Waking up a Space Invaders cocktail table

Insert coin, player one.

The cocktail table came in on a trolley last Saturday, still wearing a pint ring from sometime in the 1980s. It had been in a garage for twenty years. I was told it didn't work. What I found was a blown fuse, a lot of dust and a picture tube that, once warmed up, lit the shed like a fish tank.

Check the power first

Before you touch anything inside, open it up and look. Most 'dead' cabinets are a fuse, a loose connector or a power supply that needs its capacitors replaced, which arcade people call recapping. Never poke around behind a tube you haven't discharged. The Space Invaders page has the history of the game itself, and the Killer List of Videogames is the best place to find your cabinet's manual.

This week's high scores

• Space Invaders, cocktail table: 18,340, a new record for the Thursday league.
• Galaxian, upright: 31,900, set by someone who refused to give their name.
• Pac-Man, sit-down cabinet: a perfect board three, and a very smug grin.

See the full score table

That's the table for this week. Reply with your own best score, I read every one.

Ruth