It’s a brave man who tries to criticize Atari’s seminal groundbreaking game Tempest. More than any other classic arcade game, Tempest hit the arcade scene like a juggernaut. Nothing like it had been seen before, and arguably, nothing has come close since. As Atari’s first full colour vector game, Tempest not only broke new technical…
Tag: Tempest
The Arcade Glow
I often get asked how many classic arcade machines I actually own. My collection is pretty modest compared to some collectors, and tends to be split into two parts – one indoors and one outdoors! My ‘indoor’ collection is my pride and joy – those cabinets that I think I will never part with. These…
Atari Tempest Spinner Upgrade Kit Installation
Pursuing a hobby that involves 30+ year old electronic and mechanical parts comes with its own set of challenges. Repairing old circuit boards is one thing; fixing and maintaining what were often bespoke made parts is another. Some things are pretty simple to replace where they are standard components – bolts, nuts, screws and washers,…
Atari Tempest: Time-Lapse Photography
Thought we’d try something different this week. For the record, I am definitely a ‘point and click’ photographer – my mobile phone has always been my camera of choice. The extent of my photography skills is using an image size optimiser for the pictures I post here on the blog. Manipulating images and setting ISO…
Atari Tempest Restoration 6 FINAL
Well we are almost at the end of the road with this restoration. Just a couple of things left to do before we can start playing. On putting the cab back together I noticed a problem with the spinner. The issue was regardless of which way the spinner was spun, the claw on screen only…
Atari Tempest Restoration 5
So with all the spraying done, it was time to start getting this cab put back together again. A knock at the door revealed a delivery from the postie this morning. Forty foot of smooth black t molding from t-molding.com – excellent price (much cheaper than the usual UK source) and quick delivery. Highly recommended….
Atari Tempest Restoration 4
So after restoring the control panel and washing the wiring loom its time to turn attentions to the cab itself. I mentioned that the cab was in decent shape, if a little grubby. Unfortunately, the cab arrived without keys. This meant the coin doors were locked shut. I needed to get in. After 20 minutes…
Atari Tempest Restoration 3
So we were making good progress on this Tempest cabaret machine. As you’ve already read in the first two parts, we’d stripped down the control panel and gave it a clean. The spinner had been stripped down and needed a deep clean and refurbishment. I sourced some new bushes to fix the grinding noise that…
Atari Tempest Restoration 2
So as you will have read in Part 1, the initial signs were positive for this Tempest cab. On the surface of it, it seemed like a pretty straight forward job to get the old girl up and running again. I got round to looking at the monitor. An quick visual check around the monitor…
Atari Tempest Restoration 1
I picked this Tempest Cabaret up some time ago from a chap in Oxford over here in the UK. Tempests are pretty rare on this side of the pond, and the cabaret version like this one especially so, so I was delighted to have found this one for sale on ebay. I bought it almost…
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