Dragon's Lair Arcade Cabinet 2.0 (Back At It Again.....)

wcs39204 · November 11, 2021, 7:24am

While I wait on my board to be repaired… I thought there would be no better time than the present to give my Ms Pacman a little facelift. The joystick was completely worn out. They have a centering grommet in them that keeps them tight, and playing correctly by keeping it from drifting. 41 years, I figured it was time to replace that. AND, while I’m in there let’s go ahead and rebuild the control panel completely.

Before:

After a freshly painted control panel, and new control panel overlay & new marquee:

A little goes a LONG way on making these things ‘pop’ again. But if you think THAT looks good, check THIS out.

New Buttons, joystick has been rebuilt, new marquee, new control panel overlay, and brand new Pink T-Molding. It was my wife’s idea, but I tell ya, it was a very good one. Now I just need to replace the glass with newly screen printed artwork and she’s gonna be gorgeous again!

OH. Snap… Look how messy my cats are… LOL Funny how their food bowls actually closely match the Ms Pac blue lmao They’re gonna be hungry when my Centipede Cabaret is sitting in their food bowl location.

gspitman · November 18, 2021, 3:19pm

MUST HAVE MS. PACMAN!!!

I have no idea why, but that has always been my favorite arcade game. I was able to get 10-15 mins out of a single quarter back in the day… but game consoles just can never replicate the feel of being able to abuse the joystick and really make her dance. Yes, I’m definitely the type of player that required you to replace that centering grommet!

I really prefer the cocktail table version, someday I’ll buy/build one. I’ll get started on that about 15 minutes after the other 654,432 projects I’ve started get finished…

barry99705 · November 18, 2021, 3:28pm

The vector graphics star wars game was the best.

SupraGuy · November 18, 2021, 4:17pm

One of my projects is building a controller for that. 1up has an officially licensed version, which I’d love to get, but I can’t justify the cost.

I got the basic control going using an Arduino Leonardo with a couple of pots, but getting the actual controls going with the right weight and feel is an ongoing challenge.

The other game that I need to get a control box going for is Spy Hunter. I have a mainboard for the game, but I need the controls. I’ll probably just modify a PC steering wheel for it, but it just won’t be the same…

jeffeb3 · November 18, 2021, 4:44pm

I have imagined myself eating cocoa puffs sitting at a cocktail arcade cabinet every morning. I want the one with donkey kong though. They had one at the old spaghetti factory in Denver and we would play it while waiting for a table. It is instant good memories from my childhood.

donkey-konf-full-150x150

Unfortunately, I can’t convince the rest of my house that this is worth the floor space. Even with the cocoa puffs.

gspitman · November 18, 2021, 5:08pm

My diabetes says no to the Cocoa puffs, but that’s exactly why I love the Ms. Pacman cocktail table too! Mine was a local Italian place that we practically lived at. Years later they ended up on “Diners Drive-ins and Dives” expanded into the old Chinese place next door and got rid of the games. Still amazing food though!

wcs39204 · November 18, 2021, 6:26pm

@jeffeb3 LOL They don’t know what they’re missing turning down those Cocoa Puffs!!!

@gspitman Oh yea! So YOU’RE the reason my centering grommet was wrecked!!! hahaLet me know if you need plans or anything from the Ms Pac cocktail. I have fully measured mine out and converted to CAD. They still sell the control panels for it and everything! I almost bought a Ms Pac cocktail last month because I have another boardset for it, but like you I’ve got too many coals on the fire right now. MS Pac, is actually my favorite game from the 80’s as far as playability. Dragon’s Lair wins in all time favorite for the technology!

@barry99705 YES! But, sadly getting vector monitors working again is getting to be a harder task with every year that goes by. Not only is it hard to get them working, but it’s also a huge challenge to keep them working once they are. I wouldn’t know how to even get one repaired these days. All those old technicians are retiring from the business.

wcs39204 · November 18, 2021, 6:26pm

@SupraGuy I’ve seen the official 1UP Ms Pac, but the downside in my opinion is they don’t put the fast version in! That was my favorite version. I was looking at them pretty hard for a while when I thought of getting rid of all my originals in exchange for making a 1up game room. But nah, nothing like the originals. Still would be cool to have a game room full of 1up’s!

