Tuesday, July 13, 2010

SuperSprint Repair - Part 1 - It begins....

Many years ago, I purchased an Atari Super Sprint arcade game. It entertained visitors at my house in Stone Mountain for years, including one all night "drinking and driving" marathon.  Sadly one day the screen of this beloved game suddenly went dark.

The game will play "in the blind", but basic troubleshooting (fuses, power) revealed little other than the monitor was the not working.  So, I hauled the monitor off to an arcade repair shop where they declared the monitor chassis dead,unrepairable, and parts unavailable (it is a 1982 machine, after all).  After 2-3 unsuccessful attempts to purchase parts off eBay, it appeared my Super Sprint was doomed to stay dark forever.

About that time, I got engaged to my beautiful bride Michele, and video games took a back seat to weddings, houses, and picket fences.  During the move, my Super Sprint got relegated to the corner of my new workshop where it would sit for almost 10 years....

Recently during the process of converting an old Mortal Kombat arcade cabinet to run MAME, and discovered an active community of arcade collectors who repair and restore classic arcade games like. With their guidance and experience, I hope to repair my Super Sprint game so it can once again entertain family and friends. This series or articles will document the repair/restoration process as it unfolds.

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