Game Technician Keeps Pac Man Gobbling

Kevin Craft - Miami Herald

Some classic games never go out of style. Robert Childs, the founder and owner of Arcade Game Sales, knows this and has built his business around refurbishing and re-selling classic arcade games such as Ms. Pac Man and Donkey Kong.

"The classic video games are just more fun. Today's games have too many graphics, and despite their elaborate premises, often involve little more than running around and shooting things," said Childs, a 42-year-old father of two. "The older games present more of a challenge. They take practice and dedication if you want to be a champion."

Arcade Game Sales (www.arcadegamesales.net) buys old video games, replaces defective parts and refurbishes the games' exteriors. It then sells them to homes and businesses in the tri-county area.

"I've sold games to Miami Dolphins and Florida Marlins as well as your average homeowner," Childs said.

Childs started repairing video games professionally in 1983 at age 18, drawing on experience he started acquiring at a very early age.

"My father retired from dentistry to open an arcade near our summer home in Maryland. When I was 7 years old, I started spending my summers removing jammed coins and cue balls from the pool tables."

Childs' father endowed him with a working knowledge of electronics, and Childs picked up the rest on his own. After graduating from St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Childs went to work for Castle Park amusement center in Fort Lauderdale. When the park closed in 1987, Childs started his own repair business.

"I decided to start selling games to professional establishments and homes about 10 years ago. Business has boomed in the last five years because the home sales have dramatically increased."

At his home in Fort Lauderdale, Childs owns a machine called Arcade Legends that allows the player to choose between 100 classic games. So when friend and former Donkey Kong world-record-holder Billy Mitchell, who was recently featured in the documentary The King of Kong, wagered $1,000 that Childs could not break the world record for Atari Tempest within a year, Childs took the bet.

"I have until next October to break it. It's something I've always wanted to do, and now I have added incentive."

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