Alright, about 8 years ago I built an upright cabinet that vaguely resembled the Final Fight cabinets I played as a pre-teen, at the bowling alley. It's due for a refurb, but that is not what this thread is about.
Years before my Final Fight experience, my family went camping at a Jellystone Park resort. The main office had a bingo hall, and in that hall was a Pac-Man cocktail. Only 1 of the quarter slots worked, and I only had 2 or 3 quarters to feed it the whole week we were there, but I watched the attract-mode for hours, that was my 1st experience with any video games.
When I first learned of the MAME project, a play-EVERYTHING upright was my 1st thought, and I poured through BYOAC to learn all I could from the build logs. Other than Breakout, and Golden Tee, I hadn't really played any games that used a spinner or trackball, so I didn't include those. I wanted to be able to play Street Fighter, and planned a 2-player, 6-buttons-per control panel. I built that cabinet, and have been very happy with it, but as soon as it was finished, I knew I wanted a dedicated cocktail as well, one that would only play a selection of games meant for a cocktail, and more limited control set, but it was just something nice to think about.
My in-laws are console gamers, in their living room, they have 2 LCD TVs greater than 40", each TV has its own wii, and X-Box 360. My own 360 was a Christmas gift from them. We built a LuSiD-style cabinet and wrapped it in Batman comic images for my father-in-law last year for Christmas. This fall, they asked what I wanted for Christmas this year, and I told them I had everything I needed, but have always wanted to built a cocktail.
They are determined to help me make this happen. And we come to the start of the project.
The Goal:A midway-style cocktail cabinet, with a limited romset, very closely resembling the Pac-man from Jellystone.
At a cursory glance it will look like a Pac-Man machine, it will willingly take your quarters, but closer inspection will reveal 2 buttons per control panel, and hitting 1P & 2P at the same time will take you to a menu - bordered with what looks like the bezel of an upright Pac-Man, and you'll be able to scroll up and down through a pictorial list of 30-odd games to play. Screenshots in the centre of the bezel, and a marquee at the top are all you will see of the game you'd like to play, no other names.
The Plan:Modified control panel overlays that closely resemble the originals, with a few things moved around to accommodate 2, 30mm Sanwa pushbuttons each.
A red, ball-top Sanwa joystick, with a 4-way restrictor, and small Midway pushbuttons for 1P & 2P start.
A dark stained, glossy oak veneer cabinet, with working coin door, 19" LCD monitor for display, and Pac-Man reproduction overlay.
MaLa for a front end, themed like a Pac-Man upright's bezel, with screenshots (snaps) showing in the centre, and the marquee at the top, for selecting games.
The Method:My wife's brother works at a sign printing shop, he printed the sideart, and a custom marquee for my Daredevil (by Alex Maleev) themed upright, as well as the full vinyl wrap for the Batman cabinet for his Dad, and the side art & 2-player cpo for a Gorf cab he redressed as a Donkey Kong.
He's printing the Pac-Man overlay on vinyl, and should be able to print the control panels directly into lucite.
My in-laws have offered to pay for the bulk of the price of a pre-cut cocktail cab from ArcadeDepot, which I would stain myself.
I Currently Have:A non-midway coin door, it's the right shape, but the reject buttons are the coin slot,
Link. It has one, non-working mech, and 2 working coin microswitches. I also have part of a silver bally coin door, with no mechs or microswitches, but it doesn't have the outer ring.
I have a 19" Princeton LCD, it's cheap but has a 170 degree viewing angle, perfect for a cocktail.
I have a computer, or rather parts to make several, capable of running the games I want.
I have my game list, I started with 39in1, added DK2, cocktail tetris, space invaders2, and hat trick hockey, and removed the 8-way games.
Stay tuned for actual building in the future.