Cassidy Nolen

Hey man, save them for a special occasion and then pop em in! I have been saying for years I have plans for a 50th birthday party to open my sealed games. Seriously. Its 17 years away and I will have my list of games I want to play for the first time. Honestly, the media has a finite life anyway. If the carts still work, we'll need some old tech tv's to make them play. I figure my 50th is towards 50 for the games (some more like 40) but that will still be plenty old to be "new". I collect sealed when I can. Congrats on that one man. Mayhem UK and I went round a few years back at CGE for one at the auction...I think somebody else got it though in the end C

Doesn't 7800 BallBlazers cart have one inside? Might be the cheapest way.....get a beat but working cart on ebay for a buck or two..... HTH, C

Sounds like you need a capacitor kit from what you described. Forget my breakfast recipe from the first post Cap kits as they are called are pretty standard fare in the game world. A tv shop could do it for you, most area collectors could do one for you or you could take the board itself off the machine and send it away. Mind you, there is/was high voltage on the glass picture tube EVEN when the game is off. It dissapates over time and even with some monitors when you turn off the game. There has been a fairly spirited debate on this forum whether one is actually safe to disassemble the monitor. I was taught by someone who either had little respect for his personal well being or a bunch of talent. I like to think it was talent as it really is not a big deal to do. Honestly, do some research on the web about discharging a monitor and decide if its something you feel comfortable doing or if you send that job out to a pro. Chances are, you have either a Electrohome G0-7 monitor or a Wells Gardner 4900. Both were standard equipment in that machine and both monitors are well worth repairing IMHO. Atari generally used good equipment, although the Matsu-junk they ran in Pole Position is debateable. Hope that helps some, here is a "I own a game now, what do I do" page I wrote a while back if you get bored... http://atarionline.com/acade_fixing_info.html

Locksmith? We don't need no stinkin locksmiths.....we use screwdrivers Take the marquee screws out of the top and use a long screwdriver to take the screw off the rear door lock. Once inside you can get to the coin box lock and unscrew that one too As for your vertical collapse, remember the monitor is rotated 90 degrees from origin, in other words, vertical is horizontal and vice versa in reference to monitor repair. It is not common (I haven't ever seen one) to have a monitor with no horizontal deflection on the board so most likely you have a cold solder joint on the connector for the deflection yoke. Good deal to get a free game. Easy fixes C

If you are going to run them for profit, definately do two things: Buy MATCHING locks, for your sanity, AND get new coin cutters. Those are the devices that select whether you get to play with a quarter or a piece of crayon. Most of my laundromats thought crayons and cheetoes were currency. Either that or my machine had a snacking habit. The cutters that are in there at minimum are 10 years old. These machines benefit from them for reliability and less jamming. In an arcade environment, EVERYONE knows very quickly what games are notorious for sucking their money and not giving a game. Just a caveat. The locks you buy at Home Depot will work, be advised they are often a hair bigger than the stock opening. Most of the time I take a file and just work the inside of the door opening. If I ever go back to an arcade weighted lock (heavier duty, thats all) the filing was so minor that you can never tell I did it. If the game has a reset or tilt switch, you might also have to file that. I usually just cut that and fit it around under the retaining nut. HTH, C

Ahm, the question at hand? I would throw the hat in the ring for the Monogrammed Space Chase. You could order a copy of Space Chase with your initials in the graphics of the ship blowing up, IIRC. As for rarity, this one is up there. I think Backiel has/had one and thats about it. Was there a second one? Commercial availability is a funny term. Technically, you had to be invited to order Video Life by buying Magicard so that one is eliminated, IMHO. I think mail order counts because all of the Atari Club carts started life that way (I know, the mass exodus dumping at Kay Bee toys....Quadruns for 99 cents...yadda yadda..) and some companies had a good business that way. Chuckwagon and Tooth Protectors were at one time up there. I think the supply is outweighing the demand on these two (in loose form). If you consider boxed specimens, then I think the rarity of any of these becomes substantially higher. How was Birthdaymania distributed? C

