Joust: A Restoration Story
Those of you have seen our website have probably noticed that we frequently mention the restoration end of the games that we have for sale. Some people have asked us exactly what restoration of an arcade game entails. Although we have described our restoration process in the “About our Games” area of our site we thought it would be a good idea to walk you through an actual restoration project.
The Project Game
Most of the games we obtain have been sitting unused for many years and have accumulated a lot of dirt and grime as well as some wear from their time in service at an arcade. This particular game, Joust (made by Williams in 1982) was found in the back of warehouse that was partially exposed to the elements and, as you can see from the pictures was not in the best condition. We figure the game was sitting for at least five years before we found it.
The game’s control panel was covered with so much dirt you could hardly see the text and artwork on the control panel. The game’s coin door bolts were rusted and the game had significant paint loss and wear below the coin doors. The monitor glass was so dirty it was hard to see the monitor behind it and, as you can see below, the monitor itself had a heavy coating of dirt. Needless to say the game was not working.
The Restoration
The first thing we do when restoring a game in this condition is too strip the game down to just the cabinet. As you can see we remove almost every part to the game: the control panel, the monitor, the marquee, the monitor glass (or “bezel”) and the coin doors.
After the game is stripped of its major parts we work on restoring the cosmetics of the cabinet. The sides are cleaned and the inside of the cabinet is vacuumed. We also replace the “leg levelers” on the bottom of the game. Most games have some minor scratches and wear marks that we do not touch up, unless they are very noticeable. In this case the paint wear around coin door areas was awful and needed to be repaired.
Rather than repaint the black area of the cabinet we used black vinyl contact paper to restore the worn area. The vinyl paper is a very close match to the original black and when finished makes the game look fantastic.
After the vinyl was applied, we replaced the “t-molding” on the game. This is the plastic molding that runs on the front of the game, as shown below.
The next step in the restoration process is to clean up the parts we removed from the game. We took apart the two coin doors to repaint them.
After a light sanding to the doors and bolts they were repainted. The monitor glass and marquee were also thoroughly cleaned as well as the control panel. As you can see below, it’s amazing what a good cleaning to a dingy control panel will do. We also cleaned the contact switches on the joystick and buttons of the control panel.
Next we service the monitor. In this case the monitor was filthy and was hosed down before we did any technical work. After a cleaning we removed the monitor circuit board and replaced all suspect components. The most common failing in these monitors are components called capacitors, which tend to “dry out” over a period of years. We replaced all the capacitors in monitor. In this case we also replace a part known as the high voltage transformer with a brand new one. (In this model monitor the transformer is known to fail after a number of years.)
With our serviced monitor complete we began piecing the game back together and focused on the getting the game working again. The monitor is put back in the cabinet so we can test the game. NOTE: Since writing this article we have since starting installing brand new monitors in all of our games (unless noted otherwise). We find that this provides the most trouble-free operation for new game owners. For some games we offer the original monitors, refurbished, with the option to upgrade to a new monitor.
After cleaning the transformer unit in the game we power the game up to diagnose the problem. A common failing on these Williams’ games is the power supply unit, which we found to be at least one cause of our problems. In this case, we are able to upgrade the power supply with a newer, more reliable power supply.
After replacing the power supply the game came up, but with a ram error, leading to the dashed lines shown in the picture below. After replacing the bad ram chip the game appears to be working fine, although we still needed to test the joystick and buttons on the control panel.
With the game appearing on the screen, we reinstalled the coin doors and control panel to play test the game. The marquee was also put back on the game (after repairing the florescent light behind the marquee). The controls were then tested to ensure that they are working properly (they are in this case) and the monitor glass was put back on the game. We also put new locks on the coin doors.
After the parts are put back in place the game is virtually complete. The only steps left are to set the game to free play and leave the game on for a couple of days to ensure that it continues to work properly.
A Word About our Restorations
Well, that’s how we restore our games in a nutshell. As you can see we take great pride in bringing these games back to their original state. In all, we spent over ten hours during the course of a week restoring this Joust. While this is an extreme case, on average we spend about eight hours restoring each game we sell. Before we ship the game out, we will do a "burn-in" test and leave the game on straight for at least two days to ensure that all electronics are working perfectly.
Obviously every restoration varies by the game and its condition. Some games require carpentry work (in some instances a corner of the game may have broken off), while others require additional technical services (some games are missing circuit boards for example). In some games, we are able to purchase and apply professionally reproduced artwork the cabinet sides and control panel.
Note that we always try to describe the important points of each restoration we do and always provide pictures of the finished product. However please don’t hesitate to ask any questions about are games and their restoration.