any kind of focus group whatsoever. This addendum will not inspire protests, rallies or radio talk show phone calls. But in my mind, it’s just as criminal and shameful as everything else we are cheating them out of. How is it that we can do away with making anything in this world today that will be worth collecting tomorrow? Can you imagine a world where nothing being made will ever be collectable? Can you imagine anything that Walmart sells ever being collectable? Can you imagine anything with “Made In China” stamped on it ever being highly sought after? Nothing being made today has soul. Nothing. What cheap piece of junk being made today could possibly be coveted in 20-40 years as today's youth look for a token from their childhood or teen years? What cheap piece of junk being made today will even last that long?


The only reason I can find any comfort in this at all is in the hope that maybe, just maybe, they will adopt our treasures to fill the void. These classic coin-op machines do not discriminate. I have yet to see someone of any age look at one of these jewels from the past without a smile erupting on their face. These machines cast spells, spells that are not easily resisted. And it is in this little known fact along with the lack of anything being made today worth collecting that I place my hope for their survival. Turn on a Gottlieb Kings and Queens and tell me it doesn’t have a soul. Turn on a 1950’s jukebox and tell me it doesn’t have a soul. Observe a row of classic arcade games lighting up the dark and tell me there isn’t just a little something more to them than the base materials of plywood and wire would suggest.

The power these machines wield is almost scary. We collectors are well aware of what they can make us do, forget, and remember. They can make us travel great distances, forget to exercise sound judgment, and remember specific places and times that we might otherwise forget. I can look at one of these machines and in an instant be reminded of holding hands with my friends’ big sister as we roller skated on Friday night at the rink. Nothing beats being a 5th grader skating with a 7th grader during couples skate. I can look at one of these machines and flashback to my Dad looking over my shoulder and yelling “whoops” through his semi-crooked smile, a smile forged from the the lack of control over the left side of his face, not the lack of character within, as another ball drained right down the middle without me even getting to smack it once with a flipper. Sure made it hard to justify another quarter when that would happen. I look at these machines and wonder if there is any rhyme or reason as to why some survived and yet others were sentenced to early deaths by operators and lazy, greedy collectors. If they really do have souls then can these things possibly be inherently good or bad and are they being saved or punished accordingly? Maybe those machines that were parted out or slaughtered by those sledgehammer wielding operators and sent to the landfills were the same ones that enticed that money Mom gave you for milk and bread right out of your pocket as you entered 7-11. And what about the games that were fortunate enough to be spared death by sledgehammer and find their way out of those dark, dusty warehouses and into our game rooms? Are they the “good”ones?

Ok, I am starting to drift a little here so back to the point. No matter what you believe, we have a moral obligation to establish a connection between these coin-operated relics and as many youngsters as we can so that hopefully one day after we are gone they will have something to call their own. We have sold out and we have souled out and we owe them something for it. And when my own personal expiration date comes and if I should be lucky enough to enter the pearly gates, I hope there are some classic arcade games, A Seeburg Hi-Fidelity juke, and a Gottlieb Wedgehead or two there waiting for me. There must have been at least a couple machines that were wrongly executed, bypassed our game rooms and made it up there. “Pearly Gates Arcade”, I like the sound of that. You can call me a dreamer. I’m sure I’m not the only one.

"Restoration-Lite"

This being a blog about arcade game collecting and restoration, I know I can only skate so long between extreme game makeovers. But due to time restraints, weather restraints and plain old lack of motivation restraints, I have been hard-pressed to get my you- know-what in gear and get out there and fix up a game. A recent reconfiguration of the gameroom ( more on that to come ) left me with a gaping hole to fill. It was just the motivation I needed to overcome previously discussed restraints and make something happen.
Typically speaking, when you see the word “lite” after anything, it means you are paying more for less. Less sugar, less calories, less fat, you know, basically everything and anything that makes something good to begin with.” Lite” usually means unnatural, artificial, and as much as you try and kid yourself, worse- tasting than the original. Well I am bucking the trend here with an old Zaxxon arcade game. This game is really what I consider a survivor. It has been in deep hibernation in the garage for about 5 years now. There were a few minor blems here and there but nothing too serious. The sides are almost flawless so it was really just the front that needed attention. I was really tempted to go big and replace the front wood grain, control panel overlay, t-molding and the buttons but stopped just short of pulling the trigger. After giving it a little more thought, the goal here would be to salvage as much of the original game as I could and like some of those home-improvement shows, I wanted to make the game look as good as I could on a shoe-string budget.

