Got a Galaxian this weekend

[2PacMan]

Just got a Galaxian this weekend.  I was going to use the cab for my MAME because I wanted a PacMan style cabinet for it, but the artwork and overall condition of this game has made me decide to keep it as is for now.  The artwork is really neat looking, unfortunately the game itself is kind of boring.  The seller said it had a 'new' monitor in it.  Well, it doesn't look 'new' to me, but it is different than the original one.  Anyone know what it is?  Well, on to the pics:  (what are Galaxians selling for nowadays?)

[Paladin]

It seems a bit pricey, but there's a kit to let you run 18 games on the original PCB.  It's an option If you didn't want to gut it:

http://www.arcades.plus.com/multigame3.htm

[Level42]

Looks very good, indeed good enough to keep it like that ! CP loolks like new (at least no rust)...

Maybe you can replace the kick-art. www.thisoldgame.com has it, but his file is the one without the blue bar at the bottom. I will be receiving a sample of the material he uses soon.
www.mamemarquees.com has all the Galaxian art now...not sure what it's printed on.

What serial number is your cab ?


And what do you mean boring ? I love it !

That 18 in 1 kit looks very nice. I think I will end up installing it, but it will take a while. It's not really cheap, but he just lowered the prices around 20 UKP already and it's 18 games....running on original hardware, not bad !

I think E-bay is your best gauge on selling prices of Galaxians in the US. I bought mine for €150,- completely working, but of course in "uncleaned/unrestored", but working state. And I still was extremely lucky with that price I think over here.....

[2PacMan]

Level42---i've been reading your restore thread and i'm very impressed.  Keep me updated on that kickplate art.  I saw that too, but it's missing the blue, plus as you, i'm worried about the texture matching.  I'm going to attempt to restore this (probably not to the extent that you are), but I'm hoping to make it look nice.  I really got lucky on that control panel overlay, it's in excellent original form.  I really need a new coin door for it, as mine has been all hacked up.

Sorry, still think the game is kind of boring, it seems just like a glorified space invaders to me.  Maybe after I play it some more, i'll get used to it.  I'd love to get that 18 in one game board mod, it looks really neat.  But it is just so expensive.  And when you have a MAME system too, it doesn't really seem worth it.

I'll look up the serial number tonight, but I remember it's like 24,000-something...seems like a later run game.  Any ideas about the monitor that's in there....there's no way that's original.

[Level42]

Thanks 2PacMan !

I will keep you updated (think in the Galaxian No.815 thread...)

Well maybe it's just my childhood memories that it's such a great game plus I suck at it....

Well if I get the 18 in 1 it will be the kit for sure. I can build it myself no problem.
I personaly still think there is a difference between emulation and the real arcade boards. Remember that all those 18 games were more or less "meant" to be run on the Galaxian hardware....

The only real problem I have with it is that I'd love to be able to play the 4-way games on it, but that would mean I need a 4 way joystick of course....

Ok 24.000 is pretty high. I think the highest number I've ever seen was somewhere in the 27.000.
You also can see yours is a high number since the PCB has the extra "grounding" board installed. This is meant to prevent "static".

The monitor is definitly not original. I can't see from the pictures what monitor it is. The inside looks very clean by the way !

I'm glad you want to restore it, even though you don't really like the game. I gotta admit that I bought my Centipede because it's a lovely cab and it was in great condition, but I'm not that keen on the game itself. That is.....the Atari 2600 version. I was once 4th (under 18s, yes I was so young then) in the Ducth national Atari 2600 championships on that game.........but I hated it !
Mostly because of the lousy joystick control. But we're drifting off....what I meant to say is you don't have to love a game to fall in love with a cab.....and I've never ever ever played Centipede on a real cab
The side art is looking very good. Just the usual "hand" wear. I'm hoping to find a way to fill up those worn parts but that will be near the end of the restoration

[modessitt]

As your such a Pac-Man nut, you could always put a Pac-Man board in there as it will just plug and play, and call it Pacxian.

Or... isn't there a Pac-Hack or Galaxian/Galaga Hack that lets you play one game with the other's graphics?  Can't remember.....

BTW... in all your Pac-room pics, haven't noticed a cocktail....

