Games for Good
1up Arcade – Coming Soon
0We have a simple plan:
- Renovate classic arcade machines.
- Put the arcade machines on location in local businesses.
- Donate all the profits to charity.
1up Arcade is in the initial planning stages right now, but we hope to put some games on location soon. If you are a business located in or near Cleveland Heights, OH, please contact us about putting an arcade game in your location. Everyone else, keep an eye on www.1up-arcade.com, or subscribe via RSS for updates!
Operation Arcade Rescue
01 year ago
by jma
in Restorations
I “rescued” two cabinets that I found on Craigslist today, a Double Dragon and a Driving Force.
Neither are games I’m particularly interested in, although I do have fond memories of playing the NES version of Double Dragon. The reason I nabbed them was because of the cabs they were in:
Stitching Side Art
21 year ago
by jma
in Restorations
Prompted by someone requesting some artwork for Rampage World Tour, I decided to take a stab at scanning side art properly. I had attempted this once before, but my scanner failed halfway through one side, and I just kind of forgot about it.
Rampage World Tour is not a particularly collectable game at this point in time. It probably never will be – it was released in 1997, when arcades were already on their downward descent in popularity, and it wasn’t particularly groundbreaking. It is quite a fun party game, though – it’s a no-brainer to pick up, it’s very satisfying to bring down a building by punching and kicking it, and Cleveland happens to be one of the earlier cities you destroy. 
Centipede Restoration, Part 6
01 year ago
by jma
in Restorations
(For background info, check out part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5)
Nearing the home stretch, I cleaned up the metal parts of the exterior. I sanded and re-painted the marquee brackets and the coin door with Rust-Oleum Hammered Black spray. I also decided to clean up and repaint the visible metal bolts, giving them a lemon juice bath to remove rust and debris, followed by sanding their hands and spraying the heads with satin black paint. I sprayed just the heads by pushing them through a piece of cardboard so they looked a little bit like mushrooms.
Centipede Restoration, Part 5
01 year ago
by jma
in Restorations
(For background info, check out part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4)
I was definitely intimidated by the side art. It’s basically a giant sticker for each side – a giant, expensive sticker. I don’t exactly have the best track record with stickers.
The only other side art I’ve applied was for a Donkey Kong cab that I partially restored last year, but DK’s art is just a small portion of the side of the cabinet. Getting an entire sticker lined up is another beast, not to mention the ridiculous amount of overlap.
Centipede Restoration, Part 4
01 year ago
by jma
in Restorations
(For background info, check out part 1, part 2, and part 3)
After enough dilly-dallying, it was time for me to finally get this cab cleaned up. Although I had a good-looking set of side art, I was first interested in seeing if the original art could be salvaged from underneath the paint. In retrospect, this was pretty foolish of me, as it was only major scratches in the black paint that even let me know the side art was still under there, but it at least explains my next steps.
Centipede Restoration, Part 3
01 year ago
by jma
in Restorations
(For more info, check out part 1 and part 2)
With the electronics mostly taken care of and warm weather and free time available in abundance, I set out to clean up the physical aspects of the machine, starting with the control panel. Here’s what I was working with:
Centipede Restoration, Part 2
01 year ago
by jma
in Restorations
(For background information, check out part 1)
Over the course of several months, I acquired the following (largely from KLOV members):
- PCB, ARII board, wiring harness, control panel wiring + buttons ($140 shipped)
- Replacement side art, ($93 shipped on sale from Phoenix Arcade)
- Trackball rebuild kit, carriage bolts, new cam locks, and AC line cord ($49 shipped from Bob Roberts)
- Marquee ($38.50 shipped)
- Coin door harness ($20 shipped)
- Trackball unit ($18 shipped)
- 18″ under cabinet portable fluorescent light ($12 from Home Depot)
When I finally got everything together, I delayed greatly in actually testing things – and it serves me right for procrastinating, they didn’t work!