Mr. Do!
Another White Mr. Do! Mention
It’s taken about six months or so, but this arcade game blog is starting to get the volume and type of traffic I had always imagined. I had always hoped that by having a public website, I would get emails from people all over the United States giving me snippets of information about different arcade game projects. This time, it’s my beloved Mr. Do!
I got one the other day from a guy in NY who says that at one time a buddy of his bought 15-20 of the rare white character sideart Mr. Do! machines in an auction. (more…)
Mr. Do! Conversion Control Panel Artwork
I saw an eBay auction a week back or so for a Mr. Do! conversion that had some conversion artwork on the control panel that I hadn’t seen before. I thought it was worth posting here at the very least to see if someone else has seen this control panel overlay artwork and has any information about it. (more…)
New (old) White Mr. Do! Mention
Was online talking to g3n3r1c (Klov forums) tonight about reproduction artwork and he mentioned that he used to work for an auction house in Royal Oak called SkyRocket Amusements. Not only did 200+ games come through per week, he said that he saw one of the white Mr. Do!’s. (more…)
Another Rare Mr. Do! Bezel on ebay
The second in a little over six months, here is another one of the rare artwork Mr. Do! bezels on ebay. This bezel appears to be in better condition than the Mr. Do! bezel I got back in late July of 2007 for $13 ($12 of which was shipping).
I could care less about an NOS Mr. Do! variant marquee, the marquee that actually goes with the white sideart Mr. Do!. I would like to have this version, but I would take one that is used, I would actually prefer it that way. Then there is no decision about keeping the marquee as a New Old Stock piece of artwork or not.
Hard to justify buying the two pieces of Mr. Do! artwork. With a starting bid of $19.99 and $20 shipping, a best case scenario o f $40 to have a duplicate, but better condition bezel with the marquee….it would be nice to have, but I would have to find a buyer for my other bezel first to rationalize that in my mind. Either way, I’ll be watching it:)
Ladybug with Sideart – Artwork style similar to White Mr. Do!
Brian’s website had a couple of interesting goodies, check out these photos below of a rare dedicated white “extended conversion kit” Ladybug machine with sideart.
(I don’t know how else to term an arcade game like this. More experienced collectors have let me know that this technically wasn’t a “dedicated” machine, but instead a company trying to boost sales on the conversion kits produced for that game, hence “extended conversion kit”. By including a cabinet and adding artwork, they could probably sell the arcade games for more and generate more interest by being an all in one solution.)
The border around classic Ladybug arcade artwork, as well as the character design for this game tipped me off right away that the same manufacturer possibly made this machine as the white Mr. Do!. It would make sense that if someone was going to license one arcade game from Universal, maybe they’d license a couple to reproduce.
A family member spotted this Ladybug arcade game for Brian at a flea market for $5, so they bought it and brought it to him from PA. On his site he steps through what he did to “restore” the artwork a little bit, by using frisket and rejuvenating the color. Like the Mr. Do! conversion machines, the artwork had some wear in strange spots that would indicate the original painted artwork wasn’t durable. The only thing that gives me doubts, is the cutout in the lower front of the cab, where the white Mr. Do! went straight to the floor. It would seem to me that if a game making licensed games, they would use the same cabinet to save money. But who knows, maybe not.
I am in touch with Brian, but he doesn’t have much more information about the classic Ladybug arcade game and why would he considering where it came from. But it gives me one more tool to search the web. There is one post on Google Groups with an individual talking about a white Ladybug with sideart;
Saw a post on Ladybug, and while certainly not a great game, I passed on one the other day, that had what looked to be “dedicated” side art and marquee. I’ve seen many, but not one like this. Was there such a creature, and what’s it rarity? I thought they were mostly conversions.
~Edit It was suggested to me that both the Mr. Do! and Ladybug arcade cabinets were made by Rock-Ola. I looked through Klov, and there is nothing in the design of the artwork on the games listed that would make me believe this was true. But if there was a company that just dressed up conversion kits, and wasn’t a full scale production, finding information about the white side art might be more difficult than I originally thought.
~Update Darin Jacobs of Phoenix Arcade posted in the Google Forums that he had a Ladybug arcade machine like this at one time, but he gave it to his brother. Supposedly his brother still has it, but there aren’t any markings on the inside to give me any more clues to the manufacturer. 🙁
Update August 5th, 2008
I forgot to mention, take a look at the bezel on this Ladybug cabinet. It is the same one used on a couple of the white Mr. Do!s (image below or the Mr. Do! for sale in California), probably some sort of generic bezel that the manufacturing company offered for the machines. Or maybe it was the bezel for a Lady Bug / Mr. Do! and operators interchanged them. Who knows.
Contact buying rare white Mr. Do! this weekend…
I am waiting with bated breath to hear if this arcade deal actually happens. A contact of mine is supposed to be driving to Santa Maria, CA to buy the white Mr. Do! that was for sale.
Last I heard, the purchase was supposed to happen this weekend. That is when I last heard about the Mr. Do! deal back three weeks ago. But I haven’t heard anything more.
Either way, I could have full size scans of the rare white Mr. Do! sideart by the end of next week:) Check out my original post on the “White Mr. Do! with Sideart for Sale!” to learn a little more.
~Update 12/18/07 Sounds like things didn’t work out for a pickup of the Mr. Do! machine on the 16th of December. Things got pushed back until February of 2008.
Original Universal Mr. Do! Backglass
There isn’t all that much vector artwork out there for the original Mr. Do! arcade game. On Local Arcade there is a quick Universal bezel that was vectorized, but that is about all I can find. (Search “Universal” and you should find the bezel) You will also find the Mr. Do! instruction card and the circular sticker sideart that is really easy to find, and I am concerned with neither of those Universal items. As you can see, the Universal bezel isn’t accurate, it is just a rough with the monitor view center off center in the artwork.
In terms of other artwork, granted, the original Mr. Do! cabinet just has the red strips on the sides, but there are a lot of other parts, like the control panel overlay, the marquee, and the backglass.
Back in 2005 there was a post in the BYOAC forums about a member who had a scan of the Mr. Do! backglass, and had finished a trace. He was going to reproduce the artwork for himself at the very least, and then release the vector trace to Local Arcade. I don’t think that ever happened.
I posted on the old topic to see if I can get a copy of that Mr. Do! backglass file, and emailed one other contact to see if he could help me out. It is a really cool design, even though I don’t know what the design has to do with Mr. Do! Universal seemed to put a lot of planning into the games and the quality, but not a whole lot into individual cabinet designs.
On a related exciting note, I got an automated email back from a feeler I sent out. I found the name of the former Vice President of Universal Distributors of Nevada. I emailed asking him to see if he knew some of the companies that licensed out Mr. Do! from Universal back in the early 80’s. I hope he can give me some information and can remember back that far.
~Edit – 11/27 Heard back from the contact I emailed to see if he had a copy of the Mr. Do! backglass already in vector format. Zorg on the Mame forums is working on vectorizing the whole thing, here is the bezel and backglass as one file and the progress to date.
Pretty awesome, it will be cool to see this classic arcade bezel preserved.