A lot of people have a real dislike for the wood grain on some of the classics like this Zaxxon. For me, it brings back memories of the coffee table we had when I was a kid. I grew up in a pretty strict household. There wasn’t a lot of wiggle room on the house rules, but luckily one thing my parents understood was the importance of Hot Wheel cars being allowed on the coffee table. The ”Speed Racer canyon jump” from the arm of the sofa to the coffee table was an integral part of my childhood. Rather than fight it, my Mom just covered the table with some faux pas contact paper and would replace it about every 6 months or 3,000 Hot Wheel car miles, whichever came first. The wood grain on the Zaxxon would have to stay.

The trick to a resto-lite isn’t to make everything perfect, but to touch up the blemishes just enough to where your eye passes over them, at least initially. I cleaned the lower black panel and touched it up. I also touched up the spot in the middle of the front wood grain panel where it had obviously been allowed to free-fall open and hit a key that was in the lower access panel. . I cleaned the original overlay and buttons. I repainted all of the black metal pieces except the marquee bracket and speaker grill as they looked fine.
I did take one liberty and painted the inside edges and around the speaker grill area black. The original brown paint was totally worn off in several places. The only parts that were actually replaced were the locks on the doors. The keys were missing and I had to break in to the game.

Unlike something that is typically “lite“, my restoration of this game was less expensive and the game is almost completely original. It was more like a face-lift than a restoration actually. In the end, I am pleased with the outcome and for once I am more proud of what I didn’t replace than what I did replace. Like our old coffee table, this game isn’t perfect, but it is presentable and as Mom used to say “A little powder and a little paint, makes you pretty when you really aint “. So without further a-do, I give you all the less- than- gory details of a resto-lite. I think Mom would be proud.


Before :


The itsy bitsy spider was here:


The original overlay and handle looking a little shabby-chic:


A chip dead-center of the front and chipped black paint and rust around the coin acceptors:


The lower panel in need of some TLC. Most of that is actually ON the paint, not scratches IN the paint :



The After :


Brown may be the new black, but on this game I had to march to my own beat:


The overlay isn't perfect, but it is better thanks to some Permatax Fast Orange hand cleaner followed up with some vinyl conditioner. I did in fact purchase one of the new overlays before I decided to salvage the old one so I set it aside. Normally I would have that joystick handle powdercoated, but this being a budget makeover I went with Rustoleum Satin :


The chip in the front was touched up with a dab of brown paint so it blends into the woodgrain better and your eyes are drawn to the fresh black paint of the coin acceptors:


I was so close to repainting this whole panel but a little ( ok well alot of ) elbow grease and some touch up paint and the budget makeover train continued to roll:


Zaxxon struts it's stuff amongst the other classics.It's "stuff" may be a little time-worn, but this game has nothing to be ashamed of :



The End.

The Traveler.

The year is approximately 1996 as a man in his early 30’s makes his way quickly through the San Francisco International Airport. He is a traveler just like any of the other people zig-zagging the busy terminal weaving in and out before him. This traveler however is unlike the others in that he has no luggage, no passport and no rental car reserved. No companion, no carry- ons, and no concerns about delays or FAA rules and regulations. His ticket is a pocket full of quarters. His destination is 1980. As he makes his way towards the arcade in the international terminal to play Donkey Kong, visions of various journeys from the past dodge in and out of his mind just like the frazzled passengers in his path. He has been a traveler of sorts most of his life. He grew up in a middle class family who frequently took to the road with their travel trailer in tow. This family belonged to a trailer club made up of about 20 or so families that enjoyed meeting up at a camp ground or RV park one weekend out of every month. On the longer Easter week vacations they would caravan and cover several hundred miles down the coast to Mexico or the amusement parks of Southern California.

