Restoring Sprint 2 - A 1976 Arcade Game | State of Play

Welcome back Arcadians
In this week’s episode we revisit Atari’s Sprint 2 from 1976 and catch up on all the restoration work that has been undertaken in the last 9 months.
Will we have a working game by the end of the video, stay tuned to find out!
00:00 Intro.
01:05 Strip down of cabinet & recap.
04:25 Testing, cleaning of electrical parts & PCB.
05:13 Restoration to all parts of the cabinet.
10:23 Powering on the monitor & Pcb for the first time.
13:47 Assemble cabinet.
15:31 State of play for the cabinet now.
👾You can visit the Arcade Archive
Come and enjoy a range of classic arcade games in my Arcade Archive museum located in Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK. Book tickets at www.retrocollective.co.uk
👾 Help support the museum.
Keeping these machines alive and making it the best experience for your to enjoy please visit / arcadearchive
👾Follow Alex and the museum on Twitter / arcade_archive
👾Follow Alex and the museum on Facebook / arcadearchive
👾Music supplied by Rich the world champion at championship Sprint, down load his music here
247retro.bandcamp.com/album/z...
#arcade #restoration #atari

[@bobbus_74]

I love these kind of videos. It's so good to see this beautiful Sprint cab slowly being transformed to it's former glory. Definitely not an easy job, but I imagine the satisfaction upon completing it will be immense. I look forward to the day I can come and test it out. Great work guys.

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Thanks Bob It’s a real team effort and very satisfying, fingers crossed for a working game in the near future.

[@PerBengtsson]

Nice to see good progress on Sprint 2. I want to remind you that I have made some modern replacements for most of the unobtainium chips in the digital part of that PCB in case you're missing some part.

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Thank you that’s really kind of you as we might need to take you up on your offer.

[@wolfbeast80]

Arcade Archive looks so cool at night with those entrance lights giving a winter glow that's bright. The ghost from the mill had quite the reaction to see Sprint 2 being restored to perfection. With a newfound spring in its step and rust a thing of the past, arcadians better pick up the pace if they want to be the first to race. I'm glad to get the restoration going well. Even down to matching the original colours, you and the volunteers are doing a great service to the community. Your dedication is second to none, Alex Can't wait to finally arrive there!

[@TheArcadeArchive]

I like what you did there Mathew 😃 Get your self down to the museum and hopefully by then I can race you 😉

[@wolfbeast80]

That would be awesome. Well, I shall Sprint 2 the museum then! I'm so excited beyond belief!

[@thebyteattic]

This was an absolute delight to watch!

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Thank you 🙏

[@Rob.Coleman]

Fantastic restoration, coming along very nicely. Whoever painted the sides black inadvertently did you a favour 😃. Incidentally, there was a nice feature on the arcade on Points West recently with you and Richard. Really good stuff 👍👍👍.

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Hi Rob, The black paint definitely served as protection for many years. The video we did for Points west was early this year, nice to know it’s getting repeated. Hope your well.

[@arcadesunday4592]

Absolutely amazingly work here. Well done to everyone involved ! Your passion for clasic Arcade games will (hopefully!!) be appreciated years from now.

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Thanks Matt Hopefully see you in the museum sometime for a high score challenge 😉

[@arcadeuk]

What a huge improvement uncovering and restoring that lovely side art. Great work 👍👍

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Thanks Luke hope your well.

[@LurgsHowToGuides]

Brilliant work. Really looking forward to part 3. Keeping history alive! Amazing how quick tech has moved on with PS5’s in peoples homes with lifelike graphics. These kinds of games and home computers are what started it all.

[@TheArcadeArchive]

To think how wowed we were bitd at these simple graphics and we still had so much fun.

[@DarrenLandrum]

1976 was the year I was born. It's heartwarming to see a cabinet that old still around.

[@GeorgesChannel]

Great seeing reviving these wonderful old machines! The artwork was part of the magic! They should go back doing these handdrawn artworks for games again! Great video!

[@TheArcadeArchive]

It could be in the Tate Gallery switched off and for me it would be art. Thanks for watching

[@SEGAZombie]

What an amazing watch The transformation of that side art it looks absolutely stunning Can't wait to see this cab finished and running, I do hope someone out there has a monitor that fits What a tremendous team effort and the passion and love that's gone into this restore

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Thanks mate, We are still looking for a suitable monitor and once we have that I can’t wait to play it. Hope your well mate

[@Fatboypool]

My Robotron is to the left of my Defender. Very nice!!!

[@TheArcadeArchive]

You have the best games 😎👍

[@ewstargamer]

Top work from you guys, really can't understand why someone would paint that black in the first place, really looking forward to part 3 and hopefully playing it in the future Great video mate 👍

[@AllOuttaBubblegum123]

Its shocking and surprising the state of alot of these old classic cabinets

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Thanks Alex In a way it’s kind of preserved the art work but still don’t understand why anyone would have done that.

