When we opened 1984 it was obvious that we were going to have to make certain choices about which games we included in our roster.  That the games were all classic arcade machines and pinballs was an obvious decision, but we had to exclude certain really fun things like skeeball because we just don't have enough space.

Another style of game that was written off the list was cockpit style arcade machines. And there are some truly fantastic ones... Star Trek, Spy Hunter and Sinistar all had really cool cockpit style machines but just one of those takes up the physical space of two or three regular arcade machines, so we just can't have them. Yet, one of the greatest of all video games, one of the most sought out, the most requested, the most nostalgic, the most collected, found it's absolute apex in cockpit style, so much so that the standup versions of this game were actually a little rare. We are of course talking about STAR WARS.

This game can really ONLY be properly played in cockpit form, but at the same time because of the strange monitor that it used and the huge collectorship of the game, we have long thought that we simply would never have one. Well... we got one!

It's a little rough, so it will be probably well over a month before it is ready for public use. Some of the things it is going to need are: overall hole and notch repair, new T molding, new kickplates, some new sideart, the controller needs repaired, the control panel is off, no glass, no monitor, power supply is removed, motherboards are removed, it needs suspension work and shocks, brakes, brake pads, lining, steering box, transmission, rear-end, new rings, mufflers, and a little wiring...

As we repair this wonderful machine and bring it back to its Death Star smashing glory, we'll chronicle it on here. The first steps will be all in Jason's hands, as he repairs the cabinet and just gets 20 years of cobwebs and dirt out of it.

Currently the machine is sitting in our front window, so anyone can come by and see how things are coming along.   

For the first time in 25 years, one of us is actually sitting IN a STAR WARS COCKPIT!!!   

UPDATE 1/28/2009:  Jason has gone through and bolted everything into place to see what we have, what is missing and what needs to be fixed, as well as going over everything with a shop-vac and getting 20 years of stickers and grime off the cabinet.  We are going to have to replace all the glass, some of the wood cross pieces, and annoying the control yoke is broken probably beyond repair.  However we have a Firefox yoke just sitting here ready to go!