Anyone Collect / Repair Old Arcade Cabinets? (1 Viewer)

I grew up going to arcades in the 80's and I had bought a conversion kit for a game I liked years ago planning to one day set up some games in my own game room.  Twenty years later and we still haven't finished the basement, let alone set up a game room.

Anyone have their own?  What games do you have?

If you don't, what games would be on your must have list for your game room?

Old ones, no. They make new full size ones with HD screens and loaded with thousands of games for under 2k.

The old ones are obsolete and impractical now. Same reason I stopped saving my old gaming systems. I can still play the roms on my laptop with a Xbox controller and be bored 10 minutes later whenever I feel the itch. 

STEADYMOBBIN 22 said:

Old ones, no. They make new full size ones with HD screens and loaded with thousands of games for under 2k.

The old ones are obsolete and impractical now. Same reason I stopped saving my old gaming systems. I can still play the roms on my laptop with a Xbox controller and be bored 10 minutes later whenever I feel the itch. 

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Yeah, that's one of the reasons I never bothered with it but there's nothing like playing the old games.  My buddy has one of those systems but its just not the same.  I think its more the nostalgia of having the cabinets.  But, I agree, dropping thousands of dollars for a big machine that only plays one game isn't incredibly practical. 

Vegas Trip said:

I grew up going to arcades in the 80's and I had bought a conversion kit for a game I liked years ago planning to one day set up some games in my own game room.  Twenty years later and we still haven't finished the basement, let alone set up a game room.

Anyone have their own?  What games do you have?

If you don't, what games would be on your must have list for your game room?

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A buddy of mine tried to open up an arcade with a bunch of old games.  It was fun for an afternoon, but there are only a few games that I could still really put some time in.  My favorites were Super Sprint (with the three wheels, more tracks than the regular sprint) and Quarterback.  As a teenager, we lived close to a bowling alley that had both of these games.  Quarterback was awesome as it had a leaderboard of not just high scores, but career totals.  Loved going down there, play a few games to get back in the top leader boards, then play some sprint. 

Xenophobia was another good one, but that was an addictive quarter eater if I remember correctly. 

I'm sure those machines aren't very durable though, and you'd have to be a wiz to keep them running.

Might be able to get some for cheap soon, retro bars with old video games was quite the fad last five to ten years. COVID is wiping those places out though.

Or you can buy one of the many ROM cabinet/machines being advertised like crazy on social media and other websites.

I built a cabinet with a motherboard kit and an old monitor, preloaded with 50 classic games. The whole thing set me back around $200. It's fun for a nostalgic laugh every now and then, but I've had to replace the joystick 3 times which is a pain in the butt. The retro joysticks aren't built to withstand any serious pressure being put on them.

Just for nostalgia reasons the games that I would think about having are:

Dragon's Lair - I remember being 7 or 8 and being totally blown away by this game although the gameplay is limited.  I could save my quarters and just enjoy watching others play or eventually show off a bit when I got the hang of it.  I've bought versions for the PC and DVD over the years to replay.

Punch Out / Super Punch Out - Great graphics and a challenge to get through all the fighters, also fun to watch or play and show off.  I've got the conversion kit for Arm Wrestling which was a knock off of Punch Out and goofier and fun to play.

Ikari Warriors - I really like the rotating 8-way joystick and being able to jump into tanks

Gauntlet - Fun to play with friends.  "Wizard needs food badly!"

Tron - Liked the movie and the varied gameplay although repetitive, cool cabinet.

Track and Field - Just smashing buttons but fun to play a friend and also try and set the records.

Dig Dug, Burger Time, Elevator Action, Bionic Commando, etc...

My favorite multiplayer sports game but super rare, only saw it at one arcade ever...  Tecmo Bowl (Four Player)

Vegas Trip said:

Yeah, that's one of the reasons I never bothered with it but there's nothing like playing the old games.  My buddy has one of those systems but its just not the same.  I think its more the nostalgia of having the cabinets.  But, I agree, dropping thousands of dollars for a big machine that only plays one game isn't incredibly practical. 

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Well, to be fair, many of the machines didn't just play one game. After a while, the manufacturers caught on and made them upgradable... just add a new ROM and slap new stickers on the side and you can re-brand an old played-out machine with a new game. For most of the time arcade machines have been around, they've been intended to house multiple games (albeit, one at a time). Having a machine that can play 50 or 200 or 1000 is just the next logical step.

shades said:

Well, to be fair, many of the machines didn't just play one game. After a while, the manufacturers caught on and made them upgradable... just add a new ROM and slap new stickers on the side and you can re-brand an old played-out machine with a new game. For most of the time arcade machines have been around, they've been intended to house multiple games (albeit, one at a time). Having a machine that can play 50 or 200 or 1000 is just the next logical step.

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Yeah, sorry.  I meant buying one of the classics and that it's only one game in the cabinet.

Vegas Trip said:

Track and Field - Just smashing buttons but fun to play a friend and also try and set the records.

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Did you ever see anyone employ the ballpoint-pen trick to run at ludicrous speeds in this game? You'd walk up to a Track & Field machine and see that the 100m dash record was like 6.32 seconds -- whaaat?!?

Sea Duck said:

The retro joysticks aren't built to withstand any serious pressure being put on them.

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The joystick is important.  Those original games cost thousands of dollars and were made with quality physical parts even if the programming was primitive.  I've played a few of the newly made ones that have a bunch of different retro games and the joystick is never responsive enough.  You can't play Donkey Kong with a joystick that is in the style of Kangaroo's joystick.  It is super frustrating to play a game and die because of the poor quality joystick.  Each joystick was specifically made for each individual game.

Vegas Trip said:

My favorite multiplayer sports game but super rare, only saw it at one arcade ever...  Tecmo Bowl (Four Player)

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Forgot about that one, it was great.  

How about the X's and O's football game with the track ball?  Older, but also a great football strategy game.

Doug B said:

Did you ever see anyone employ the ballpoint-pen trick to run at ludicrous speeds in this game? You'd walk up to a Track & Field machine and see that the 100m dash record was like 6.32 seconds -- whaaat?!?

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Of course.  Never remembered to bring my own pen of course.

Vegas Trip said:

Yeah, sorry.  I meant buying one of the classics and that it's only one game in the cabinet.

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So am I, Bally and Midway and the rest made their cabinets to be modular... Once people stopped playing Pac-Man or whatever, they just needed to replace the stickers on the side and plug in a new memory module to turn it into a Q-Bert. After like the mid 80s the cabinets were intended to house multiple games in their life of usage. 

Vector Volcano in Bend, Oregon

Old school vids and new school beers. Went there a few times last winter. Super fun.

Doug B said:

Did you ever see anyone employ the ballpoint-pen trick to run at ludicrous speeds in this game? You'd walk up to a Track & Field machine and see that the 100m dash record was like 6.32 seconds -- whaaat?!?

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I use a lighter 

⚡DEADHEAD⚡ said:

Vector Volcano in Bend, Oregon

Old school vids and new school beers. Went there a few times last winter. Super fun.

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We've been there too. I enjoyed it but my daughter got bored very quickly lol.