[Level42]

As your such a Pac-Man nut, you could always put a Pac-Man board in there as it will just plug and play, and call it Pacxian.

Mmmm, very challenging, playing Pac Man with a 2 way joystick

[2PacMan]

Looks like the serial# on mine is 24846. 

So there is a difference in boards from earlier to later releases?  Didn't know that....what's the difference exactly?

Another thing I noticed, when the aliens swoop down to attack, I can see faint black lines running through them.  I thought it was the monitor, but when the aliens are in formation at the top, they don't do this...so now i'm thinking it might be a graphics issue.  It's such a small problem, i'm not going to mess with it, but i was just curious if yours did that as well.

Also, on the main screen, when it gives you values for shooting the different aliens, at the bottom, mine says "midway" in purple font.  But i've noticed some screenshots of it on the net, it says "bally" at the bottom.  Do you know which is more common?

[Level42]

Well, there's no real difference in boards (apart from the ROM's) as far as I know, but you can see that on the edge of your main PCB there is an "extension" board. This was later added (and offered as an "upgrade"). The only function is to prevent static conditions. There should be a very "thick" wire running to a scew on one of the transformers on the bottom of the cab.

Check out my Galaxian No.815 thread. There's a posting where I write about all the Service Bulletins that I received together with the Galaxian Manual I won at E-bay. One of these Service Bulletins is about this modification.

Another one is a condensator added to one of the coin mech's microswitches.

I'm not a pro on board repairs (trying to fix my Centipede currently, waiting for parts), but I think this is a PCB problem. Mine doesn't do this afaik. It could be ROM's or lots of other things. You could visualy check the PCB to see if there's any obvious problems (bad contacts f.i.).

That Midway is different per ROM-set. Mine actualy has NAMCO there, I don't think there are ROMsets that show BALLY though.. There are three different ROM-sets afaik. They also differ in bonus scores and number of lives settings.

[2PacMan]

Ahh, you're right, it was NAMCO, not BALLY.  So on some it says MIDWAY and some it says NAMCO?  Hmm, that's interesting. 

Yes, it does appear to be some sort of board issue as far as the black lines go, but it passes all the tests...maybe just needs a chip re-seating.  I don't want to make things worse though...think i'll leave it for now. 

Did you notice on the end of my board, there's another connector for possible another harness or something?  Any idea what that was for?

What did you decide to do about the black flaking on your marquee?  Mine has that too.  I was thinking either black sharpee or some black paint, what do you think?

Thanks for all the info.  I've been searching the net for stuff on this game with not much luck other than just the basics on how to play it.

[2PacMan]

OK, i'm cleaning my Galaxian up and just noticed something I can't believe I didn't notice it.  The front artwork is like a giant vinyl sticker.  One side is painted graphics.  The other side is a huge vinyl sticker matching the front art.  So my first thought is "ok, they took a side from another Galaxian and used it on this machine.  But i'm examining this real close, and everything looks original and I can't see any signs of replacing another side.  Does anyone know at what point the moved from paint to vinyl graphics, or which one came later?  I suppose there's no possible way mine came from the factory like this (half and half) is there? 

[RayB]

OK, i'm cleaning my Galaxian up and just noticed something I can't believe I didn't notice it.  The front artwork is like a giant vinyl sticker.  One side is painted graphics.  The other side is a huge vinyl sticker matching the front art.  So my first thought is "ok, they took a side from another Galaxian and used it on this machine.  But i'm examining this real close, and everything looks original and I can't see any signs of replacing another side.  Does anyone know at what point the moved from paint to vinyl graphics, or which one came later?  I suppose there's no possible way mine came from the factory like this (half and half) is there? 

I believe your cabinet marks the EXACT POINT where they switched... While they were halfway through building it!!
 

[2PacMan]

Wow!!  Then I have a rare collectors item for sure....better get this on ebay with a huge minimum bid 

[Level42]

Haha, naaahhh this gotta been done to 'restore' it. Afaik all Galaxians have this white vinyl laminate with a structured texture and the art silk-screened on it. But what do I know, I've seen only a hand-ful recently (one is mine, the other is at FunSpot).

About the marquee, I haven't done anything about it yet, I am also looking for a good ans safe way to fix it. I was thinking of black paint as well, but it shouldn't harm the original ink/paint.

