The Story

I was at a local hamfest (radio, electronics, computers) trying to get rid of some of my junk when I was told there was an old Pac Man video game at one of the other tables. Excitement flooded in, as well as the hope I wouldn't be too late...

I rushed blindly to the location reportedly containing a game, and there it was. It wasn't shiny, it wasn't beautiful, and it didn't look like it worked...but the guy said it did. I asked in a rush how much, and could I go try it out. He said sure, that he'd like $250, and with his help we scooted it across the floor towards an outlet.

We plugged it in, fiddled with the coin door switch, and got it up and running. I watched him play a round quickly, then we dragged it back to his table and I got my wallet out. I only had $110 on me - I gave him $100 as a down payment and rushed to the ATM for the rest. I returned briefly and gave him the rest of the money, not even bothering to haggle.

I think my Pac Man cocktail, even as battered and miserable-looking as it was, was the most interesting thing at the show - I can't count how many guys did a double take as they were walking by our table. If there was an outlet by our table I would have plugged it in and made some money. :)

Anyway. Here's what it looked like when I got it.

You probably can't tell in this picture but the original glass cover that went over the wood and monitor is missing and replaced with a scratched up piece of plexiglas and black duct tape. This is my number one priority - I know where I can get a new Pac Man original top glass and will as soon as I possibly can. :)

The woodwork on the top will need a lot of work too. It is very rough and as I have no comparison I don't know if some sort of veneer should be there. Eventually I will smooth it out and repaint it and hopefully that will take care of it.

You may also notice there is only one light in the control panel area - there should be two. I have since replaced it and it's much nicer and more symmetrical. :) Same thing with the light in the coin door - it was burned out. These things are really kind of tough to find, but I was able to find them at Radio Shack. Anyway, here's more pictures:

Top down view - yes, it DOES work! And you can't really tell in this shot because it's really blurry, but the dots are red. I think the monitor needs to be adjusted.

Left - this is the worst eyesore of all - the wood-type veneer over the side has been viciously attacked and peeled off. You can see there's also a fair amount of scratching on the coin door. The power plug has been cut and spliced (apparently to allow it exit through the side rather than the bottom...not quite sure why..) You can also see the lack of T-molding on the side of the top.

Here you see the Player 2 control panel and two vents. The scratch-looking things around the vents are tapemarks..easily fixed with some Goo Gone when I find the time :) I plan to simply remove all the vents and give them a good cleaning with goo gone and then repaint them.

The joysticks on both sides are GREAT. No wiggles at all. The overlays aren't perfect but not as bad as some.

The white plexi on the back is deceptively bright due to the flash. These things were warped and smoky when I got it, and I am in process of getting replacements made, so it SHOULD look like that. :)

This is just to give you an idea of the shape of the veneer covering the sides. It's scratched, dirty, and generally not nice. Ideally I'd like to replace all of it, but I don't know if that's plausible.

This is the Player 1 side. Again, tapemarks and that plexi isn't really that nice. When I opened this thing up to clean the cobwebs out I found mouse turds too. YUCK!

Inside the cabinet. Here you see the massive speaker that can blast the Pac Man theme across your neighborhood, an old Electrohome monitor, two massive transformers (linear power supply) a coinbox, a fan that's like the lungs of a 2-pack a day smoker, and the PCB along the bottom. If you look closely you can kind of see the white plexi and how warped and dirty it is.

The PCB. Whee. I am wondering what I am going to do about the thing the PCB slides into when I add the Ms Pac daughtercard....