Oops, I meant to reply to this and forgot. I tried my scanner's descreening filter when I scanned the backgrounds, but it definitely made them look fuzzier, and I couldn't decide which looked better. It's likely that someone has a better descreening filter that could be applied to the backgrounds.
I used to do this with CD covers and such a lot... If I can remember my steps, I'll try them on the background and see how it works...
What resolution do you scan them at? One of the best ways to de-screen is to scan at a really high resolution (1200 or 2400 dpi), then apply some de-screen techniques, and re-size the image to 600 or 300 dpi equivalent if you don't need the giant images. The only way to really remove them is to lightly blur the image to force them to blend (ultimately, that's what descreeners are doing, but with algorithms tuned to the print patterns and such), which causes the softness you were noticing. But if you do that at something at least twice the resolution you want in the end, when you re-size it, the softness goes away for the most part...
Sometimes just scanning at a really high resolution, and then re-sizing the image is enough to hide it adequately. Just depends on the printing techniques used on the original image.
Originally Posted by seanriddle
The later Tiger Copy Cat that I have only has this on the PCB: WS 8107-1. The cases are extremely similar. The later game has cutouts for switches that are no longer used that are covered by a sticker.
I think I have an original-release Copy Cat (and several generations of it)... If I can find them, I can take a look and see how they compare.