August 29, 2015.
I was lucky enough to happen upon a Craigslist listing for a very rare game shortly after it was posted–a Universal Cosmic Guerilla! I had seen a cocktail version of this game pop up on Craigslist in Indianapolis not too long before, but with Universal games, I think the uprights are what are really worth having. This cabinet is just beautiful!
So, hoping to be the first to get in touch with the seller, I texted him and asked if Cosmic Guerilla was still available, and if he could hold it for me until I could drive out. The game was located in St. Louis, I’m in Louisville. It’d be quite a drive, and not one I was sure I could make right away. I Paypal’d him the money after he agreed and set about trying to organize a time to get the game.
I suggested to my wife we make a trip of it. Neither of us had every really done the tourist-y thing in St. Louis, despite it only being 4 hours away from us. So, I booked a room for the coming Saturday night, and looked up things to do in St. Louis. The Zoo, the botanical gardens, and shopping were all on the list. We woke up early Saturday morning and hit the road.
The drive from Louisville to St. Louis on I64 West is no fun at all. Random hills throughout the first half of Indiana had my poor little Ford Ranger stressing, but after passing into Illinois it was smooth sailing. This trip would actually be the longest I’ve traveled for a game so far in my collecting, so I wasn’t sure what I’d think about driving so far to pick up a game! Luckily, spending the day with my wife made it seem like less of a pickup and more of a mini-vacation.
We got hungry in the middle of the drive and decided to try and find a place in St. Louis to get some lunch. I figured it might be fun to try a place featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives like a real tourist, so a quick “ddd st louis” Google search later and my wife had picked Anthonino’s Taverna, a Greek/Italian place. Set the GPS and our first detour was under way. We got the fried ravioli as an appetizer, I tried the frisco burger and she ordered the gyro. Food was delicious, I definitely recommend the place.
A short 1.5 mile drive to the Zoo and we were in business. Parking was $15, but the Zoo itself is free, which was nice. Our zoo in Louisville is free parking but $12/person last I knew. The St. Louis Zoo was big! We walked the whole thing, checked out the exhibits, and were out of there in about 3 and a half hours. It was humid and hot and we were beat by the end of it!
It was 4:45 or so by the time we got out of the zoo, so too late for the botanical gardens. We started thinking of dinner plans or what to do next. We checked the weather and while St. Louis was going to be clear, Louisville was getting a bunch of rain the next day. Uh oh. I didn’t have any plastic wrap or a covered way to move the game, so on the way back to the hotel we swung by a Home Depot that we passed. Bought some plastic wrap, but, still nervous, texted the seller to see if he’d be willing to let us pick up that afternoon. The drive, after all, wasn’t too bad, and we were pooped from the zoo and low on funds anyway. We’d waste a hotel night, but at least the game would get home dry! He agreed, so I stored the plastic wrap I bought in the back of the truck for future use and we made our way to pick it up.
The seller lived about 20 minutes outside of the city, not a far drive, in a cute little neighborhood. Most of the homes were wood-siding, not quite like cabins but still funky and attractive. Seemed like a nice place to live. We pulled up and I saw the game for the first time! Needed some work, but a working Cosmic Guerilla wasn’t a game I was keen on passing up. I was very surprised at how short the cabinet is–shorter than a Nintendo cabinet. The seller generously helped me load the game into the back of the truck, and it fit under my raised topper without needing straps. The bed closed right up and we were on our way home! The way we figured it, we’d get home around 11:30pm our time, not counting a stop for dinner on the way.
On the ride home, we hit a little bit of rain. I contemplated pulling over, but with the game fairly well covered by the topper, and it only sprinkling, I figured I’d give it a few minutes to see how long the rain kept up. It was only about 3 minutes, it turned out, and clear skies forcasted all the way home, so I decided to risk it.
On the way through Illinois, it felt like we were driving through a biblical plague of insects. Over and over, every 5-10 seconds, some bug met an untimely end at the hands of my windshield. It was strange for sure, not sure why so many bugs were out and wanting to bombard my vehicle.
A quick stop off at a Hardee’s to eat dinner and we ended up back home around 12:15am! Unloaded the game and got it crammed into our spare room, where a lot of my games are currently sitting while we renovate the basement. Fired it up and it still worked, so I played a couple games and then headed off to bed.
All in all an easy enough trip. I’m really glad to have this game, and can’t wait to clean it up and make it look as good as possible. Here’s what I think I’ll have to do to it:
- Quick clean of all parts
- Reattach two brackets on the inside coin door, and the coin tray (all were inside the coin door)
- New t-molding
- Re-glue some parts of the left side side-art. The art itself seems to have been applied to a piece of thicker laminate or something, as it’s the laminate that is separating from the MDF.
- Spray triple thick or something on the back of the bezel. There’s a little crazing at the bottom that I’d like to contain, as none of this art is repro’d.
- No key to the back door, so I need to drill that out and see what I’m working with. Might be able to go in from the top of the cabinet and just loosen it, will try that first.
- Replace bulb for the back bezel/marquee that lights up.
This game will be a centerpiece of the arcade for sure!
Arcade '88 