# Q*Bert - Arcade Game Pickup!

**Source:** RetroRalph  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2022-06-02  
**Duration:** 9m 18s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg2sM_iKpgw

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## Analysis

RetroRalph (Jon) documents the acquisition and restoration of an original Q*Bert arcade cabinet picked up from a warehouse through a local contact. The machine is fully functional and original but requires cosmetic work including cabinet repair, t-mold replacement, and screen positioning adjustment. Jon highlights the machine's knocker mechanism and discusses planned upgrades including a replacement filter board and power supply options.

### Key Claims

- [MEDIUM] Q*Bert machines are becoming rare to find in fully working, original condition — _Jon states 'it's rare because it is rare to find them fully working' and notes many have been converted with Game Elf boards or are non-functional_
- [HIGH] Q*Bert filter boards commonly develop cold solder joint failures that can be fixed by reflow soldering — _Jon experienced this issue during transport, repaired it by reflowing solder, and notes 'this is one of the most common issues with Q-Bert believe it or not'_
- [HIGH] The Q*Bert machine includes an internal knocker mechanism that activates when Q*Bert falls off the platform — _Jon demonstrates the knocker activating during gameplay and confirms it matches the original machine feature_
- [HIGH] Arcade Shop sells a replacement filter board for Q*Bert that is simpler and plug-and-play — _Jon states 'arcade shop sells a full-on replacement for this filter board' and describes it as 'way less complex' and 'plug-and-play'_
- [HIGH] The Q*Bert machine startup includes a voice sample saying 'hello, I'm turned on' — _Jon demonstrates this during power-on and notes this Easter egg was featured in his earlier 'Chasing Nostalgia' episode two_

### Notable Quotes

> "It does pay to have friends in the arcade space. So what I would say to you is if you live in a local area, you're gonna start to make friends with other people that appreciate and enjoy arcade games."
> — **Jon (RetroRalph)**, 0:25
> _Highlights importance of networking in arcade collector community for finding rare machines_

> "The only issue I had is when I picked it up at home it was shaking around a lot in the Jeep... the filter board had some cold solder joints, so they actually cracked and I had to go and reflow solder on the back"
> — **Jon (RetroRalph)**, 4:20
> _Documents common Q*Bert failure mode and repair approach_

> "This is one of the most common issues with Q-Bert believe it or not... this filter board is way less complex and it's just plug-and-play"
> — **Jon (RetroRalph)**, 5:15
> _Establishes filter board failures as systemic Q*Bert issue with third-party solution available_

> "It's rare to find them fully working. A lot of times they're down or someone converted them and put a game elf in them or something that would make it not original. But the cool thing about this one is this one is all original."
> — **Jon (RetroRalph)**, 9:45
> _Emphasizes rarity of working original Q*Bert machines and prevalence of conversions_

> "That knocker is just so cool. A lot of times in the arcade, that knocker is broken. It's either broken or shut off."
> — **Jon (RetroRalph)**, 11:30
> _Notes knocker mechanism commonly fails or is disabled in field machines_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Jon (RetroRalph) | person | YouTube content creator specializing in arcade cabinet acquisition, restoration, and gameplay documentation; runs RetroRalph channel |
| Q*Bert | game | Classic arcade game from early 1980s; subject of this pickup video; features distinctive pyramid gameplay and knocker mechanism |
| Matt Scott | person | Local arcade contact who tipped off Jon about the Q*Bert machine available at warehouse before public listing |
| Arcade Shop | company | Supplier of arcade replacement parts; sells simplified plug-and-play filter board replacement for Q*Bert machines |
| Chasing Nostalgia | product | YouTube series produced by RetroRalph; episode five was in post-production at time of recording; episode two featured Q*Bert startup sequence Easter egg |
| Game Elf | product | Arcade multi-game conversion board; mentioned as common replacement in non-original Q*Bert cabinet modifications |
| J-Ramp/Mame Mod FPGA | product | Upgrade option for arcade cabinets that Jon mentioned as potential future modification; provides multiple Q*Bert variants |
| War Final Assault | game | Arcade cabinet for which Jon acquired a topper; briefly mentioned as separate future video topic |
| Theater of Magic | game | Pinball machine appearing in background of RetroRalph's studio space |
| New Wave Toys Q-Bert | product | Modern replica/toy version of Q*Bert; mentioned as audio heard in background of video |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Arcade cabinet acquisition and networking, Q*Bert restoration and repair, Filter board failure diagnosis and replacement
- **Secondary:** Cosmetic cabinet restoration (paint, t-mold, side art), Arcade knocker mechanism functionality, Arcade machine rarity and originality

