3/5/2004 - Sometimes you just get lucky. Yesterday I was minding my own business, kinda pissed off at the world. In the late afternoon I get a call from an aquaintance. He wants to know if I want to look at some games for sale. His step-brother has stored them for 5 years in a shed and needs the room. I had no idea he knew I was interested in video games, I never talked to him about it before. Anyway, I get the contact information and talk to his step-brother. He tells me there are a couple of pinballs, some "asteroid game" (he isn't familiar with any games or pinballs) a cocktail game and a Pac-Land. I asked him if they were working and he didn't know, but he wanted them gone by tomorrow (Monday). I told him I'd rent a truck, come out, and take a look. If they were OK I'd make an offer. He just wanted me to take everything.

So Monday morning I'm up at 6A.M. and I head out to his house which is 2 hours away in Southern California. When I arrive I can see it's a wooden shed at the back of his property. We walk back there and he opens it. There is so much stuff packed in the shed I couldn't really see the games, which of course were at the back. We pull some stuff out so we could reach the games. He hands me an extension cord and I try to turn on an extremely dusty pinball game. I couldn't tell what it was because there was so much dust on it. Anyway, it's dead. I couldn't reach any of the others so I just decided I'll take them as-is and see what he wants for them. As we start moving games he informs me that he wants me to take all the "chinese slot machines" too. I hadn't even seen them amongst all the car parts, lawn mowers, etc.

So enough storytelling, this is what I came home with. All in all I paid far too little for what I got.

BTW, I can't take a decent picture to save my life. You have been warned. ;-)

Astron Belt

This is the "asteroid" game he was referring to. The laserdisc player is pretty loud and the monitor has some issues. It's playable, but the image is about 2 inches too high with a large gap at the bottom. The laserdisc seems to be dirty because there is a lot of static as it changes scenes. Sometimes the game freezes in mid-play. Unfortunately I have no idea how to fix it, yet. The price tag was there before storage, apparently no one likes this game ;-).

---

Donkey Kong Jr. Cocktail

Plays fine, but again the screen is dropped down 2" below viewable area on the monitor. Monitor has burn-in, but it's not noticable with the tinted glass. I couldn't find a control for the Vertical adjustment on the monitor. Anyone know how to repair this? (Please don't say Cap Kit! ;-) I'm just starting my first attempt on a Popeye monitor)

Notice how you can't see the "island" on the left side.