It all started at the seaside. Either Llandudno or Weymouth, a long time ago, my dad took me to the arcades. The first two video games I remember playing were Seawolf and Boot Hill. In Seawolf, you looked through a submarine periscope and shot torpedoes at ships. Boot Hill was a two-player cowboy duel. Fun, but not addictive.
In 1978, Taito’s Space Invaders was released. I was blown away by the graphics and sounds. It was you against the machine, stopping aliens from landing on Earth. I became obsessed, spending all my school dinner money on it and other games appearing in chip shops, pubs, and cafes. I would cycle or take buses to nearby towns to find the latest games.
Building a Collection
I left school in 1984 and worked in a video rental store. My boss Geoff offered me a cocktail arcade machine from their hotel bar for £30. It turned out to be a Galaxian clone called Defend The Terra Attack On The Red UFO. I sold it for £40. Over the next decades, I owned many home consoles but grew nostalgic for golden age arcades.
Around 15 years ago, I bought a cocktail Phoenix machine on eBay for £154. It was still being used in a Chinese takeaway near Burton. One machine was not enough. I continued checking eBay and bought an Alca Bomber upright for £250, a bootleg of Scramble running a 60-in-1 multi game PCB. I joined UKVAC (UK Video Arcade Collectors) to connect with other collectors, avoid eBay fees, and get repair advice.
Acquiring Classics
I wanted an original Space Invaders. I won a faulty Taito cabinet on eBay for £260, eight miles away in Tamworth. A friend with an estate car helped transport it, but it didn't fit properly and banged over speed bumps. The monitor worked, but the PCB had a fault. I learned to test voltages with a multimeter and found a UKVAC member to repair it for £150. It's now worth around £1,200.
I bought a Cosmic Guerilla cocktail table from UKVAC for £280, shipped by a trusted courier for £100. It worked for years until it stopped; blown fuses indicated a deeper issue. After my gran passed away, she left me money. I bought an Atari Star Wars machine, one of my favourites, and wrote about it for Metro GameCentral. I've owned it for 10 years; it's cost a fortune to keep running but I adore it.
Repairs and Modifications
I also bought an Invaders Revenge, a Space Invaders variant. It worked when picked up but stopped working on delivery. I attempted repairs and made things worse. I later fell in love with Asteroids at Arcade Club in Bury, bought one, and had the PCB repaired for about £15. It failed again years later and was repaired again.
I acquired a Pac-Man cabaret, which worked perfectly except for a sticky joystick that was easy to fix. An Atari Tempest upright came from the US; I bought it along with a Gorf cabinet after the seller knocked £200 off. Tempest developed intermittent faults; Gorf's monitor stopped working. I avoid monitor repairs due to lethal charge risks.
Advanced Collecting
I bought a Williams Defender, possibly my favourite game, but it died within hours. I bought a Jrok multi-Williams FPGA board from the US for around £400, but installation was daunting. Five years later, I traded my non-working Cosmic Guerilla for a working The Invaders cocktail with a UKVAC member who was an electrician. He installed the Jrok in my Defender, rewired it, and added a new power supply.
Some UKVAC members modify games, adding high score saves or freeplay. I bought a multi-game PCB for Space Invaders that plays 10 variants, including Lunar Rescue and Invaders Revenge, easy to install myself.
The Collection Today
I now have 11 arcade machines and no space for more. Late last year, I bought a Sega Astro Blaster cabaret that fits in the hall. I still want Ladybug, Bomb Jack, Moon Cresta, Mr. Do!, Zaxxon, and expensive cabs like Tron and Paperboy (£3,000–£4,000 each).
The journey has been fantastic. I'm friends with world record scorers on Defender and Star Wars, a guy from The King of Kong, and retro arcade managers. I've met Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar, creators of Defender and Robotron. I chatted with Jeff Minter at Arcade Club. If you're nostalgic, visit Arcade Club Bury (£18 entry, over 400 games free to play), Arcade Club Leeds, Blackpool, NQ64 chain, or The Retro Realm in Walsall. As Moon Cresta says, 'You Can Get a Lot of Fun and Thrill!'
