What's the worst part about playing a game? Getting whopped by a kid, staying up too late or ... putting your disk in the drive and have it skip or not work?

All these things are the ugly side of gaming. However, you can work on 2 of them. The damaged disk is a silent killer among gamers, fifty bucks up in smoke and an evening of unfulfilled fun. The Company Disc-Go-Tech offers a commercial grade solution called the Pod Plus which is designed for retail stores to repair and then resell damaged games.

GameDaily had the opportunity to test a production unit on both audio CDs, video DVDs and games. All the products had vary degrees of scratching and dirt ranging from the traditional "under the sofa" stuff to serious scratches made by our team with their keys.

How it works: The unit is measures about 10"x10"x 8" and is quite heavy at 10 lbs. The reason is it's mainly steel with solid feet to give it stability as the disk turntable spins at high speed. Two small rotating scrubber wheels polish the disk with a combination of 2 liquids that are mixed in a rear reservoir and pumped onto the disk during cleaning. The machine works in 5 min cycles with the option of cleaning for 5, 10 or 15 minutes depending on disk damage.

Our test: The test was performed without any help from their toll free number and was done by (gulp!) following the written instructions. The set up time was about 5 minutes and was very straight forward. Fasten the disk to a the rotating platter with a round nut, close the lid and start. The whirring sound is a bit loud and when it's done, the you unscrew the nut, wipe off the milky liquid residue with a soft cloth and your disk is good as new. The tests on the audio, dvd and game disks all worked as advertised and the skips were gone when the disk was played on the the cd player, dvd player and xbox. Thumbs up as this thing works as advertised.

The downside of the unit is that it's heavy and it's motor whirs a loudly when it's plugged in. The unit should be used to repair many disks at once as you must mix the polishing liquid in the reservoir. Storing it with polish liquid is a bit of an issue as you either must empty the open topped reservoir and waste polish or hope no one tips the unit over and spills it.

The Disc-Go-Pod Plus is made for retail stores and it's great if you're rehabbing used games and reselling them at a retail location. However if you own lots of CDs, DVDs and games and your library is, like this reviewer, worth many thousands of dollars, then the machine could make sense for consumers. The $495 for the unit is a no-brainer investment for these types of clients. The units are now only sold directly from www.discgotech.com or at 866-237-3724. The company is considering a scaled down consumer unit for about $100 that could be available next year.

Final Score: 4 (out of 5)