08/15/2026
Finally! Grabbed this machine out of a barn in 2020 during the pandemic. It sat in my buddies garage for 4 years, and classroom for 2. Found a donor xm-501 tube from a knock off pong cocktail table off of FB marketplace this past winter and bought a new harness from someone on KLOV.
Today, after working in my classroom for a bit, I decided to dive in and install both the tube and harness. Both the original 8080 board and power supply were both bad. I installed an Arcade Shop switching power supply adapter, and an Arcade Jason repro 8080 PCB and sound board. Fired it up with my fingered crossed and boom…working game. The only issue was the screen wasn’t reversed. The screen is reflected off of a mirror in the cabinet, so when the picture appeared, it was backwards. After reading online what to do to remedy this, I desoldered a couple yoke wires from the chassis and flipped them. It worked like a charm!
Huge nostalgic bite for me! One of the OG games I played in my dad’s Racquetball and Health Club in Humbolt Iowa back in 1980. The club had both Space Invaders and Asteroids. Played ‘em both a ton.
