Retro Addicts storefront

If you’re in the market for something retro, you will find that this country is full of thrift stores. At such stores, you’ll find a variety of vintage items which may date back through several decades. Notwithstanding the lack of fashion and style, most of the items at thrift stores, such as clothing, serve more of a practical purpose. But you may also find some items are better appreciated as being nostalgic.

If it’s nostalgia you’re looking for, there are near as many antique shops as there are thrift shops. Antique shops are one of the places you go to if you want to find items which better fit your need for nostalgia. Whether it’s that queen anne chair, or a pewter serving set, you’ll most likely find what you want to decorate in a specific time period by visiting an antique store. BUT… not everybody wants “dusty old antiques” sitting around their house. They may want something that is retro, nostalgic, AND has a functional purpose.

This is where stores like Retro Addicts come in. They have a collection of noticeably nostalgic, vintage, and antique goods, but a majority of them have an active purpose. For example, If you like the warm sound and aesthetic quality of a vintage 1970′s woodgrain stereo system, you won’t readily find them at thrift shops and antique stores. Retro Addicts specializes in vintage electronic gear spanning many decades. What’s more, the owners of Retro Addicts BELIEVE in the products they sell. This is not a store which is simply capitalizing on a growing “retro” trend. They are knowledgeable and take pride in their merchandise. Of course, you may find a vintage stereo system or retro toy at a thrift store (if you’re lucky), but will it work as it should?

It will if you bought it at Retro Addicts! So let’s take a virtual tour…

The store is basically split into two sections. The part you walk into at the front door showcases everyday goods, bric-a-brac, toys, games, and collectables. Preferring electronic devices myself, I perused the other part of the store first, accessible through an inside doorway. My first impressions were quite positive. It was almost like walking into a Radio Shack, Lafayette Electronics, or even a Wall-to-Wall Sound and Video store as far as the way those stores showcased product back in the day. An assortment of stereo receivers, tuners, tape decks, and turntables were shelved along the back wall, neatly displayed, and not crammed tight. Unlike thrift stores or flea markets, you won’t find a tape deck or something, shoved onto a shelf sideways, scraping face down on the shelf surface, with a hair dryer or picture frame laying on top of it.

Getting a closer look, you can appreciate the pride put into these items. Every one of them looked showroom new and pristine! Every item that comes into stock is reconditioned as needed to be a fully functioning presentable specimen for your home use. Tape decks will have faulty or dried belts replaced. You won’t find a broken or worn needle on a turntable. Receivers will perform all of the functions they were designed to do, whether it’s tuning down the dial for a radio station or switching between many components that may be attached to it.

For those looking to build a “period style” stereo system, you will find a  suitable quantity and variety of items to choose from. I wish I had some extra spending money the last time I visited there. While looking at the variety of stereo system components, I was assembling in my mind what kind of stereo system I would put together for my gameroom. Would I go for the combination woodgrain/satin metal design of the 70′s, or lean more toward the trendy black anodized (even plastic) look of the 80′s. Shall I get a cassette deck or turntable? What the heck. I would probably get both. Maybe even an 8-Track!! Why hold back… it’s all there in the store!

During my visit, I also saw a variety of other electronic goods. It’s not ALL stereo component systems. I saw boomboxes, CB radios, vintage video game systems, portable tape recorders, video mixers, answering machines, rotary telephones, and more! Nothing seems to be excluded. There is quite a variety of “other” electronic items, but the items will share the same characteristics, they will be clean and functional!

Some of you hardcore collectors might already have the vintage gear you want, but it may not be operating as well as it should. Retro Addicts also services electronic gear. Say, for example, you have a Sherwood stereo from the late 1960′s, or Onkyo from the 1980′s, that’s not working properly. You can bring it to the Retro Addicts for repair. They will diagnose the problem for a small fee and offer a repair quote. If you’re one of those DIY kind of people, you may be able to pick up some basic “wear and tear” parts to fix your own stuff. I was able to pick up a couple of drive belts for the cassette mechanism of a boombox I own.

