Author Topic: [Road Trip] - where are the bugs?  (Read 35351 times)

ckong

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[Road Trip] - where are the bugs?
« on: November 01, 2009, 08:52:50 PM »
It’s Road Trip Season.  :o

This is my second road trip, and where I met an Ape at the first one, this time I’m going to see a lot of bugs. And although I’m not afraid of bugs, I’m still happy that they are trapped inside a game called …… CENTIPEDE.

Yes, thanks to Level42, who had a great weekend as we all know, I am able to get my second classic cab. Donkey Kong will meet Centipede.  ;D ;D

First the statistics:
Date: 1 November 2009
Author: ckong
Target: Centipede – Atari   http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7299
Trip: Everything happened in The Netherlands
Total length: 354 km and 7. 5 hours.

This is the trip I will make today



After preparing the car I left home at 09.50 AM. It was a little bit foggy, and the weather forecast wasn’t looking good, a lot of rain and hard wind. Oh well, let’s see what happens today.



10.46 – Coffee time





11.31 – Almost there. The weather was still dry, but I could see a lot of rain in the sky. I wonder how long before it will start raining. I arrived at Level42 at 11.40 AM. This was the first time we met, but because we both share the same interest there was a mutual understanding right away. We discovered that both our interest in retro arcade gaming was triggered (again) about 10 years ago after reading or hearing about Mame. We had a nice talk about this and after some coffee we went outside where Level42 had put the Centipede cabs (3 of them) to be inspected. And this one will be mine:  :lol:







The cab has been built in the Atari factory in Ireland and runs on 220V. It’s  in pretty good shape, with the sideart almost completely intact. The monitor bezel and the marquee are really perfect and all paperwork is present. On the control panel there are a few heavy cigarette stains and damages, but that’s all. I might replace it with new panel artwork from mamemarquees.



Level42 started to check if the cab is technically working 100%, and it is. Trackball is working (but I will refurbish it), buttons are working, as is the monitor and the sound. I am so happy. Level42 did get 3 faulty Centipede boards for free, and he gave me one. The game starts and plays OK, but the playfield is a bit scrambled with a lot of letters! However, this should be easy fixable. Here are another few pics of the (dirty) internals of the cab. A bit of cleaning will do miracles.







 In the meanwhile it started to rain and we quickly did put the cab in my car (no pics unfortunately) and protected the other cabs also from the rain.

After this I of course had to see Level42’s gameroom. It was a bit small, but filled with very nice classic cabs, like Joust, Galaxian, Mario bros., Missile Command, and his proud: the Starwars cockpit. This game really looked very stunning. Of course a bit of restoration/refurbishing work was already done, and I could already see that the game will be in excellent shape when it’s ready. Really a game one can be proud of. I played some Galaxian, Missile Command and Mario bros., and we talked some more about videogames and videogaming.

At 15.30 I went home and fortunately the weather was clearing up:  ;)



After a while I stopped at a gas station for my usual (late) lunch



Some more pics of the scenery around me





Finally, almost 7.5 hours later I was at home again, 354 km. of road behind me.



This really was a great day. It was very nice to meet and talk with Level42, and I owe him my thanks for the great Centipede game. Because of the rain I will unload the cab tomorrow. As I am still in de middle of the restoration of Donkey Kong, this cab will be stored away for a few weeks (Although, I will order the necessary parts for the refurbishment, together with the DK parts).

1 November 2009 was a great day.  :D :D
« Last Edit: November 20, 2009, 09:12:22 PM by ckong »

level42

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Re: [Road Trip] - where are the bugs?
« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2009, 09:04:58 PM »
Glad you came home OK !! About the lunch, I really have to apologize for not offering you any !!! (We normally don't do a proper lunch on sunday, we always have a late morning "brunch" so that's why I didn't think of it.

I was just anxious to see if the Centi was OK. I'm very glad that the monitor worked, and was indeed a bit surprised about it's good picture !
The G07's are really good monitors. Also good that the Power Brick and AR-2 board were still working fine (even though they are VERY dirty).

By the way, I've never seen that Atari sticker on the transformer before on any other cab ! Cool :D

About Ireland, maybe a little misunderstanding here, I meant that it was built in Ireland,not used there. The games for the Euro market were produced in Atari's factory in Tipperary at that time.

I'm sure you will be able to make this into a beautiful machine, hope to play it at your place one day ! :D

Also, a big thank you for your confidence in me, I won't forget !

