I had a WTB ad on the local Craigslist. A guy called me and said he had a Ms. Pac-Man cocktail in rough shape, non-working, no game PCB, monitor not working with extreme burn-in, etc. I told him I wasn’t interested.

He calls me back a little later and mentions he has a UR Ms. Pac-Man also with a monitor that needs a cap kit. I tell him what the heck. I’ll cap his monitor for the Ms. Pac-Man cocktail.

He agrees and I get the chassis, cap it, return it and pick up the cocktail.

A Klov friend (NewSheriffInTown) gives me a couple of Ms.Pac-Man pcb’s. I piece together a working one out of them.
Another Klov member (WarGamerHq) gives me the Underlay that goes under the glass.

But the game sits in my workroom for over a year. To many projects and no time or initiative to fix it up.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I always talk about my hobby at work. A Body Shop owner I’ve known for over 20 years mentioned he would love to have a Ms. Pac-Man cocktail because he and his wife used to play one all the time at a Pizza joint when they were dating. I agree to fix it up and sell it to him.

So here are some pics of what I had to work with. Sorry forgot to snap a lot of before pics:

As you can see it looks gross. And there is a ton of de-laminating from the plywood.

I decided to go about the restoration this way :

1. New cabinet. Made out of 3/4″ birch. Copied exactly
2. New laminate on the sides
3. New glass. The old one is scratched up badly
4. New tube. Will do a tube swap
5. Restore metal. All metal including coin door restored/painted/powder coated
6. New start buttons, centering grommets, glass top clips, $.25 plastic, plastic light shields, t-molding.

1. So the cab was disassembled and everything was torn down. Then I cut all 4 sides and the bottom pieces with the table saw. Then with my router, I copied all the tongue/groove slots for the sides/bottom. Then with the router, I cut all holes (speaker/coin door/switches/etc) Then everything was glued/brad nailed/clamped.

I re-used the original top as it was in good shape and I didn’t have any 1″ birch 

Got some powder coating and painting done.

Ms. Pac-Man has had her makeover and is ready to get back on the dating scene.