So, let’s say you already own a quality home stereo system, or you just bought a nice component stereo system from Retro Addicts, and it’s complete with a turntable. You might need some records to play on it. That’s where the other half of the store comes in. Here’s where you’ll find a collection of available media, such as records and tapes. In a sense, basically anything (not just music) that might be part of a “collection” would be found in this other half.

Not only are there records and tapes, but there are collector cards, plates, pins, jewelry, posters, lights, toys, board games, etc. Think of it as a concentration of all the good stuff (as in NOT clothes) that you may find at a run-of-the-mill thrift store, but in better quantities and variety. All of them clean and presentable, and unless otherwise noted, are complete. In other words, board games and toys will not be missing important components.

Once again, the quality of the items in this store is respectable. It conjures up the idea that it is a museum of retro goodness. But it’s more than that. The “museum pieces” are for sale and ready to be displayed and used in your own home, office, or gameroom. If you’re in the market for some collectable pop culture piece, or you have a hankering to “buy back your childhood”, you should check out this place first before going to the Salvation Army or Goodwill. You can trust that if you find the item you were looking for, it will operate as you expect it to.

If you find yourself in the York, PA area, stop in and give them a visit! Here are the details:

Retro Addicts
2290A Industrial Hwy
York, PA 17402

(717) 757-1323

Don’t forget to visit their Facebook page: Retro Addicts – Facebook Page

This article was originally written in October 2008, but was updated (see below) on 13 Apr 2013 to describe the success of my recovery efforts.

Years and years of sitting around in storage. Are my disks a lost hope? I’m looking for some help and suggestions. I have hundreds of 3.5″ floppy disks from my Amiga days. For the longest time, I didn’t have an Amiga with a working disk drive. I also wasn’t able to successfully adapt a modern PC floppy drive.

Here’s a bit of history. I retired my Amiga 500 when the floppy drive went bad and I outgrew the software I had on the installed 100MB hard drive. I put all the disks in an ordered fashion in a large cardboard box. That was back in 1996. Over the years, the box moved from one house to another and has been subject to temperature and humidity changes. Recently, I acquired an Amiga 2000 with two working floppy drives (or so I think). I pulled out a few of my old Amiga disks and tried them in the 2000. I get a spine tingling screeeechhhhing sound as the disk spins, followed by the disconcerting DF0:BAD icon.

I tried a few other disks and they result in the same behavior, using both floppy drives. I proceed to look inside the drives through the front, with a flashlight, to see what may be going on. I removed a few dust bunnies from the drive, although they don’t seem to have been in a position to cause the noise, or any sort of read problem. I tried a 3.5″ disk cleaner and was able to read one disk with a high degree of accuracy. After trying another one, which failed, and going back to the newly working one, the working one failed to read again. This confused me.

Upon examining the media under the sliding cover, I have a theory that all of the disks may have developed some sort of very thin film of debris obstructing the read heads. That coating may have reduced the “slipperiness” of the media surface, causing the “fingers on a chalkboard” screeching instead of a smooth floating of the read heads on the surface.

I also have a theory that my original disk drive may have been out of alignment. Of course, all my disks would still work on a properly “mis-aligned” drive, but fail on a factory aligned drive. That would mean these disks would need an equally out of alignment drive to be read correctly. So, the big question now is, what do I do about it? My first plans are to remove the disk drives, open them up, and completely clean and lubricate the mechanisms. We’ll see if that helps to improve disk reads. Next, I may have to find a way to clean a possible film off the disks themselves. My first idea is to use the cleaning disk case as a replacement disk shell. the cleaning disk opens up to allow the fabric disk to be removed. If I split the end of a floppy disk, I can slide the magnetic media out of it’s original case and put it in the cleaning disk shell. While the media is out, I could clean it with a non residual cleaning agent or alcohol.

As far as the mis-alignment theory, I have an oscilloscope. I should theoretically see the signal on the read head as it’s reading and possibly adjust the head position until I get the strongest signal. Adjusting a drive using this method is a lost art. Does anybody know what the signal is supposed to look like on an oscilloscope? I’ll only try to intentionally mis-align a standard PC floppy drive instead of a rare 880K Amiga drive. If I can get the PC floppy drive reading the Amiga disk with a good signal, I can try hooking up that drive to the Amiga and have a method to archive my disks. Or, I could use ADFREAD on a PC to do the trick. ADFREAD shows read errors as it tries to backup Amiga disks to .ADF files. I’ll know if the alignment change is successful.

