|
FETT's Q*Bert Arcade Game, July 2007 Produced By Gottlieb, 1982
Anyone who owns one arcade cabinet can understand without equivocation how Arcades came to be in existence. You start out with ONE game, and next thing you know they start multiplying in the general location of where you "plant" the first one.. The perfect example is one of my latest acquisitions, Gottlieb's Q*Bert. The game came home limping and puking, after having been last located in a home with 4 or 5, shall I say, "curious" kids- when I got to the house to pick it up, the back door on the cab was wide open, and around the base of the unit on the floor were various parts and pieces that I knew belonged someplace INSIDE the machine, rather than outside.. The seller told me "well it powers up, but that's about it- it USED to play great, but now it just doesn't work right anymore". She turned it on, and the marquee on top lit up- don't know if this happens to any other game buyers out there, but that instantly hits the JOY button inside of me multiple times.. And then, it happened: I actually heard the machine talk to me.. "HELLO! I am turned on......." came out in a voice that sounded something like Vader sucking helium. This was my first time seeing a Q*bert machine actually getting powered up, so I just looked at the lady like "did that f*ing thing just say HELLO TO ME???" Without even having said that out loud, she still just laughed and said "yeah, it does that-" As the game proceeded to warm up, the screen lit, and I could see movement, but the colors and details just danced in a frenzy of chaos- at first glance it appeared that the signal going to the monitor was hosed.. So I paid the agreed price for the 2 games (got this in a bundle with KICK), loaded them in the truck, and headed for home.. The game upon getting it home was actually not in bad shape at all- aside from the technical difficulties I'd witnessed already, it was complete and looking overall like it just needed TLC- these machines actually have sound issues from right out of the gates, so for now I decided I'd focus on the video issue. As I mentioned earlier, there were alot of kids in this house, and the back door of the unit was wide open upon first arriving at the seller's house. That alone almost gave me an aneurysm, because I know darn well I wouldn't leave MY kid alone with this thing having the back door wide open!! But then again, I'm not "most people"- however, the beauty of it all is that those kids I think were actually the reason for the demise of the video on this machine. There are approximately 6-8 separate video controls in the back of the machine, each to individually adjust the graphics on the main screen. I messed around with them and within about 30 minutes max, Q*Bert was back up on the main pyramid, hopping around for all the World to see.. My money invested in this cab had just come back to me. Since the audio for these machines have known issues, I recruited the assistance of some folks over at KLOV.com, who helped me get Q*Bert back up and 'swearing' again, just as he should be.. It really is satisfying to get one of these vintage games back up on its own again!
You can find out more info on this classic 80s game over at Wikipedia. For more details or pics regarding this game, drop me an email.
|