If there was one constant among RV parks it would be rec-rooms and if there was one constant among RV park rec- rooms it would be arcade games and pinball machines. Virtually every park back then had at least a couple of games and a couple of kids playing them at any given time. I was one of those kids. Those were some of the best times of my life. Each year as the schedule of outings was announced I would do a quick internal review of the rec-rooms of each park on the list. Occasionally there would be a park that was new to us. “They better have some machines if they know what’s good for them” I thought. Of course, most of the games back then were of the electro-mechanical nature as this was the early to mid 1970’s. I can still remember playing the old EM pins at Smith Woods in Felton and the Speedway at Travel Village near Magic Mountain. Travel Village had one of the better game rooms and was something I really looked forward to, almost as much as the amusement park itself. This would go on for years. Two travel trailers and tens if not hundreds of thousands of miles later, our trailering career slowly came to an end. When you are in elementary school, there is nothing cooler than your parents rolling up outside of the school around noon on a Friday with the trailer in tow to pick you up early and head off on an adventure. When you are a freshman in High School, there is nothing more un-cool than your parents rolling up outside around noon on a Friday with the trailer in tow to pick you up early and head out on an adventure. And so it came to pass. We would outgrow the trailer and it would eventually be sold. Life does that sometimes.

A simple “Excuse me, can you tell me where I can find gate D11 ? “ and my mind drifted back to the air terminal I was in. “Can’t you see I’m on my way to play DK on my lunch break? “ I wanted to say but instead I would set yet another lost passenger in the right direction and then be on my way. It’s not easy covering that much ground in an airport wearing a uniform and carrying a walkie- talkie without being flagged down at least once or twice. Don't these people realize they are cutting into my precious Donkey Kong time? Eventually I arrived at the arcade. The Donkey Kong in there was the lone artifact of the early 80’s era. It was neglected in every sense of the word. But for me, it was a destination that was probably just as satisfying as that of any other traveler in that airport. After a few minutes the radio came to life. ”Base to Dave, copy?”. Can’t they see I’m playing Donkey Kong ? !!! “Ya, I’m here” I replied. The radio crackled again and went something like, “We have Aircraft 337 gone o.o.s. on G32 . Need you to meet T-17 at G27 and pick up an AOG ,then head to UA asap ! I wanted to fire back “I’m playing DK on 1P with JM2 on L4 and I have 86k , hold on !”
But as my very own resume states, “I procured aircraft parts and tooling on a global scale for out of service aircraft “. Fellow travelers were counting on me. It’s what I was getting paid for. Amidst all the madness of a busy International airport terminal I had found my destination, but work had also found me. “On my way” I replied and I was on the move again.

It was hard not to think about all of those people spending thousands of dollars to get to their destinations compared to the relatively inexpensive yet memory laden trips we took in the travel trailer. I managed to travel quite a bit while with the airlines but it was never quite the same as an outing with my family in the trailer. Sometimes I wonder if those rec-rooms still exist in the trailer parks we traveled to. Sometimes I wonder if those parks are even still there. And while sometimes it is nice to hop on a jet and go far away to a distant land, sometimes a travel budget of 25 cents and a lunch break is all you need.

The Guest Book

Ever wonder how you end up in some places ? Me too. Maybe you took a wrong turn somewhere on the internet or maybe you are here because you like vintage coin operated stuff as much as I do ( although i'm not sure that is possible). Sometimes I wonder what the purpose of this blog really is. Is it about restoring machines ? Is it about the emotional connection we have with the machines of our early years ? Or is it just me rambling on endlessly and you guys wondering if I've lost my mind ? It's probably a little bit of all of that. As long as you all promise not to use this blog to have me institutionalized , I will keep writing. Hopefully something in here will encourage you to seek out an object from your past , be it an arcade game, jukebox, pinball, or whatever speaks to you. Buy it and restore it, or buy it and just enjoy it. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that we preserve these gems from our past and let them continue to remind us of how much fun the simpler things from simpler times can be. Either way, feel free to sign my makeshift guest book and let me know what ya think. Click on the "post a comment" button and fire at will.