Haven’t been getting out of the house much these past few months except to get groceries, what with that deadly global pandemic and all. But I’ve masked up and made a few exceptions to pick up a couple more projects to keep busy with while I’ve got all this indoor time.

First is this wonderful condition 1979 Atari Asteroids upright, found out at the coast. The owner had bought it from a mall arcade many years ago and had it in a spare room, and was selling it now as they began home renovations and were tired of it getting in the way. It plays but the monitor image is collapsed and the sound is missing. Pretty typical issues for this game, with well documented repairs, and the price was very sweet.

Second is this 1977 Bally Night Rider. My dad has had one of these around since before I was born and I was fascinated by it even before I could reach the flippers. I’ve wanted one of my own for quite a while, but hadn’t had any luck, missing out on two that turned up locally in years past. I put another want ad up a bit ago though, and got a promising lead from a local operator. Agreed to a deal sight unseen since it was buried in storage. Once I got it home and cleaned up I was pleasantly surprised.

Cosmetically it’s in great shape aside from some wear up in the pop bumpers, back glass is minty. “Needs boards” turned out to mean just an MPU, everything else is there and looks usable.