What is sharpee ? (Sorry I'm a stupid Dutchman )

That connector you mention is the modification I mentioned earlier to prevent static. But is there an extra connector that is not connected to anything ? I can't see that on the picture. I think I've read that Pac Man got the same modification so maybe there's another connector for the Pac PCB ? I know the connectors are ALMOST the same, but there are a couple differences for the up-down.

[horseboy]

What is sharpee ? (Sorry I'm a stupid Dutchman )

He meant Sharpie.





Permanent markers. Usually black.

[2PacMan]

Here's a picture of the connector i'm talking about.  This is my board.  I don't see that extra add on static eliminator board you are talking about, maybe i'm missing it.

Yes, I meant sharpie (black marker) concerning the marquee.  Actually, i tried it, but it's not working very well, you can still see through it.  Now i'm using black paint which seems to be working great, except that it ruins the back side of the marquee (but who's going to see that anyways?)

So I was a little confused about your respons to the sideart observation.  So yours is like that too with one side painted on art and the other side vinyl stickered art? 

[Level42]

Well....indeed. It's not there ! Hah, I couldn't see it very clearly on the first inside picture, looked like it....


That connector you indicate is the "service" connector. It's got all the adress and databus lines and some more to be able to connect testing hardware to it. That testing hardware is taking the role of the procesor (it needed to be removed) and by running instructions you can test the various hardware parts.

At least, that's how it works on the Atari Centipede board I have, and I think it's the same with others...

Yeah I think a permanent marker is not holding very well on the perspex. I don't really care that much about the inside either, as long as the frontside looks great ! I also got some bad spots in the green and purplish areas, those will be a bit harder, unless I get the paint mixed fot it....but we only need a few drops.....o well most of the bad spots are on the black.

Does the ink/paint come off because of the heat of the TL light/lamps ?

[2PacMan]

I haven't tried to put the marquee back in the cab yet to see about the holding up of the paint.  I haven't finished touch ups yet.  I imagine it'd be ok.  I don't know how long you are planning on leaving yours on, mine will only be on maybe an hour at a time tops, so i doubt it will get super hot.  Plus, mine has the 2 40W bulbs, not the flourescent bulb like yours.

Does your cab have one side painted graphics and one side vinyl graphics, or are both sides one or the other?

[Level42]

Some confusions here:

1) I meant if the orginal ink/paint chipped off because of any heat. Actualy I think the TL is a lot colder than those two 40W bulbs (and consuming a lot less power). So I didn't mean the new paint you are using to touch it up, I guess that will be OK.

2) My cab has vinyl laminate on all sides incl. top. That vinyl was silk-screened with the graphics art. So there was no "painting" on wood panels or anything.

There's plenty of detail on the pics in my Galaxian No.815 thread that show how it looks.

That vinyl has a structure. Check out the pics of the top area, you can see it there.

i don't think any original Galaxians had any artwork "painted" directly on the wood.

[2PacMan]

Yeah, the vinyl definately does have a texture to it.  I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that one side of my cab is painted, with the graphics painted on.  The front, right side and the back all have the vinyl on it.  I wish the entire thing was painted.  The painted side of my cab cleaned up real nicely...the vinyl portions are still yellowed.  I'm hoping I can paint over the vinyl with a light coat of white to brighten it up and still keep the texture.

Can anyone else with a galaxian chime in and let us know if their machine was painted or had vinyl graphics?  Maybe it was just in the later run of games.  The painted side definately held up better than the vinyl artwork did.  And the following games like pacman/ms pacman had painted on graphics as well, so maybe they switched over towards the end of their run.

[horseboy]

Maybe it was just in the later run of games.  The painted side definately held up better than the vinyl artwork did.  And the following games like pacman/ms pacman had painted on graphics as well, so maybe they switched over towards the end of their run.

I don't know about that. Galaxians weren't painted, they were silk screened straight onto the cab. That is a much different process than the stencilling that was done on the Pac games. Also, Space Invaders was a year before Galaxian, and it was stencilled as well. I didn't know any Galaxian's had vinyl on them until Level42's thread. It seems really strange that one side has the vinyl and the other doesn't. That makes me think it was a restoration job, but who knows? 

