Centipede (1980 Atari)
The Story: Up until about 6 or 7 years ago, I had never played Centipede in its arcade form (at least not to my memory). It was one of my favorites on the Atari 2600. I had gone on a camping trip (float trip) in 2004 at a campsite near the meramec river. They had a general store with a Centipede arcade game inside, still gobbling up quarters. While I only played a few games, I quickly learned that I had been missing out all those years. There was something to be said about the awesome artwork and enhanced gameplay, not to mention fluent control with a trackball. I thought back then about how cool it would be to own one someday, and 5 years later it happened.
The Score: Found on local Craigslist for $100. The seller described the game as "playing blind", meaning you can hear the game play but the screen shows nothing. He also mentioned the side art was completely missing on one side. I have to be honest, my expectations weren’t high with this one. I have seen lots of old Atari cabinets previously, and almost every one of them had some form of cabinet damage, mostly swelling and other water damage. Well, it turns out the game is right down the street from my job, so we arrange a preview after work one day. Sure enough it was playing blind and the RH side art is gone (probably the 4 small holes drilled into that side contributed). There are other minor issues, mainly a flaking marquee and typical wear on the CPO around the trackball. Other than the missing RH side art, the cabinet is in fantastic shape. No swelling, clean inside and out, and the LH side art is nearly perfect. It even has the original manual and back door sheet, completely untouched. Not a bad deal, so I bought it and brought it home.
The Service: Sometimes a monitor chassis is beyond help (at least for my level of expertise), and that was the case here (well, sort of). A cap kit and flyback brought the original G07 back to life, but it would take forever to warm up, sometimes a few hours. I ended up buying a rebuilt chassis from a forum member. The marquee was flaking away, so a reproduction translite marquee takes its place. Another forum member had a nice CP with a nice Willis CPO up for grabs (yes, I said "nice" and "Willis" in the same sentence, imagine that). I snatched it up, and the trackball got new bearings and a new red ball. The original PCB was working but wasn’t saving high scores (it features EEROM which is supposed to save the top 3 scores), so that was also replaced. And just for preventative maintenance, I rebuilt the ARII and replaced the big blue.
The Score: Found on local Craigslist for $100. The seller described the game as "playing blind", meaning you can hear the game play but the screen shows nothing. He also mentioned the side art was completely missing on one side. I have to be honest, my expectations weren’t high with this one. I have seen lots of old Atari cabinets previously, and almost every one of them had some form of cabinet damage, mostly swelling and other water damage. Well, it turns out the game is right down the street from my job, so we arrange a preview after work one day. Sure enough it was playing blind and the RH side art is gone (probably the 4 small holes drilled into that side contributed). There are other minor issues, mainly a flaking marquee and typical wear on the CPO around the trackball. Other than the missing RH side art, the cabinet is in fantastic shape. No swelling, clean inside and out, and the LH side art is nearly perfect. It even has the original manual and back door sheet, completely untouched. Not a bad deal, so I bought it and brought it home.
The Service: Sometimes a monitor chassis is beyond help (at least for my level of expertise), and that was the case here (well, sort of). A cap kit and flyback brought the original G07 back to life, but it would take forever to warm up, sometimes a few hours. I ended up buying a rebuilt chassis from a forum member. The marquee was flaking away, so a reproduction translite marquee takes its place. Another forum member had a nice CP with a nice Willis CPO up for grabs (yes, I said "nice" and "Willis" in the same sentence, imagine that). I snatched it up, and the trackball got new bearings and a new red ball. The original PCB was working but wasn’t saving high scores (it features EEROM which is supposed to save the top 3 scores), so that was also replaced. And just for preventative maintenance, I rebuilt the ARII and replaced the big blue.