Author Topic: Road Trip - Outbound (Aero City) and inbound (Space Invaders - Qix)  (Read 31836 times)

ckong

  • ArcadeLifeStyler'
  • ***
  • Posts: 3177
  • The Netherlands
    • View Profile


This is a weird roadtrip, because it's a two-way roadtrip.

But first the Statistics:

Date: 2 september 2010
Trip: Holland – Belgium – France – UK – France – Belgium - Holland
Total length: 1,172 kilometers
Duration: 19 hours

About a month ago I sold an Aero City to a guy in London, Steve, and we agreed that I would arrange a courier to deliver the game to him. I wasn't very fond of this idea because it means that I have to get good packing material from somewhere and pack the game on an europallet. And then still things can happen during transport over which I don’t have control. Besides that, getting a game to the UK by courier is pretty expensive.  :o

At the time of this deal I noticed a Space Invaders-Qix 25th Anniversary Silver Edition cab for sale on Ebay UK. This is a cab I wanted already for some time, in fact, I almost won one on Ebay UK about six months ago. I like it especially for Qix, and SI is a nice addition. And I think that the cab is very nice looking and a dedicated ‘4-way joystick, 2 button vertical’ Mame system can be added very easily. It is after all a Jamma cab.

This time I was so fortunate to make the winning bid!  ;D I knew that the Ebay seller, Paul, was also living in London and then the idea came up to deliver the Aero City myself and picking up the SI-Qix at the same day. I contacted Steve and he was very pleased with the idea that I would bring the game myself. So we all agreed on August 20th for the delivery and pick up. In the meantime It appeared that both guys in London know each other from a previous cab deal and that they only live 2 miles from each other!!!  :lol:

Unfortunately I had to cancel the trip on the 19th  because my car didn’t make it to the MOT test that day.  :oops: The car workshop needed parts which they would get on the 20th!!!! Fortunately it was no problem at all to arrange a new date, this time September 2nd. And rescheduling for the Euro tunnel was also possible without extra costs.

And here the actual trip starts.

I prepared the car on the day before, and it’s a first for me that I have to load the car before the trip:







The next day I woke up at 3.30 AM and I left at 4 AM. I had something to eat and drink with me, and the car needed something to drink also.







I don’t have many photo’s from the trip to Calais, and this is why:



The trip went well, and I arrived at the Tunnel entrance at 8.18 AM, just two minutes before my scheduled check in.  :)



I didn’t even need my credit card to check in because there is a camera registering my car number plate and I was welcomed with my name. Nice. After a little while I could enter the train which took me to England. I used the time well with a little nap.









Once in England, at 8.25 AM local time, I took the M20 to London. South England is very nice, but they still drive on the wrong side of the road. Why?





I knew that once in London, I had to drive from South to North London, through this big city, but I relied on my car navigation system. So here I went:











Because I was driving during rush hours, the traffic was pretty awful, and there are many road works in London at the moment (or always?), even in a very small tunnel.



So I approached the ‘finish’ slowly, but steadily.









And finally, after driving more than 1.5 hour alone in London, I reached my first address, at Steve's place. We quickly unloaded the cab, I had a nice cup of tea (black please, no sugar or milk), and we talked a bit about gaming. Like me, Steve is also very fond on Japanese games, and he has a nice collection of NeoGeo games, and an Aero City Table, which not too long ago belonged to a Dutch seller named rklok (www.rklok.nl). Rklok lives close to my place and I also bought a few cabs from him in the past. ‘My’ Aero was looking good next to the table.  :D





One less nice thing happened at the start of this visit. I parked my car on the roadside and walked to Steve’s house, which was 50 meters away. Steve told me to park the car next to his garage, so I got back to the car. I left it only for a few minutes, but there was already a parking fine on the windshield!!! € 60!!!!  :evil: :evil: I hadn’t seen a small sign which says that I need a parking permit to park there. The guy who wrote the fine was writing another one a few cars up the road, so I shot him, I mean, I approached him and explained that I’m from Holland and bla bla bla. He told me that he couldn’t whitdraw it, but that I shouldn’t be afraid too much as it would be impossible to collect the money fom me being a Dutchman. So I decided to leave this as it is. But it’s still a bummer.  >:(

