Ms. Pac-man Mini – Restoration

I picked this machine up as part of a package deal when I got my Joust Cocktail.

Two years ago – we had our yearly labor day party and I unveiled Lakeside Arcade which is how I got started in the arcade machine hobby. My Mame machine had all of the usual’s on the favorites list, but I had no idea what people would actually play. Far and away – Pacman and Ms. Pacman were the favorites.

Fast forward to today – now I have a real one. At first I wasn’t a big fan of the mini format but it has really grown on me while its been sitting in the shop. There were a few projects in front of it and thankfully I’m reasonably disciplined in completely finishing existing projects before starting new ones. So it has waited a bit..

Ms. Pacman now has my undivided attention (as far as restorations go) as my next large project.

Ms. Pac-man Mini – Triage

This cabinet came with a fantastic looking monitor.

A Wells Gardner 13K7203 – manufactured May 2000 – Zero screen burn.. Barely looks used. Powers on – no picture.. High Voltage seems to be working but visually there is at least one bulging cap.. Nothing doing.. I did manage to get a vertical line once on it.. More to do here.

Someone decided to cut, strip and twist the ground wires with a wire nut and did the same on some others too. I’m guessing to prevent single pins from burning up? Very hacky and I don’t see how it helps..

I pulled the board and bench tested it – it works! I’ll do some maintenance to it later. I was a little surprised.

The dust in the bottom of this cabinet is from 1983.. There is no other explanation. Its never been cleaned in here… ever…

Inexplicably – zero evidence of rodents.. Maybe it was too dusty for them or maybe they dissolved into the dust..

The cabinet is worse than these pictures look.. Drywall screws holding parts together and some particle board bulge.. Seems like Ms. Pacman has had a hard life and a little too much Botox around some of the edges.

The original vinyl is a mess in more than one spot. A drywall screw is holding in the T-Molding? The marquee has some surface scratching and marks – but I’m pretty sure I can compound and buff all of that out.