I then began searching completed auctions for the various parts needed to restore the cabinet, and decided that it would be about the same cost to put it together as it would to buy a good quality machine plus pay for shipping. I then did an ethical "no-no" and added to my email that if the seller had a particular amount in mind to end the auction early, I would like to know what it would be.

We exchanged some emails and in the end the seller thanked me for letting him know that it had been a Tempest, but that he didn't want to end the auction early. I had no problem with this, as I really shouldn't have brought up the possibility in the first place. I also had mentioned that I planned to bid up to $250 for it, because of the cost of restoring it - however I was actually thinking of going as high as $300. It turned out that I won the auction for $202.50 - so I was quite happy.

Several years ago I owned a Tempest. It was in excellent condition, but I rarely played it for fear of breaking it and then I sold it to a local collector. About a year ago I discovered MAME, and built a cabinet from the ground up with plans found on the internet. I have found that it was great fun to build, but now I rarely use it. I even bought a control panel wiring harness with all the controls off ebay to use in my MAME cabinet. Thank goodness I didn't throw any of it away!

As I write this I have yet to pick up the cabinet, I will be getting it in 2 more days. As with most of my recent hobbies I decided to chronicle my experiences on the web. I figure it's only fair since I will be getting as much information about restoring arcade games as I can off of the web.

I will be updating this page with information and pictures as I work on the cabinet, but as money is a little tight don't expect the project to move at light speed. The other thing that will slow me down is that although I have built a MAME cabinet from scratch, I have next to no experience with real arcade games.

OK, now that I have bought a cabinet, what's next? At this point I still don't have the cabinet in my posession, it is now Monday and my wife and I will pick it up Wednesday. From the sellers info I know that the cabinet doesn't have a power supply, the monitor is just a tube with no chassis and that it has been wired for the Aliens JAMMA game. Let's see what else we can find wrong just by looking at the pictures.

1) The control panel now sports two joysticks and six buttons. There is also a plexiglass cover over it that has been bolted down with 4 additional bolts.
2) The side art has been painted over with black paint, and then had new stickers applied. The new artwork has been "enhanced" with lots of nasty scratches.
3) The metal retainer piece that holds the glass in place at the top is missing.
4) The marquee looks odd, it seems to stick out too far. I can't tell if the Aliens marquee is screwed on top of the Tempest one (fingers crossed), or if it is screwed to a plain block of wood placed where the Tempest marquee belongs.
5) Looking closely you can see that the monitor is mounted horizontally.
6) There are bolt holes on either side of the coin door for a security bar.

Well, I guess I have quite a few things to do. And I still can't see the innards, or if it has a back panel. Don't forget the test switch and volume knob located just inside the coin door.