Universal Mr. Do! is finally mine!
It was a crazy week, an exam and two papers and then the July 4th holiday weekend and a fun time with family. But at the end, I knew that I would be traveling to finally pick up my own, original, Universal Mr. Do! arcade game.
With such a widespread blog like this, it was hard to keep my Mr. Do! acquisition a secret, but you have to do that sort of thing when collecting arcade games. It’s a funny thing, a fine line between excitement and patience. Any game deal could fall through at any time and until you have the game in hand, it’s not a sure thing.
Thanks again to my network, they have come through for me again. The Mr. Do! has pretty typical wear and tear, but it has the original wood t-molding and the solid orange buttons, which I learned today is a good thing? Makes it more dedicated, instead of a Ladybug conversion at the factory. It even works! I got in a short game last night, but it was dark and late, so hopefully it still work when I get it home. Hopefully when I get back home I can post a little bit more about the back story, the players and the trip itself.
Granted, it’s just a Mr. Do! It’s not a dedicated Williams Splat! or anything, and therefore I wouldn’t use the word ‘grail’. It’s a special game for me personally, and I’m pumped to have it, but to call it a grail might be blasphemous considering the word ‘grail’ by definition means a one of a kind object. In this context, it would be a game that is extremely rare and only a handful of them exist.
Looking for two years around the Indianapolis area and beyond for Universal Mr. Do! would make you think that they are more rare than they are. I’m just glad that it came to me 😉
Here are some similar arcade posts
- Mr. Do! History Topic on KLOV
- Factory dedicated original Mr. Do Run Run’s?
- Former CEO of Universal & Mr. Do!
- Original Universal Mr. Do! Backglass
- Dark Knight IMAX Prologue Leaked
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
@Jeff Waldron:
I wish there was a way we could force all arcade collectors to use different levels of jargon to describe the value of games. I cringe when I see collectors in the Klov forums type things like ‘I just found my grail – an X-Men’. Seriously, I don’t think, personal grail or not, that people should be calling some of these newer games that are easy to come by grails when others are using the word properly to talk about a Star Wars cockpit, or some other hard to come by game. But, I won’t be able to change it, just wishful thinking.
Someday for the other Mr. Do! character artwork version…someday. I still know the one in California is sitting there, but too rich for my taste right now.
congrats. i had the good fortune of buying a Mr. Do! at a consighnment shop in kentucky. it was my all-time favorite coleco game as a kid. if i ever decide to sell it i’ll contact you.
@deirde
Very cool, thanks for dropping me a comment. Do let me know if you ever want to sell it.
Do you have photos of your Mr. Do!? I assume it looks like the one in the photo above…correct?
Didn’t you have one at one time before you moved Jim? Are you seriously back in the market for one, or mostly dreaming?
Leave a comment
Your email address is never displayed and cannot be spammed. If your comments are excessively self-promotional you will be banned from commenting. Read our comment privacy policy.
July 7, 2008
Congrats! However, I would classify this as one of “your grails”. A grail in this hobby isn’t necessarily a rare item…it’s an item that you really want to find! I have a couple more grails to find: Robotron and Q*Bert. Neither is that “rare” but I will be excited when I get them. Now your next grail needs to be the other art variation dedicated Mr. Do!