As I have heard John state in this forum, there is a very large arcade in the Chicago area that has a lot of "conversions". I know that makes the hair on the back of our necks stick out. Neverless, you should hear me out on this place.
Doc Mack (the owner) has been doing replacements for many of his games from conversions to originals. Of course, I am specifically talking about the games produced up to 1983 or so when part of the life of a game was its cabinet and controls. After the crash, many more games were available via conversions so there are still quite a bit of those at the place... but he is really focused on securing originals of those cabinets as made available.
The original goal for Doc was to salvage the original boards and get games up and playable. Now, the focus is acquiring the original cabs, completing artwork, etc. Sure, these games are available to the general public and will have their dings and scratches, but he admits that too many people come through the place to be able to get the games in mint condition.
While perusing their FB page, I saw they have recently acquired original cabinets for Stargate, Moon Patrol, Rolling Thunder, The Real Ghostbusters, and Holloseum. Most other classics are in original cabs now with a few exceptions (most notably, DK Jr. in the wide body, Elevator Action in a Super Pac Man with an 8 way stick, and Bump N Jump in... something).
I'll post some pics.
Also, Underground Retrocade has expanded to the second floor and now have original DK Jr, Popeye, Sinistar, and a few other new games!
Once GGA completes their little mini renovation/reorganization, you should make another trip back to Chicago, John!
