Donkey Kong cocktail parts

The Donkey Kong cocktail is mostly in ok shape, so I don't think it will be a big restoration job. It's missing some of its buttons, or what looks like the button caps. I've seen these around, and it's just a button with a screw coming out of it. I wonder if that's enough for my control panels, or if I need something more to make them stick?



Are these broken, or can I just buy the screw-in button cap?



Another thing is the veneer strip going around the top of the cabinet. I found a post describing a replacement:

Removed the old chipped and cracked veneer and added new band of Red Oak veneer [2 inch strip to the tops sides] Then I stained it with minwax dark walnut water based stain.

I'm thinking it's this one: http://www.hardwareworld.com/2-inch-X-8-feet-Red-Oak-Bandit-pRNHBU4.aspx
Man, sometimes it would be a lot easier to live in the US of A.

The joysticks have two different ball tops, and it looks like the red one on player 2's side is retrofitted. I've seen these for sale, so that shouldn't pose much of a problem.



The glass is very scratched, but I think I'll just leave it as is for now. My guess is a new one would cost 100-150 USD here. At least.



The decals are old, and much of the color is actually faded down to white!





I found a repro on eBay, from wmentic. The quality is reasonably good, and probably a lot better than what I could have printed myself.
It looks like the quality and method of print is different between the big instruction and the smaller strips.

The big one:

• Good print quality, solid colors
• Thick material, looks like photo paper
  
• Rounded corners not cut
• No adhesive on the back

The smaller ones:

• Somewhat speckled print, not really sold colors
• Thin material, some kind of plastic film with paper protection
• Adhesive backing
  

I wasn't successful with the closeups, but I would say that the quality is satisfactory all in all. It will definitely look nice under the glass, and I can recommend this to anyone who doesn't want to print the decals themselves.

Donkey Kong cocktail

May and June have been extremely busy for me, so I didn't have much time for this hobby. That is, until now!

I was visiting a customer when I got a phone call from a friend, saying that an original Donkey Kong cab had been spotted at a local auction. I obviously wasn't free to talk there and then, but I called him up immidiately after leaving the customer.

I must admit that I didn't really believe him. People tend to say things like "an original blablah" when it's just some brown veneered generic JAMMA cab with a bootleg board. Still, we decided to visit the auction, which was being held the very same afternoon.

Sure enough, it was an original Donkey Kong. But not the upright I expected, it was a cocktail! Never in my wildest dreams had I thought that I would find something like this just a 5 minutes drive from home.

After sitting through hundreds of useless items, from silverware to old cassette tapes, the time had finally come to the DK. My pulse must have been close to 200 when the auctioneer announced it, and asked if anyone was willing to pay the mimimum price. I raised my hand, and feared that someone else would also start bidding. Much to my surprise, no-one did. It seemed like an eternity before the club hit the table, and I was the happy owner of one of my favourite games!

As I paid (what I find a very reasonable sum), the seller told me it was working, and that it had previously been on route in my home town. This was the first game machine they ever sold at this auction house.

I wish they had more of them! Donkey Kong came from a very big and well-known op, and they surely must have had hundreds of arcade machines.

The monitor was a bit weak in the beginning, but now it's close to perfect. The whole cabinet is in quite good shape. One of the balltops has been changed, and some buttons are missing. Luckily, it's all available online.

I know that the vectorized instructions are available for free, but I found someone selling them on eBay. It's cheaper than what I could have made locally, so I ordered a set yesterday.

My wife is away on holiday for six weeks, but I guess she will find out eventually. Honey, if you are reading this, it's not mine. I'm just keeping it for a friend! :-)