I left Steve's place after half an hour and went to Paul’s place, where I arrived about 20 minutes later, around noon.  Here are some pics of the streetview during this short drive:













When I arrived at Paul’s place, we immediately went to the temporary storage where the cab was. We loaded the cab in the car, it just fitted, and I really mean just, but I could still close the backdoor. In the meanwhile I was pretty tired, so I forgot to take any pictures. I’m sorry about that, but I will make up for it with some pictures of my latest cab in the next post. After loading the cab, we went back to Paul’s place to pick up a 60 in 1 board for me, which was also part of the deal. We had a nice chat about gaming of course, mame and how we both played game sin our childhood. Paul is a very nice guy and he comes from Australia, but you hardly notice.  :lol: :lol: He is in a famous band and the latest album is in the UK Album Top 40 at the moment. He gave me a copy of it. Thanks Paul, I listened to it on the way back, and although it’s not completely my kind of music, It still is very nice. He also showed me a ‘golden album’ for selling more than 300,000 copies of an album of the band a few years ago. And finally, he also is a famous Deejay and he travels around the globe. So to be short, I bought a cab from a famous person!!  :D ;) I won’t mention too much details because Paul may want to keep certain things private.

Unfortunately I had to leave him too soon, but I has a train to catch. And then disaster struck, my recent ‘home-burnt’ navigation CD gave frequent reading errors. PANIC  :o :o, I’m in the middle of London, there is a lot of traffic, people are driving on the wrong side, where the F..K am I  ??? ? Fortunately the Navigation system was able to give one direction each time before a reading error, so I had to eject and insert the CD after each direction. This took about 30 seconds each time while I was driving. I guess that I inserted the CD about 30 times or so, and I’m sure that I took wrong directions more than once. I was pretty nervous of course, but I could see on the navigation map that I was heading in the right direction.

Then I saw a road direction sign for the A102 and I remembered that I drove on that one inbound London. Phew, I’m saved.  8) Now it didn’t take long before I was familiar with the road again, so here are few new shots:







I even got to the train tunnel half an hour before schedule, and a little later I was driving in mainland Europe again, quickly driving home.







At 8.30 PM I arrived at the Mac at the Belgian-Dutch border, where I had a nutricious meal (guys, don’t ever take the Greek Burger with Yoghurt sauce, it’s disghousting).





And finally after a trip of 19 hours and 1,172 kilometers I arrived at home, save and sound.



That's it, pictures of the cab in the next post.
« Last Edit: September 04, 2010, 10:36:11 PM by DarthNuno »

ckong

  • ArcadeLifeStyler'
  • ***
  • Posts: 3177
  • The Netherlands
    • View Profile
Re: Road Trip - Outbound (Aero City) and inbound (Space Invaders - Qix)
« Reply #1 on: September 04, 2010, 01:28:26 PM »
And here are some pics of the Space Invaders – Qix cab, to make up for the lack of pics in the topic above. As you will see , the cab is in pretty good condition. It does have some tears in the side art on the left side, and only one tear on the right side. But the front of the cab is completely undamaged. The cab is from 2004, and is very little used, the coin cointer is 227 I believe, although it doesn’t count up when you use the service button. Some parts of the T-molding still had it protection tape on it.

The cab works flawlessly, although I had to tweak the 25” monitor a bit, adjusting brightness, contrast and focus. Enough talk, pics please.

















And after a bit of cleaning



The cab is ready to be played







I love playing Qix, although I noticed that the game sound is not that thrilling as in the classic cab version. I guess that they had trouble remastering this, or they changed it a bit on purpose. That’s a small negative issue because I really like the original sound of Qix. But this still is OK. And Space Invaders is also nice. Does anyone know if there is a secret ‘hidden’ game, like in the ms.pac-man- galaga anniversary cab, which also has pac-man ‘hidden’ inside?

Furthermore I’m planning to install a ‘4-way, 2 button vertical’ Mame PCB in it, to have even more fun with the cab.

