Growing up in a fairly remote part of Upstate New York, I didn’t get the opportunity to visit many arcades. I was mostly limited to playing games on the Atari 2600. That’s not to say that I didn’t keep up with the popular games. On the contrary, on those occasions that I did make it to the arcades, I had a Pac Man pattern memorized and ready to test out.

One of my most vivid arcade memories is waiting in line to play Dragon’s Lair. There was one game at the arcade I frequented, and they had mounted a television on top of the game so that people waiting in line could watch. I can remember stepping up to the game, dropping in my two quarters … and promptly dying!

What a blast!

Several years later, during college, I would go over to a friend’s place and play Dragon’s Lair owned by the homeowner. He was a technophile who really loved owning such an interesting game. Even then, the not-quite-outdated, the game hadn’t lost its charm. I thought it was a little strange that this game was in a person’s living room. (I don’t really think it’s all that strange anymore.)

When I began collecting games, I knew that eventually I would add a Dragon’s Lair to my collection. But as it turns out, the first full size game that I purchased was a converted Space Ace 1991 that was originally a Dragon’s Lair II machine. I completely restored that game, and documented the restoration on the web site www.DragonsLairII.com. I was pretty lucky to find one of the approximately 1,000 Space Ace 1991 kits that were made. Being that Dragon's Lair II was one of the first restoration projects that I did, I went through great lengths to restore the game to almost perfect condition. This included purchasing hard to find "New Old Stock" (NOS) side art to replace the worn side art on the cabinet and going to great lengths to find original yellow "Sword" backlit buttons.

About a year and a half after restoring the Dragon’s Lair II game, I found an original Dragon’s Lair complete with side art. I bought this Dragon's Lair off of a private collector who lived in West Virginia (special thanks to my younger brother who made the trip to pick it up).

The final Don Bluth game that I own was originally a Dragon’s Lair. By this time we had already formed QuarterArcade.com and we were purchasing games by the dozen. We were extremely lucky and found a Dragon’s Lair tucked away in the back of a warehouse. I have nearly completed the conversion process by installing the Space Ace ROMs, laser disc, and marquee. I am still searching for a good condition control panel to make my collection complete. (And as of 9/20/2001, I have found and installed a NOS control panel overlay. It is almost complete, as now I have to install the Annunicator board.)

My Collection: Dragon’s Lair Space Ace (converted) Dragon’s Lair II Space Ace 1991 conversion kit

Technically, I don’t own the dedicated 1984 Space Ace. Maybe some day I’ll come across that machine and add it to my collection. But until then, I am pretty happy to own all three machines and conversion kit.

JB