Midway was known to reuse stuff back in the day. That is how the rare white Galaga's came to be.

http://www.arcadeshop.com/galaga/galaga.htm

Scroll to the bottom to see the white Galaga. Also note the Galaga that used a Ms. Pac scrap piece for the bottom of the cab. Maybe this reusing thing has something to do with your cab.

The only way to know anything for sure is for you to peel that vinyl off and see what's under it. 

[2PacMan]

Ah yes, horseboy, you are correct.  When I say 'painted on' artwork, i mean silkscreened directly on the side of the cab.  Sorry about the confusion there.  There is just bare wood under the vinyl on the other side and front, as there are areas that are peeling away.  That's my only guess is that for whatever reason, at the factory, they used a silkscreened side of a cab and put it on a vinyl overlayed cab.  I can't see any proof that someone with 2 Galaxian cabs, one with silkscreened graphics and one with vinyl graphics combined the two cabs to make one 'good' cab....but i guess it's a slim possiblity.

[horseboy]

That is weird man. Maybe RayB is right.

I believe your cabinet marks the EXACT POINT where they switched... While they were halfway through building it!!
 

[Level42]

Yeah, the Galaxian art is too complicated to have it stencilled I think.

It IS very weird. Silkscreening is only used when large numbers are being produced so I can't imagine it's a restore job. You'd expect someone to paint a side white and then apply a printed (or silk-screened) sticker.

I also think this was done in the factory. I've seen that TV program about the history of videogames, and there are shots of the Atari factory in those days, and you see there that the entire side panels get the silk-screening process. There's no reason to think Bally-Midway did it differently. It's the most easy way to handle it. 

Remember that your serial number is pretty high. The highest number I've seen is around the 27000 mark. It could very well be they switched the process and that the Pac Man run was already being produced while they were still making Galaxians....but that's just a guess of course. Or they simply ran out of vinyl, or decided to lower production costs.....

I would LOVE to see some good hi-res close-up pictures !!!!

By the way, use a de-greaser and RUB to get rid of the yellow...it's not going to disappear completely but you can get it a lot better. The ink of the silk-screening is surprisingly sturdy. I actualy used a "rough" sponge (The one's with one "rough" side) on the part where the rust of the coindoor frame was on my kickplate and I could not see any bad things happening to the ink...
It surprised me because the parts where the hands of players have been the ink is really worn. But this is probably the thing: Humans sweat and sweat=acid. Acid eats away everything. A good rubbing doesn't seem to do it any harm.

[2PacMan]

Here are some close up pics of the silk screened side.  It's the best I could do with my camera.  I tried to get some light shining off the surface so you could tell it was smooth and not textured.

Also, do you know where to get some coin door parts for this?  I'm missing the "25 cent" label as well as some inner parts of the door.

[Level42]

Weird !

Looks to be in great condition. So is that white a coat of paint directly on the wood ?

Is the ink on the letters of the Galaxian logo on the top really "bleeding" outside the black borders, or is that your camera messing up ?

It vould be a repro if it's an entire sheet of smooth vinyl...

www.thisoldgame.com has the inserts afaik...check the site...

What inner parts do you miss ?

[2PacMan]

Yeah, the paint is directly on the wood, it's not vinyl at all.  The bleeding colors outside the galaxian logo is actually there, it's not the camera.  I've noticed this on alot of silkscreened type games.  My Ms Pacman has some bleeding outside the borders as well. 

It is in really good shape.  Like i said, i wish the whole thing was silkscreened, as this side looks a whole lot better than the other vinyl side .

Thanks for the link to those inserts, i'll have to check that page out.  For the coin door insides, i'm missing pretty much everthing.  The mechs, the mounting hardware, etc....here's some pics, it's in bad shape.

[Level42]

That side is indeed looking great. Remember that the vinyl was silk-screened too. Well this has to be a factory job then...very nice to have a unique cab like that.

Yeah that coin door needs a good restore job. But I think that actualy the only thing missing it the coin mech. That shouldn't be hard to get. That is, if you want to keep this as a "one mech" door only, which is clearly what they made it to be with that slot mounted up-side down on the left.

