Boba Rhett Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 This story could easily be summed up in a paragraph or two but if you think that I'd rather cut to the chase than drag you through the entire sordid ordeal when stories concerning me and awesome things happening to me are on the line, you obviously don't know me very well. Random chance brought me to a garage sale this Saturday. The seller had just, just began setting out his stuff and was wheeling out his old Missile Command arcade machine that he had had in storage for 15+ years. My eyes lit up and my mouth went dry. I began wringing my hands as thoughts of the insane price he surely must have wanted started to push me out of my happy place. A pipe dream or not, I had to find out. I went up and asked him - he only wanted $75. I talked to the seller about why he wanted so little and he informed me that the picture tube had imploded and that's why he was selling it for so cheap. I didn't think anything of this because 75 bucks for the shell is a great deal by itself and I didn't mind as I just figured I'd throw a pc and monitor into it and load it up with Atari games. Get this. Get this. I also then discovered that the other shopper standing right next to me is an arcade machine hauler. He told me how to load it correctly and gave me some other pointers. What else could I have done but bought it right then and there, really? What? What. Signs from God here, people. I get it home and plug her in - yeah, she's dead alright. I decided to crack it open, mostly just for giggles. To my great surprise all the boards, monitor, and other sundry components appeared to still all be intact! And then what literally fell off the monitor tube and into my lapl? A package containing diagrams and schematics of every single circuit and wire in the machine. I immediately flipped the pack open and started digging through the wiring looking for the real reasons as to why she wouldn't power up. Fast forward a few hours - I had bypassed several cracked fuse cartridges, replaced a broken rocker, and cleaned and reseated some corroded eeprom chips. I couldn't find anything else wrong with it so I sealed her back up. Figuring there was nothing more I could do, I said screw it, jammed the power plug in and flung myself to the front of the machine in a manner similar to how a fat man would have attempted to propel himself towards a fresh shrimp trough at a buffet. I get to the front, and silence. I had failed. I turn around and began eying various farm implements; pondering over which one I would be using to flog myself for my insolence in thinking I could restore life to this ancient monolith of the video game gods. ".....w.wwww.w.wwwwwwwwwwwwwwWWWRRRRRRRRR. BEEEP." I whip around just in time to catch the appearance of the following message slowly but surely flicker into being: Player 1------------Player 2 ---"MISSILE COMMANDER" ------Insert Coin(s)------ Not a moment later the subsystems began individually powering up; the warm glow from the box's internal lighting system fell upon my brow, the speakers kicked in and the theme song started playing. Angels began singing as cherubim and seraphim descended from on high, encircling myself and the arcade machine - anointing us with precious oils. MISSILE COMMAND WAS ALIVE! AAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWW YYYYYEEEEEEAAAAAAAAH. A lot of elbow grease and she's starting to look as good as new. Ladies and gents, may I present to you the newest member of my family: Check out the kickin' rad decals! For those of you who do not know of this game, first off you're all horrible horrible people. Secondly, is a video of the game in action. And because I'm so ridiculously nice, here are some links to flash based recreations of the game. Discuss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Lion54 Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 That's groovy, Rhett! So, what's next? Try to bypass the coin feature so you don't have to pay yourself to play? Of course... when friends come to visit, it could be a way to make some change. heh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boba Rhett Posted October 22, 2007 Author Share Posted October 22, 2007 Already bypassed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negative Sun Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 That's even more awesome than this picture: Can I come and play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedHawke Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 That is so cool Rhett! Alright everyone over to Rhett's for some old-school gaming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabretooth Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 That's even more awesome than this picture: No, it isn't. Awesome work there, Rhettski. What's your high score? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negative Sun Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 No, it isn't. It is if Rhett buys us a sixpack each and invites us over for some old school arcade fun so we can put dirty words in the top scores list Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Can't get much more awesome than that. Nice Rhett! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabretooth Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 It is if Rhett buys us a sixpack each and invites us over for some old school arcade fun so we can put dirty words in the top scores list Nope, not even then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 + 1000 Awesome Points! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jae Onasi Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Heh, Jimbo and I will give you a run for your money on that game. Congrats on the find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tk102 Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 That is a great find and a great story! I am truly amazed. Cold war simluation comes home to Rhett... Congratulations man! Thanks for the sharing that -- it looks so familiar. *sigh* Be sure to put all the 3 letter bad words on the high scores to make relive all the arcade memories. They weren't selling any table top units were they? Imagine this as your coffee table: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev7 Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Great job Rhett :) . Interesting set of "coincedences" ( forgive my spelling). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish.Stapler Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 OMG. 1337 . That thing about the arcade hauler guy is unreal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Obi-Wan Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Invite me over. Seriously though, that is wicked cool. Only you, Rhett, could do something like that... okay, maybe even tk. But, that is totally awesome, man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Char Ell Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Suh-weetness!!! I wish I could find SpyHunter for $75 bucks. That is my "Missile Command" from the heady arcade days of yore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 That's sooo cool! I've always wanted a vintage arcade game, and you got one that works for $75.00! It even looks like it's in good shape. Any idea how much it's worth? Those things are collector's items, you know. @CE: A sit-in vesion of spyhunter would be my second choice if I had my pick. My first? a sit-in version of Star Wars Arcade, of course! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boba Rhett Posted October 23, 2007 Author Share Posted October 23, 2007 If any of you ever find yourselves in Missouri, you're more than welcome to drop on in for a game. This machine was the only arcade game the guy had. The rest of his stuff was standard garage sale fare. This has really given me the fever for this. I either want to try and find another one or build my own shell and have it run all the Atari 2600 games. I would love to find one like that, tk! I can already imagine it... "Please, sit down and make yourself at home. Coffee? Tea? How about a spot of Pac Man?" I haven't gotten very good at it yet. Here's a screenshot of my high score. I'm going to take some pictures of the innards in a bit. It's pretty interesting if you've never seen the insides of something like this before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HerbieZ Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 It's things like this that make me believe there is a god. This is the haul, its the perfect blending of coincidences and actions that create moments like these. Now go forth and play like you've never played before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeDoe 2.0 Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Nothing Beats Space Invaders! But congrats nonetheless Rhett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boba Rhett Posted October 23, 2007 Author Share Posted October 23, 2007 More picture goodness. Here's a peek at the guts. You can't see them but there's three huge transformers bolted on the floor of it. And here's a big shot of the side decals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tk102 Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Whoa, I love the size of that board and those resistors (I assume that's what the red circles are). They don't make 'em like they used to. Are those big black cylinders in the front capacitors? Where are the speakers mounted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Check out the 80's tech! Boba, that thing has to be worth some serious cash. Especially since it's in such great condition. I'd find out how much it's worth if I were you. BTW: What's that piece of sheet metal with all of the wires that's sitting in the bottom of the case? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boba Rhett Posted October 23, 2007 Author Share Posted October 23, 2007 I know, tk, it's so retro I love it! Those red guys are actually unpolarized ceramic caps. Yeah, the big black ones are caps too. There's one that like four times that size hooked next to the transformer. That metal piece down below is actually the bottom of the main transformer mount. I had to flip it over to redo some stuff. I'm sure it's worth some money. I wouldn't be surprised if it was worth over $1000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SykoRevan Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 .... You, Rhett, are so ****ing lucky, I weep in envy. The only way you could have been more blessed is if that arcade machine had a crisp roll of $100 bills mysteriously stuck under the coin slot or something. Hey, it could happen. Make sure to check out every nook and cranny for random money. And if you DO find something, I demand a 10% finder's fee! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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