UPDATE!!!

Instead of messing around with drive alignments (first), I have discovered a way to recover most of the data on disks which were damaged by climate and humidity extremes. This process worked for me, but should also work for others. It has only been tested with 3.5″ disks, although it might work with 5.25″ disks with some operational modifications. THIS PROCESS EFFECTIVELY RENDERS THE ORIGINAL DISK UNUSEABLE. In other words, only expect this process to work long enough to be able to read the disk. If you plan on reformatting the bad disk, do so at your own risk! It’s best to have a 1:1 ratio of brand new disks to your damaged disks so you can copy everything to fresh new media.

You will need these items:

• Compact electric screwdriver. An electric drill might work, but is not recommended due to excessive rotational speed.
• “Square” tip screwdriver bit
• Isopropyl alcohol
• Syringe. I used a syringe which was provided with a home inkjet refill kit.
• (optional) 3.5″ disk drive cleaner
• Suitable disk copy program (it’s best to use a “nibble copy” program as those tend to try and recover bad sectors that may exist)

In regards to the last item on the list, it only makes sense to note that you should be using the same type of computer the disk was written with when making your copies. If you have old Amiga disks, but no working Amiga computer to use them in, then this process will not work for you. As for the optional disk drive cleaner remember that there is most likely a thin layer of contaminants on the original disks. The alcohol will tend to dissolve those contaminants and they could end up being deposited on you drive heads. A routine cleaning after 20 or 30 disks restored in this fashion should help keep your disk drive in good condition. Now to describe the restoration process…

The first thing you should do is load up the syringe with the alcohol. Then, make sure the square tip of your screwdriver bit fits in the square center hole in the hub on the underside of the disk. You should be able to spin the disk using the drill bit.

Next, slide open the metal cover which protects the disk surface and use the syringe to administer 6-10 drops of alcohol on each side. Close the metal cover, insert the electric screwdriver bit into the disk hub, and spin the disk for about 10-15 seconds. This will spread the alcohol around and start to clean the disk surface. Most 3.5″ floppy disks have a felt-like inner liner which is designed to sweep away surface dirt. In this case, it will “scrub” the disk surface and clean it with the alcohol.

Immediately after you’re finished spinning the disk, insert the disk into the computer and proceed to copy it to a NEW disk. Repeat the entire process as needed for each additional disk.

I’ve had about 85% recovery so far with my own disks, but that’s certainly better than 0%!

One of the biggest issues with these boomboxes is the deteriorating condition of some of the gears which drive the cassette mechanism. The gears are made out of an inferior quality of nylon which tends to turn very yellow (a form of oxidation), eventually turning brittle and breaking. When this happens, the cassette mechanism is rendered useless.

When I got my replacement Magnavox D8443 on eBay last year, it too had the same problem. I knew about its issues, but I was determined to get the boombox as cheap as possible and figure out a way to get the gear replaced. I did have the original gear, but it was missing some teeth and was broken in two. I tried to create a resin casting from clay so I can cast a replacement gear using a clear resin kit that could be found at most art supply stores. I found it very difficult to produce the gear mold. Nor was I able to conceive a finished product that would not have required a large amount of “finishing” in order to get the gear working right.

Replacement D8443 Cassette Gear

What ended up working for me was gaining access to high-end 3D printing system in order to get some “samples” made. So, I tapped my resources to create an accurate model of the original gear, then had a couple of gears made for me to test extensively. Version 0.9a of my gear design actually turned out very well. Not perfect, but very well. I was able to get the gear installed in my D8443 and run cassettes in it  over the next few weeks. I ran about 50 tapes through, both sides, and the gear performed wonderfully. Afterwards, I tweaked the design (version 1.0) and had more gears created. I tell you, this isn’t some cheap desktop 3D printing contraption doing it (as much as I WISH it could have been) because the resolution needed for the tiny gear teeth was beyond the capabilities of DIY 3D printing solutions. A high-end professional 3D printing system was used instead. The newer batch of gears were very detailed. I installed one in my D8443 and it worked just as well as the prototype design.

