Karate Champ Complete!

I bought a Karate Champ arcade game in April 2009 for $125.00. For me, this is a game that brings back all the memories from my time spent in the arcades "back in the day." My buddies and I would spend most of our quarters on this game. Karate Champ was the 'Mortal Kombat' of its day.

I was super excited to get this game- and it was in nice shape too! A little magic eraser, simple green and time and this game looked better than the ones we played in the arcades. It did have a cracked marquee, a very faded, washed out on-screen image, no coin door or marquee lights and peeling side art.

This past weekend I attempted my first cap kit- with success! I recapped the monitor and now the colors are bold and bright:


What a difference from when I purchased it. I also headed to the auto parts store to pick up replacement bulbs for the coin door, put in new CFL bulbs for the marquee light, installed the marquee that I got off of the KLOV forums and... TA DA! Karate Champ is ready for the game room! I'll keep an eye out for NOS side art or purchase some repro art, but that's down the road. One down, six to go (with more purchases along the way, of course.)