Click the game marquees below for the game specific pages.
In late 2001 I purchased an Atari 720 Degrees arcade game from a local seller via Ebay. I learned from the seller that it had been in a pizza parlor for the past several years. It worked fine electronically and the monitor looked great, but the joystick barely turned and would not line up the skater correctly. The cabinet had several holes, chips and cracks in it, and it had been painted completely black at some point. Over the next couple of months I worked to restore it as best I could. Once complete I put up a site dedicated to the restoration. Over time I added gameplay and other aspects of the game to create a comprehensive Atari 720 website.
In April 2008 I finally purchased my second game. I picked up an Atari Star wars from another arcade game collector/restorer. I played this game endlessly in the arcades in the 80’s. Later as a teen I worked in a theater which had Star Wars and again played it very often for several years. Thankfully the Star Wars I purchased was in much better condition than my first game, so with only some very small cosmetic upgrades I have as close to a perfect Star Wars as I’ll ever get. See more details on the dedicated Star Wars page.
In June 2008 I found my 3rd game. I've actually wanted a Tron longer than any other game. Here is a post to the Usenet from October 1996 when I was first actively looking. Almost 12 years later I finally found a Tron near me on Ebay. Over several weeks I repainted the cabinet, eplaced the inner and outer side art, both blacklight covers and capped the monitor. It was otherwise in great shape with a new controll panel overlay, flawless original blue joystick, great monitor shroud, and perfect marquee. Details of the restoration done are on the Tron page. Tron was another of the games I played in the arcades. Once it was removed locally I would make frequent trips up to Disneyland to play Tron in the Starcade.
In July 2008 I acquired game #4, a dedicated upright Discs of Tron. It needed a new power supply, but is otherwise complete and in great shape. I'm hoping to be able to add the speech function form the environmental version and will perform some very small touch up items. There's a bit more info in a short video here. In the coming days and weeks I'll add a more info to a dedicated Discs of Tron page.
I was lucky to pick up a fellow collector and friend's Quantum project in September 2008. The cabinet was completely empty except for the monitor, but along with the deal I got just about everything needed to get the game together. Marquee, speaker assemblies, control panel, new overlay, amplifone boards, trak-ball assembly, a Tempest harness, replacement coin door, monitor glass & bezel. In May 2009 I finally acquired a Quantum PCB. It had some issues and was sent off to Alex Yeckley (Elektron Forge) for repair. While it was being repaired I worked on repairing and assembling the cabinet. I also received a rebuilt ARII board from Francis Mariani to replace the defective one I had. In June I received the working board back and finally have a working Quantum. See more the slideshow on the Quantum Page.
I'm not sure I'd ever admit my arcade is complete. As I play other collectors' games and remember my favorites from the past, my want list keeps growing. I would like to have a horizontal multi-cab game, perhaps a Street Fighter themed cabinet with several variations of the game. Further down the road would be all 4 Mortal Kombats in a single MK2 or MK3 dedicated cabinet, an Atari Assault, and a Punch Out or Super Punch Out.
All content © 2009, Jeff Civitate, all rights reserved.
The 720 Zone Garcade as of 6/11/10:
Also in May 2009 I purchased a dedicated 25" Smash TV from long time Colorado collector Jon Jamshid. It was my first experience with shipping a game. It arrived working perfectly and in excellent condition. Smash TV was yet another of the games I played as a teen at the local arcade. The 25" monitor makes it a good neighbor for the 720. Like the other dedicated games in my collection it has a relatively unique control structure, which is why I wanted a dedicated version. I've also obtained a working Total Carnage board, and will be adding the ability to switch between the two games in the single cabinet. See the Smash TV Page for more info.
Game #7 is a Pacman cabinet that I'm in the process of restoring and converting to a 60 in 1. See many pictures of the progress in the Pacman Album.