[@user-ho6yq3lq3y]

fantastic video. Side art is so iconic. Brings back so many happy memories of walking into an arcade and the side art of a machine drawing you towards it.... 'play me' and give me all your 10p's.

[@TheArcadeArchive]

The side art is so cool isn’t it. It could be in the Tate gallery switched off and for me it would be art.

[@yorks210676]

Great to watch the progress of this restoration and good luck with what's to come next. Please though Alex, wear a proper dust mask when you're doing all that sanding and cleaning! We value your health more than getting the project completed!

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Your quite right I should have done. Thanks for watching and glad you enjoyed the video.

[@AllOuttaBubblegum123]

Takes me back to my youth down southend seafront. Great work guys

[@TheArcadeArchive]

That’s a nice memory as i don’t have any of this game from back in the day.

[@BottIsNotABot]

Looking so good, and you guys have got it so close to the finish line. Cannot wait to see it up and running in all it's glory.

[@davidretrogamesplayedbadly3533]

Really enjoyed watching sprint 2 being restored. Shame about the monitor. The side art is stunning, brilliant that you saved it.

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Thanks Dave The side art is absolutely stunning and would make a good Tattoo 😊

[@chrisdorr5786]

Nice save, stunning art. Can't beat '70s Atari for that. Love the framing of the Sega & the Midway Gun Fight(s).

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Hopefully those two games will be restored next year 😎👍

[@_DML_]

Excellent work with all that you do preserving these great games. While its removal was a hassle, that black paint appears to have preserved the side art. Because it's no longer deployed to a commercial environment, the restoration should last a lifetime (excluding the surprises the electronics always like to throw up as the years roll on).

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Your right the black paint has helped to preserve it in a way. Thank you

[@paul_7078]

Sprint 2 is one of the very first arcade games I came across. I was 8 years old. Location: Stephenson's Golden Sands caravan site, Ingoldmells, Skegness UK, circa 1979, in the caravan site club (which is still there) - specifically in the children's room. I remember it like it was yesterday. There was also a Space Invaders machine, an Atari Stunt Cycle machine (that never seemed to work), plus a pinball machine called Moon Flight from the mid 70s. Hope you get this one going. Thanks for the memories!

[@cameralabs]

As always a fascinating video Alex, thanks! Amazing paint job restoration too, it looks so good. I LOVE the bold red, orange and yellow graphics of that era, maybe it could end up on a T shirt? PS - nice work on the HDR video too, what did you use to film and edit? It really popped on my MacBook 14 screen!

[@TheArcadeArchive]

I always look forward to your comments Gordon and really appreciate your kind words. Surprisingly I’m still using my iPhone for filming and editing 😬 I guess I’m a bit old school but it is convenient for me to edit when I’m out and about and have a free moment to edit. I’m slowly learning how to use my MacBook so hopefully they will only improve with time. Thanks for watching as always and hope to see you soon.

[@cameralabs]

@@TheArcadeArchive that was all filmed and edited on an iPhone?! It looks fantastic, seriously. I wouldn't change your camera or workflow as it looks great as it is!

[@thetwistedsock3253]

Absolutely brilliant 😊

[@retroimportgamer513]

Fantastic work from yourself and everyone Alex, it's looking great, revealing that beautiful artwork is fantastic, looks awesome. Hope you can find a screen and get it fully operational 👍

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Thanks James Fingers crossed 🤞 for a monitor to turn up. Thanks for watching as always.

[@OGDuffy]

Great job matey, well done looking forward to seeing how this turns out😉😉

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Thanks Rob hope your well.

[@kevinmccartney4906]

Very enjoyable video, Alex and Team! Your passion and patience are second to none! Thanks for being an inspiration.

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Thank you Kevin 😎👍

[@properjob2311]

excellent video full of information

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Thanks😎👍

[@buriedbits6027]

Such important work!

