Cleopatra

This was advertised as a winter project. Specifically, though, it took six winters and a few other seasons.

I have pictures of this game before I started work on it. I need some more now that it's much improved.

When I got the game, it didn't work (lights are on, but nobody's home). I had to remove the battery and restore some traces. This fixed the CPU, but because of the weirdness of the System 1 system, I didn't know I'd done it until years later when Chris said I just needed to clear the memory!

The game included a spare used playfield with this game when I got it. The spare playfield was much better than the original, but still had major wear in the high-traffic areas.

It took me years to get around to beginning to touching-up the spare playfield, then years more to finish, and then a few weeks to do the playfield swap. I finished the swap on 22 March 2011.

I had intended to clearcoat the playfield, but I took a look at my touchups and realized that if I clearcoated, I would never be satisfied, but if I stopped and just called it "done", I could live with it. So that's what I have done. Once I made that decision, it was about three days work to do a playfield swap.

I still have some minor problems to fix (some of my solder work didn't hold) but on the whole, I'm very pleased.

Pictures eventually.

Notes about repairs

• One pop bumper switch had the scoring switch upside-down, but was otherwise OK.
• Chime unit had been greased. Ew. Cleaning this off made it work.
• Original computer had battery corrosion. Cleaning it did not make the game work, so I bought a Ni-Wumpf. That didn't make the game work, either, so I replaced the fuse for the 5V. That did make the game work, but did not return my $180 for the new CPU.
• Flippers worked great for years until I did the playfield swap, at which point I discovered a big gouge in the EOS switch on one, and general filth on both. I should probably go clean them but haven't. (Gottlieb flippers always work anyway; Williams flippers break every few thousand plays.)
• Afer having the game for five years, I discovered the power cord was taped in. I replaced it with one of the good ones from Steve Young.