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DETAILS: This game was obtained from
a semi-local collector friend who not only
rebuilt and upgraded the monitor, but also
cared for it extremely well too. This
game is apparently home use only. I
say 'apparently' because there is no proof
for that claim, but it's condition both
inside and out is just incredibly clean.
COSMETIC
RESTORATION: There was nothing that
needed to be done to this game other than replace
the control panel and marquee overlays, both
of which had the
usual cracking at the bends. I was
able to obtain a
NOS marquee overlay and
applied it as the reproduction Tempest
marquee overlays that are available are
really lacking a lot of the original detail
and the colors are off as well. I was
also able to obtain a
NOS control panel overlay and applied it
as well.
ELECTRICAL REPAIRS/UPGRADES:
Replaced the power cord and the coin door
reject button lamps. The power filter
capacitor had already been replaced as had
the capacitors on the Regulator/Audio II
board. The Wells-Gardner K6100 color
vector monitor already had its deflection
board upgraded and both the deflection and
high voltage boards had their capacitors
replaced. A low voltage protection
circuit had already been installed on the
deflection board as well. Also
installed was
Clay Cowgill's Tempest Multigame (some
screenshots are below).
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TEMPEST TUBES |
VECTOR BREAKOUT |
MECHANICAL
RESTORATION: Cleaned and serviced
the coin mechs, cleaned and lubed the
spinner controller per the manual, replaced
the spinner shaft bushings and gave the
spinner knob a thorough cleaning.
SERIAL
#UR17557. This game has matching
serial numbers on the cabinet, monitor
chassis, game board, R/A pcb and the power
supply.
FAST FACT: Tempest sold
approximately 20,000 pre-paid units to
distributors before it was even released.
This was unprecedented and Wells-Gardner
could not manufacture K6100 monitors fast
enough to meet Atari's demand, which led to
thousands of Tempests that were just sitting on
the factory floor, awaiting their
monitors to be complete. The
incredible
popularity of Tempest (both before it was
released and as well as after) along with
Atari's next title that was scheduled to be built
(another color vector title, Space Duel)
forced Atari to seek out an alternate vector
monitor vendor, which resulted in Atari's
eventual buyout of The Amplifone Corporation
in Brownsville, Texas.
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