arcade

let's begin

I'm gonna have a go at making a MAME Arcade Cabinet. This is basically a pc running MAME to play retro games but set up as an old-style arcade cabinet. Rather than throwing away my old pc and CRT display i thought it would be more fun to have a go at making a cabinet. Plus retro games are just not as much fun playing with a keyboard on high resolution screens.

I will post my resources and experiences here.

IGN has a good guide to making your own MAME arcade machine which i will use as a source.

It looks like Arcade Gaming Australia is a nice source for some of the components. Think i will wire up a custom controller rather than buy a pre-made controller like the Dual X-Arcade controller.

When the cabinet is completed in 3 to 5 years, assuming that i dont electrocute myself, i will have you all round for some games. I will pull out the old West End draught, bowls of peanuts and fill the house with smoke to give the place that mid-1980s pub feel just to improve the retro experience.

sketchup

I've started designing the cabinet. Was looking for some 3d software to use in order to ensure that everything will fit together alright. I discovered Google's SketchUp which is a simple yet powerful little program for quickly developing 3d models. Highly recommended for this sort of thing. A pic of my initial efforts is below. I will post the complete designs once i get there.

design mk 1

Aight! I have now put together a draft plan of my arcade cabinet. (Google SketchUp is fantastic btw).

It's bound to change once i have the dimensions of my final monitor etc.

I'm also toying with some further changes. In particular, inserting a drawer at the front to store the keyboard, and possibly inserting a coin slot at the front for that true retro feel.

zombie arcade

I will only be able to finalise the design once i confirm what size monitor and particle board/MDF (i.e. thickness) i will use.

The great thing with SketchUp is that i can put all the boards together and work out where im going to have issues in terms of cutting particular pieces etc.

I saw this fantastic custom arcade this morning: Zombie Arcade.

The finishing it top quality; i love those glowing buttons. I actually think i prefer this design with the enclosed control panel to the one i developed above, so i might rework my original design.