Importing a classic arcade to the UK

[davyk]

Made an account of my adventures importing a classic Atari game from the US.

It's a happy ending so hopefully it will embolden someone to do this.

http://www.retrovideogamer.co.uk/importing-a-classic-arcade-machine-into-the-uk/

Any comments and questions, just fire away!

[zapiy]

Hey pal, loved that story.

Where do I start, firstly I like your logical approach to your chosen cabinet!

You should join UKVaC if your not already a member, how has it been going since you got it, any major failures other than those mentioned and are you getting more confident with it?

[davyk]

I joined jammaplus and met a few people there.

That site has wrapped up recently so I am at ukvac now.

I also posted at Atariage who have an arcade section on their forums.

I did have one other minor issue I forgot about. I was getting dummy readings off one of the rotate buttons. The control panel comes out easily - two nuts to loosen and the whole panel opens up towards you on a hinge. I could see that the contacts for the offending button were touching so I just bent them up a little bit. The control panel is built like a tank - the contacts are the size of your thumb - it's built to last!

Apart from that the game is working beautifully.     I'm gaining confidence and starting to really enjoy it.

There's a mod for the Deluxe board that lets you play original Asteroids and Lunar Lander!  That might be something I'd think of in the future - but for now I'm delighted with it.

[TrekMD]

Very nice read and it was quite the adventure getting this all set up!  Congratulations!

[zapiy]

Its a great machine, is the wife still happy lol?

[davyk]

Sort of!!!

She does like the look of it though she doesn't like the game itself - too tough.

[zapiy]

So, fast forward, how are you getting on why this now mate?

[davyk]

Working well - it's a tough old game though - my 3 top scores are over 50K but I usually only score 30K or so - it gets really tough when you hit the 30,000 barrier.

I've had some sticky button problems but that's been easy to resolve. The control panel is held in place with 2 bolts and wingnuts - undo those and the whole panel tilts forward on a hinge letting you see the underneath of the panel connectors. The buttons and contacts are really big - really easy to work with and clean.

[HomerRamone2084]

I was never that good at either version of Asteroids. I recall seeming people in the arcade on the original version - leaving that one rock and waiting for the spaceships. This tactic never ended well for me

On a similar note I recall back in the day when the local arcades were awash with Defender machines all the local arcades had the name of the same game on them. BOF. All 8 all time high scores we BOF on all the machines with a score of 999975

Since the score clocked past this point getting that score was somewhat of a black art I believe - because its really tricky to die in Defender without scoring - a bullet killing you scores 25 pts.

I actually came across the guy once - playing a Stargate.

I digress.. having read that article I am now compelled to do 2 things.
1. Fire up my robotron machine over the weekend - which ive not done for some time. Hope the thing still works.
2. Remove the "real" boards and look into refurbishing them.

I bought the boards many years ago and got a Joust cabinet to put them in. The I sanded the sides down to remove Joust decals with the intention of putting Robotron ones on there. Perhaps I might revisit that option

[HomerRamone2084]

Seems like you need one of these
https://www.funstockretro.co.uk/atari-tshirt-black-asteroids

[Spacedeck]

You must really love this game!  The cabs look amazing but if I got bored of wanting to play the same game after 6 months, it's just sitting there doing nothing.

[TrekMD]

That looks great!

[zapiy]

Maintenance via the control panel is nice and simple, whats better a lot of the railway ran using similar tech so I am clued up on this stuff by complete and utter chance lol.

[davyk]

Liking the look of that t-shirt.

Robotron is another stone-cold classic.

[zapiy]

Hows life with the Arcade mate, any regrets now?