COIN-OP TV Joins the RetroBlast Team!

COIN-OP TV Joins the RetroBlast Team!

We are extremely proud to announce that COIN-OP TV and RetroBlast!
have joined forces in the hope of creating a media-rich retrogaming
super-site that will provide the very best written and video content from
the wonderful world of coin-op and arcade retrogaming!

http://www.retroblast.com

For those of you who are not familiar with COIN-OP TV, you can browse
to the new video section on the pages of RetroBlast! featuring all of the
great reviews, interviews,
and video articles produced to date by Rob Welkner and his team.

http://www.retroblast.com/coinoptv.php

Next, be sure to head over to the updated contacts page to meet the
entire COIN-OP TV team. In addition to Rob Welkner, we are very happy to
welcome the hosts of COIN-OP TV: Taryn Southern, Nafeesa Deflorias, Angela
Murrow, Becky Young, Danielle Kotzias, and Loren Brock.

http://www.retroblast.com/contact.html#COIN-OP%20TV

We are also very happy to welcome Jonathan Imberi to the writing staff
of RetroBlast! who comes to us from COIN-OP TV. Jonathan is a devoted
Pac-Man addict, consummate news hound, and author of loads of awesome
retrogaming articles that will be popping up on the pages of RetroBlast!
over the next few days.

There's no telling where all this will take us, but we can assure you
it is going to be a fun ride to watch and you will only be able to see it
here on the new and very much improved RetroBlast! with the assistance,
expertise, and video talents of the COIN-OP TV team!

Very Best Regards,

James McGovern
Managing Editor
RetroBlast! News and Reviews
www.RetroBlast.com

The Game is Never, Ever, Over

It Makes a Pappa Proud

Here is a couple of pictures of my baby girl squaring off against the MCP. She digs Robotron too! I'm so proud I could burst!

Also, click here to check out some pics of the tiny terror ripping robotron (in MAME) a new one!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Be sure to check out the the Rescue Tron! Project Thread and the Monitor Repair Thread at ArcadeControls.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CP, Joystick, and Spinner for Sale

I am selling a cp, spinner (no knob), and joystick with black handles -


Go to Ebay to Check it Out



Go to Ebay to Check it Out

And there was (black) light...

Thanks to Todd at TNT and the good folks of RGVAC the "smokin" mystery is
solved. It appears I had a bad ballast on the cp blacklight fixture. That
is a particularly nastly affair as it got hot enough to melt some insulation
on one of the nearby wires. It also blew the bulb and fried the fuse
pictured below. Todd mentioned that his folks always replace ballasts in
thier games when they shop them and I am a believer. For the mere price of
$4.99 at Home Depot, I think it is well worth the piece of mind.

Of related interest, while searching for answers I stumbled on another RGVAC
post that dealt with the OEM specs for the various Tron flourescent bulbs.
I always assumed they were all white with the exception of the cp blacklight
fixture. Turns out the lower marquee is also intended to have a blacklight,
though a different kind than the upper. Something called a BLW, "Black
Light White?" The post stated that this was brighter than a normal
blacklight, but was not used on the upper cp light as the BLW emits
dangerous UV rays.

============================================
2. (Classicade) Bret Pehrson
Jul 10 2003, 3:22 pm

Newsgroups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting
From: "(Classicade) Bret Pehrson"
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 13:22:16 -0700
Local: Thurs, Jul 10 2003 3:22 pm
Subject: Re: So I'm watching Starcade yeterday...

OEM is:

Marquee: std. white fluorescent

Backdrop: std. white fluorescent

Upper control panel: black light black (BLB) fluorescent

Lower control panel: black light white (BLW) fluorescent

The BLW is brighter, but is not safe/recommended for direct viewing (can UV
burn your eyes); the BLB bulb is darker, but safe for direct viewing.
Therefore, it is safe/suitable to substitute the BLW w/ a BLB, but not the
other way around.

============================================

Cool. You know I gotta get that!

Fw: Tron is Smoking!

Newsgroups: rec.games.video.arcade,rec.games.video.arcade.collecting
Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2005 11:36 PM
Subject: Re: Tron is Smoking!

> The ballast is bad for sure...and the bulbs are also bad now...we always
> install new ballasts in those old fixtures...competitive products sells
them
> for $4...you'll also have to change the starter and the bulb too...the
the
> fixture is like new...its better to rebuild the old fixture as all the
plugs
> and connections for your game are intact---a new fixture requires
> retrofitting and is no better than rebuilding the old one! Todd from TNT
> Amusements

Tron is Smokin! No, Literally!

Last night I installed a blacklight bulb in Tron in the fixture above the
cp. First time the bub was in there for years. Played / worked fine last
night.

This morning I turn it on, all is well, while I am playing I start to smell
something pretty acrid, something smoking in the cabinet. I turn it off,
look in the back can't find anything at all, start to think it was something
else from outside (near a window).

Try again, blacklight is out. After checking with another fixture the bulb
is fried. Tonight I try another, turn on the game and I get a brief
flicker, then nothing...on the whole game. No sound, picture, lights, hum,
nothing.

Test the bulb, it's shot.

I assume I blew a fuse somewhere and will check them, then diconnect the
fixture and try again to make sure it is the fixture and or not something else.