jeffeb3 · November 18, 2021, 6:34pm

They actually taste like garbage. You aren’t missing out. Basically cardboard spheres.

gspitman · November 18, 2021, 6:57pm

I may take you up on that if I ever build myself a lowrider. And yes, the only way to really do well at that game is to beat the crap out of it… sorry.

gspitman · November 18, 2021, 6:59pm

LIES!!! I’m not very good at being diabetic… I love those damn things. Wonderworks Keto Friendly, Low Carb, Sugar Free Cereal, Chocolate Flavor, 10.2 oz - Walmart.com on the other hand really are like cardboard, my dog wouldn’t even eat them and he licks his own ass.

jeffeb3 · November 18, 2021, 7:33pm

Hahahaha. I was trying to help you out. Good for you, taking care of yourself. I usually eat a cup of yogurt with some granola on top along with my morning coffee. I’m pretty sure I would be a bad diabetic.

gspitman · November 18, 2021, 7:41pm

I want the fast version too, thanks for steering me away from the 1UP!

gspitman · November 18, 2021, 7:41pm

A side effect of actually taking care of it… I’ve lost ~40lbs in the last year.

wcs39204 · November 19, 2021, 1:06pm

I’m a horrible diabetic myself. What can I really say tho? I LOVE food that’s bad for me. Cocoa Puffs tastes 10000x better when you can’t have them LOL #facts

wcs39204 · November 19, 2021, 1:09pm

Now… Here’s an idea about the 1up. I actually measured the cab (with added height that equals out to being the same height as the cab with the riser) and put it into CAD as well, you could always cut your own 1up style cab and put a pi in it, or computer and custom artwork which is really cheap on ebay and etsy and have literally 1000’s of games in that cab. Just a thought! There’s always numerous ways to get to the destination you seek!

gspitman · November 19, 2021, 2:38pm

#truth

wcs39204 · June 21, 2022, 2:06pm

Well, wow, almost a year later, my original PCB is expected to arrive today via USPS! So I’ll be posting those electronics pics soon! It’s really not as extravagant as most cabinets electronics, but I said I’d show pics when I got it back, and I’ll keep my word!

In the mean time over this (almost) a year, I’ve been working on my Galaga restore and also purchased, received and installed a full reproduction Dragon’s Lair wiring harness. So when the newly repaired board arrives today, I just have to plug it in, and turn it on

…To Be Continued

wcs39204 · June 25, 2022, 12:22am

And this will conclude my build thread! As promised… The final set of photos show the electronics inside the dragon’s lair cabinet!

Firstly, here’s the original board to control the laserdisc player. Freshly back from service. I plugged it up, and it works amazingly. However… I’ve opted for a new reproduction board now, that will allow me to play the entire Dragon’s Lair trilogy on 1 board. YAY

Here is the reproduction board as a matter of fact. It’s quite a bit smaller than the original. It works beautifully, and has addressed alot of issues that plagued the original board.

This, sweet little jewel is the laserdisc player. Not what you were expecting huh? It was designed by Matt Ownby, and is a direct replacement for the original players, without the need for discs (it uses 1:1 image of the original laserdiscs), and well maintenance. Discs usually would suffer from ‘laser rot’ and the players, were never intended to be used the way they were in these games, so this is a more reliable setup, that should give me many many years of playability.

Here’s the power supply section. Since I ditched the original arcade monitor and replaced it with a TV, there was no need for the huge isolation transformers, and this is a much cleaner power. Again, more reliable.

Not much to see here… Just the speakers and backside of the score display. Wired up to the reproduction 1:1 harness.

Here’s the volume panel. 2 knobs, one controls the music, the other controls the voices. As that’s how it’s recorded on the laserdisc.

The back of the coindoor and my kitty cat art that I made for the spousal unit on the wall in the background lol

Annnnd the money shot. Here she is in action running all the cool gadgets that make up the Dragon’s Lair!

Thank you all for following along my journey to recreate this amazing game, and I promise, more to come soon (providing lumber costs ever go down again)

pqgscott · August 14, 2022, 6:54pm

Oh wow! I remember when Dragon’s Lair came out and it was one of the first arcade games to use Cdrom drives. This is a real blast from the past and you do an awesome job on this build. I have been wanting to do one of these cabinets for years, guess I better start thinking about it again.