I agree about emulation. Its one of those things that you are either down with or not. For me I just want the real deal. The smell, feel, look, etc. are as important (in many ways moreso) than the gameplay itself. I can't play nearly as many times as I would like but I can go into the basement and enjoy the atmosphere. They don't have to be on to enjoy them in my opinion. There is a certain silent promise they make that you will enjoy them when they are on. I actually enjoy going to warehouses full of broken games and just imagine having the time to work on all of the games. It would be great to just spend a summer doing nothing but fixing arcades. Anyway, off my retro-soapbox....anybody got a way to host 14 megs? I guess I should say it also has schematics for all the monitors up until 80. Thats a fair number all things considered. No Polo's or K7000's but just about every other. C

I was digging around today and found some stuff I had from the old spies.archives. Found the Atari "The Book" pdf and a ton of Coin Connections, Atari's service bulletin's. The first I knew I had and was very happy to rediscover. I actually printed the first 100 pages out and bound them. The Book was printed early in the gaming industry's golden age but it covers vector games, raster monitor repair and general game diagnostics. I used that book to service games up until I got out of the business. Funny that old thing was that helpful! As for Coin Connections, not super useful. Cool to see. I can fix a G07 but have no idea how/where to upload a 14 meg. pdf. Anyone willing to host it (give me an ftp to use)? You all might already have the book. I could not find it on the web after spies closed, so this may be of some use to you. C

FTWIW, the older the cassette player, the better. Try to find an auto play one from the 80's or 90s with the two knobs. It will be as simple then as setting the knob volume where you want it and go. If you get a digital/electronic one you may have to turn the unit on and off. Those use the memory 12V lead in a car even if the key is turned off. Clearly your game will not produce 12V off Better not anyway My Thief had the car player wired in and it worked great. If you get a 15 min. tape you can just loop the sound over and over. Most computer programs will do that and you could record off of your PC headphone jack. Just my .25 cents. C

Just interested in the price tag on one. I think its too big for the gameroom but that is as close to the real thing as I have ever seen. It even responds to threshold braking and heel-toe shifting. I had not played it in a few years but did a few weeks back and now can't stop thinking about it. Maybe a single monitor 2 player is more practical. Any ideas on cost? They just don't seem to be for sale (even through my contacts). C

I will completely vouch for the item, Mayhem Small word, I did not know who was looking at it. IMHO is was in excellent shape, no scratches, etc. and it did come right on without playing around with it. Good luck, hope you guys can work out a good deal. He has/had an amazing collection from what I see here, shame he can't keep it. Our good fortune I guess. Cassidy

Wanted to give my .25 on this one Sven (oldstuff) came over last night and we fired up his development cart for the 7800. It was most uneventful (the game that is, Sven is a great guy) as you can imagine but it did indeed work. If the condition of that was any indicator of the quality of the "rest" of the stuff, this is the find of the year. He recently moved and doesn't know values on the stuff. Make him fair offers and I think you will be pleased. Bottom line, his lack of research is your benefit to get a good deal. I've been there before too, worth taking a bit less to save the trouble of ebay and research. The Neo stuff, PCE, TG Duo and the Saturn stuff look top notch. I think the NTSC converters would be GREAT too. Go on, yall, its proven a good souce. Dude is legit and I plan on hanging with him in the future. Word. Cassidy

Guess that about wraps up the "how much is it worth" question! C

Absolutely amazing work. You should get in touch with Arcadeshop.com or Clay Cowgill and get this to market. There is really not much enforcement on copyright issues with Data East I would imagine and the fact you single-handedly saved, oh, I don't know, EVERY Data cab from being junked is AMAZING. No sense not to make a few bucks on your efforts. Outstanding. I know Tempest has a spare set of boards around (at least he did). I know he will be VERY happy to see your final product. Great job, wish I still had a cab to test this in. Cassidy

Cool board! Now to find the rest of the machine! Clearly made to work in a board stack similar to CS. My guess is Computer Space Ball or Computer Quiz. It seems that board suffers from the standard procedure of sanding off the ic's numbers that most NA games got. Somehow oddly my 2P CS machine did not suffer that fate....but IIRC my Computer Quiz did. There was a version called IQ Computer Quiz and there was a 2 player version, I believe. The only reason I know is I have seen a flyer for the IQ version (founded by another Nutting family member, brother I think) and my CQ had the 2 player back door on it by mistake. I donated it to the Game Expo thing (whatever its called now) a year ago. Those are my pics on the CS site...I will try and make a link. He has my CS machine on there I don't mind sharing whatever I have. BTW, got the CQuiz at Winston Salem auction in 2001 for I think 10 bucks?....Got it running in an afternoon. C

