no one's comparing anything, you are making that assumption.
the point is old arcade games are like luxury cars, great when they work,
and expensive to fix and maintain. and are a pain in the neck to keep
running at times, thats the point of hundreds of videos about old and
new arcade games. sometimes thats the fun part.
atari tempest dial
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- Atari part # 73-834
- tooth count 72
- yes, they were weighted and worked well, but got stuck, and had issues if you didn't oil them
- arcade games got more abuse than at home games of course
- cost about $70 for NOS :
https://www.arcadefixit.com/category.sc?categoryId=24NOS part. Used on Tempest and other games. Very limited qty. Atari part # 73-834. Includes 2 set screws\
- repros cost about $30, but not sure how long they last either
so yeah, after 30 years, they will wear out, and break just like they did originally.
as i mentioned, i have a 20 year old blasteroids machine, thats in near mint condition,
and plays like day 1, since i barely use it.
blasteroids dial:
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- atari knob part # 038319-01
- tooth count 72
- much more rubber on it, and less spokes
- different assembly
so maybe 7 years later, dials got better (blasteroids is 1988), i have no idea if real ones wore out also,
since no one except me a few other people ever played this game.
i'm lucky, the only thing i've ever replaced in my machine when i got it, was
a power supply, and thats it. its been working ever since then.
later
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