Pac-Man (1980 Namco, Licensed to Midway Mfg.)
The Story: C'mon, do I really need to explain this one? Pac-Man was an
instant success back in 1980. It was so popular that it was to be blamed for
quarter shortages much like Space Invaders not long before. It was one of the
first games featuring characters as stars of the game. And who can forget those
intermission scenes? Pac-Man was such a success that it spawned many sequels,
most notably Ms. Pac-Man which I happened to own. In fact, I've been fortunate
enough to own a handful of Ms. Pac-Man uprights. I never owned the original
Pac-Man and didn't see a need to, as Ms. Pac-Man essentially used the same
hardware which can easily be modified with an abundance of available multi-kits
available today. So why did I end up replacing my Ms. Pac-Man for the original?
Read on...
The Score: We were visiting my wife's family in KC and, as usual, I was
browsing Craigslist in the area for bargains on arcade games. I came across a
listing for a Championship Sprint game that was mostly working. I didn't really
need that game but I thought I could easily fix it and flip it, that is, of
course, if the seller would take a $50 lowball offer. He countered by a measly
$10. Bottom line was I am taking another project home.
Now what on earth does this have to do with Pac-Man? Well when I picked up
the Championship Sprint game I couldn't help noticing a decent looking Pac-Man
standing right beside it. Of course I had to ask about it. This was a young man
who bought both of these games as projects that he hoped to fix someday. Well,
then he started getting more into cars and less into video games. The game was
complete minus a back door and in pretty good shape considering what these games
normally look like after 30 years of abuse. It did boot to garbage, but I saw
the potential and knew right away that it could easily be saved. I couldnt
resist asking if he wanted to sell it. Yeah, I already have a Ms. Pac-Man with a
4-in-1 hack and I was already buying one game from this young man to flip later
on. But I could really make some money on this one too. He wasn't sure what to
do with the game anymore and wasn't sure what a fair price would be. From there
I explained what I already owned and told him I would likely fix and flip this
one as well, and with that I made another lowball offer ($100 this time around).
I assured him that it could easily fetch much more with a little work, but in
the end he just wanted the extra cash. Well, that and his mother wanted her
garage back. I think he also sensed that I know a thing or two about these games
and that I would enjoy bringing this one back to it's former glory.
From there its pretty much obvious, I quickly broke out the checkbook and now
my truck is loaded up with 2 more games. Oh, and on the ride home, guess what
comes on the radio?
instant success back in 1980. It was so popular that it was to be blamed for
quarter shortages much like Space Invaders not long before. It was one of the
first games featuring characters as stars of the game. And who can forget those
intermission scenes? Pac-Man was such a success that it spawned many sequels,
most notably Ms. Pac-Man which I happened to own. In fact, I've been fortunate
enough to own a handful of Ms. Pac-Man uprights. I never owned the original
Pac-Man and didn't see a need to, as Ms. Pac-Man essentially used the same
hardware which can easily be modified with an abundance of available multi-kits
available today. So why did I end up replacing my Ms. Pac-Man for the original?
Read on...
The Score: We were visiting my wife's family in KC and, as usual, I was
browsing Craigslist in the area for bargains on arcade games. I came across a
listing for a Championship Sprint game that was mostly working. I didn't really
need that game but I thought I could easily fix it and flip it, that is, of
course, if the seller would take a $50 lowball offer. He countered by a measly
$10. Bottom line was I am taking another project home.
Now what on earth does this have to do with Pac-Man? Well when I picked up
the Championship Sprint game I couldn't help noticing a decent looking Pac-Man
standing right beside it. Of course I had to ask about it. This was a young man
who bought both of these games as projects that he hoped to fix someday. Well,
then he started getting more into cars and less into video games. The game was
complete minus a back door and in pretty good shape considering what these games
normally look like after 30 years of abuse. It did boot to garbage, but I saw
the potential and knew right away that it could easily be saved. I couldnt
resist asking if he wanted to sell it. Yeah, I already have a Ms. Pac-Man with a
4-in-1 hack and I was already buying one game from this young man to flip later
on. But I could really make some money on this one too. He wasn't sure what to
do with the game anymore and wasn't sure what a fair price would be. From there
I explained what I already owned and told him I would likely fix and flip this
one as well, and with that I made another lowball offer ($100 this time around).