Thanks.

Etienne MacGyver

  • ArcadeLifeStyler'
  • ***
  • Posts: 7611
  • The Netherlands
    • View Profile
Re: Road Trip - Outbound (Aero City) and inbound (Space Invaders - Qix)
« Reply #2 on: September 04, 2010, 02:35:19 PM »
Nice story Erik !

Thanx for sharing it with us !

ps, i dont think Interpol is comming to get you for 60€, so i would suggest to forget that part  ;D

jimmy2x2x

  • Jr. Member
  • *
  • Posts: 26
    • View Profile
Re: Road Trip - Outbound (Aero City) and inbound (Space Invaders - Qix)
« Reply #3 on: September 04, 2010, 05:35:27 PM »
Great read, thanks!

The cab looks in excellent shape, if you want to replace the side art I noticed both sides on Ebay for a very reasonable price (original NOS)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380253605355&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_715wt_1137

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NAMCO-QIX-video-arcade-game-side-art-NOS-/380253604746?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5888e18b8a#ht_715wt_1137




gyruss

  • ArcadeLifeStyler'
  • ***
  • Posts: 2332
  • The Netherlands
    • View Profile
Re: Road Trip - Outbound (Aero City) and inbound (Space Invaders - Qix)
« Reply #4 on: September 04, 2010, 08:33:29 PM »
Great catch Eric! I love Qix, the sound and the gameplay are very hypnotizing!  ;D
Too bad this version of space invaders is missing the cool moon background, that´s what´s makes the game extra special in mine opinion.
But still a very nice cabinet and a great addition to your game room, so congratulations!

Belike

  • ArcadeLifeStyler'
  • ***
  • Posts: 4769
  • Budapest, Hungary
    • View Profile
Re: Road Trip - Outbound (Aero City) and inbound (Space Invaders - Qix)
« Reply #5 on: September 04, 2010, 09:49:31 PM »
Congrats for the new catch, especially Space Invaders looks cool! ;D
I have a feeling that something similar could come to me soon.......... ;)

ElPancho

  • Member
  • **
  • Posts: 203
    • View Profile
Re: Road Trip - Outbound (Aero City) and inbound (Space Invaders - Qix)
« Reply #6 on: September 04, 2010, 10:02:24 PM »
Great story Erik !

Fantastic cab you hauled back, Qix indeed is such a great game.

.....so I shot him..... I lol-ed :-)
current line up: 3 x New Astro City 2x Atomiswave SD, 3 x Aero (2 NOS) and Aero Table
Pac Man
Black Knight pinball
On the way: Daytona USA

ckong

  • ArcadeLifeStyler'
  • ***
  • Posts: 3177
  • The Netherlands
    • View Profile
Re: Road Trip - Outbound (Aero City) and inbound (Space Invaders - Qix)
« Reply #7 on: September 04, 2010, 10:03:30 PM »
Thanks jimmy2x2x, but that side art isn't for an UR cab. I contacted this Ebay seller already a few weeks ago, and his guess is that it probably is for the cabaret version. You see, 60" tall is appr. 153 cm, but the side art on the UR is about 177 cm tall.

Thanks Onno, Qix is great indeed. And Steve is just as fond of Aero's as you are. I'm waiting for an invitation to check out and play your 'new' cabs.  ;)
« Last Edit: September 04, 2010, 10:05:46 PM by ckong »

DarthNuno

  • Administrator
  • ArcadeLifeStyler'
  • *****
  • Posts: 11708
  • Singe's castle
    • View Profile
    • Dragon's Lair Fans / Arcade LifeStyle
Re: Road Trip - Outbound (Aero City) and inbound (Space Invaders - Qix)
« Reply #8 on: September 04, 2010, 10:35:48 PM »
Congratulation for this new cabinet. Its condition looks great  :-*
Guess what? I tried several times in the past to get this one... even on ebay, but I didn't put too much money and so ... never won this one  ::) I'm sure this cabinet will be 'collectible' in the years to come. Of course, this reunion cabinet won't have the same 'soul' & 'spirit' than the original SI & QIX cabinets, but it's an official release and it deserve a place in the arcade history...Somehow  ;)
A question, did you were alone for this UK road trip? Not easy to see the road, drive on left, ...and take road trip pictures on the same time  ;)
Thanks for this story, and of course  :arrow:



 :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace:

ckong

  • ArcadeLifeStyler'
  • ***
  • Posts: 3177
  • The Netherlands
    • View Profile
Re: Road Trip - Outbound (Aero City) and inbound (Space Invaders - Qix)
« Reply #9 on: September 04, 2010, 11:00:25 PM »
Congratulation for this new cabinet.

