The game itself is intense. Between the crisp, color vector graphics, the 3D perspective, the unique sounds and the sheer number and variety of attacking enemies, this game has it all. And then there's the spinner. This is the perfect control for this kind of gameplay. It instantly becomes an extension of your fingers - the ultimate input device.

I bought this machine from the same person who sold me the Mappy, and like the Mappy, this machine was dead.

The first thing to do was to get this machine working. The monitor looked complete, and one of the boardsets I had gotten was marked "working". So I threw them together, powered it up and I had game!

Well, not quite. The game played blind - I could hear all the sounds but there was no picture. So I powered it down and took a close look at the monitor. AAAAARGH!!!!! I couldn't believe what I saw. All the connectors in the monitor to the deflection board were misconnected. Some were plugged into the wrong connector, some were plugged in shifted over a pin and one was even completely disconnected and tucked up behind the monitor tube. I was lucky that this thing didn't catch fire when I had powered it up. Lesson learned - always check the connections before applying power the first time.

So I properly reconnected all of the connections to the deflection board and reapplied power - I had game! Video and all! Boy was I lucky that I didn't fry that board.

The next thing was to work on the spinner. To me, a Tempest is only as good as it's spinner - and this one sucked. Most Tempest spinners develop that signature buzzzzzz as their nylon bearings wear out. This machine's spinner was far past buzz - it had serious wobble. Completely unacceptable. I searched the Net for replacement bearings, but none were to be had, so I had to make them on my own.

I tried to find something off-the-shelf, but there was nothing that would to the job. I eventually found some bronze bearing stock that was the right basic dimensions. I had to then turn the material to machine  mounting/retaining grooves and then machine and cut it to the correct size. The end result was perfect. The spinner spins smooth and silent, and being made out of bronze (as opposed to the original's plastic) should last a lifetime. They work so well, in fact, that I now sell them as part of a Tempest Spinner Rebuild Kit.

So with everything working well, I gave the machine a full scrub down and clean up. The side art is ok, but could use a bit of touch-up paint. The marquee and control panel overlay are both shredded on the edges and need to be replaced (eventually) but their colors are bright and will do for now. I also replaced all of the T-moulding.

The machine looks good and plays great and has taken it's rightful, permanent place in my arcade. I play it more than any other game in my arcade and probably will for years to come.