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.85) — Jon expresses consistent enthusiasm about the Q*Bert acquisition and restoration project despite acknowledging cosmetic defects. Excitement is authentic and genuine throughout the video. Minor frustration with gameplay attempts and cabinet condition does not dampen overall positive tone.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Local arcade networking and referral community active in helping collectors locate rare machines before public listing (confidence: high) — Jon received advance notice of Q*Bert from local contact Matt Scott before warehouse listing was posted publicly
- **[market_signal]** Original, fully working Q*Bert machines are increasingly rare in the secondary market; many extant machines are either non-functional or converted with multi-game boards (confidence: high) — Jon states 'it's rare to find them fully working' and notes prevalence of Game Elf conversions that destroy originality
- **[product_strategy]** Jon plans to upgrade Q*Bert with replacement filter board from Arcade Shop as systematic solution to common cold solder joint failures (confidence: high) — Jon explicitly states he will replace the filter board with the Arcade Shop version despite temporary repair being functional
- **[technology_signal]** Third-party simplification of arcade hardware (filter board replacement) improving reliability and serviceability of older arcade machines (confidence: medium) — Arcade Shop offers simplified filter board that eliminates chronic solder joint failure mode endemic to Q*Bert units

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## Transcript

Hey guys, welcome back to the channel. We're gonna go out to the garage because I got a really cool pickup the other day. It does pay to have friends in the arcade space. So what I would say to you is if you live in a local area, you're gonna start to make friends with other people that appreciate and enjoy arcade games. And sometimes they'll tip you off on certain things. So I was able to go down to a warehouse that actually had a Q-Bert. Now it was a buddy of mine that tipped me off and said, hey, this thing isn't actually posted yet. So if you wanna come down and check it out and get first dibs, you can. and I was able to pick it up. So here it is. GarageKade's looking a little messy right now, but here is the Qbert machine. It needs a little work. It's not perfect, but you can see the control panel's in good condition. Coin mechanism is in good condition, but you know, the cabinet needs a little bit of work. It has some water damage and things like that. The monitor looks great. Control panel's pretty good, and it has the original joystick that's positioned sort of crooked, right? You can play it. You know, you can't really play it right with a traditional joystick. The side art looks pretty good. What you're hearing probably in the background is the New Wave Toys Q-Bert. I just wanted to have it out so you guys could see it. So let's go around back and I'll show you what's going on back there. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. The price was right and it's a game I've wanted for a while. It's just that these don't come up very often. Q-Bert, it's probably getting into that rare category at this point. But here's the back. The monitor looks really good. PCB did have a problem when I got it. So this right here is a filter board. So all of the connections go into this filter board. And what happened was the monitor let me shut this off i did want to show you this for a reason so check this out so let's just because there's a feature of cubert that i was shocked is in this and it's actually in the real machine as well so if you're not familiar with cubert if cubert falls off the platform there's a knocker inside that makes a noise i don't know if you heard that it's not that loud here i'll do it again all right not sure if you heard it but there's an actual knocker in real one which is right there. So that's the knocker so when Qbert falls down bangs the side of the cabinet or if one of the enemies falls out you hear a and that knock is actually that knocker right there and what I was going to do is I going to do some gameplay and I going to have a camera in here so you can see the knocker go off when it does the thing was in decent shape The only issue I had is when I got at home It was shaking around a lot in the Jeep I unloaded it from the Jeep and then I noticed the video wasn't sinking right and it was because the filter board had some cold solder joints, so they actually cracked and I had to go and reflow solder on the back and actually one of the connections was off So I actually soldered it directly to the back of the PCB, but what I'm gonna do is what's really cool is arcade shop Sells a full-on replacement for this filter board. This is one of the most common issues with a cuber believe it or not So this filter board is way less complex and it's just plug-and-play you basically Disconnect all those connectors and put it in here. So that's gonna be a future project for me I'm just gonna I'm just gonna get rid of that all together Why have that issue if I don't need to so anyways, that's really cool and I got that from arcade shop There's a couple other things in here I'm probably going to do to it eventually. There's a switching power supply that I can put on it to replace this guy. I don't know what I'm gonna do. I might rebuild it instead so I did buy the rebuild kit too. So there's a rebuild kit in here somewhere to rebuild the power supply and then I'm a bonehead and I thought maybe the knocker wouldn't be working so I bought an extra knocker so I do have an extra knocker just in case that goes out of me. But