This really does make me happy. Had two family friends of families visit last week and everything with one exception was working flawlessly. What a great feeling.

(There is a small graphical glitch I gotta check out for Donkey Kong, if I can open the back door on it. Most people would not recognize it.)

Two months of completely working games and counting. A triumph.

Well, every game did great. I started and ended the day with all the games working.

There were a lot of people over. I am going to admit that when too many people come over to the house it can be a bit overwhelming for me. My oldest nephew chose to spend time talking with his grandfather and friends at the adult table. I took my middle nephew to the garage. We started with MK2, he wanted to play Warlords so we did that. He's a good kid. They are all good kids! The oldest is 14, he asked about getting to drive a stick shift car when he gets his permit shortly. He is getting into different things now, and of course he is. I'm proud of him.

I was going to write something like, "I did my part, the oldest knows about arcade games now and......." well, I didn't do it for him, I did it for me. It was important [i]to me[/i] to own these giant, impractical monstrosities, it was important [i]to me[/i] that he had the option to play them, and we did for many years.

The middle nephew tried Donkey Kong for the first time. The next time he comes over I am going to try to really show him how to play it. But again, I am doing this because it makes me feel good to spend time with them this way.

The tech dropped off and installed the chassis for X-Men. All games work again! Easter will be a big game playing day. We'll see how they do.

Well that is just lame that the monitor only worked that long. If you want it fixed right I can probably do it if it’s 19 inch (my 25 inch monitor is in my Neo Geo and is by no means a testing rig heh) and if not me then I know arcadebuffett man can. Hell, he’d probably point out multiple things the last guy did wrong.

Had the machine been moved since he did the work? As stupid as it sounds, sometimes just the red/blue pairs to the video section haven’t been pushed down all the way or become dislodged and you will get collapse.

You got vertical or horizontal collapse? The latter can also be caused by the width section (coil/caps) shitting out.

I am going to try to record what times all the games were working in the arcade.

On August 22nd I have a text message saying that the chassis for X-Men was fixed. I think the tech installed it the next day.

On Sunday, November 7th I turned all the games on and the monitor's picture collapsed on X-Men and there was deformed sprites on Donkey Kong. So that was 77 days. Donkey Kong I can probably fix (I bet it's getting less than 5 volts on the +5 line). It's odd that the picture went out on X-Men after the previous repair.

Here is a link frozen in time for August 2021.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmWwvQ4K

Missile Command

[img]https://i.imgur.com/liK7sYth.jpg[/img]

(I'm writing this in case I go back and read it later because I can never remember anything!)

I picked this up on Thursday. I was off work and unemployed and it was on location in Dillon, Colorado. I have been through the town on the highway (I've driven from Colorado to Las Vegas a few times) but never stopped. And it's a cute little down and I should have taken pictures of the mountains and forests that I passed. It rained as I entered Dillon and then rained the entire way back. I rented a cargo van from Uhaul, which is always easy thankfully!

There's a book called [url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QG5QQSX/]Missile Commander by Tony Temple[/url], which is a great reference as to Missile Command's creation and all the high score drama that comes along with that game. It's a fun book and got me thinking about how Missile Command is impossible to fake in a real arcade setting, so it was on my mental list.

I can get past the first five boards, but I think that they really ramp up the difficulty after that. I am fascinated by the gameplay - I've read that some strategies include being ok with the fact that most of the cities will get nuked, and to focus on protecting one to the left of the center silo. I find myself getting a little too attached - sort of the same deal with Defender: because I want to save [i]every[/i] little dude on the screen I save none of them and it's all over quickly.

This particular game also has the Super Missile Attack board installed, which I haven't spent much time with just yet. So that's something cool to look forward to. Mechanically, the game is fine, not the most gorgeous thing in my garage but not bad enough where I feel I need to buy new side art or anything. Missile Command has some gameplay qualities that make me think it's going to be around for a long time.

Awesome! It was a lot of fun playing most of these when I was at yr old place.

