And so it begins

I had been thinking about building a MAME box for a while, and recent events in my personal life inspired me to take the plunge. Read that as "something to keep a single guy busy for a couple of months instead of being a mouse potato".

I really decided at one point that that I wanted to start with an existing cabinet, and modify it as needed. I'm capable of doing the woodwork, but if the price is under $100 it's worth much more than the time and money it would take to build one up from scratch.

I also didn't want to take a working system and gut it for a MAME system ... I just couldn't bring myself to do that.

When I started poking around classifieds and craigslist, there were some possibilities. But anything that was actually functional was going to cost $250 and up to a couple thousand. Even some "classic" but unworking systems were offered in the $200 range. Good. The price alone was going to save me from violating my principles.

About a week ago, I came across this ad and it inspired me to take the plunge. .. A completely empty cabinet offered by a local arcade for $50. Perfect.



Arcade Videogame Cabinet - $50
Reply to: --
Date: 2007-02-22, 8:48PM PST


Ground Kontrol, Portland's classic arcade, has an upright video game cabinet for sale. This cabinet would make an excellent starter for the hobbyist who is interested in building their own home arcade game.

Features:


* Control panel with working 8-way joystick and two pairs of buttons

* Frame for mounting a standard 19" arcade monitor (not included) in vertical orientation

* Smoked plexiglas monitor bezel

* Wired for power, sound, and marquee light

* Coin door with start button installed for coining games that lack a free-play option

* coin box

* back door

Note: In a past life, this cabinet was Scramble, one of the first side-scrolling shooting games. See Scramble's KLOV entry to learn more.

Etc., etc. ...