The Rarest Robotron in the world ?
A Robotron Mini, that in itself is pretty rare, but there are a few things about this game that makes it even more unique !!!
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Look at the sides, they are black/white and not the red/blue that you normally see on the full size upright game.
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Hum... What's that say on the back ??? (and no, I didn't put that on there either)
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Lets take a look at the control panel, in perfect shape. No burns here, and the sticks are perfect.
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Lets take a closer look at the monitor glass, also in perfect shape, but a bit odd in the text for game play...
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Hum, lets read that text, doesn't sound like robotron... Can you name the Game ? Whats even more interesting is, I don't know of a Mini of that game ever being made.
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Pretty Cool (he game was moon patrol)...
But wait, it gets better. You see, this game has a bit of extra wiring. There is this little button on the coin door.
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Wonder where it goes ??? To the main CPU.
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And here...
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Still wondering what it does ? Well, its a PAUSE BUTTON... Ever want to hit pause and go to the bathroom or for another beer !! Well just push that button, and off you go, come back in an hour or year, and continue your play !! The game totally freezes until the button is pushed again. Probably not good for monitor burn in, but usefull..
Lets look inside, ever see a white power supply board ?
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Here's the monitor, nothing fancy here.
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Here's the Rom card, notice the extra wiring for the pause button.
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Lets take a look at the serial Number thats on the CPU. The game cabniet does not have any Serial plaque on it. This is the only ID
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This is the monitor back lighting assembly. When the door was closed, these lights lit up the instructions on the monitor bezel. For some reason they are disconnected. I don't know if the production model had these or not, or if the wiring just fell apart from the door bending. But the jacks to reconnect are still their, just above the monitor .
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Here is the story behind the game. As it was told to me...
It was supposadly a game that was used at WMS when Robotron was being built up, but I have no proof for that. (It may have been an expo game, but I don't understand why they would have put the pause button on it for the show). At one point it was in the hallway for people to play at WMS.
After that, some executive at WMS took it home, where it sat for a few years collecting dust. Then it was either given or sold to a friend, where it went on to another friend. There it sat for more years, now dead. Then, about four years ago, one of the retail stores I did repairs for bought it from the homeowner. At that point I knew I had to rescue it, and after much begging, and $$$$ spent, I purchased the machine, and got it at least running again.
If anyone knows the true history of this machine, please let me know.
The sad part is, the cab sides have some wear/damage from years of being pushed around. The front of the game is in great shape, the sides have some wood damage. The cab is sound, but its one of those things, should it be restored ? or left origional ? In this case, I left it origional.
As the game sits today, the monitor could use a rebuild, but it has no burn in, so thats a big plus . The CPU sometimes boots with an error, but I am 99% sure its the supply, I just have not spent any time to work on it.
Well, thats the scoop on the game !!
TomW