Arcade Resources
Hoping Walt can send some Mr. Do! photos
Spoke with Walt again today. He was so nice, and even though I indicated that I probably couldn’t drive out to Lynn, MA to get the Mr. Do, he said he would take photos of the side of the game for me so that I could trace the artwork. I offered to barter some web work with him, and I sent him some links so he knew that I am good at what I do, so hopefully that will be of value to him. He said it will probably be another couple of days, but I am psyched. If this pans out, I didn’t have to wait too long to find someone who had this game and who could help me in my quest to reproduce the artwork.
Dig Dug Project Restoration & Repair
Welcome to my restoration / repair notes for my Atari Dig Dug machines. Over the course of my ownership I had a lot of problems with these two classic arcade machines. One Dig Dug started as a Land Sea and Air Squad, painted solid black. I restored that Dig Dug completely from the ground up, tracking down parts on ebay and through other arcade collectors over two years. The second Dig Dug was a nicer cabinet that I bought with the intention of trading. Both Dig Dugs gave me PCB and power supply problems right before I sold them to collectors in Indianapolis and Kentucky.
So, I hope these repair and restoration notes help you with your Dig Dug. I love comments, so leave me one even though I no longer have these games. You might be able to help someone else, especially those of us who hate those dang Atari power supply boards.
Gary knows a guy that is possibly selling the rare white Mr. Do!
Tonight I got an email from someone I had contacted earlier on, Gary, about his Mr. Do machine. He had sold his a long time ago, but out of the blue he emails me and says he found someone who has one, and mentions that he doesn’t want to part with it, but would for $400. I think that is a great price, but funny because I just found someone else myself who is selling one for the same price. So, I emailed Gary back for more information, I hope he is able to get back to me.
Gary emailed me back, it is a different guy and he is located in Pembroke MA, which is pretty much the same distance as the other one.
I also got photos today of the Mr. Do machine that is in Lynn, MA, and I was surprised that the sideart seemed to be rubbing off. It was a weird kind of wear I hadn’t seen before, so I asked Gary about this since he owned one of these Mr. Do’s previously. He says this was really common, that the Mr. Do white cabinet dedicated version would just rub off in your hands.
The other owner’s name is Rob Carroll in Pembroke, MA, who bought the game from the owner that Gary sold it to, so hopefully Gary will be able to find his email address for me.
Digging deeper on old ebay auction for rare Mr. Do!
I haven’t heard back anything from the people I emailed this week, but I found out something pretty damn cool today.
I was going through my auctions, and one of the auctions for a Dig Dug, was based out of Lynn, Massachusetts. I remembered that is where the Mr. Do that I first saw, that sparked this whole section, was sold on ebay. I saw that there was some feedback on the day that the auction was supposed to end (Nov. 6), so I emailed the guy. His name is Walt, and he got right back to me and was really nice. He did confirm that he sold that machine, and that he actually had another one. He sent me a phone number so I gave him a call.
Not only is it a dedicated one, but it is the same version, working and everything! I was pretty surprised, he said he got it in a bulk deal. Although exciting, there is always the consideration of the cost of the trip to get a game. Walt does have a basic website that I may try to do some bartering for him in design for him to take some photos of the sideart for me. I can never seem to separate actual value vs. what something is worth to me. I know if I resold the game, I would get about what he is asking for it, but with the travel (15 hours one way), the game would cost probably around 800, which I know I couldn’t resell it for that much.
Other information to note; I think there are two versions of the sideart, as you can tell from the photos. The one version is a conversion, a version of the dedicated, which spans the whole height of the cabinet. Walt has the one that spans the whole height, which is better anyway. It is a really long ways, and a lot to think about especially in this weather. He would have to hold onto it probably until early spring before I would even think about going out there to get it.
We have also thought about taking a St. Johns Lutheran related trip to Providence, RI in May. Lynn is only just over an hour away, so that may
be worth it to travel down and take the photos myself if he still has it at that point.
Looking for RGVAC member “Alphamonster”
I “Ping’d” Eric – “Alphamonster” on the Google Group today, and hope that he has the time to get back to me. At one time, he had a white Mr. Do! and he seems to know his stuff when it comes to arcade games rarely posting on the group. Hopefully he finds my message and is nice enough to shoot me a line.
In another post, a guy by the name of “Keith in NJ” had asked “Eric” (Alphamonster) if he would take some photos of the white character Mr. Do! sideart for him, because he was looking to do the exact same thing I am, reproduce the artwork. I emailed Keith today to see if he ever got a response, or if he was ever able to find photos big enough to reproduce the artwork. We’ll see what he says.
Found an artist on the BYOAC forum today that has been collecting / tracing pieces of Mr. Do art for a project of his since 2005 named Keith Corcoran. I emailed him to see if he knew anything or could lead me in a certain direction on getting the artwork for this game.
Later in the day, Dan emailed me back and gave me some more history on his Mr. Do. He said that he sold it back in 98-99 to PA Gameroom Warehouse. I checked the site, and they have this particular Mr. Do! I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know if it is the same one he had or not, but it also isn’t cheap. You can check it out here, going for the affordable price of a used car at $1195.
Update August 28th, 2008
I never did hear back from Alphamonster way back last year, but I just happened to be looking on the ‘For Sale’ forums on klov and saw a profile of the same name of a collector out in Long Island New York (where I think Eric was located). I ended up emailing him, so hopefully this time I do hear back. Although, I think I sent mail to the same email address (“heman2rit@hotmail.com”) so maybe my luck will be the same.
Reply from Dan on Mr. Do!
Dan was great, and got right back to me. He confirmed the information about Gleeb making the cabinets, and also said that he owned the machine at one time. He has photos of it on his other website (which I didn’t know was his also, also a nice design) CoinOpVideoGames.com. He has a section on games he previously owned, here is the photo of the machine.
Emailing Dan Hower about Mr. Do!
Got information today that Dan Hower actually runs arcadeflyers.net, a great arcade flyers resource, complete and really nice on the eyes. I emailed him to see if he knew anything, because it looks like he has a long history in the business so at the very least he may be able to give me some history on the machine.
