Ben Rosenthal
Written by Paul Monopoli
Amusementworx is a South Australian business that specialises in amusement machines. Whether you’re interested in arcade machines, pinballs or redemption machines, these guys know their stuff & can help start your arcade/pinball collection or service a troublesome machine.
Recently they made the move from Magill Rd to a new location at 285-287 Torrens Rd, West Croydon. To celebrate on the 27th & 28th of March weekend they held a “Come & Play” weekend. They left their machines on freeplay & let the public come in & have a go at some pinball or arcade classics. The staff were on hand to discuss any potential purchases or problems you may have with your machine, or just to have a chat about classic games in general. The 2 Simons who run the place are gamers from way back.
Unfortunately I couldn’t make it Saturday, but I decided to go Sunday. Time to get up & head out. The weather isn’t particularly encouraging…
… but since when has that ever stopped me from attending a gaming event? Danielle & I figured we’d drop by the Central Market for lunch first.
But you didn’t come here to read about that. Let’s fast forward to the good stuff…
Upon walking through the door we were greeted by 2 jukeboxes.
Amusementworx have recently employed a jukebox specialist so have started selling & servicing them. As you may be able to see from the image, this isn’t an MP3 or even a CD jukebox. We’re talking old school vinyl right here.
We walked through & were presented with a room full of games. Look to the left & there are games:
Look to the right & there are MORE games:
& is that a Doctor Who pinball machine?
Oh my GOD it is!! Simon actually had 2 of them on display, but you’ll need a cool $4000 before you can walk out the door with one. Still, at least I get to play it for a bit. Excuse me for a while…
… OK, I’ve got that out of my system. I just couldn’t hit that middle Dalek, no matter how much I tried… what else do we have here? Ahhh, a boxing game.
It detects your motion & looks really fun to play, though I didn’t actually get around to having a go myself… Danielle decided it was time to go before I could get around to it, & you can’t argue with women…
It was good to see the pinball machines on display but there were also some classic arcade games on show including the Simpsons & one of Danielle’s favourites: 1942.
2 Neo Geo MVS machines were on display along with a heap of other games
The middle of the room had a few tabletops with multiboards installed. Multiboards are arcade boards that have move than one game on them.
To avoid confusion, the Neo Geo MVS isn’t a multiboard machine, but rather a cartridge based system incase anyone was wondering. That’s all well & good, but what about if you like driving games? Well you would have absolutely loved it. There was a bit of Daytona…
… & yes all 3 of those machines were linked up. Maybe you prefer a bit of Sega Rally?
Well there you go. Or maybe you prefer a bit of Grand Prix Star 2?
& no, I hadn’t actually heard of that one before today…
Amusementworx also have a large range of parts & accessories available. They often have Neo Geo MVS cartridges in stock, & right now it looks like they have Street Fighter Zero 2 on CPS2… actually, why don’t I show you rather than sit here telling you?
& as you can see there’s another Neo Geo MVS system right next to it.
The business is taking a whole new direction at this location. Simon has at least 1 maybe 2 auctions coming up later in the year & is talking about hosting video game events. As for the auctions, I go to every one & I can assure you, you’ll have a good time even if you walk away with nothing. The machines to be auctioned are on display & on freeplay so you can try before you bid. We’ll let you know when it gets closer to the day & we’ll cover it when it happens. Keep an eye on their website at: www.amusementworx.com.au as Simon is promising some big things in the near future.