I assured him that it could easily fetch much more with a little work, but in
the end he just wanted the extra cash. Well, that and his mother wanted her
garage back. I think he also sensed that I know a thing or two about these games
and that I would enjoy bringing this one back to it's former glory.
From there its pretty much obvious, I quickly broke out the checkbook and now
my truck is loaded up with 2 more games. Oh, and on the ride home, guess what
comes on the radio?
The Service: I failed to mention that when I bought this game, the young man
handed me a small box with some chips inside. Turns out some of these chips were
extra Pac-Man chips, some damaged and some not. I started looking at the board
and noticed a few eproms were incorrectly seated, some legs bent out, some
backwards and some with busted legs altogether. Not sure if this was the young
man's handywork or if he bought the game this way, but I needed to fix it. I
reseated all the chips that looked good and tossed any that were bad. That left
me with a few empty slots which is where the extra chips come into play.
Unfortunately, none of them were marked, so it took some trial & error to
determine their proper locations. In the end I was still left with an empty 5E
socket. Another forum member to the rescue. I mentioned that I needed the 5E rom
and he knew I had some extra chips leftover which he wanted, so we worked out an
even swap. Once I got the 5E rom installed the game was fully functional and I
have a working Pac-Man for $100. Can't beat that. The cabinet had a working
power switch, but, for some strange reason, someone bypassed this switch and put
an in-line lamp switch directly on the power cord instead. I didn't like this at
all so I reverted it back to the original switch on the top of the cabinet. The
original fuse block worked fine, but as a preventative maintenance measure I
replaced it as I do with any Pac-Man game I service. I usually replace the edge
connector as well, but this one is in very nice shape for an original, so I left
it alone, for now.
The game looks pretty nice already, but as usual there are a few clean up's
& touch up's needed. This one didn't have a back door so I had to cut a new
one. Normally I don't see a need to paint back doors to match the rest of the
game but I was going to make an exception here. I had enough paint to cover the
new back door with just enough leftover to touch up the mild hand wear and
imperfections on the side. The original control panel overlay is actually in very
nice condition, however the metal panel itself needed some attention, so I
masked the CPO with masking tape, then sanded and painted the metal panel. While
I had the panel out I decided to replace the joystick grommet. It wasn't bad,
but was worn enough to merit replacement. The coin door also needed some love.
Someone had kicked it in at some point and put a small dent near one of the coin
return slots. This also damaged the mech behind it as well. I repaired the
damage as best as I could using a hammer and my bench vise, then sanded and
painted the coin door and replaced the damaged coin mech. I also added lamps to
illuminate the 25 cent coin insert logos. I'm still baffled to this day why
Midway didn't have these lamps on these early run coin doors.
When it comes to these old Pac-Man games, I like to dress up the control
panel a bit by replacing the plain jane white start buttons with illuminated
colored buttons. Bob Roberts sells a kit for Ms. Pac-Man which mine does have.
However I wanted something a little different this time. I decided on yellow
microswitch buttons with new LED lamps. When I got them installed they did look
nice, but then it hit me. These buttons have inserts. Why not make these custom
Pac-Man buttons? A marker and some precise measuring was all it took to really
class these buttons up. I also replaced the incandescent marquee lamps with low
wattage cool white CFL lamps.
As far as the mechanics of the game goes, I recapped the Wells Gardner K4600
monitor and it has a great picture. I also installed Mike Doyle's 96-in-1
Multi-Pac kit. Now this game has a great selection of mazes and a few unique
games as well. I recorded a video review of this kit which can be seen below.
