I found out that the ghosts don't turn blue on board 17. I found this out after I ate the pill and nothing happened. I knew that was going to happen at some point, but I did not know exactly when.

165,000. (Note: this is not good and nothing like going 92 boards deep in Galaga. And I got confirmation that people tend to think the speed-up feature is cheesy, so I am even less good than 165K.)

And I should really photograph the basement with the lights off. That's how other guys depict their arcade. Like this guy: http://home.columbus.rr.com/irobot/homearcade.htm

OK, better picture of the Ms. Pac in action. It's blurry, but it's the camera, not the game. Or, more likely, the photographer not the camera.

[img]http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/6591/mspac02fw7.jpg[/img]

And better picture of the downstairs now that the table is gone. Still need to move that HP box upstairs. I just have to figure out how to get the CC in the frame, now:

[img]http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/9549/arcade01ok9.jpg[/img]

[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey"]Question! Do you / have you used the "speed" fix for Pac/Ms. Pac? Because I am curious as to how widespread it is. I can simply not play the Pac games without it. I can't get off the first board.[/quote]
Define "speed fix" - the use of the term "fix" is confusing.

There are a zillion speed-up chips. Those were not unusual to find back in the early '80s. Nor was it all that rare to find one of those "Pac Plus" or similar, with slightly different boards, boards that would disappear when you'd eat an energizer, etc.

I have played some of them on MAME, too, but I definitely played them in the arcade back in the day.

[quote]But yes: the burn-in on CC is pretty bad. You can easily see it when the game is off and you notice it slightly when the game is on.

The burn-in on the other two are very slight. The Pac kit has a "screen saver" mode that you can configure to run after n attract cycles. I definitely need to open it up again and turn that on. Ah crap I have more to write, gotta hop on this thread later tonight.[/quote]
Ugh, I can't stand burn-in. It makes me insane. I'm lucky that Baby Pac is on the original monitor and has zero burn-in.

Turning on the screen saver on your Ms Pac probably won't make much of a difference, because 1) the damage is already done and can't be undone, and 2) it's unlikely that you're going to let your machine sit on the attract mode untouched for days at a time, which is what caused the burn-in in the first place.

I assume that you turn it on when you are going to play a game and turn it off when you're done, and might leave it on for a few hours if you were having a party or something. Those conditions shouldn't cause any burn-in. So, it's probably not getting worse on your watch.

151,640, board 15. (First game I tried tonight, which ... well, it's not my theory, but I have a theory that I get better at activities after I've had a chance to sleep.)

And again I say that this is with the speed chip. I do not want to create a false impression of my talent. I played Ms. Pac on the GP earlier today, which has no speed fix, and I couldn't get off the second board.

The Ms. Pac/Galaga reissue in Breckenridge was the faster style of play, and I really doubt that the owner of "Fatty's Pizza" chose that. Could it be the default setting for that kind of machine???

Apartment F209 was coded, tested, and distributed on a computer sitting on one of those card tables.

(By a guy sitting on a folding chair in front of it.)

(Drinking beer.)

[quote="Jethro Q. Walrustitty"]So, you DENY the burn-in? What's next - denying the holocaust like Gibson's father?

Anyway, there's this wild new photographic technique that may help you. It's called, "turn the flash off."[/quote]

Yes, yes, NATCH. I need to get that table out of there and then re-take some photos. I would also like a picture of all three games together, but that may not be possible.

Question! Do you / have you used the "speed" fix for Pac/Ms. Pac? Because I am curious as to how widespread it is. I can simply not play the Pac games without it. I can't get off the first board.

But yes: the burn-in on CC is pretty bad. You can easily see it when the game is off and you notice it slightly when the game is on.

The burn-in on the other two are very slight. The Pac kit has a "screen saver" mode that you can configure to run after n attract cycles. I definitely need to open it up again and turn that on. Ah crap I have more to write, gotta hop on this thread later tonight.

So, you DENY the burn-in? What's next - denying the holocaust like Gibson's father?

Anyway, there's this wild new photographic technique that may help you. It's called, "turn the flash off."

The burn-in is an anomaly of the flash on the camera. Not sure if I can take a picture of what it looks like in real life. From the pic it looks like the Space Invaders are barely visible underneath it, but that's not truly the case.