Now that it turns out to be a suitable replacement gear, I am making the gears available for sale to other collectors whose D8443s have the same issue. I priced them at $11.99 each, with free shipping to destinations in the continental United States. I posted an eBay auction to handle the transaction. This works well for those who need/want a replacement gear to ship internationally (international buyers will be charged actual shipping and tariff costs).

Click here for the eBay auction

As of this post, my supplies of the gear are running low. However, I would only be out of stock temporarily as I will have more gears made as soon as possible.

I (hurriedly) produced a 30 minute video which details the disassembly of the Magnavox D8443 and replacement of the damaged gear. The video can be found at: http://youtu.be/p4YuYZVYIX8

RCR is a podcast which discusses retrocomputing of all types in a “discussion panel” style forum. Retrocomputing is a hobby/activity for aficionados of historical computing systems.

Founded by David Greelish, and regularly co-hosted by Earl Evans and Carrington Vanston, the primary focus of the podcast is along the lines of desktop or “personal computing”, like the old “8 and 16-bit” era. However, professional and industry use of computers often makes its way into the discussion.

Learn more about the podcast directly from the source: http://rcrpodcast.com/

I was asked by David to co-host due to Earl and Carrington having other commitments at the time. Since part of my sphere of “vintage appreciation” includes retrocomputing, I wholeheartedly accepted the invitation.

I’ll admit, I was nervous at first. Part of that nervousness can be heard in my dialog (you can actually hear me “not breathing” between sentences). But, I was working with known professionals in the retrocomputing scene, including the founder of apple2history.org, Steven Weyhrich, so I simply followed their lead when I felt cold feet creeping up on me. I do love chatting about vintage electronic devices, but I’m actually more comfortable discussing it in front of visible crowds than in front of an unknown cadre of listeners. For my own upcoming VintageVolts podcast episodes, I’m sure I’ll get more comfortable with the process the more times I do it.

The thing about doing video podcasts is knowing that there WILL BE a backdrop of some kind in the resulting video. David has a well decorated office, conducive to the medium. I believe Steven was broadcasting from his work office, but there wasn’t any more than you’d expect to see in a doctor’s office, thus keeping him, the subject, as the primary focus. I realize that MY portion of the video broadcast was a different story…

I broadcast from by workshop, which by its very nature is expected (or even intended) to be a mass of clutter! Shortly before the show aired live, I seriously considered putting up a green screen and using my Amiga 2000 with Video Toaster to put a more serene scene in the background. Honestly!!! That’s kind of the way I think!

However, since I have learned that it’s best NOT to do any “11th-hour” changes to anything that needs to go on without a hitch, I decided to just re-arrange the piles of stuff and make the place look a bit neater. I gathered together many of the “current projects” I was working on and set them off camera. By “current”, I mean all of the stuff I have opened up to some degree for repair. Then I composed a scene which is more of a “who’s who” of vintage electronic gear. In one way, it doubles as a challenge to the viewer to try and guess what each and every item on camera actually is. For example, there is a Laserdisc and SelectaVision player in view.

There is no doubt that David and Steven were both quite informative and professional during the broadcast. But overall, I actually felt comfortable enough with my own “performance.” I enjoyed having the opportunity to share my likes and experiences with the listening (and viewing) masses. I would welcome any opportunity in the future to co-host the Retro Computing Roundtable again!

Retro Computing Roundtable, Episode 47, on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJQys_lqLrk&feature=plcp

My original goal was to create an audio podcast called Vintage Volts. I was to be updating it on a regular basis and join along with the likes of other podcasters out there who like to reminisce and talk about some of their favorite pastimes. That didn’t pan out as much as I wanted it to do. I found my personal schedule too erratic to support an opportunity to sit down and record/edit an audio podcast at regular intervals. Therefore, I realized I needed to try something which supported an “inconsistent” sequence of updates. That is why I settled on a blog as my primary means of publishing.

With a blog, I can write up draft copies of news, thoughts, or recollections, then come back to them at a later time to refine them. After I finish putting down all I had to say, I can publish the article publicly. Unlike an audio podcast, I can edit my written words from almost any location, like when I’m waiting for the mechanic to finish my car. Or maybe, when I’m sitting in that chair they always have at the ladies wear department while my wife tries on some new clothes and I don’t want to LOOK LIKE I’m watching her purse, I can pull out my mobile phone and do a little blog editing.