But I didn't stop there. I found a good deal on Jr. Pac-Man "field kit" PCB.
Basically the board is plug & play compatible with standard Pac-Man games. I
had some PCB rails in my stash from a previous part-out and was able to mount
both boards side by side in the cabinet. So now with the swap of the main edge
connector I can now play Jr. Pac-Man as well as all the variations in Mike
Doyle's kit.
handed me a small box with some chips inside. Turns out some of these chips were
extra Pac-Man chips, some damaged and some not. I started looking at the board
and noticed a few eproms were incorrectly seated, some legs bent out, some
backwards and some with busted legs altogether. Not sure if this was the young
man's handywork or if he bought the game this way, but I needed to fix it. I
reseated all the chips that looked good and tossed any that were bad. That left
me with a few empty slots which is where the extra chips come into play.
Unfortunately, none of them were marked, so it took some trial & error to
determine their proper locations. In the end I was still left with an empty 5E
socket. Another forum member to the rescue. I mentioned that I needed the 5E rom
and he knew I had some extra chips leftover which he wanted, so we worked out an
even swap. Once I got the 5E rom installed the game was fully functional and I
have a working Pac-Man for $100. Can't beat that. The cabinet had a working
power switch, but, for some strange reason, someone bypassed this switch and put
an in-line lamp switch directly on the power cord instead. I didn't like this at
all so I reverted it back to the original switch on the top of the cabinet. The
original fuse block worked fine, but as a preventative maintenance measure I
replaced it as I do with any Pac-Man game I service. I usually replace the edge
connector as well, but this one is in very nice shape for an original, so I left
it alone, for now.
The game looks pretty nice already, but as usual there are a few clean up's
& touch up's needed. This one didn't have a back door so I had to cut a new
one. Normally I don't see a need to paint back doors to match the rest of the
game but I was going to make an exception here. I had enough paint to cover the
new back door with just enough leftover to touch up the mild hand wear and
imperfections on the side. The original control panel overlay is actually in very
nice condition, however the metal panel itself needed some attention, so I
masked the CPO with masking tape, then sanded and painted the metal panel. While
I had the panel out I decided to replace the joystick grommet. It wasn't bad,
but was worn enough to merit replacement. The coin door also needed some love.
Someone had kicked it in at some point and put a small dent near one of the coin
return slots. This also damaged the mech behind it as well. I repaired the
damage as best as I could using a hammer and my bench vise, then sanded and
painted the coin door and replaced the damaged coin mech. I also added lamps to
illuminate the 25 cent coin insert logos. I'm still baffled to this day why
Midway didn't have these lamps on these early run coin doors.
When it comes to these old Pac-Man games, I like to dress up the control
panel a bit by replacing the plain jane white start buttons with illuminated
colored buttons. Bob Roberts sells a kit for Ms. Pac-Man which mine does have.
However I wanted something a little different this time. I decided on yellow
microswitch buttons with new LED lamps. When I got them installed they did look
nice, but then it hit me. These buttons have inserts. Why not make these custom
Pac-Man buttons? A marker and some precise measuring was all it took to really
class these buttons up. I also replaced the incandescent marquee lamps with low
wattage cool white CFL lamps.
As far as the mechanics of the game goes, I recapped the Wells Gardner K4600
monitor and it has a great picture. I also installed Mike Doyle's 96-in-1
Multi-Pac kit. Now this game has a great selection of mazes and a few unique
games as well. I recorded a video review of this kit which can be seen below.
But I didn't stop there. I found a good deal on Jr. Pac-Man "field kit" PCB.
Basically the board is plug & play compatible with standard Pac-Man games. I
had some PCB rails in my stash from a previous part-out and was able to mount
both boards side by side in the cabinet. So now with the swap of the main edge
connector I can now play Jr. Pac-Man as well as all the variations in Mike
Doyle's kit.