Look at this game. Just look at this massive machine of retro goodness. This beauty from 1995 clocks in at 1060 pounds...I looked it up. It is the biggest game in the arcade with force feedback in the steering wheel so strong it makes Rush the Rock feel like a baby's toy. A massive bass speaker in the seat thumps into your body every time your car hits something. This game also features a 50 inch projection screen for that theater experience. For those who ask, I had to break the game down into 5 parts to bring it into the arcade. So while I was doing maintennance on this game it reminded me of what I rescued this game from. This unit was a paired unit (2 matching games) which came here from California in a larger shipping container. After some time the storage fees on the container were not paid on so the contents were liquidated. The second unit had been damaged beyond repair by a warehouse forklift but was sold with the working game. That's when they ended up in the hands of some guy living in a trailer park. Unknown to me and my GPS when I went to buy this game, I was driving to a trailer park. The second picture below shows the game as it sat when I bought it, in this guys mobile home kitchen crammed between the sink, the front door and a baby crib. The left over parts from the second unit were in his rusty shed. I bought this game, did a few repairs on it, and it now sits in the Vintage Vault Arcade getting some love again. People always give this game a test drive on game days, wouldn't you?  Dig the wall art   

Where else would one spend New Years Eve 2017? Down in the Vintage Vault Arcade of course! This kid friendly affair was the perfect playground for adults and kids. The kids got all hopped up on the candy machines and ran the arcade. They literally ran through it... many times. Parents got to eat, drink, play and sing.

Along with the festivities, parents got to listen to and karaoke to 2100+ music videos stocked in the Video Jukebox. Good times, and no one had to drive home!

*** It was almost as if the arcade watched the kids for us! For us 80's kids, you know EXACTLY what I am talking about. Before the days when Chuck E. Cheese stamped a kids and parents hands, OUR parents would drop us off at the arcade for an hour or two with a pocket full of quarters by ourselves. Good times!

Happy New Year and may the new year bring in all your collecting hopes and dreams.

Three holiday parties. That was some fun. Unfortunately where the fun ends, the repairs begin. The WG6100 vector monitor in my Tempest went out and I also noticed the cooling fan in Star Wars sounded like a car engine getting ready to throw a rod. I ordered a new fan, and dove straight in to the Tempest monitor repair since I had a WG6100 repair kit (caps, transistors and resistors).

When I got my Tempest years back I had installed an LV2000 kit which bulletproofs the low voltage section. I followed the WG6100 troubleshooting flowchart and the first thing it pointed to was to rebuild the HV section (high voltage). With the monitor mounted vertically, this board is inside the mesh cage at the top of the monitor. I rebuilt that section, resinstalled and fired up the game again. This time I heard the monitor crackling on, but still no picture. The next step in the flowchart was to replace Q102 and Q103 power transistors. I replaced those and turned the game back on. Voila! An amazing, beautiful color vector picture was staring back at me. Monitor fixed.

Finally I received my replacement cooling fan. I didn't want to run my Star Wars with a bad fan during the holidays as that game is too expensive to take a chance on overheating. Replacing the fan was an easy swap along with twisting in the new AC wires. I turned that back on and I now have both my vector games, Star Wars and Tempest operational again. Gotta have the Star Wars running especially with the new movie out. Red Five, standing by...time to play some vector games!

This was a Christmas present from 2 of my oldest kids. Best present EVER! I'll just leave this video RIGHT HERE

What's better than having a Christmas party down in the arcade? Having 2 Christmas parties down in the arcade! One was a work party, the other was for family.

The 3 player Revolution X, Pool table and Bumper Pool were the family favorites, probably because of the competition factor. The linked drivers were a close second. The soda machine was emptied, and I spent time with my cousin Nick before he gets deployed to Korea for a year.

What does Rock Dad do everyday? Watch this episode in HD to find out! Includes bonus outtakes after the credits so make sure you watch it until the end! Playing video games, music, family and robots. It's a Rock Dad life.

These pictures are from the last family gathering. I got a chance to show off the Bumper Pool table and teach some newcomers how to play. I was also happy to see the air hockey table get a lot of attention.

Drivers row was popular with the young kids and everyone had to try out the new pinball machine.

A fun time was had by everyone. Next on the schedule, Christmas and New Years Eve parties! Rock On!