We moved across the country, so the arcade has been disbanded. We had some good times. All the games were sold and/or given away (or perhaps on long term loan?) with the exception of Major Havoc (now fully assembled in all its glory) and the Indiana Jones pinball which we brought with us.
We are moving which will relieve the 'almost cramped' feeling but will take a while and impact time available for repairs and development of projects. On the other hand it means space for the latest addition, a very nice Twilight Zone pinball machine. Here are four possible layouts for the new space: 1, 2, 3, 4. Note there is also a Red Baron, which is being built from a Battlezone that came with the open face kit.
"Final" addition: The Addams Family pinball! Found a good local deal and after a few repairs (leaked battery-damaged traces jumpered for the switch matrix, resoldered broken off solenoid leads, replaced 22 bulbs and a DMD fuse) and a good cleaning she is playing well. Contemplating a few mods and the color DMD as well as switching to the Special Edition ROM. It fits in perfectly between Star Trek and Cyclone - both physically and in terms of game play complexity and style.
To fit, the back wall has reached maximum density, but there is still an inch or two between games. Aisles are at least 24" wide so it's on the verge of feeling cramped - may flip the arrangement of the back row so the deeper games are by Cyclone (as before).
We have Multi-Williams! I've tucked a switching PS and the old ArcadeShop board into a dedicated Stargate I've had loitering around here for a while. The sad Joust cabinet (still in garage covered with black paint from its Hydra conversion) has no original parts left so it is the logical choice to someday house the horizontal mulit-game (and the Stargate will revert to its own self). For now we are glad to be finally playing all those games, and feel like the arcade is complete!
Also upgraded the sound system to two pair of Boston Acoustics 745 speaker systems, hooked to an Apple Airport Express to stream audio. Quadrophenia!
Video walkthrough! Also, the Quantum repro PCB is currently playing well in the Tempest cab using an adapter PCB and temporary control panel - but can be swapped back to Tempest with no harm done.
Due to popular demand, we picked up a Spy Hunter to replace the one I gave away. Cabinet has been reglued, Cheap Squeak fixed, replaced PS caps to eliminate reduce hum and fixed loose ground wire to get the marquee lit. Still has this weird intermittent problem where the game will freeze with a black screen and then return (right where it stopped) and continue playing.
Carpet has been installed and the power outlets installed. Since there are no finished walls, the outlets for the games are installed in the ceiling, with two duplex outlets (4 games) per circuit. Eight foot extension cords hang straight down along the wall behind the center of each game. This omits clutter while still allowing the games to be pulled out for service (made simply by the installation of these roller bearings)
Two flourescent shop lights can be used to brightly light the room; but they are kept off most of the time. The lighting plan was to have blacklights and RGB LEDs bouncing off a small disco ball... turns out the LED strips are so diffuse they do not work with a disco ball. Upon further, ah, reflection, I'm glad it didn't work out as we'll now go with a more subdued scheme where the lighting strips lie in an aluminum track and shine up to be bounced off the ceiling (shown as the eight-sided figure in the center). The controller allows for various color changing patterns (my favorite is the slow crossfade along the RGB spectrum) or keying off the ambient noise in the room (where frequency changes color and volume changes brightness - will have to test in the actual environment).
Still looking for a SketchUp model of the Omega Race and Star Trek cockpit.
Asteroids / Asteroids Deluxe / Lunar Lander multigame analog thruster control interface: shipping!
this is an add-on to the upcoming Braze Technology kit. Play LL with an original style thruster handle instead of buttons.
Omega Race reproduction PCB: A first-run total of 28 boards were produced and sold, one fully assembled. Story here and here. Buyers' builds here. Second run produced and 18 of 20 boards sold, then the last 2 sold fully assembled. Sold out!
WG6100 HV repro board (P329): board layout done but where to get the transformer (T901)? Is it the same as Amplifone T1? Both questions now answered at Amazing Arcading.
Conversion board to run current DAC312 in place of hard-to-find AD561 DAC: protoype boards arrived! Will build and test 'soon'.
HP 10529a original repro cards: Now available. Includes a few extra features for ease-of-use. Gerber files now available for free here.
New project (in development): Logic comparator (like the HP10529a) but good for chips with 20 pins (new card). Backwards compatible with original cards.
Amplifone 25" from an old TV: done!
WG6100 yoke winding: investigating.
Adapters: Quantum PCB to Tempest cabinet available, Asteroids PCB to Space Duel Cabinet testing, Major Havoc (either PCB) to Space Duel Cabinet (with Amplifone - no correction) cancelled - plan to use selectively populated existing product from Biltronix.
Instructions to convert Omega Race to use a switching power supply.
Investigating retrofit boards to improve the quality of vectors (Jed Margolin's idea from Tomcat: instead of turning the DAC reference on and off, the voltage from the DAC is connected to/disconnected from the integrator.)
Coming soon for the test bench: Space Duel to X adapter board with built-in controls. Hooks up to a Space Duel harness, has spots on board for a full set of controls (up/down/left/right/button 1/button 2) for P1 & P2 or trackball or dual analog stick with button 3. Add the relevant controls and solder the edge connector according to the target game's pinout and use it to run any Atari, SEGA or Midway color or B&W vector game. Generates +12v and -5v for games like Star Wars from the Space Duel harness.
Battlezone Cabaret inner artwork scans - working on having it vectorized and repro art made.
I repair vector game PCBs and monitors. Currently in a Star Wars phase.
Atari System One miscellaneous cabinet parts (coin door, speaker grills, other hardware) $cheap - must inventory
coming soon(ish):
Omega Race upright
Stargate upright
