This cab was fully working, except for the monitor image rolling. A tweak of the vertical hold pot on the chassis sorted this and I was able to play some Bomb Jack!
Released by Tehkan (known today as Tecmo) in 1984 Bomb Jack is an awesome game, extremely fun and addictive. The premise is simple: collect all the red bombs, ideally in the correct order for the best score, whilst avoiding red-eyed homing birds and other adversaries. A local pub had a Chinese candy cab clone with a 60-In-1 multi game board installed, and me and my wife often played Bomb Jack on ‘date nights’, whilst listening to some tunes on the juke box and enjoying a few beers, good times! My wife is still getting higher scores than me though, which is a bit annoying!
The monitor is 14”. Unfortunately there is some burn, with some light Pac-Man maze image present.
The front of the cab has hinges and can be tilted towards the player, allowing internal access. This is the first time I’ve seen this and is pretty cool. The internal light is also a nice feature.
The coin count is very low and comes to a grand total of eleven pounds! It looks like the cab had a Pac-Man type game installed originally, and the coin counters were probably replaced when the PCB was changed out.
Old ten pence pieces still in the coin box.
The cab had been sat in the former bar / games room for a long time, and was coated with years of grime and nicotine. After a couple of hours cleaning and polishing, the cab looks almost brand new. I used Mr Sheen multi surface wipes on the cabinet body, Wilko glass wipes on the monitor glass and baby wipes on the T-moulding. The pic shows the T-moulding partly cleaned to give you an idea how grimy it was.
I also replaced the fluorescent tube, and I used Steller stainless steel cleaner on the marquee retainer brackets and fixings. This is great for removing surface rust and making parts shiny again. I’ve still got to have a clean inside and replace a damaged button.
I find these quirky UK built cabinets really interesting, and so far I haven’t been able to find much information about this cab or the company who manufactured it. However I have found some pics of the same cab type, but with different artwork.
First up is this Puck Man cab. This appeared recently on Ebay.
Next is this Vanguard cab. The source for the following pics is jammajup.co.uk/
I really enjoyed cleaning this cab up and I'm pleased to add it to my collection. I'm now looking forward to finishing off my Donkey Kong and working on my next project, Astro Blaster!
