Hey! I finally opened up Mario Bros. Inside was relatively clean. I pulled the PCB out of it’s cage, and this is what I found:

By the look of those batteries, I’d guess they were the ones that came with the game back in ‘83. You can see the corrosion all around the components to the right of the batteries. I believe that dark stuff on the edge of the board is also corrosion underneath the coating they covered the ground trace with.

Checkout the corrosion on the back side:

I got lucky that the corrosion didn’t seem to spread beyond what you see in those pics.

The batteries are only used to save bookeeping info for operators. Seeing as this Mario Bros. is not likely to be put in a real arcade anytime soon I figured it would be best to just remove them. I removed the batteries and holder and cleaned up the area with a small wire brush. Then I went over it with a 50/50 solution of white vinegar and water to neutralize the acid and keep the corrosion from coming back. After that, I went over it with some 91% rubbing alcohol. Here it is after all that was done:

Along that bottom edge, I had to sand it to get rid of the corrosion that was underneath the coating. I also had to replace a capacitor - C1. The corrosion ate right through one of it’s legs.

I put it all back together and it still worked (phew!). Here are a few pics showing it in its new location in our game room.

We just picked up a Mario Bros on Saturday, in Wakefield MA:

A little history for those that don’t already know…Mario Bros was released after Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and Popeye. It was primarily marketed as a conversion kit to convert those 3 games into Mario Bros to “Clean up after Donkey Kong” (man, THAT would be a sucky job!). It was also released in a dedicated cabinet, seen above. The dedicated cabinet is sometimes known as a “wide body”, as it is a bit wider than the cabinet for the previously released games that I mentioned.

I saw this in an ad for a Tapper that was listed for $2100. They also said they had a Mario Bros for $250. Me being a cheapskate, I opted for the Mario. There were no pictures, and only a description of it. I couldn’t find out on the phone whether it was a widebody (which is what I would prefer) or a conversion, so I took a chance and said I’d take it. I got lucky that it was a widebody, and it’s in pretty good shape. I seem to be getting most of my games from Craigslist, and usually at a good (sometimes great!) price. With Craigslist, you have to just keep checking as often as you can, and when you see something you are interested in you have to be quick or it will get snapped up in no time.

As with most of our games, it could use some cosmetic work. The game itself plays great and the monitor looks like it recently had a cap kit. Here are some more pics:

I’ll be picking up repro side art for it at some point. Before I put it on I plan on patching the cabinet here and there and painting it so it looks mint. I will also need a repro control panel overlay, as this one has been used and abused:

And…I could also use a top marquee bracket as this one is long gone:

I’m ashamed to say that I have yet to open the back of this cabinet. I had a very busy weekend, and today was a Monday from hell. I should be peeking inside it tomorrow….if anything jumps out, or if I find all those socks in there that you lost over the years I will be sure to post more pics.