Still, I plan on doing audio and video podcasts as part of this blog, even though they might be about rather obscure topics, like the one I did for those who have an interest in transferring files to an old TRS-80 computer system. I expect to be able to do more video podcasts in 2013, even on subjects which may be more interesting to a majority of followers. But I believe the range of topics in the genre of all things “electronic” is what defines the scope of the blog.

This blog has been, and always will be, intended for the discussion of vintage electronic gear and equipment, regardless of its purpose. Therefore, there will be obscure topics. There will be discussions about (once) popular topics, like “records and tapes”, classic gaming systems, or even transistor radios. Sometimes, *I* don’t even know what the next topic will be until something sparks a memory from the past. But regardless of what the next topic ends up being, it will be a trip down memory lane.

For those who have been following along in 2012, you basically saw a preview of the blog, so please stay tuned! For those just discovering the Vintage Volts blog, feel free to create an account on the blog, say “Hi”, and join in the discussion(s) at the bottom of each article.

You can also follow the blog here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VintageVolts
Twitter: @VintageVolts

I have had regular Internet access all of his life, with only the first two years of his life where we only had dial-up Internet access in the household. However, that is NOT what I’m demonstrating to him. I am demonstrating calling, via modem, to EXISTING BBS systems.

My equipment is as follows:

• Commodore Amiga 2000
• 68030/882 CPU/Co-Processor
• 32MB RAM (via CSA Derringer board)
• Workbench 2.1
• “Term” terminal program
• USRobotics 56K Faxmodem
• and last, but not least… a bottle of Blue Point Brewing Company Winter Ale
  (for ME ONLY… Gotta keep it authentic! LOL)

I am using Vonage, a VOIP phone service, for my telephone line (which has a few operational caveats)

1/6/2013

We have dialed the following BBS systems as of this date:

• Empire of the Dragon: (303) 679-0161
• Capital City Online: (502) 875-8938
• Xanadu BBS: (780) 439-8364
• Heatwave BBS: (602) 955-4491

Most of the BBSs are what I remember the experience(s) to be. What drew my son’s attention immediately is how fast (i.e. SLOWWWWW) the text came across the screen. I had explained to him what various BAUD rates meant and their relationship to the speed of characters coming up on the screen. I also explained how the fancy ANSI characters worked, and how the ANSI code sequence used a lot of “hidden” characters to define and code the color display.

Another interesting question he had, which almost seems too tough for a BBS veteran such as myself to reconcile for him, was, “How do you go to a website on these?”

I guess there is still more to teach him…

The biggest problem with the X1541 cable was due to timing issues related to the many configurations of PC printer ports. You had to make sure your port was configured properly, as an EPP or ECP port, depending on the version of X1541 cable you used. Plus, you may have had to use an older PC because newer PCs were running too fast for the special transfer software’s ability to match the transfer speeds of the Commodore disk drives. this is the reason why I did not waste time in purchasing my very own ZoomFloppy adapter as soon as I found out about it.

The Zoom Floppy adapter is an “intelligent” device utilizing an ATMega32 microprocessor to facilitate the transfer of data to/from a PC or Mac and a Commodore 5.25″disk drive. The modern convenience offered by this adapter is the use of a USB connection instead of a printer port. This eliminates the need to configure hardware speeds manually. The on-board microprocessor takes care of everything.

The reason why it took me so long to use (and review) this device is because I only realized recently that I had a HUGE collection of Commodore floppy disks. That, and the fact that configuring this adapter isn’t exactly intuitive (but it pays off in the long run). However, there are adequate instructions available online to help get the drivers and “toolset” installed.

The toolset is basically a collection of DOS commands which allow you to read and write to/from *.D64 files. You can also format disks in the 1541 disk drive using one of these commands. But, in order to work with individual files on disk, you will need to install other programs. This is where you can experience the convenience of the ZoomFloppy. There is a programming API available. This allows programmers to create GUI based applications to manage disk transfers.