Everything else needs a good sanding, and re-painting. Mine is currently waiting to get powder coated....I'm glad I have a 1 coin-mech door, saves some work !

[Level42]

O, and I forgot: www.arcadeshop.com has a repro of the Midway Coindoor logo (#2 is the right one).

csa3d is on the hunt for the right new rivets so mount it so it looks original.

Check out this thread:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=63664.0

and check out his coin door restoration: a very nive job !!!:
http://www.csa3d.com/galaxian_coindoor.php

[2PacMan]

Do you know what color the buttons are supposed to be?  I want to restore this to as original as possible.  I know you have a real early run with the white joystick, which looks awesome.  But did the majority have the black joystick?  And should all the buttons be white?  I've seen some with the fire button being red.  Also, i've seen some on ebay using a red ball top joystick.  I'm pretty sure the black balltop joy is factory...but what about the white or red fire button?

[Level42]

Do you know what color the buttons are supposed to be?  I want to restore this to as original as possible.  I know you have a real early run with the white joystick, which looks awesome.  But did the majority have the black joystick?  And should all the buttons be white?  I've seen some with the fire button being red.  Also, i've seen some on ebay using a red ball top joystick.  I'm pretty sure the black balltop joy is factory...but what about the white or red fire button?

I don't really know either. Indeed the really early one's like mine have white all over, so all buttons and ball-top. But just like you, I've seen black and red ball-tops and red buttons as well.

I guess a lot of those buttons got replaced during time and what did operators care about color...but midway  changed colors as well for sure.

But I recently also saw NOS Galaxian cocktail handles that had red ball tops (that's why I didn't get them, I insist on keeping it white )

[2PacMan]

That's interesting about finding a NOS red ball top Galaxian.  I thought for sure ops just replaced the black joystick with red ones from the Pacman games with an up/down restrictor.

I've been looking on the net, and it looks like the majority of them have all white buttons, so I guess i'll keep mine that way for now unless I can find some concrete proof to the contrary.

OK, i just found a flyer, and it does have the white joy with white buttons....so i'm confident in saying the white buttons were original.  Another wierd thing, the one in the flyer was a two coin slot coin door...but i thought the real early ones only had one coin slot 

[Level42]

Yep the one on that flyer is 100% as mine, except for the coin mech. Maybe one mech was a European thing ?
I know there are lots of different "options" for the coin door. Mine has two really big bolts on the side, which I haven't seen on most others...

Buttons are almost always white, I guess they all had them originaly.

The German flyer has a much larger of that picture. It's the best original picture I've seen so far.....you can even see the black T-molding is textured.

http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=flyer&id=3881&image=4

Take a look at how the blue on the side-art runs through the Galaxian letters on top !!! I haven't seen that on any Galaxian....maybe only on this pre-production model ?

Otherwise, this is THE example for my cab, if I can get it to look very close to this, I'm a happy man

[2PacMan]

Oh, I see what you mean by the blue on the side going up into the "galaxian" lettering.  I don't think that looks good at all.  I'm glad they decided to change it.

You are lucky you got one with the white joystick.  I'd love to replace my black one with a white stick, but I don't think they sell them anywhere, do they?

The coin doors look almost black in both flyers, but mine and yours both appear to be more of a gray color. 

[2PacMan]

Well, bad news.  I was having some trouble with seeing black lines through the invaders when they swooped down to attack.  So, I pulled the board out last night and re-seated all of the socketed chips, and it did not help at all.  So i'm looking at the Galaxian troubleshooting guide and it says the cause of this is a bad 'attacker' ram.  There are 5 of them with heat sinks on them located at postion 1N - 1T.  They are soldered into the board.  I am not skilled enough to desolder and resolder chips off a board, so unfortunately i'm stuck with this problem.  It's not real bad, my father was playing it and he says he doesn't even notice it.....but I notice it, and I want it to be "perfect".  Kind of stinks, but oh well....the restoration continues....

[Level42]

Oh, I see what you mean by the blue on the side going up into the "galaxian" lettering.  I don't think that looks good at all.  I'm glad they decided to change it.

You are lucky you got one with the white joystick.  I'd love to replace my black one with a white stick, but I don't think they sell them anywhere, do they?

