Topic: Arcade 1up 3/4 scale retro coin op cabinets

[Tamer]

Wow, so beautiful.

So you gotta tell me your favorites of the bunch.

[Clonehead]

Got some pics of the Star Wars box. Figured you were curious.
My current favorites are the pinball machines of course. The stand up I keep going back to is the 12 in 1 to play Centepede.

[Tamer]

Packaging looks awesome Clint. Hope you haven't gotten any more front porch surprises.

[Clonehead]

So I brought home a new cabinet last week.
Walmart had dropped their price on last years Simpsons Arcade1Up by $130 so I went ahead and pulled the trigger and brought it home.
      Originally released in the arcades in 1990, the side scroller beat ‘em up features 4 player simultaneous play action like TMNT but with the Simpsons
      The sleeper part of this cab is the included gem Simpsons Bowling using a track ball for a fairly enjoyable bowling sim utilizing Simpsons characters. 
  This is the first “live” capable cab I have gotten and with its Wi-Fi connection, I can either play 4 player Simpsons online with others or, and this is the nice part about the “live” cab, I can download a new firmware update straight to the cab which is nice, especially considering that upon powering it up for the first time, the bowling game
Was a bit glitchy and had no sound.
  A quick update over the Wi-Fi cleared it right up.

So on some of the newer cabs, they have been including a plastic casting of a coin door with a faux lock, hinges, and a pair of faux coin slot push button using a tinted plastic clear piece with a company logo sticker
Up in the inside of the top most part seen from the outside.
  When I originally assembled this one, I seen those and knew I wanted to light up those clear buttons from behind as they were sometimes in the old arcade machines.

Being a four player cab, this one included two faux coin doors with two coin slots each.
I carefully measured and drilled 1/4” hole at the center of where the button is located over the front panel. Then, I mounted a light tape strip with white leds positioned to shine through the four holes with packing tape. A $5 splitter powered the light tape from the main power source and, the tinted plastic took care of the color.
I wasn’t worried about front light bleed from the rest of the string so I just put it back together and it looks great.
  I really do like those coin door pieces. I want some more.

[Clonehead]

After reassembly, the coin doors look great.
This is a pretty cab anyways, I think
The original arcade game had the miscolored blue shirt on Bart and it carried over for this port.

[Tamer]

It looks awesome on the front pages Clint.

So great seeing all those old games given new life.

[Starchaser]

That is really cool! But...it looks a little out of place in your living room/family room:)

[Tamer]

Clint when is game night? You have a full on arcade now!

[Clonehead]

That is really cool! But...it looks a little out of place in your living room/family room:)

   My normal habit is to assemble them in the living room and bathe in their glory there for a few days before making the voyage down the basement stairway to join the others in the growing arcade.
   I put the Simpsons where Marvel super heroes was and put it next to Final fight.

15 stand ups
2 cocktails
2 pinball  machines

I can power up the 18 machines downstairs with the racetrack, tunes, and lights without any sign of blowing a breaker down there.

I can think of a cab or two that could use some kind of coin door treatment, several that need graphics and marquee augmentations.
I want to hook up Star Wars pinball to a home stereo system with a sub, many to dos like the race track, there is always something to be done.

Game Number twenty needs to be something special
Too bad Tron is so expensive

“Marvel pinball is still upstairs in the hobby room.”

[Tamer]

Man, that is beautiful.

[Clonehead]

Thanks buddy
I will have some updated shots to post as I have re arranged and gotten more of course.

But first I needed to sadly report that the crown jewel of my arcade, the Arcade 1up Star Wars pinball has developed some problems that make it nearly unplayable. The sound quit working, every once in a while, when you power it up, the music will start
Playing but when you choose a table it disappears. The machines presentation of our favorite soundtrack had a presence that could not be denied. The voice actors for the in game stuff are about half sounding pretty good and the other Half sounding a lot less close.
   I figured if it was a software problem perhaps I could fix the issue with an update. If these pinball machines were wi-fi friendly, like some of the newer cabinets, I could update right at the machine.
All of my connections looked good, now the second are DMD screen has stopped working. These things aren’t cheap and finding some sale on a site somewhere for a new one is/was starting to look like the likely option. My son in law who is acing courses towards an IT type career had found where the first generation of these
Machines released had an issue with one of the PCB modules overheating which in turn caused other systems
To fail, I believe. I remember one of the early pre order delays was blamed on early testing and how many continuous hours one could
Run for.
  So I have filed a Ticket with customer service program and although I am way out of warranty, will see if there is a replacement option.

I know they took the parts department part of their site
Down last Year Sometime
  I had ordered
From there a time or two before it went away.

[Tamer]

Man, I am hating to read this this morning. I hope they have a decent option for you.

[Clonehead]

Update

Hi Clint,

Ticket# 190002

Thank you for contacting Arcade1up support.

Despite the expiration of your warranty, we would like to remedy the situation and send you the part needed to utilize your game to its full capacity. While this is outside of our normal policy, we would like you to get the most out of your Arcade1Up gaming experience.

We have placed an order for Speaker board 'H' for your Star Wars Virtual Pinball * 8073; you will be notified with the tracking number when it is shipped from our warehouse.

Once your order is processed and shipped -- will receive a tracking number. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask!

We wish you the best. Stay safe and happy gaming!

Shawn, I was so overjoyed when I read this email today.
That was literally my “Obi wan kenobi, you’re my only hope” moment.

She will be back up and running in no time, I hope.
Much thanks to Harry and the guys at 1up’s customer service support team. I was kind of sweating bullets on this one.

[Tamer]

Man, that is great news Clint. I hope this is what you need.

It sure makes me want to do business with 1Up too.

[Clonehead]

Shawn, You may consider reserving that sentiment through this next story. Go ahead and kick me now as I could use one.
  No, I haven’t heard an update from 1up on the Star Wars pinball replacement part, I instead, went and pulled the trigger on their 3rd pinball machine, the Attack from Mars machine that boasts 10 table emulations of classic Williams pinball machines from the 90s. It had went on sale over the holiday weekend. $300 off was the lure for me that made it about $200 cheaper than the original pre order for this unit when it went down 2 years ago. I ordered this one from Walmarts site and checked free delivery.
  Fed ex does not deliver around here past 3:00 anymore.
    Anyways, after some touch and go with Fed Ex including a $5 charge to request an after 5 delivery which was not honored as he showed up at 2:30 and I built the beast in my basement that night. It was late when I was done so the next morning, I went to fire it up before work and get a game in and, alas, it doesn’t work. Back glass lights up, DMD screen works, sound works and sounds good, main screen is doing this red,green,blue,grey test pattern all the time. Boo, guess the review isn’t going to happen.
I have to start another ticket now with their customer support staff.