I use a program called CBMXfer. It’s a simple two-paned file transfer program which works like the old popular DOS program called X-Tree. I’m using it to archive all of my Commodore disks to D64 files. All I need to do is place a disk in the 1541 drive, load up the directory in the right side of the CBMXfer program, and hit the transfer button. The program will prompt me for a filename (it defaults to the floppy’s volume name) and then it will create a D64 file in the PC folder I have selected in the left hand window… wash, rinse, repeat.

The process isn’t super fast, but it gets the job done conveniently. It does work slightly faster if you use a 1571 drive, instead of a 1541. Some issues do come up, especially if there are disk errors. The program has difficulty timing out on the transfer process if it encounters a read error. The only way I found to easily recover is to pull the USB from the PC, reinsert it, and try again. Due to the age of these floppies, I don’t expect to be able to archive 100% of my disk collection, primarily due to errors.

There is a “batch mode” available, if you want to back your disks up now and catalog it later. The CBMXfer program lets you specify a filename prefix, after which it will append a sequential number for each additional disk it transfers. After using this program to manually transfer disks, and giving them names as I go, I find that I may soon switch to batch mode. That way, I can keep busy at my workbench doing other delightfully amusing retrocomputing tasks, stopping only to quickly swap out the next disk as prompted.

Of course, if your original floppies eventually give out, or you (ahem…) found *.D64 files elsewhere (nudge… nudge…), you can use your backed up floppies on a real Commodore computer again by simply reversing the transfer process in the CBMXfer program.

For those who want to add to the emulation experience, I understand that it is possible to use the ZoomFloppy and real 1541 or 1571 disk drive as a primary drive for VICE. For this, you need to install the OpenCBM driver and select the “Use IEC Device” option in VICE for the drive number you want to use. However, I have not verified this functionality because I could not get it to work. It may be because I am running Windows 7 64-bit and the OpenCBM driver is 32-bit only for Intel based chips. I may be wrong on that assessment, but it’s my story, and I’m sticking with it!

Well, after all these years, and patience to boot, I finally came across a replacement backglass which is a tremendous improvement over the original one. That’s not to say it is a perfect replacement glass. It does have imperfections in a few small areas, along with some chipped paint, but you would have to look for these imperfections rather than having them be blatantly obvious. Here… judge for yourself: (click on the images for a larger view)

Before

After

As you can see, the original backglass had almost all of the paint peeled off to about 1/4 down the glass. All of the red in the text “Smarty” was also peeled away. Now… I need to find out what techniques are useful for preventing chipped paint from getting any worse, along with how to mix paints to fill in the few number of bad spots on the backglass. Until then, I enjoy having the new backglass in place, bringing out the beauty of this fun pinball machine.

My generation is now old enough to be grandparents (lucky for me, I’m not a grandfather at the moment, LOL). For most of us, video arcades were a primary outlet for fun. That’s not to say that arcades in general are specific to the early Gen X crowd, but the sudden advancements and transition to electronics in video game technology during the late 70′s and early 80′s sparked a pop culture craze which helped define a generation.

As we start tripping through our bouts of nostalgia, we find it difficult to explain to our kids (and grandkids) what we did for fun. Many times, we find our progeny getting bored or dismissive with our “storytelling” about days gone by. Usually, we are unable to adequately hold their attention in these matters, especially if we are unable to directly expose them to the particular item(s) and environment conducive to enabling them to get a real feel for the way it was. For example, how many of us are able to demonstrate the experience of “flipping a record”, only to be ridiculed as old fashioned when we try to explain what fun it was to listen to music on vinyl, as opposed to the current generation’s ready access to MP3 files.

While I cannot offer any immediate solutions to demonstrating record player technology to your kids, other than suggesting that you try to find a record player of your own, I can suggest one place to share the experience of “going to the arcade.” A place which is, by design, meant to invoke fun for all ages, yet teach the younger generation about an era of fun from the past. That place would be the Timeline Arcade in the North Hanover Mall, Hanover, PA.

