I just got a new PCB in the mail today for Bump 'N' Jump. My new game acquisition left me with a working Bump 'N' Jump but no sound. No sound? Gotta have some good sound in there. All those 80's game sounds are what made an arcade what it was. Anyways, after replacing it sounds great! I did some minor adjustments on the monitor to get a more perfect picture. Good deal!

I did notice while cleaning out the inside of the game cabinet that there were some broken colored glass chunks. I picked up a few pieces thinking maybe the marquee was replaced at some point and I was going to match them up. When I got to the front of the game I noticed something for the first time. The bezel was all black. Generic black. Darn. That means at some point the bezel had been broken. Probably some deranged lunatic crashed his car for the 10th time and wildly banged his fists against the glass. Of course it meant no more bezel and probably a nice trip to the hospital.

Anyways, considering what I paid for the game I will probably replace the bezel in the near future. Got to have some original artwork on there! In the meantime, I think I will bump out a few games of Bump 'N' Jump.... in full MONO sound!

Here is what I found on Craiglist today:
3 old school arcade games - $40 (O'Fallon, MO) Bring a truck and dolly. First one to email with a phone # gets it. {No pictures were listed in the Craigslist ad}

I sent an email, and in 10 minutes I got a phone call. He said he just bought a house and they were left there. 2 out of 3 are working, and he can only remember that one was called Bump and Jump. One hour later I show up at his house with the family van and a dolly. The three games are Bump and Jump, Uniwars, and an unknown game. I pay the guy and get everything home in 2 trips. I then start plugging everything in and checking everything out.

Bump and Jump: The Good: Gameplay works, good picture, most of the artwork is there - The Bad: Sound isn't working, some cigarette burns on the control panel

Uniwars cabaret: The Good: Game works - The Bad: Red color seems to be missing in the monitor

Unknown half height cab not working: The Good: An edge connector was unplugged now everything is working, jamma setup, 2 boards inside, Street Fighter II and NBA Jam, monitor is good - The Bad: Homemade Jamma cab, although it seems nicely done with properly routed woodwork and T-Molding, Player 2 has a button not working, no coin door I also found $2.15 in change inside along with 3 sets of cheap Hantrex darts with plastic tips. Click here for more pictures of Bump N Jump and the 3 game haul.

Good question. The answer is this: I wouldn't pay for a commercial dart game. I got this one broken, and FREE. Yes, you heard me, free. How could I say "NO" to hauling away someone elses junk for free? I was saving them from having to take it to the dump. Believe it or not, this game was minutes away from ending up in a dumpster when someone took it home with them. The person who rescued the game couldn't get it working and was ready to take it to the dump himself. That is where I come in and take it off his hands.

I was never into darts much. Partly because I hated having to add up the score in my head and partly because I wasn't any good at it. However, lots of people like darts, and if this machine would keep track of the score for me then I would at least give it a try.

I have never opened up a dart game up before and wasn't sure I could fix it. I figured at the very least I might get some nice parts from it. And so begins a little adventure to bring this beast back to life. Click here to read more about it.

I finally got to polish off my Nintendo collection. I've been waiting for Junior to join the fold for a few years now, I just didn't want to pay retail prices. I even passed one up a few auctions ago because I was bidding on another game. I was kicking myself for not scooping up Donkey Kong Jr.

Enter Craiglist, 10:45PM on a Saturday night. A very low priced Donkey Kong Jr was for sale. Now I have a Donkey Kong arcade game, and a Donkey Kong Jr. would look great next to it. I call early Sunday morning and asked the guy if he would knock $50 off if I showed up in 1 hour with cash. 60 minutes later I'm driving home with a Donkey Kong Jr. in the van.

I remember playing this game back in the day. Time to polish off those skills, plug in a quarter and rescue daddy. As you can see in the picture, this game had a beautiful color screen. Click here to go to the Donkey Kong Jr. page.

Thanks Craigslist, you pay off again. After having one game returned {see entry from 8/29/08}, I finally sold both games at the same time. You will never guess who bought them. Go ahead guess. Still no answer? Slackers.

Yes, the crazy commercial game store that buys and sells used console games came and bought both of my arcade games. They tried to bargain with me for store credit but I insisted on cash. BTW, next time you stop at your local Slackers store that arcade game just might be mine.

So how many different games do you think you can play in a Ms. Pac-man? Try 96 games, if you are the lucky recipient of one of Mike Doyle's Multipac kits.

The Multipac kit plugs into your existing Ms. Pac-man boards and extends the game code to play other games. A handy menu allows you to choose between games. Also, as a feature the kit allows high score saves.

Among the games that you can play are Pac-man slow and fast, Ms. Pac-man slow and fast, Eyes and even Pengo! Pac-man and Ms. Pac-man come in a wide variety of different mazes to choose from. All in all this is one amazing kit that breathes new life into your Ms. Pac-man game. I highly recommend getting one if you own this arcade game. Click here to go to the Ms. Pac-man page.