Holy burn-in, batman!

Looks like you need a new monitor.

Too bad we're so far apart, I might consider parting with one of my nice new 19" arcade monitors (to be replaced with one of the now-available arcade/CGA/VGA 19" monitors in one of the MAME cabinets.)

Surely there's SOME place locally that sells arcade parts. Might be worth calling to see what a replacement monitor would cost. Burn-in is one of those things that just can't be fixed without replacement, and makes a huge difference in the feel of the game.

I wouldn't worry so much about the scratch, myself. It's "authentic" - you'd do a lot of work to restore the art (it looks a bit sun-faded but that could just be the pic) but it would look more like a repro and less like the real thing. My Baby Pac has a nice scratch right through the art on one side - but it's a-staying, as is the original art on the Taito and Stern cabinets.

[quote="Casual Observer"][quote="Ice Cream Jonsey"]What do you guys do with big pieces of trash you need hauled away?[/quote]Here in the ghetto, if I wanted to dispose of something that has a shred of value like that card table - I would just put it by the street and a passing poor person would gladly take it within hours (sometime minutes). But that doesn't help folks like you in the suburbs.[/quote]

I think the answer has revealed itself: [i]bring it back to Longmont!!![/i]

[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey"]What do you guys do with big pieces of trash you need hauled away?[/quote]Here in the ghetto, if I wanted to dispose of something that has a shred of value like that card table - I would just put it by the street and a passing poor person would gladly take it within hours (sometime minutes). But that doesn't help folks like you in the suburbs.

[quote="AArdvark"]Did you remove the card table of shame and ridicule? That's the burning question...[/quote]

I don't know quite how to dispose of it. I don't think I can cram it into our garbage can. What do you guys do with big pieces of trash you need hauled away?

Did you remove the card table of shame and ridicule? That's the burning question...



THE
TRANSIENT
FOUR LEGGED
AARDVARK

Progress so far: with the speed chip, I made it to the 13th board in Ms. Pac at a score of about 122,000. That score is very low for the 13th board, in fact, I hit 115,000 at board 9. Having been able to get no higher than board 9 since the second night I owned it I decided to ignore the ghosts and just try to complete the highest board I could.

Of course, now that I think about it, I died in the first board in the game I got to the 13th in. I am reluctant to reset the game after an early death though. The monsters get paid, too.

In related news, Dayna's favorite of the 96-in-1 seems to be Pengo.

[quote]Ms. Pac! It's got, as mentioned, the kit[/quote]

The returns are in -- the above sentence did very well in the sniggering department within Britain.

get rid of that GODDAMN card table. Those things are not allowed in my home. It's even broken.

The very mention of a Bob Ross and his happy little video games that live here is both appalling and deadly fascinating at the same time. Coupled with the fact that it's in the same thread as RobB's video cabinets give me the shivers. What pinball game are yiou looking for? Something digital, that gives you a million points for dropping a quarter or one of the electro-mechanical ones that have the knock solenoid and the Ding-Ding-Ding-Dung-Dung-Dung bars that so resemble a childs xylophone on the inside. Older ones have more class but are harder to repair (my Brother's has about a million contact switches in side the cabinet that absolutely refuse to stay clean for any length of time) I flipped the score one time tho. Thing only goes to 10,000

Get Firepower II, it's one of the better old-new ones.


THE
FLIPPER
AARDVARK

[quote="AArdvark"]Why can't one play Madden 2K5 and pac man at the same time? Mix up the genres a little Go crazy.[/quote]

There is a guy on Caltrops who is trying to offer suggestions for the new Bob Ross Video Game coming out. His suggestion was a takeoff on Super Qix. In Super Qix, you reveal a picture with your territory-claiming.

His take was that the pencil should be Bob Ross's head, the images revealed his paintings and then the sparks would be forms of cancer that did Bob in. He said it in a much funnier way than I can accurately describe. Needless to say, that game would be fucking awesome and someone needs to make it.

1. Yes, that is laundy on that table. I need to get a new picture there before Dayna wakes up.

2. Special appearance from America's Least Favorite Guest: Beavis!

3. In one of the pictures there you can sort of see Space Invaders being played. Kind of. It looks like crap. The colors are really crisp and vibrant on the monitor.