And it was great meeting you, I'm sure it's not the last time !!!  :spaceace:


level42

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Re: [Road Trip] - where are the bugs?
« Reply #2 on: November 01, 2009, 09:08:29 PM »
Here's a little inspiration for you: The most awesome power brick restore I've ever seen (in fact, a little bit insane maybe :D):

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=68868.0




I'll post the "shopping list" a bit later for you here !
« Last Edit: November 02, 2009, 08:31:56 PM by Level42 »

Superully

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Re: [Road Trip] - where are the bugs?
« Reply #3 on: November 01, 2009, 09:40:51 PM »
thx for sharing this roadtrip with us, i especially like this picture. it has something eerie to it!



another centipede out there amongst us idiots retro fans ;)  the sideart on your machine looks fabulous - so white. mine was full of scratches and very yellow, must have been in a nicotine-intense environment. i've replaced it with new sideart, still waiting for the "enhanced" overlay and the coin door coming back from being powder-coated - then the bugs are back in my house, too!

two very classy classic cabs in a row, you're on the right track, ckong!  8)
all i need is ... PONG - and a select few others: TOUCH ME, DRAGON'S LAIR, JOUST, ROBOTRON, MR DO, SAN FRANCISCO RUSH THE ROCK!!!

ckong

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Re: [Road Trip] - where are the bugs?
« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2009, 10:04:56 PM »
Thanks for the kind words. And level42, never mind about the lunch, I was so nervous, I probably couldn't eat anything until I knew I had scored  :lol:

That powerbrick restoration is enspiring. Shopping list please  :D

Muerto

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Re: [Road Trip] - where are the bugs?
« Reply #5 on: November 01, 2009, 10:18:17 PM »
Congrats with your pede! - and thanks for the pictures

Etienne MacGyver

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Re: [Road Trip] - where are the bugs?
« Reply #6 on: November 02, 2009, 09:19:39 AM »
Hey, nice centi !, glad someone takes it back to it glory !

goodluck with your catch!

ckong

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Re: [Road Trip] - where are the bugs?
« Reply #7 on: November 02, 2009, 12:03:56 PM »
Part 2 – unloading the cab

It stopped raining, therefore it’s unloading time

Take 1



Take 2



Take 3



Take 4



Done. Hey, I have a bug in the system, oh no  :o, it's in my garden



Ronald Reagan

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Re: [Road Trip] - where are the bugs?
« Reply #8 on: November 02, 2009, 12:11:29 PM »
1st you grab a Donkey Kong :o
2nd you grab a Centipede :D
what will be the third???
 :ghost: :ghost: :ghost:
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Superully

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Re: [Road Trip] - where are the bugs?
« Reply #9 on: November 02, 2009, 01:43:05 PM »
holy smoke, this is not a garden, this is a park  :shock:
all i need is ... PONG - and a select few others: TOUCH ME, DRAGON'S LAIR, JOUST, ROBOTRON, MR DO, SAN FRANCISCO RUSH THE ROCK!!!

DarthNuno

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Re: [Road Trip] - where are the bugs?
« Reply #10 on: November 02, 2009, 05:58:42 PM »
Already a second road trip? ...  ::) THIS IS IT my friend, you got the Virus ;)  :-*

This centipede looks really nice, congratulation  :)

Thanks you for this story  :-* :-* :-*

Homepage of course  ;)  :arrow:



A song for you now : Click right here  ;)

 :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace:


ckong

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Re: [Road Trip] - where are the bugs?
« Reply #11 on: November 02, 2009, 07:13:56 PM »
Great song  8)  And there are more. Very nice.

Sonic 1992

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Re: [Road Trip] - where are the bugs?
« Reply #12 on: November 02, 2009, 07:36:01 PM »
Enjoy your new great classic game!  and as always, enjoy fixing it up!!  ;) 

Congratulations!  ;D

level42

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Re: [Road Trip] - where are the bugs?
« Reply #13 on: November 02, 2009, 07:49:44 PM »
Are you sure you're going to paint the kick-plate ? Nicest would be some new vinyl IMHO.

Superully

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Re: [Road Trip] - where are the bugs?
« Reply #14 on: November 02, 2009, 07:57:05 PM »
NO: paint job  :(

YES: vinyl  :)
all i need is ... PONG - and a select few others: TOUCH ME, DRAGON'S LAIR, JOUST, ROBOTRON, MR DO, SAN FRANCISCO RUSH THE ROCK!!!