Gottlieb - 1982

Q*bert, why did I fall in love with this game as a kid? Possibly the funky thumping sound inside that cabinet when something fell off the pyramid, maybe it was the ultra cool retro speech processor used in the game, or maybe it was because I got so good I could make 1 quarter last 15-20 minutes. Any arcade I went to as a kid, Q*bert always got my first quarter. That crazy thumping sound inside the cabinet drove me crazy as a kid, I could never figure out what that sound was! My brother and I debated whether the machine was somehow dropping a marble in there or whether it was only a trick being generated by an electronic speaker. I remember we even put our ear to the cabinet while the other one played but still couldn't figure it out.

Well now I know! A solenoid strikes a piece of metal inside the cabinet. On 3/01/08 I picked up my very own Q*bert. This was another top 5 most wanted game. What can I say, it's a Q*bert! I purchased this arcade from a gentleman whom I will refer to as "Randy The Hoarder". See picture to the left.

hoarder [hôrder, horder]   -noun
  1. a person who accumulates things to hide or carefully guard them for preservation or future use.

 He considered himself a collector with a collection of around 800 games, none on location earning money. However a collector has his prizes displayed in neat little rows all wired up and ready to play. Randy The Hoarder had his collection crammed into 7 buildings as tight as they would go, were you couldn't play most of them. He was the nicest gentleman you could meet, and was kind enough to give up 1 arcade out of his hoard. Anyways...welcome to the basement arcade you furry orange football!

You can read more about this road trip by clicking here.

To see video of a small portion of Randy's hoard then click here.

8/16/08 - Installed the rare Q*bert swearing marquee.
For you history buffs out there, the swearing marquee was supposed to be the header of choice until it was decided that no one at an arcade would know how to say the name or what to even call the game. That is when they came up with the name Cubert, which was a combination of the words Cube and Hubert. Being concerned that people would pronounce it "cub - bert", they shortened it to the now classic name Q*bert.

Repairs and Restoration
  • Installed new t-molding
  • Corrupted scores fix - Installed 470uf capacitor at C25 on main board
  • Fixed sqeak in joystick by lubing plastic washer
  • Installed new FS-2 fuser in marquee light
  • Noise in monitor when sounds played - Fixed by repairing grounding straps to all boards
  • Removed marquee and bezel and cleaned 25 years of smoke and yellow grime buildup
  • Blue slightly off on monitor - Adjusted convergence rings for a perfect picture
  • Q*bert pyramid stretched - Installed new horizontal width coil
  • Installed rare Q*bert swearing marquee
The image gallery requires Macromedia Flash. Get Macromedia Flash. If you have Flash installed, click to view gallery.