anyways that's kind of what's going on here. That's the back of it. You can see the side art looks pretty good. I'm pretty happy with this pickup but you can see there's some damage on the top of the cabinet this I'm gonna have to sand this down and repaint it so it's not in absolutely perfect condition you know there's some work that needs to be done I need to replace that leather strip t-mold and I'm probably gonna have to there's some swelling on the cabinet I'm probably gonna have to sand the whole side down which is unfortunate because I'd like to keep the side art I was gonna see if I could sand and paint do like a blend paint but I don't know if I could color match that well enough that you wouldn't notice but maybe anyways i did talk to my buddy my buddy and my top troll pitbull and he did say he gave me the paint code and everything so i have all that but anyways let's go around front we'll do some gameplay and actually while i'm here i want to show you something cool check this out there's gonna be i was gonna do a separate video on this but look what i picked up i found a topper for war final assault how freaking epic all right whatever we're not we're not talking about war final assault we'll talk about cubert i'm gonna turn on that camera inside the game so you can see the knocker go off and we just show you a little bit of gameplay but i do want to show you something i don know if you aware of this but watch this when you turn on cubert it says hello i turned on but a lot of people don know that because how many people go to an arcade and turn the machine off and then back on but listen i love that all right let me get the camera set up here and then we'll do some gameplay okay so Let's coin this thing up real quick. So hopefully what you'll end up seeing is we'll do some gameplay and you should hear the knocker. I'll just show you really quick how that works. So watch, I'm going to jump off the platform. Pretty loud. So you can see the screen looks great on this. The only thing I'll say about it that I need to fix the screen, it's kind of off a little bit. So just the size of it is off. But other than that, not size, but the position is off a little bit. oh no, aww, alright, let's do this, come on, let's at least clear one board here, alright, we did it, nice, but yeah, I'm excited, it plays well, it looks good, you know, just do a little bit of cosmetic work, but, you know, it's an old arcade machine, Q-Bert was definitely a really good seller back in the day. I say it's rare because it is rare to find them fully working. Oh, did you hear that? It's rare to find them fully working. A lot of times they're down or someone converted them and put a game elf in them or something that would make it not original. But the cool thing about this one is this one is all original. Oh, no. All right. Let's fare a little bit better this time. Now, something I might do in the future with this is there is a J-Rock FPGA A option and it gives you Q-Bert, Q-Bert cubes, and a couple other ones. Like there's a mellow yellow Q-Bert, whatever that is. There's like a harder, faster Q-Bert. Oh, he fell off. Did you hear that? That knocker is just so cool. A lot of times in the arcade, that knocker is broken. It's either broken or shut off. Now, I'm probably going to end up moving this one into my house, so I may decide to shut the knocker off because it is actually a lot louder than you think. Oh man, so close come on man yeah baby all right anyways I super excited to have this in my collection let go back inside for some final thoughts and we wrap this thing up Well I gotta say it 2022 has been a totally epic year for arcade game pickups and there's still more time left in the year. So who knows what's gonna happen? Very happy to have a Q-Bert in the collection. Thanks for tipping me off, Scott, on this one. It was really cool to go down there and the warehouse was pretty epic actually. And there's like a bunch of other games I want in there. So we'll see. Maybe we'll work out some other deals down the road. But Q-Bert's one I've always wanted in the collection, and I never would have thought I would have came across a original that actually is working as good as it is. Now, the only thing I'll say on it is, aesthetically, it's not great, but I'll work on getting that fixed up over time. I'm just glad it's a working Q-Bert. Anyway, there's one thing that I don't know if you guys noticed. Let's go back in time a little bit. In Chasing Nostalgia episode two, that little Easter egg when Q-Bert turns on and it says, hello, I'm turned on, That was in Chasing Nostalgia episode two. Why is it so dark in here? Welcome to the Theater of Magic. Hello. Hi. Very nice. I don't know if anybody noticed that. No one really said anything about it in the comments. So I just thought that'd be fun to bring up. And speaking of Chasing Nostalgia, the reason why this video is so quick and I'm kind of throwing it together really fast. I'm sorry about that, by the way, is that Chasing Nostalgia episode five is a wrap. We're editing it this week. We're putting some final touches on it. And I'm hoping by the second week of June, 2022, you'll be watching Chasing Nostalgia episode five. So if you are watching this right now, then I'm gonna put a little clip thingy up here to that video. If it's not the second week of June yet, then I won't put the clip thing in and it'll be in later or whatever. Anyway, thanks so much for watching, guys. If you enjoyed the video, give me a thumbs up. Consider subscribing to the channel. Put your comments below. I want to hear from you. And that's it for now. We will see you on the next one.

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: f3aadb91-0a53-4d94-b434-da7f5562df6a*