..... I'm sure this cabinet will be 'collectible' in the years to come. Of course, this reunion cabinet won't have the same 'soul' & 'spirit' than the original SI & QIX cabinets, but it's an official release and it deserve a place in the arcade history...Somehow  ;)

..... A question, did you were alone for this UK road trip?

Thanks, and yes, I like to think also that this will be a collectable cab one day, and it sure deserves a place in my gameroom.  :)

I did this roadtrip on my own. It wasn't that difficult to drive etc., I have learned that I musn't be to uncertain in unknown places and situations, just drive the same way as I always do. The only exciting moment was when my navigation CD quit on me, but I managed.
« Last Edit: September 05, 2010, 12:14:36 AM by ckong »

atarimania

  • Member
  • **
  • Posts: 485
    • View Profile
    • Atarimania
Re: Road Trip - Outbound (Aero City) and inbound (Space Invaders - Qix)
« Reply #10 on: September 04, 2010, 11:50:27 PM »
Great RT and very nice cabinet  8) 8) 8)

Only one thing is missing.....  Burger King stop  ;D
Have You Played Atari Today ?

DarthNuno

  • Administrator
  • ArcadeLifeStyler'
  • *****
  • Posts: 11708
  • Singe's castle
    • View Profile
    • Dragon's Lair Fans / Arcade LifeStyle
Re: Road Trip - Outbound (Aero City) and inbound (Space Invaders - Qix)
« Reply #11 on: September 05, 2010, 06:58:55 AM »
Only one thing is missing.....  Burger King stop  ;D

+1  ;D ...UK, land of dedicated cabinets ... Starbucks coffee  and ... Burger King of course!  ;D

scr33n

  • ArcadeLifeStyler'
  • ***
  • Posts: 1674
    • View Profile
Re: Road Trip - Outbound (Aero City) and inbound (Space Invaders - Qix)
« Reply #12 on: September 05, 2010, 10:12:59 AM »
Great catch !!! and wooooowwww very nice condition  :-* :-*

Congrats  :spaceace:
PROJECTS FROM SCRATCH:

Galaga - PacMan - Donkey Kong Red Cab - Track & Field Upright - Tempest - Burgertime - Gyruss - Defender - Track & Field Cocktail - Robotron 2084

RESTORATIONS:

Q*bert - Timber

Superully

  • ArcadeLifeStyler'
  • ***
  • Posts: 6300
  • Southern Part of Germany
    • View Profile
Re: Road Trip - Outbound (Aero City) and inbound (Space Invaders - Qix)
« Reply #13 on: September 05, 2010, 11:05:52 AM »
thx for sharing your roadtrip with us, erik! must have been HELL :twisted: when you realized your navsat is producing errors in the middle of london, but that's what you get from a burned cd ;)

although i'm no fan of those reunion cabinets (because i think they are missing the flair of the original cabs and of course some vital elements like the moon on space invaders), i'm sure the cab is going to be a great addition to your gameroom. qix is a qik-ass game 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!!!

level42

  • ArcadeLifeStyler'
  • ***
  • Posts: 13555
  • Ridderkerk, arcade capital of Europe !
    • View Profile
    • Arcade 42
Re: Road Trip - Outbound (Aero City) and inbound (Space Invaders - Qix)
« Reply #14 on: September 05, 2010, 11:37:57 AM »
Erik already knows how I feel about those cabs, but I love the road-trip report  ;D ;D

I seem to vaguely remember that "funny"  McDonalds clown from a previous UK trip :P