[@inspectorzero6380]

What a fantastic video👍

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Thank you

[@Bearcade]

Beautiful work

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Thank you

[@mlann2333]

Great job

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Thank you

[@senilyDeluxe]

That monitor is a Hantarex I'm pretty sure. From superficial looks, our Model Racing made Road Champions (Taito license iirc) has almost the same model monitor. That one is working though. Had to recap some of it lately because some of the caps were getting very tired (up in ESR, down in capacity). The replacement caps I used are even older, but NOS. I hope none of the bipolar PROMs are bad that are used as some kind of proto-PLA (as in the PLA of the Commodore 64). But if they are, I can program 7603s and have two blank ones left. It looks like the track addressing logic has faults. The automatic cars trying to reach the top left corner and the track consisting of dots in the last state tells me the track ROM isn't addressed correctly or its data isn't being put on the BUS (I bet you already got it fixed though, so just me guessing). If you end up with a color monitor, you should pretty easily get a color picture output, there's four discrete sprites which can be wired to the color channels... although BLACK and WHITE on the screen wouldn't make much sense anymore. I got a TV from 1960 that might fit... it's tube though... and I wouldn't run it for more than two hours... Yeah, passed by a 26(ish) inch black&white TV in the dumpster, just took the circuit board out. Didn't fit anything though, I shoulda just got the entire thing&AV mod it. We got a basement and storage full of color CRTs, but just two black&white ones and two 9 inch security monitors.

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Interesting you have a Model Racing we have one two and we did check to see if the monitor from that would be a good replacement but unfortunately not. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you

[@senilyDeluxe]

@@TheArcadeArchive Shango066 lately made a video about a guy in Poland who rewinds transformers (he has a special transformer winding lathe), there's a chance he can fix that LOPT.

[@lurch666]

Very interesting. I have a sprint 2 PCB that I repaired (ram was bad so game wouldn't run) and have also acquired a full control panel. I don't have much room so I'm planning to make a bartop super sprint with loose pedals that will go on the floor and an old CRT TV sitting on top. I did a similar thing with a missile command PCB and control panel.

[@electricadventures]

An absolutely stunning classic machine, so good both sides of the artwork came out really well. Hopefully, you will find an appropriate screen for it and you will almost have it done. I think I have said before I have seen at least two of these locally, and potentially could get hold of one, but I lack the room at the moment, and trying to get some of the "projects" completed :)

[@TheArcadeArchive]

I think it’s one of those games when you have a few people round for some beers it could be a great laugh. Have you played on the cabs you’ve seen Tony ?

[@electricadventures]

@@TheArcadeArchive one was in storage with a four player as well (that was a couple of years ago now though). The other one was in Devonport (in Northern Tasmania) at one of the places the last pin crawl went to. We were late due to road works (added an hour to our trip), so we barely had time to play the pinballs in the tournament let alone anything else this time. This is the one that is potentially available.

[@NeoMK27]

Fantastic work by the whole team. A wonderful effort and such a shame the monitor was shot. A hope you find a suitable replacement ready for part 3 - the unveiling…..

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Finding a suitable monitor would be the icing on the cake, But unfortunately no such luck yet. I’ve just been on a raid this weekend and we pulled loads of monitors out but again non the right size 😩

[@NeoMK27]

@@TheArcadeArchive That’s a shame too. Is the raid going to feature on a future video? Always good fun to see what’s still out there.

[@NeoMK27]

Large black and white TVs also seem like rocking horse shit now too. Not an easy job.

[@NeoMK27]

Perhaps last link though not cheap, may be suitable at 22”

[@neilloughran4437]

Great stuff.... Sprint 2 is very dear to my heart... reminds me of Blackpool in the late 70s... even when I went back in the 80s/90s I still played these old games as I preferred them to the modern games of the era.... really miss that era... at the time we thought it would last forever but sadly when I went back a few years ago those same arcades are just full of gambling and claw-grab machines.... simply awful... Still it is nice that ArcadeClub exist!

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Yea unfortunately arcades are not the place to go anymore for the latest games but I guess they weren’t before video games arrived. I still think games with more imagination and more unique controls will still attract people into the arcade for a experience you can’t get at home. And you can see that with a handful of good games but not enough to make it magical like when we were kids. Thanks Neil

[@neilloughran4437]

@@TheArcadeArchive dunno I think even before video games the arcades were popular with the same gambling type machines as well as pinball and those electromechanical monsters! I remember pinball was still pretty popular in local cafes circa early 80s or so... did not see them much after then... don't recall them much at all in Blackpool but then again I wasn't looking...

[@micb3rd]

I't might be useful to you and the team, there is a video of an American repairing a Sprint 2 arcade. It was about 1 Year ago. The channel is called "Joe's Classic Video Games".

[@TheArcadeArchive]

Yea I’ve watched that and was really helpful thank you 👍

[@micb3rd]

@@TheArcadeArchive Cool, all the best, I hope to support / visit the Arcade this year :-)

[@robsretrostuff]

Earliest use of the “Arcade font” I believe?

[@SmoMo_]

A colour monitor wouldn’t look quite right though would it because of the shadow mask creating pixels. I’ve got a similar aged Atari Breakout cabinet here, also with a b+w monitor, and it has a very smooth analog look to the display compared to a colour monitor

[@bobochimp22]

I have a sprint 2 pcb not in great shape tho

[@TheStevenWhiting]

5:35 What is that filler you use?