General History:

Zaxxon is a 1982 isometric shooter arcade game developed and released by Sega. The game gives the player the experience of flying a fighter craft through a fortress while shooting at enemy entities (missiles, enemy gunfire, etc.) The object of the game is to hit as many targets as possible without being shot down or running out of fuel—which can be replenished, paradoxically, by blowing up fuel drums.

At the time of its release, Zaxxon was unique as it was the first game to employ axonometric projection, which lent its name to the game (AXXON from AXONometric projection). The type of axonometric projection is isometric projection: this effect simulated three dimensions from a third-person viewpoint. It was also one of the first video games to display shadows, to indicate the ship's altitude above the surface; the game also employed an altitude meter, allowing the player to control how high or low the ship is above the surface. It was also the first arcade game to be advertised on television, with a commercial produced by Paramount Pictures for $150,000.

The world record on Zaxxon is 4,680,740 points scored by Vernon Kalanikaus of Lā'ie, Hawai'i, on March 15, 1982, according to the Twin Galaxies Intergalactic Scoreboard.

Zaxxon Information:

Owner: Pete Camuso
Maker: Sega
Year: 1982
Serial:  

I obtained this machine one day from a garage sale for the price of $135. The owner turned it on and let me play it so I knew it was in working condition so I purchased it. The game had a few scratches on the side art; the control panel was split at the bottom there was tape running up the sides to hold the doors closed. But I took it home any way. Once I got home the machine would not turn on I knew the machine worked I had just played it before I purchased it. About 30 minutes passed and frustration kicked in. By this point I had used my multi meter around the board and realized there was no power coming in. My first thought was maybe during the move the transformer had been damaged. But then at that moment I accidentally kicked the power cord and the machine turned on. There was the problem; on the cord was some electrical tape, of course how could I have been so blind, the cord must have been patched at some point. I removed the electrical tape to see a bad connection. I cut the cord just before the bad splice and striped the wire back, adding a brand new plug to the end did the trick.

My next step of the restoration involved replacing that cracked control panel overlay. I had never restored an arcade machine before so I hoped on the internet and after a few how to videos I was on the right track. I knew I wanted an authentic silk screen overlay and not some cheap sticker. So I ordered one for $40 online and as I waited for the overlay to come in I removed the old one and made sure to get every last piece by sanding just as the videos instructed.
Once the new overlay had arrived I made a mistake, I didn’t realize what a silk screen overlay was. My mistake was thinking that it was some fancy heavy duty sticker…WRONG!!! I pealed the back off it like you would any sticker and proceeded to line up the holes. Well in doing so just a very small piece of the overlay touched the metal, I pulled it away and then saw the sticky part of the overlay had just ripped off in that spot it had barely touched. I began cursing up a storm as I realized I just ruined a $40 purchase, I was furious!!! I had to order a second overlay and before it arrived I watched many more how to videos on that particular subject. I had also ordered a coin mech because it had only come with one. You see four in the picture because it was cheaper to order four than just one.

Moving on There was a corner missing in the side of the machine so I had to patch that up which after the overlay fiasco was an easy job every video I saw said simply bondo sand and paint, I also had to do some routing for the T-Molding (the black plastic strip that goes around the machine) which I also replaced. 

Lastly I did some painting on the inside walls of the machine because they needed some love.