At Timeline Arcade, you can experience nearly five decades worth of arcade gaming from the older electromechanical pinball games, to pinball machines with digital displays, classic video games such as Ms. Pacman and Centipede, along with skill machines like basketball hoops and shuffleboard bowling. There is something for all ages in this arcade. Each machine has a sticker on it indicating which decade it is from (60′s, 70′s, 80′s, etc.). As of this writing, over 70 games are present in the arcade.

There is one aspect of arcade gaming which is missing, though. That is the experience of placing your quarters on the marquee like we used to do to “reserve our turn.” That’s because entrance into the arcade is based on a timed admission price. I have mixed feelings about not using quarters to play, you know, to experience all aspects of classic arcade gaming in their entirety. But from a business standpoint, and as it relates to the overall value for the consumer, I understand the implementation of a card access system to play the games. While a handful of games are set on free play, including a couple machines at the arcade entrance, most games work by using a “swipe card.” You buy your card in specific increments of time and play as many games as you like within the allotted time.

Currently, the time increments are as follows:

• 1/2 hour – $5
• 1 hour – $8
• 2 hours -$12
• all day play – $20

I personally found the pricing to be rather reasonable. It’s a nice way of planning time out for yourself or with your (grand)kids, instead of wondering if you’ll have enough quarters left to pass the time. Your card gets loaded up with the amount of time purchased and you simply swipe, play, lose three lives on the game , and swipe again on the next game. If you want to do some shopping, give your kids money to top off their swipe card (which you get to keep) and know that you have at least “that much time” before they run back to you asking for more money to play! LOL

Amongst the available games (which I’m trying to remember completely) are a couple classic electromechanical pinball machines, like Gottlieb’s 300, and a baseball game whose name I cannot recall. One of my favorite electronic pinball machines, Meteor, was there also.

Representing classic arcade gaming were titles such as Ms. Pacman, Tron, Q*Bert, Star Wars, Centipede, Space Duel, and Star Castle. Those games are from MY generation of arcade gaming, so please bear with me if I seem quite partial to the likes of them over the other games at Timeline Arcade. Then again, to each his own, right? There is even a “Multi-cade” system which allows you to pick from a number of classic games, all playable in the same machine. This allows Timeline to offer more games than what is possible given the available floor space.

Usually when I go to Timeline Arcade, it’s mainly for about an hour, and I usually have my Son along with me. So generally, I end up recharging each of our swipe cards for $8 a piece. You’d be surprised at how many games you can play in an hour. Sometimes I find myself getting my “fix” from my favorite games during a visit and then discovering I have plenty of time left over, so I’ll find a game I haven’t played before and give it a try. Who knows… maybe I’ll discover how much I like that game. I don’t worry about the games becoming “stagnant” after a while, either. The owner, Brandon, rotates game inventory on occasion in order to keep the selection “fresh.” So in the same sense, I consider my visits a good value for my money.

But sometimes, I like to take advantage of special events which take place.

During special events, like the recent 24 hr. Black Friday event I attended, Timeline Arcade offered the same “all day” play for $20 for the entire 24 hours!!! Normal all day play is restricted to the daily mall hours (usually less than 12 hours). So how many games can you play in 24 hours? ALL OF THEM… and then some more!!! What does the “more” part consist of? In this case, Timeline Arcade had (and still has) a Nintendo Wii U setup for you to try out. During special events, there will be elimination contests on such gaming systems, with PRIZES!!

Ever since this past Black Friday, for those who have time left on their cards during their visit, you can always crash on the couch, grab a joystick, and play an Atari 2600 in a neoclassical 70′s living room setup, complete with a color console TV!

But wait… there’s MORE!!!

Do you have any kids who are celebrating birthdays? If so, you can also plan to have that birthday party at Timeline Arcade. There are several birthday party packages available for reasonable prices, depending on the need for “party bags” containing a variety of birthday swag. I had my Son’s last birthday party at Timeline, and I must say, I was pleased with the service. The base price of the party covers seven guests, with an added charge for each additional guest. Included in that price is pizza and soda, a reserved party room, party paper products, and a two hour swipe card for each guest to use on the arcade floor. You must bring your own cake and presents.

All in all, I enjoy having Timeline Arcade so close to where I live. And by close, I mean a 30 minute drive away, which isn’t very far considering the limited amount of arcades available in a 100 mile radius of home. Arcades are a dying breed and places like Timeline Arcade should continue to be patronized for their effort in keeping such venues alive.

