London DK Players/Machines

[Christopher_Robin]

Hi everyone,

I’m new to the forum so I just thought I’d introduce myself first.  I’ve been playing Donkey Kong since October 2015 on a MAME bartop cabinet.

I first broke 100K in November.  My high score by mid-December was 160K and I got my first 200K game just after New Years day.  A couple of weeks later I got 260K and that was my high score for over 6 weeks, until last night.
 
Last night I got 277,800 and I lost my last man on the level 8 rivets stage because two fireballs wouldn’t get out of the way of the top right rivet, causing me to run out of time!

At this stage, I’m obviously aiming to get 300K.  The main thing I need to improve on is spring retreating on the elevator stage, but I find this very, very difficult to do (I end up getting killed even when it was safe to go, because I hesitate too long).  I also don’t have the technical know-how (or the patience) to make a practice save state for it.

LONDON PLAYERS - Are there any or many DK players in the UK on here?  I find that if I am lucky enough to find a 60 in 1 in a bar somewhere, there’s rarely a decent score on there. 
The main exception I’ve found being “The heart of gaming” in Acton, which shows a high score of 317K (last time I went).

It would be great to find some skilled players that I can meet and swap tips with.

LONDON DONKEY KONG CABINET –

I have yet to find an original Donkey Kong working arcade in London.  I don’t mean to buy, I mean in a public place. 
Does anybody know anywhere I might find one?




Lastly, even though this is one of my first posts here, I’d like to say thank you for the contributors to this forum.  I have been reading the threads for most of the time I have been playing (particularly the guide), and I know, there is no way I would be knocking on the door of 300K yet, without greedily reading the information available on the DKF!

[Kewydee_17]

There is a place where I'm pretty sure there will be a genuine, well looked after DK cab in London

Bar called 4 Quarters in Peckham https://www.facebook.com/fourquartersbar

There have been several Arcade meet ups there from forums such as ukvac.com and Jammaplus.com and they always have good things to say about the place.

Check it out

I think they rotate the arcade line up fairly often so it might be an idea to call and make sure that the DK cab is there.

[Christopher_Robin]

Hi,

Yes, I have been to the Four Quarters a few times.

From the golden age, they have an original Pac-Man, Asteroids and Crystal Castles in there, but I've never seen a Donkey Kong.

There used to be a downstairs with 3 cocktail tables!  Now the downstairs is closed, with just one table upstairs, that people sit around but don't even play on most of the time! 

There is sadly, now nearly as much room taken up by consoles hooked up to a TV, as there are arcade machines in there.

Thanks for telling me about the meet ups though! 

[Jonesy]

I'm in the UK, near Salisbury.

I don't know of any DK's in the wild in the UK although that doesn't men they don't exist. Your closest DK will be in Twickenham, belongs to Alex. He goes by Nintendo Arcade on Youtube, Chuckie Egg on UKVAC, look him up he's a top guy and good mate of mine.

Welcome to the DKF, always good to see guys from the UK giving DK some welly!

Cheers, Jonesy

[Jerry Brennan]

Hey guys, Just joined the forum and based in London, UK.

Desperately trying to get hold of an original machine to really work on getting to a kill screen! Anyone heard of any sources in UK or Europe?

There are plenty in US but the shipping and customs charges blow the budget out of the water!

I'm currently working on my ladder retreat technique to get a more consistent run but I find unco-operative fireballs/foxes (impatience!) to be my biggest challenge.

Got to 275k recently with all lives but basically fell apart. Might be tension?!

Would like to exchange ideas and tips with players this side of the pond too!

[Adam_Mon]

I've never seen one for sale on the isles other than one UK site that was charging well over £2k years ago.
like you mentioned, the cost for importing them from U.S is nuts.

Edit: and welcome to the forum

[ijmorgan]

Best place to look is UKVac arcade forums there is a guy called Ken (fatsg) that sources machines from around the States he then loads them up onto a container and James (RGP) then brings them over every 2-3 months depending how quickly they fill up. James also bring a container over from coin op warehouse as well, again the frequency depends on how quickly it fills up.
You can contact James at Retro Games Party in Blackburn. If you are ever up north Manchester way you can have a go on mine.

[YesAffinity]

^Oooo-wee, that's a beaut!  Is that an original red!

[ijmorgan]

Yes took an age to get it and an arm and leg. It's been in storage for quite a while only got it out last week. been lurking for around 5 years or so.
Not really had anytime to play it yet though. Its become alot easier to get Dks over the pond now that James brings containers over but still pretty  expensive compared to what you guys pay.

Ian

[TheSunshineFund]

Great looking machine Ian!

[YesAffinity]

What's the serial number?  4 board stack?

[Jonesy]

Great looking cab Ian!

There are quite a few DK/Jr cabs in the UK nowadays.

We just need to up our game as these boys are on a different planet!

[ijmorgan]

What's the serial number?  4 board stack?

Hi it's a 4 board stack, unfortunately the door serial is from a later machine still red stamped but in the higher region. I have seen your user name on the massive Dk red thread over on KLOV, i sent Mike Murphy lots of pics and it seems to have various parts from Nintendo cabs as the parts are all in excellent condition.The cab is genuine as is some of the artwork but the owner couldn't really answer many questions so i just took a punt on it.
If you want to see all the pics inside etc fire over your email so i don't clog up the thread.

Cheers
Ian

[Jerry Brennan]

Cheers for the info fellas, I actually got in contact with Ken and James randomly through the facebook page and hopefully should have some news soon. If anyone has any spares for DK or Junior they're selling namely artwork, joystick, buttons let me know as i'm not sure what condition the controls on the ones i'm looking at will be.