"Trashed" Tron Arcade Restoration!

I think enough time has passed that I can reveal a secret. At the time of the Movie's release, I worked in a mall across the hall from an arcade. Whenever their machines would malfunction, I would fix them. they always opened the machine doors for me and clicked off lots of credits. When the Tron machine arrived, the instructions said that they were to put it in the back room and not to put it out on the floor until the movie's opening day. they invited me over to play the game in the back room every night after closing. We played for hours every night for the next week. On opening day, everyone around me watching me play the game was amazed at how good I was on the first day!!

Wow! That wasn't just a restoration, it was a resurrection! Excellent work!

Today...it is truly a treasure to be able to play those old arcade games of the early eighties.For someone who is about 55 now....its very nostalgic..

Amazing work, as a former vending / videogame / pinball repair tech, you did much more work than our 'professional' jobs. Congrats, and wonderful work.

I really didn't expect myself to sit here and watch the entire hour and 50 minutes, but it was so well put together. Awesome job - and game at that. LOVE the movies. Awesome stuff.

I owned a coin-op route business from 1993 to 1999 with many locations from fun centers to convenience stores and any place that would let us put a machine in. That's where I first cut my teeth learning electronics diagnostics and repair and all kinds of other things. I purchased Randy Fromm's Arcade School on VHS, watched those and spent a good deal of time in the back of the Colorado Game Exchange with the repair techs learning from them. I moved on to other ventures, but I'll always have a deep love for arcades and arcade machines. You did a top notch job restoring this Tron! I really appreciate that you did everything properly and didn't do any hack jobs like I see a few other arcade (and automotive) channels do consistently. You earned a sub!

Speaking as someone who knows nothing about fixing / restoring these types of games, but has been involved with other types of restoration projects.... I can say that I LOVE this video! Seeing the starting point, hurdles, expense, and finished project is educational & interesting. Well done!

This is honestly the best video I’ve seen all year! I don’t know why it came up as suggested, but I’m so glad it did. Thank you!

What a gorgeous cabinet. You did a bang up job bringing it back to life!

Unreal amazing work. A triumph!

That was a great restoration on the Tron arcade game!!! I love it. It brings back memories of when I was a kid playing in the arcade at the mall back in the early to mid and even late 80's.

I know I'm late to this video... But I must say, you are an arcade hero! You rescued one of my favorite arcade games and did a beautiful job giving Tron some well deserved TLC. 🤗 These games deserve to be taken care of and appreciated. Thank you for posting this !

I am 25 years old. I love you videos. What you do for the retro community is invaluable to us, whether most people my age know it not. The same goes for the 8-bit guy, adrian black, and all the other retro hobbyists out there. Your knowledge is invaluable. I know these are just video games, but they are a key part of history, so thank you.

One of the iconic arcade machines of my day, I'm insanely jealous of your abilities to get this from a messed up carcass to a cabinet that wouldn't look out of place in the mid 80's when I played them to death. Much respect man.

I was going to comment on how the schematics of the cabinet with some new plywood would have been cheaper starting over than the cost of this one plus repairs but I realized as I finished the video, that it's not always about the bottom line price. Sometimes its about the journey and the pride in craftsmanship because you sir, are fantastic!!! Your end result was immaculate and you should be very proud!

You're doing the Lord's work, sir! I will never forget the first time I saw this beautiful game cabinet in the dark and seedy little arcade in my hometown. It was the most futuristic thing I had ever seen, and it was glorious!! You have successfully built a time machine; transporting me back to that day. Thank you for your obvious love and dedication to these priceless works of functional art!!

I'm impressed. I saw the water damage of that particle board and was thinking "use the cabined to make a replacement template, outsource for the graphics" but that would have been even more expensive I guess. Makes sense to have done the resin and filler pours. Well done sir, and you've taught me a thing or 2

This brings back a flood of memories. I remember watching my cousin playing the TRON arcade game at the theater and then seeing the movie. My nine year old mind was blown. I know the arcade game came out in August of 1980 (a full month after the film release) so it would have probably been September when we saw the movie. Thanks for bringing back this great piece of 80’s culture. Now, if I had just held on to all those Battlestar Gallactica toys ………

That water damage was beyond what I would have considered saveable. Kudos to you for brining it back from it's watery grave!

Beautiful restoration, well done. Reminds me of my old days in the TV repair shop. I don't miss the burnt fingertips from soldering. I had to replace many CRT's back in the day when I was an apprentice, always hated the 25kV from the HT leads. Before we binned the old displays I also had to smash the Tube to get rid of the vacuum. Thanks for the Video. Nostalga satisfied 100%.