I was walking the dog in the back yard and saw a face I didn't expect.
He or she must have gotten trapped in there a few days ago, maybe even a week or two. Poor thing!
I've put out some of our cat's food and some water. And a litter box. (This explains the poop I found in there a few days ago. And it explains how the moving blanket I had over a pinball machine in restoring was on the floor the other day.)
We think it's a neighborhood cat named Tubby. Her brother lives at another house, but she's more feral.
She definitely took off and hid in the back corner when I tried to get close. Unfortunately there's a bunch of stuff back there, and I don't see any reason to spook her further. I don't want to force her out into the rain. Now that I think about it, our dog was very interested in that corner a few days ago.
I'll open the door a bit so she can get out, but with the rain, she might not be interested in leaving. And how will I know if she's gone?
The garage is heated but I have the thermostat set to just keep it from freezing in there. Still warmer than outside though. I told my wife we may have just adopted a garage cat.
Duotron!
It's not really a highly regarded game, but my brother's first game was a Magnatron (same game, just 4 players instead of 2), and this came up as a restoration project, so I've been working on it. I swear the engineers were making music with the reset sequence. I'm sure it's all necessary, but there's a catchy element to the sounds it makes, too. It's my first restoration project, so probably good to start on a game that isn't super valuable.
I've got it in pretty good shape, sort of. The playfield is pretty worn, but it's clean and waxed. It plays pretty well, I need to clean the contacts on the bonus wheel and just play a bunch of games to make sure the score reels are working. Definitely one of those things where the more I play, the better it works. I'm planning to take it to a show in May. I need a few random parts like locks for the cabinet doors, but it's basically ready to go.
I also have my brother's Loop the Loop sitting there, and it plays fine, but it's covered with Duotron parts and schematics. I also have a RollerGames and a Bobby Orr Power Play in the house.
Oooh! Really nice! I want to get an EM pinball machine at some point. Sounds like a really fun project!
Hope Tubby calms down enough that you can befriend her!
The EMs are still pretty inexpensive, fortunately. There's something about the mechanics that I love - like the line from Rush's "Red Barchetta", where he describes the car's engine as "mechanical music".
I love solid state games too, but EMs are interesting.
Yes I know exactly what you mean. The mechanics have a very visceral feel to them, like a living machine. Solid state machines feel much more smooth, refined, and high tech, albeit somewhat sterile.
I think this difference is also why people get nostalgia for classic cars over EVs.
Oh. I've played Duotron. It does sound particularly beautiful!
Cool restoration project.
This might be obvious from my username, but you ever get an itch to share progress pictures of the restoration, I would certainly be interested.
Is there an arcade games or pinball community?
I was thinking when I wrote that that I could do video of it playing with my new video camera. It wouldn't be the top down view we usually see for pinball, but I'm sure I could come up with something.
Looks like we have https://lemmy.world/c/pinball
Oh, hey I'm already a member. And I posted a question a few months ago.
My steel trap memory strikes again.