Wizard of Wor cabinet

[Todd H]

Anybody ever converted an old WOW cabinet to a MAME cabinet?

[grafixmonkey]

See, to me, that would be a classic (because it's one of the games I played on my uncle's Atari when I was 5 years old), and I would not want to kill the cabinet!  I'd want to leave the original board inside, or maybe use a video switchbox to let me flip between Mame and the original, and only use games that could be played on the original WOW control layout.

[paigeoliver]

That would be real dumb to do if it was a complete game. Although if it is already converted, then have at it.

[spidermonkey]

No and I wouldn't dare think of it. Its a rare cabinet and a rare highly sought after game. If you're not going to restore it back to an original WOW then I would post it on a arcade game collector message board for a trade + some money. A collector who is looking for one of those would probably offer you a newer upright cabinet (which would be a better style and choice for a Mame cab anyway) and probably even some cash to go with it. Don't join the group of arseholes who mame rare classic cabinets when there's so many newer and more common cabinets out there to be had for cheap. Sorry for barking at you but I hate to hear stuff like this.  

[Todd H]

Sorry, I forgot to say that the cab is gutted and in pretty bad shape.  Nothing but an empty shell.   No monitor, board, nothing.  If it was in decent shape I'd definitely restore it.  Just wondering if anybody has come across a converted WOW.  I haven't bought it yet but have the opportunity.

[paigeoliver]

No and I wouldn't dare think of it. Its a rare cabinet and a rare highly sought after game. If you're not going to restore it back to an original WOW then I would post it on a arcade game collector message board for a trade + some money. A collector who is looking for one of those would probably offer you a newer upright cabinet (which would be a better style and choice for a Mame cab anyway) and probably even some cash to go with it. Don't join the group of arseholes who mame rare classic cabinets when there's so many newer and more common cabinets out there to be had for cheap. Sorry for barking at you but I hate to hear stuff like this.  

Actually, the only common cabinets ARE the old ones. It is the newer cabinets that are rare. The 80-83 stuff was produced at insane levels, levels that the industry never reached again.

The only "common" newer cabinet is the upright 19" Dynamo cabinet. But that was also the proper "dedicated" cabinet for a lot of games. The larger 90s Midway cabinet is semi-common, but is always beat to crap from having been through a dozen conversions.

If it is just a bare WoW cabinet with no sideart, then you are going to have an impossible time getting someone to take it off your hands to restore it.

A common misconception (often repeated by Howard), is that there are really people other than mamers looking for stripped out gutted cabinets. There are only a scant few bare cabinets that anyone wants. Laserdisc cabinets, Vectorbeam (not "Vector". just Vectorbeam), and Ms. Pac/Galaga cabinets. The laserdisc guys are just nuts, and people want the Ms Pac/Galaga cabinets so that they can buy all those cheap shoddy repro parts and sell them at auction for $1200.

The guys who actually own and restore lots of games regularly trash and burn cabinets all the time. They don't want a bare WoW cabinet, because it would cost as much for them to restore it, as it would for them to buy one, and if they bought one, then it would have sideart.

Empty vector cabinets are especially worthless. Cost of any given vector boardset, monitor, and control panel is a good bit more than the complete game is worth. This is due to the incredible amount of broken vector games flopping about.

One of my game collecting friends just tossed a Tron cabinet, with full sideart (otherwise stripped). No one would take it, no one wanted it. He got it free from another friend who gave him a monitor simply to haul the thing away.

I listed my complete non-working Amazing Maze in the paper multiple times at $50, and never got a single call on it. It didn't make financial sense to "restore" it, as I would be in another $135 for the boardset repair, all to have a game that no one wants. So I sold the monitor, and now the "Mamed" game sits in my bedroom.

So, in my opinion, if it is stripped, and the sideart is gone, then Mame away, because believe me, no one wants it.

And anyway, 90 percent of the "generic" cabinets I see pictures of that people chose for their Mame cabinets are not "generic" at all, I can almost always identify them. As far as I know the only generic cabinets were from Dynamo, and they don't even truly count as generic, since plenty of game manufacturers shipped brand new games in them.

My only complaints are these.

Don't EVER paint over or rip off sideart. EVER.

Don't EVER recut the front of the cabinet to add a larger control panel. The minute you did that, you destined the machine for the garbage dump. I can promise you, each and every one of you that did that, your machine will be in the dump eventually.

Don't mess up original control panels either. Use them as is, or remove them altogether and make a new one from scratch.

[paigeoliver]

Also, who exactly do you think owns all these stripped cabinets you guys keep buying?

The guys who actually restore games, that is who.

You don't find a lot of "bare wood" cabinets in warehouses. Warehouse cabinets tend to be semi-complete, or at least not totally stripped, because totally stripped=worthless=paying rental space on worthless junk.

If you are buying from a private owner/collector, then chances are very high that they are the one who stripped the cabinet in the first place, or that they got it free from the person who did.

[APFelon]

I second that emotion. Heh.

APf

[Tailgunner]

My only complaints are these.

Don't EVER paint over or rip off sideart. EVER.

Opps, I pulled the Arlington Horse Racing side art sticker off one side of my Dynamo cab today.  

To make up for it, I shall leave the original Ikari warriors side art glue residue I found under it intact.  

[paigeoliver]

My only complaints are these.

Don't EVER paint over or rip off sideart. EVER.

Opps, I pulled the Arlington Horse Racing side art sticker off one side of my Dynamo cab today.  

To make up for it, I shall leave the original Ikari warriors side art glue residue I found under it intact.  

There you go. I was actually looking for Arlington Horse Racing sideart for two years. And no I am not kidding. I eventually sold the boardset because I couldn't find any of the artwork for it anywhere.