January 1988. I get a call at six in the morning from the strip mall security guy. "Sal, you better come down here." I drive over in the dark, still in my pajama pants, and I see water coming out from under my front door. A pipe burst in the ceiling of the unit next to mine — the tax prep place — and it flooded three shops. Mine included.
I open the door and there's two inches of water on the floor. My heart just dropped. Every cabinet was soaked at the base. The wiring, the power supplies, the particle board — all of it sitting in water. I'm standing there in my slippers thinking, this is it, this is how the arcade ends. Not with a whimper. With a plumber.
But then I walked over to the back corner, and there was Brick Breaker. When I set up the floor plan, I'd put that cabinet on a slightly raised platform — just a few inches of plywood, because the floor was uneven back there. That little platform saved it. Every other machine had water damage. Brick Breaker had a water line on the side panel and that was it. Bone dry inside.
I replaced the paddle knob on that machine three times over the years. People gripped it so hard during intense rallies that they'd strip the threads or crack the plastic. I started ordering spares in bulk. There's something about Brick Breaker that makes people hold on for dear life. I understand the impulse. I've been holding on for dear life since '82.
GALAXY ZONE ARCADE — DAMAGE REPORT Date: 01/14/1988 Cause: Burst pipe, adjacent unit CABINET STATUS REPAIR COST TIMELINE ------- ------ ----------- -------- Space Blaster WATER DAMAGE $380 3 weeks Road Hopper WATER DAMAGE $290 2 weeks Galaxy Raiders WATER DAMAGE $445 3 weeks Retro Tennis WATER DAMAGE $210 2 weeks Pac-Man WATER DAMAGE $520 4 weeks Centipede WATER DAMAGE $310 2 weeks Brick Breaker UNDAMAGED $0 — Donkey Kong WATER DAMAGE $475 3 weeks Asteroids WATER DAMAGE $350 3 weeks TOTAL REPAIR ESTIMATE: $2,980 INSURANCE CLAIM #: GZA-88-0114 STATUS: Filed, pending adjuster visit NOTE: Brick Breaker survived due to raised platform in rear corner. —S.M.
"Insurance covered the repairs, but they couldn't cover the three weeks of lost revenue. Three weeks without quarters feels like three years." — Sal "Pixel" Martinez
_____ | _ | | |_| | - Sal "Pixel" Martinez | _ / Galaxy Zone Arcade |_| \_\ Est. 1982