The game is Cabal. Figured if I screw it up then at least I didn't ruin a GOOD game, right? The price was right and I just wanted a cheap project game. The trackballs are on there (but shot). It all appears original and very, very neglected. Still not sure if it was originally a Cabal or conversion. One of the sides the art is perfectly intact and the other side its 95% ripped off. The machine is generally trashed and water damaged but the marquee looks practically new. Also worth noting the game art is really, really, really terrible. Just look at the soldier's expression. Assuming I make the game into something else I'm going to hang that marquee on my wall because the art is so bad it's great.

I'll post up pics tomorrow when I get the van back. I'm going to need a haz mat suit to get the dust out of the cab. It's going to be a complete disassemble and reassemble project oh god why did I do this I could have just built a new game from scratch easier project.

I like woodworking, electronics, and all that stuff. To me the value of the experience is in the journey more than the destination. It'll be an entertaining summer project. I'll probably post up questions as they come which is why I signed up here.

We are in rural Illinois headed to rural Missouri. The GPS said the trip would be 2.5 hours in each direction. Sounded fine to me, a day long road trip to pick up a game.

The morning got off to a good start. We were off on time, breakfast on the road, guy called to confirm we were on our way. Golden. Getting there became a battle because the wind picked up and was really buffeting the van around, then the rain, sleet, and wintry mix started and stopped. Compared to Illinois Missouri can be... hilly. Between the weather, wind, and hills my buddy was car sick by the time we arrived.

We arrive and the guy shows us the game. Turns out he smokes. A lot. Whole garage smells like one big wet cigarette. No big I thought, the game will sit in the garage for awhile and air out. These things were smoked around for years anyway. The game is quite a bit rougher than he described but OK, worth restoring I say. The price is right. This is my summer weekend project.

I ask to see in the rear of the game and he says he doesn't have keys and never opened it. He offers to drill the locks and I say yes, please. We get the door open and it's at least an inch of dust over *everything*. This game hasn't been opened in a decade or two.

I pay the man, back the van up and I run over his mailbox. I apologized and paid him an idiot tax with my reserve cash.

We lay the game on its back to load it and I see water damage that wasn't visible previously. Fuck me, what did I get into here?

At this point I have a water damaged game I've paid for, run over his mailbox, and have a 200 pound cigarette in my van. I decided to just leave and get back home asap. We calm down and head out except my buddy dry heaving in the passenger side and oh yes it gets better, we have a flat tire about 18 miles from home.

We sit and wait for an hour, finally the tow truck arrives and takes us home.

I had planned to get new tires on the van in 2-4 weeks since the tread is dipping below Lincoln's head.

So the new tires, tow, game, and idiot tax for the seller's mailbox means this happy little adventure cost me about $750. Currently the cigga-game is sitting in the back of my van at the mechanic shop imparting it's masculine aroma on the interior of the vehicle.

What was that maxim about video game collecting? YOU WILL ALWAYS OVERPAY FOR YOUR FIRST GAME.

Not the good part of Illinois, the nowhere part.

I found John's videos and podcasts while sick over Christmas holiday and stayed up a few nights watching and listening to them. That compelled me to pick up my first project arcade machine yesterday.

I figured it would be a fun adventure, day long road trip. I brought a friend and everything started out peachy but the adventure turned into a shitventure halfway through the day. I can tell the story if anyone is interested.