Pizza Hut has my Love!

[classicgamingguy]

Yesterday...........what a day for an "old school" guy like me, who still to this day misses the arcade "scene" so much sometimes I want to cry. They had a small upright (cabaret?) of Pac-man, BUT...it wasn't Pac-man! It was Ms. Pac-man! I almost drooled all over it in front of the restaurant patrons. I "wow'd" loudly enough to be heard all the way to the front of the eating area. Of course, the employees looked at me like I'd grown two heads. Since Pac-man is my FAVORITE arcade game that I still get obsessed over, I told them, "Look....if you EVER decide to get rid of this, here's my number and name. PLEASE call me first!"...I would LOVE to own that upright!

 

I know I probably acted like a complete idiot, but I haven't seen an arcade machine in my area for darn-nigh 25 years. I'm not talking a multi machine, I'm talking an old-school, right out of the arcade machine. They all disappeared when the last arcade packed up and moved out several years ago, and this site almost brought me to tears. Okay, it did. I believe I felt one trickle down my cheek as I stared and stared. My youth rushed back and slammed into me like a brick wall. I had all I could do not to drop on my knees and give the machine a big burly hug.....

 

I'm sure someone here can relate to that feeling, the utter shock, adoration, and happiness that my "child" experienced at that moment. The machine was restored of course...it looked absolutely sexy and I WANTED it more than anything right at that moment. Good thing the wife was waiting for me, or I would have curled up on it and slept there for the night.

[retrorussell]

If you can scrape up some money, by all means pursue this dream.

Check Craiglist for arcade machines in your area (I just type up "arcade" under search) and be prepared to part with around 500 bucks, you shouldn't fork out more than that for such an old game. Then you or someone you know should have a good-sized truck to pick it up. Just remember the machine is HEAVY AS HELL. If you live upstairs forget it. And as much as it may discourage you, you'll need to learn how to solder and replace parts, and when dealing with a super high-voltage monitor, you have to be SUPER careful or the damn thing could KILL you.

If that's something you can learn to live with, by all means pursue your dream. I dreamed forever of owning my own Dig Dug, not only do I have that in my bedroom but Phoenix and a Neo Geo cabinet in my living room. Time for me to buy a house and collect more!

[classicgamingguy]

Great idea...

 

I think I was just struck by an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. Brought back the smokey room of "Putts Alley" and "More Fun" (which wasn't as smokey) memories of my youth. After all this time I still get weepy about the arcades and their ultimate demise. I just love seeing these machines around still, but to own them realistically? My wallet's not big enough. I'm hoping to score one for free, for someone who doesn't really care to get paid. Then there's the technical aspect of trying to fix the thing. I can barely boil water withouth destroying the house.

[retrorussell]

I'm not good at electronics either, but fortunately my mom worked for Tektronix nearly all her life and knows a thing or two about soldering and circuit boards, so she can be bribed with lunch.

 

You owe it to yourself to own one someday.. just save some money here and there and you could probably negotiate with someone on a more reasonable price. $300 or less is probably doable with a lot of machines out there. Another thing to remember is even if you saw that it works before it got shipped to your house, things can change during the shipping and you might need to resolder a little. I've had the horizontal get a bit messed up just during shipping, so get a soldering iron and some wick just in case. And check the Video Game Collector's webring for help/info.

 

Yeah, it saddens me too to know that the memories of busy arcades and pizza parlors abuzz with the sounds of video game zapping/shooting/jumping noises is just that: memories. I feel your pain brotha!!!

 

Maybe this'll give you some warm fuzzies all over again.

[Z80GUY]

That was the most Awesome video I have ever seen !, too bad real arcades like that don't exist anymore I like how they had a scene of with the Quarters appearing along the machine. Also the way the video showed the MRS. Pacman Tournament that was classic.

 

Thanks for the link it was fun to watch.

 

Carl

[retrorussell]

No prob Carl. I thought it was pretty awesome too.. I never had an arcade that nice in my neck of the woods. My arcades had dingy carpets with cig burns, and no fancy fountains out front, no music videos on multi-screens, and no light shows. But there were some pretty sweet deals for tokens (6 for a dollar, extra tokens for good grades on your report card, etc.).

