Believe it or not….this is a post that isn’t related to arcade games!

I’ve been very interested in the whole deal with the pyramid shafts they found in the Great Pyramid in Egypt. For those that aren’t familiar with what I’m talking about, this site has a ton of info on it written by the guy that did most of the modern analysis of them.

Basically, there are these 2 pyramid shafts coming from a chamber in the Great Pyramid that were hidden for a long time. They are small (something like 8″ x 8″ …not positive…read the damn web page above!). Rudolf Gantenbrink sent some robots he designed up the shafts and found doors blocking the path. He was shortly denied further access to explore and continue with his findings, and nothing happened for years due to bureaucracy.

Zahi Hawass, (note the “ass” in his name) had a live special on the Discovery channel years ago about this. He pretended to be Indiana Jones, and sent a robot back up to drill through the doors. They did it live, and found another door. Rather than continuing to explore this obviously important discovery, they just sat on their hawass and did nothing, again for several years. I’m guessing that they’ve already explored these shafts further and know what is behind the doors, and just hid it from the public. Just a hunch, but we probably got shafted (so sorry for that horrible pun).

Anyways…this isn’t huge news but the first thing they’ve said in a long time regarding this. According to Zahi, they will reveal what is behind those doors this year.

Whether it actually happens is anyone’s guess, but I have my fingers crossed.

I have a serious problem. It seems I can’t go more than 2 weeks without getting an arcade game. If someone invents a version of Methadone that works for arcade addiction, please send me a bottle.

Anyways…here is the latest addition:

I got a great deal on this along with some extra parts and 2 Coors Lights. The game works but there is an issue with the monitor blowing fuses. I don’t think I’ll be working on it anytime soon as I have too many other projects to work on. It’s now in the offshoot project arcade located in my garage. This is the type of arcade you are probably very familiar with, where every single game is non working. There was an arcade like this at the Holiday Inn Express we stayed at in North Conway. The only reason I think I can actually get this Breakout working is because I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

My wife is an enabler. Where most wives would try to ween their husdbands away from the seedy underbelly that is addiction, she just encourages it. I wasn’t hell bent on getting this one, but thought it was cool. I mentioned it to her and she had to have it, hence my trip today to pick this puppy up.

A little history behind this game…Released in 1976 by Atari when I was 3 years old, it was designed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Supposedly they took the money they made from this game and used it to start Apple Computer. If either Steve is reading this and that info is not correct, please feel free to comment. They are probably both fervent readers of our blog.

This video is pretty cool, though I’m guessing its fiction:

There is a big saga I created on the problem with the Centipede I picked up last Sunday over at KLOV.com. Read it if you are bored. I’ll summarize here a bit. Basically, Centipede is now fully functional (like Data from Star Trek, and yes I am a geek).

The guys in the forums at KLOV.com helped me big time with this. I’d give them a big kiss but I don’t like dudes and my wife would be upset. Anyways…I was able to get it to tell me that the 2114 type RAM in spot F2 was bad. I stole one from my Pac-Man board that has yet to be installed, and soldered it in. Turned it back on, and it gave me 3 beeps for the 2101 RAM in spot K7. I didn’t have any of that to steal. I placed an order via an arcade chip website, with express mail shipping. It was taking too long for me to get a notice that they shipped the chips, so I found another place yesterday that would overnight them – Eldorado Games. The guy was very nice…I also got a joystick for Moon Patrol from him. RAM came this morning. I replaced K7 and it came right up.

The monitor faded out after about 5 mins of playing. I’m not sure what the deal was with that. I checked the 2 fuses on the chassis and they were OK. I turned it back on and its working OK now…been runnig for about 30 mins or so. I pushed on the neck board a bit in case a loose connection caused that.

Next on the list for this:

• Rebuild the trackball (I have the technology)
• New control panel overlay
• Cap kit for the monitor
• Maybe a new marquee…this one has some good sized scratches
• Maybe sideart…still deciding on that
• T-molding

Here is how it looks in our game room (ignore the clutter):

The game room is growing very fast…I can’t get a good pic of the entire thing anymore, and yes we are insane. Speaking of insanity…we are off to see Zodiac. Cya L8R.

I picked up one of my favorite games on Sunday – Centipede!

I saw this one on Craigslist, and called ten minutes after it was listed. He said it wasn’t working (wouldn’t turn on), and would take $50 for it. I told him I would take it without seeing any pics of it. I was hoping it was in good shape. Overall condition of the cabinet is good. It has typical wear and tear on the control panel, and some scracthes on the sideart. It’s also peeling a little in some corners but not bad at all. I plugged it in and it wouldn’t come on. The power interlock switch for the coin door wasn’t closed even though the door was. I fixed that and it came right on. You can coin it up and play, and the sound works. The screen however looks like this:

I checked the voltages and they were OK. I am going to replace the big blue and see what happens, but I may need to replace the ROMs to get it going.