The coin doors look almost black in both flyers, but mine and yours both appear to be more of a gray color. 

Yeah, I agree about the blue part on the side-art. However, this is an indication why the lower part of the marquee has the letters in blue ! Probably they initialy wanted it to be the same on the marquee and side, but decided otherwise later (wise decision, the name seems to "drown" on that version of the side-art).

I haven't seen any white ball-sticks like that. The only possible alternative would be getting a white Sanwa (small version) balltop, but these are screw-on. The Galaxian ball head was simply put over the shaft (maybe glued). I had to remove it to be able to get the joystick out.
I may sand mine a bit to see if I can get it to look better. It has a very bad scratch in it (deep).

The coin doors definitly are more grey then on that pic.

I'm sorry I'm so far away from you, I could probably have helped with the PCB. I will replacing RAMs on my Centipede PCB soon, hope it will fix it !!!
Soldering is not as hard as many people think, you just need a good teacher...and some tools.
On the other hand, you could use the PCB swapping service on www.mikesarcade.com
Send in a defective PCB and for 85 bucks you get a working PCB back.....not a bad deal considering it's including work & parts.

On the other hand, there are almost always Galaxian PCB's for sale on ebay...

[20eyes]

My galaxian is numbered in the 9000's. It had a Wells K4500 originally in it and I swapped it with a K4600 which also came in galaxians. Mine had the vinyl on the sides but the art was really worn and faded so I used a heat gun and peeled it all of and sprayed it a nice gloss white.
The artwork on yours looks mint! Most of the ones ive seen are faded and worn. Never seen one with out the vinyl on it either.
Also looks like yours doesnt have the back door switch, unless someone removed it.

[2PacMan]

Yeah, that's another weird thing, mine does not have the back door switch on it at all.  But maybe someone just took it off, who knows.

Just an FYI for any other restorers, I had some blue paint leftover from my Ms Pacman cabinet restore, and the blue matches perfectly for the blue in the galaxian art.  I touched it up with that and it turned out great.

Yeah, i'm just going to have to watch ebay for a new board.  I think boards on ebay are selling for less than $85.00.

Just wondering though.  Those multigalaxian kits people are selling....will those work if I have a bad attacker ram?  I'm wondering if i get one of those, if the kits will bypass the bad ram or not.  That could be a solution too, plus i'd get more games that way.

[Level42]

I don't think so. Those multi-kits (there's a 18 (!!) in 1 here: http://www.arcades.plus.com/multigame3.htm) run games were designed(/adapted) to run on the Galaxian hardware back in the 80's. So the only thing those multi-games kits do is "switch" eproms and maybe something like high-score saving.Otherwise it entirely runs on the original PCB (which IMHO is making it more attractive then a 1000 in 1 board. This is no emulation !) so using the original RAM (AFAIK !). But I don't think the problems that now show, would stop those kits from working, you probably will just have the same problem on screen.

Maybe you should drop Macro's Arcade a mail, he has a repair log on his site and he has some great equipment to test boards, but I'm not sure if he offers a repair service or anything. Prices to have the 18in1 kit installed are not extremeley low though...but hey, getting 18 games in that Galaxian cab is great I think I will order the DIY-kit myself once the Galaxian is done. Only "problem" is that a number of games are 4-way....so that would need joystick modding....

yeah, E-bay is cheaper, but do look for a board that is 100% guaranteed.

About the back door switch: I have 5 upright cabs now and ALL of them had it either removed, or turned away to stop it from doing it's job. I guess operators hated these things ! I've re-installed one on my Mame cab. I will re-install them on all my machines, I think they have a good reason for being there, even though I know I probably will be the only one opening them for the rest of their lives....

[2PacMan]

You are right, those multi boards are expensive.  And since i already have a MAME, that's just another reason not to get it.  But it would be really cool to play other games in my galaxian cab.  I wouldn't mod the joystick at all, i just wouldn't play the 4 way games.  I thought i read the guy said something about using the one and two player buttons as the up/down buttons, i could be wrong though.

I'm just going to keep watching ebay i guess...i do need a 100% working board, and i don't think those boards are in that high of demand right now, so hopefully i'll get lucky and snag one "under people's radars" sometime in the future.  Fortunately, i can wait until a great deal comes along.