[Z80GUY]

yeah, the arcades around at my time were not that nice either , ours looked like the one from tron (flynn's place) only a lot smaller (like 25 machines total) and the place was a little brighter and more smokey.

 

this was around 1984 or 86 somewhere around in there, my Favorite was FUN ZONE in Nashville, TN where I used to live it was not far from a Hills Dept store in a Strip mall just off Burns RD.

 

we Lived in an apartment complex about 3 blocks from there man my allowance went there and Hills at that time I could get 2600 games for about .50 to from the bargin bin since they had no Instruction manuals or boxes got alot of games for $5.00 allowance let me tell ya .

 

shoot I remeber a time when I could go to hills and get about 3 boxed games for $10.00.

I miss those days.

 

 

Carl

[retrorussell]

I wasn't able to scrape up much money for Atari 2600 games but I did have a deal with my folks where if a certain list of school homework stuff was done x amount of times over a month I would get a new game. I ended up getting some good ones (Defender, Mario Bros., Venture, some other ones I can't recall).

Now, of course, I got my emulator Stella that plays pretty much every Atari game ever.

[Z80GUY]

well at least Defender and Venture were a couple of the good ones, if I only had limited amount of games that I could get my hands on they would be those two as well as few others.

 

I think of all the games on the 2600 these few here are the ones I found myself playing the most:

 

1. Defender

2. Venture

3. Berzerk

4. Pitfall 1 and 2\

5. Tennis

6. Taz

7. Atlantis

8. Dragon fire\

9. shuttle orbiter

10. Enduro

11. Centipede

12. Pole Position

 

I played others but those were the most played at my house as a kid.

 

Carl

Edited May 17, 2009 by Z80GUY

[classicgamingguy]

Thanks for sharing that video, retrorussell. GREAT stuff. I know I should just "get over it" now and admit the arcades are gone (except for a very few). Sigh..it's still good to see an arcade machine crop up every once in awhile and oogle over it.

 

I do owe it to myself to own one, at least, perhaps at some point in the future I'll be able to do just that. Right now, it's not a possible goal, but once things are better for me and my wife, it might just come true.

 

-Steve

[retrorussell]

Thanks for sharing that video, retrorussell. GREAT stuff. I know I should just "get over it" now and admit the arcades are gone (except for a very few). Sigh..it's still good to see an arcade machine crop up every once in awhile and oogle over it.

 

I do owe it to myself to own one, at least, perhaps at some point in the future I'll be able to do just that. Right now, it's not a possible goal, but once things are better for me and my wife, it might just come true.

 

-Steve

 

No prob CCG/Steve. There are some places where there are classic arcades (I got one in Portland called Ground Kontrol) that specializes in the era we remember best

 

Well, hope things do get more financially sound for you in the future and you can own your dream machine. Even if installing a new cap kit can be a pain (doing that with Dig Dug right now, and craning my neck to look inside the cabinet at the circuit board is REALLY bad for me!), it's still worth it at least to see the familiar cabinet from your childhood in your own house. And you can smoke, drink, or eat on it; it's YOUR machine!

[classicgamingguy]

Wow, that brings back memories of the kids grouped around the machines eating, drinking cokes or whatever, and spilling it all over the machine in question! Smoking was usually outside, depending on the arcade owner at the time. Glad I quit smoking a few months back so that won't be an issue. Smoke can really ruin a vintage machine like that. I'm sure some of you out there that happen to own a vintage machine from the bygone era can attest to what smoke from cigarettes can do to a cabinet!

 

Steve

[retrorussell]

I'm sure some of you out there that happen to own a vintage machine from the bygone era can attest to what smoke from cigarettes can do to a cabinet!

Or anything. After my Grandma died 15 years ago we had to SCRUB all the cigarette smoke out of the walls in her house and repaint. Gross..

[classicgamingguy]

Yeah...it's pretty nasty. When my wife and I smoked, we made a cardinal rule NEVER to smoke in the house, and we stuck to our guns about it, so our house is smoke-free. Our smoking friends sometimes forget and bring a cigarette inside, at which time they get severely chastised and chased out!!

[retrorussell]

Good for you Steve. Don't know what smoking bans you might have in N.H. but here in Oregon all bars are non-smoking. And since I don't smoke that makes me pretty durn happy.