To find out more about Timeline Arcade, go to their website at: http://timelinearcade.com

1979 Stern Trident

I picked up this interesting gem from a local Craigslist ad in March of 2009. As with most older pinball machines, it had it’s share of quirks. It was the first electronic pinball machine I ever bought for my gameroom. This meant that not only might I have needed to troubleshoot a mess of wires on the playfield to fix some of those quirks, I might also had to deal with bad components on a circuit board. That’s OK. I used to work on pins like this back in 1982/83. So, as long as the knowledge “all came back to me” when I got it home and set up, I would have been OK.

Lucky for me, the quirks were minor. Lights on the playfield were going out on occasion. Cleaning up a few bulb sockets did the trick. Before long, and after a little playfield cleanup, I had a great running electronic Trident pin in my collection. This was my fourth pin!

The machine itself is in pretty decent condition for its age. The theme of it is “nautical”, having a red octopus on the backglass and a sea green protagonist, similar to Neptune, carrying his Trident. However, the designs were more for looks because very little on the playfield tied in with game’s theme.

The gameplay on Trident is rather simple… just HIT things! That’s the best way of collecting points. There are places around the playfield which can help you rack up points rather quickly. The most common one is the kickout at the top of the playfield. Minimum score for each time you land in it is 5000 points. You can easily flip the ball up the right side during gameplay to try and land in it again and score another 5000 points. When operated in conjunction with the drop targets, the point value of the hole can progress to 10000, 15000, and 20000 for each time you land in it.

Speaking of drop targets, there is only one on this game. However, it is a “memory drop target” of sorts. meaning that is can reconfigure itself to a new pattern. It doesn’t necessarily remember the target position between players as a true memory drop target would, but it does configure itself during game play to a new configuration after you knocked down the last set. At the start of the ball, only two targets are up. The game resets the target at the start of the ball and drops three of them down. When you knock them down, it resets to three visible targets, eventually going onto four, then all five, as long as the ball is still in play. When you lose the ball, it resets to two targets again.

Bonus point kickout hole

Trident Dynamic Drop Targets

As you knock down each successive rack of drop targets, your bonus multiplier goes up and the kickout hole at the top of the playfield increases to the next level. This is how you set yourself up for high scores. But, it does take time to build up the play during the current ball to get there. And when you do, that’s usually when Murphy’s Law dumps the ball down the outhole before you can generate the score. Another caveat about the use of the drop targets is that the programming isn’t particularly responsive. It seems to favor the need to render sound BEFORE it updates the playfield. After you knock down a rack of drop targets, there’s a chance the machine is catching up on a “scoring frenzy” where hundreds or thousands of points are racking up 100 or 1000 points at a time. As this is happening, the drop targets will not reset, meaning that spirited ball activity between the bumpers and where new targets WOULD HAVE BEEN gets wasted until the scoring finished counting up. THEN the new drop target rack appears.

Trident "Play More" chute

Trident has a form of death save in the right side outlane, colloquially called the “play more” bumper. Just like other death save features, if you nudge the playfield after the ball hits it, the game will TILT on you anyway… errr… I mean, the ball will nudge back into play. I’ve owned this machine for several years and I’m still trying to master this particular death save setup without losing the ball, or nudging the game, ball then going back into play but sinks down the outhole because I tilted it in the process. Maybe it’s just my style of playing, but considering how little I ever save the ball in this fashion, I’d be better off without it.

Of course, when you tilt the game, you lose your end-of-ball bonus points, not that there are many to earn. The playfield has bonus numbers in 1,000 point increments. The max you can earn (without multipliers) is 19,000. As the game advances bonus the light moves from 1,000 to 10,000, then holds at 10,000 as a second light moves to 9,000, thus 19,000 total bonus. Each successive clearing of drop targets during the same ball increase the bonus multiplier to x2, x3, x4, and x5.

Trident Bonus Meter

All in all, it’s still a challenging game, with opportunity to provide a certain amount of frustration at times. It’s not my most favorite from my collection, but the family really likes it, so I’ll probably be holding onto it for a while.