They are indeed tv powered as there was not a market in the early 70's for monitors per se. Within a few years there was of course the real deal. Heres the catch: Curt Vendel swears he can tune a regular production TV to run on a pong. I have never had such luck. There is some sort of a bias circuit that you have to build (I am guessing a resistor or two?) and then send the signal in on the TV board BEFORE the tuner and then disable the tuner output. What I seem to get is a fuzzy tuner-filtered image. If worst case strikes, you can use a color monitor and just drive one gun (RG or B, sync tied to the ground, IIRC). Did that (dimly visible) on an Anti-Aircraft...all my b&w monitors were down at the time!!! C

I've had one since Christmas of 83 Still doing a great job of Vid-Tariing. I used to think it said Vid-Trai, which also makes some sense. Still in nice shape, it sits on my 4 woody from childhood. I also have a brown cartridge "lunchbox" with no markings on it I got about the same time. I will take a pic of it sometime soon. Maybe some of you ad-hounds will know what its called. I love it and its one of my favorite Atari pieces. I remember it strung across the handlebars of my Huffy (you know, the one that never really rode right because you had it put together at the store?). C

Fantastic space, good layout and fun themed. Thats it man, the dream arcade. Very nice selection of games and a clear pinball theme! Hard to actually stick to. Well done and a GREAT place to hang out. Are we invited to the party? Seriously, I just want to check out the Lego stuff, too!~ Great gameroom! BTW, should we have a sticky of game room shots? Cassidy

Well I guess ebay will tell us what its worth... Interested to see this one. Few (if any) of my boxed games have gone up in value. I think for the most part the collection is worth less than I paid for it. Not really an issue but interesting as a trend. This is one that might sell for more than I have in it for a change! No, mine is not for sale, just seen a lot of hype lately of people needing it. Cassidy

http://www.computerspacefan.com/ComputerQuiz.htm is a page I gave the guy the pics. I could not find them on my pc but here they are.... C

Well we can eliminate Compter Space right away Its far more densely populated. By the spacing I am going to say its a pong type clone. NA made a few knock offs of that game, as did everybody else. After looking at my own pics of the Quiz game I think its too populated to be a projector game and not dense enough to be much more. How big is that board? C

That pic is still as funny today as it was years ago. That was my avatar for the longest time. Curt kept making fun of it. Still made me laugh to see today. Good post digging folks Bored at work much? C

Sounds a bit like its a compulsion rather than a hobby for you. Its a fine line if you are a collector-mentality person. Sounds like you are right at the edge of your means to buy games and still live in the day-to-day world. I have been there before in other times of my life (like the time I sold a car to buy speakers..or put a motorcycle on a credit card...you get the idea) and frankly they never made me happy for very long. Might I suggest taking some of the good advice here and scale back. Maybe try selling a few big dollar items. If you sell a boxed Quadrun, you KNOW you can buy another in the future. You are getting a pretty good bit of money at one time and you still have the mass of your collection. You'd have to sell a crapload of gatefolds, Fox, Coleco, etc games to equal just that one. If not Quadrun, you get my point. Make some bucks back, straighten out the finances and get back to being yourself. You'll feel better and be happier in the long run. Selling and running now might make you never come back. Clearly this is something you love but may just need a tune up on perspective? Ebay and the internet as a whole can wreak havoc on people. The whole idea is "you have to have it NOW! Look at this deal! I HAVE TO do this." Psychologists in a few years will be talking about it if they aren't now. You are not alone, I am sure there are PLENTY others who don't admit it and therefore never get back to something they love. Good luck man, best wishes to you, Cassidy

APB is the man C

I have some somewhere of Computer Quiz. Only ever seen that one around. Anyone ever actually played, touched, seen or otherwise experienced any others? I know they had a handful of others. My "how did they do that" title would be to play Watergate Caper. I don't think it ever made it past this ad phase. Will see if I can dig some pics up. CQ was a stack of about 4 or 5 boards about 9 by 10 inches, maybe a little smaller. One or two were all relays the others were IC's. Very elegant design. C