It is a great feeling to see them all running at the same time. I'm still at "only" 4 complete games but yes, it's nice!

There's 19 at the moment. We tell people 18 so we don't have to tell them 19.

(That's a pinback bit.)

You have 18 cabinets?

I did not! He was working for 3 hours. Had to get some parts at one point. I thought it was a good deal, what he charged.

This is absolutely wonderful news. I hate going through life not fixing things and then discovering how easy those things were to fix. I hope it didn't cost you a fortune, but what great news. It's party time!!

I am going to add to this. But I had to note today.

Guy came out and tapped into the abandoned breaker box that was in the garage. It had 240 going to it. I couldn't use it for anything!

He connected outlets to it.

I just ran all the games for the first time here.

So....

1) All the games are working. Not perfectly - I have to put the new monitor in Mr. Do! - but they can all be played.
2) All the games can be on at the same time.
3) There are no electrical issues out there.

This is.... this is a rare time. Time to throw some parties.

I counted and I have 18 if you include the pinball. That was more than I would have guessed. They multiply.

Food Fight

[img]https://i.imgur.com/HEjrk5al.jpg[/img]

Food Fight has a lot going for it - that unique cabinet with the bright colors. The crazy concept (chucking food as missile weapons at the computer). The ultra sensitive joystick that is unique and analog - it has two pots on it, so you can stay in one spot BUT move the joystick and chuck food at the enemy chefs. At one point in the game there is watermelon out and there is an endless supply, so you can do this until the timer - which is in the form of a dripping ice cream cone - melts.

Oh yeah, and it also has instant replay if it thinks you had an exciting level.

OH YEAH, it also matches up the replay song to make it always end right as your instant replay ends. It may be 40 years later but that is still impressive to me.

I got this game, according to my records, on August 13th, 2013. I don't know if that's when it arrived or when I "bought it now" off eBay. I got it from a guy in Connecticut, I think. Shipped with no issue to Colorado. The only issue it's ever had is that there is plastic connector that wears out and a dude makes an aluminum one - https://www.basementarcade.com/More_Gimbal_info.html

I'm really happy with Food Fight, tough to see ever getting rid of it. When people talk about the different gameplay of 80s video games, this is a great example.

Centipede

[img]https://i.imgur.com/i68iawCl.jpg[/img]

This is a cocktail machine that I bought on July 31st, 2020 from a collector a few exits away from me. We had my wife's father's truck at our house for some reason. This was during a very dead area of the pandemic where nobody went anywhere or did anything and nobody was getting vaccinated. There wasn't much to do in terms of leisure activity for a guy like me except for going on craigslist and wishing on arcade games.

The standup version is, of course, superior because it has that kick-ass side art. And I had one of those at one point. I sold it to the 1UP in Denver when I went to move in with my wife the first time. But this is still pretty fun - love the fact that I have two trackballs for it, the screen on this one is nice and bright, great sound. It's a nice game from the 80s and not a piece of crap like many of the ones I bought were when I first started collecting.

It's actually in our house right now and not the garage. I want to move it to the office, I just haven't had the willpower to do it. I wanted a game indoors during the winter as my garage is not yet heated. When my wife comes home tonight after working the covid clinic I am going to pour her a glass of wine, sit at the table and see if she'd like to go HEAD TO HEAD hrwehwerhwerhwerhwerhwerhwer.

[quote=pinback post_id=118982 time=1614541462 user_id=5]
[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey" post_id=118981 time=1614540002 user_id=3]the story of Xenophobe is an exhausting one.[/quote]

Physically and otherwise!
[/quote]

I can't imagine moving something that heavy now. Except for my own body. SIGH.

[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey" post_id=118981 time=1614540002 user_id=3]the story of Xenophobe is an exhausting one.[/quote]

Physically and otherwise!

I was going to do this in chronological order, but thinking it over the story of Xenophobe is an exhausting one. So I am not going to do that. I was going to try to take pictures of all the games working, but I am avoiding turning them on in the winter. But the Centipede cocktail is inside. So we'll start with that one.