Oak Creek man builds ultimate old-school gaming paradise (WI)

[tommyinajar]

Right down the block from me, who knew. Maybe I'll send over a gift basket with a 12 pack in it.

http://realmilwaukeenow.com/2012/05/24/oak-creek-man-builds-ultimate-old-school-gaming-paradise/

[Los Abrazos Rotos]

Wow!  Thats incredible 

[tommyinajar]

I like the fact he met his wife AFTER he had the games allready in place. A+ for getting his priories straight. Not much to say if you knew what you were getting into.

[ChadTower]

Sadly, what that means more often than not is that in 5 years he's going to have to close the place down and sell everything to pay out her half of the property.

[kahlid74]

I could swear I've seen him before at Summerfest rock acts.  How interesting.

[Afterburner]

I recently realized my wife recognized and supported my two MAME cabs as a hobby long before I realized that's what they were.  Somehow in my own mind it was never more than a way to play a few games I enjoyed as a kid.  I had been collecting parts for years and finally decided to build my own cab.  That was really the point at which I think it attained hobby status.

A few weeks ago I mentioned I wanted to make my cab narrower, but that would involve building a new CP....something I didn't want to get into.  She actually suggested I sell the whole cab for a profit and build a spiffy new one from scratch!  But I've put so much work into it I don't think I could sell it.

[drventure]

Someone go tell him about MAME and explain how it could replace all that crap with one cabinet.

That's the main thing that attracted me to mame: the possibility of playing a number of my old favorites without having to buy a hangar to store them all in.

That, and just the whole concept of "building" an arcade machine from scratch.

[Le Chuck]

Stryper Tee.  

Other than that seems like an awesome place to hang out.



Oh... and L337 bitches.

[tommyinajar]

Someone go tell him about MAME and explain how it could replace all that crap with one cabinet.

If he acts disinterested tell him your next stop is explaining it to his wife unless he gives you $500.

$$$!!!!

That may be true, but to me it's always more enjoyable playing on a dedicated cab with the control overlay, sideart, monitor and OE hardware. Kind of like 60's muscle cars, new ones outperform and handle better than the old ones but I'd rather have a garage full of 68-71 sport cars than a 2012 'vette. Mame is awesome but a room(house??) full of dedicated cabs and pins is just plain cool

[Smeghead]

I bet he never gets laid

but you know what, I think I'd make that trade too!

[harveybirdman]

Stryper Tee.  

Other than that seems like an awesome place to hang out.



Oh... and L337 bitches.

Dammit someone beat me to the inevitable Stryper joke.....

[mytymaus007]

LOL I only think about doing that but only think, I feel bad for that dude all that time and money collecting all those old Cab's. I would like to know if he knows about MAME, if he doesnt and finds out that would suck. Hopefully he finds out before he gets divorced so he can sell them off and build a MAME CAB for his new Apt after his wife gets the house!

[Le Chuck]

LOL I only think about doing that but only think, I feel bad for that dude all that time and money collecting all those old Cab's. I would like to know if he knows about MAME, if he doesnt and finds out that would suck. Hopefully he finds out before he gets divorced so he can sell them off and build a MAME CAB for his new Apt after his wife gets the house!

You people are kidding right?  I love MAME.  Love.  It.  But that's because I don't have the room for 100+ dedicated machines.  If I did then I'd be rocking that.  I'd have a MAME machine too, for the other few thousand, but playing on the dedicated machine with (hopefully) the original controls, in a dedicated cab with a great scratchy sound system takes me the ---fudgesicle--- back.  That's what MAME does, it helps take you back.  That is what this hobby is about.  That dude is so far back he's rocking a Stryper Tee for chrissakes.  The Franklin Mint is making a plate about this dood as we speak.  Order it COD while you smoke in a hospital.  Bammo!

[DaveMMR]

Someone go tell him about MAME and explain how it could replace all that crap with one cabinet.

If he acts disinterested tell him your next stop is explaining it to his wife unless he gives you $500.

$$$!!!!

Whenever possible, I'd take the vinyl over the MP3, the cartridge over the ROM, and an arcade full of original cabinets over MAME anyday.

And no software is replacing those pinball machines anytime soon...

[Unstupid]

Someone go tell him about MAME and explain how it could replace all that crap with one cabinet.

You better let him know that we'll have to mock his frankenpanel though! 

[Los Abrazos Rotos]

Someone go tell him about MAME and explain how it could replace all that crap with one cabinet.

If he acts disinterested tell him your next stop is explaining it to his wife unless he gives you $500.

$$$!!!!

Whenever possible, I'd take the vinyl over the MP3, the cartridge over the ROM, and an arcade full of original cabinets over MAME anyday.

And no software is replacing those pinball machines anytime soon...

Absolutely..  I'm quite tempted to go down this road myself.

While its fun to build cabs & play mame, nothing can compare with being in an actual arcade with the real games..

I bet this guy isnt completely happy with what hes got - you cant emulate your youth however hard you try..  What it felt like to be in those arcades in the 80s cannot be recaptured.

[mytymaus007]

LOL I only think about doing that but only think, I feel bad for that dude all that time and money collecting all those old Cab's. I would like to know if he knows about MAME, if he doesnt and finds out that would suck. Hopefully he finds out before he gets divorced so he can sell them off and build a MAME CAB for his new Apt after his wife gets the house!

You people are kidding right?  I love MAME.  Love.  It.  But that's because I don't have the room for 100+ dedicated machines.  If I did then I'd be rocking that.  I'd have a MAME machine too, for the other few thousand, but playing on the dedicated machine with (hopefully) the original controls, in a dedicated cab with a great scratchy sound system takes me the ---fudgesicle--- back.  That's what MAME does, it helps take you back.  That is what this hobby is about.  That dude is so far back he's rocking a Stryper Tee for chrissakes.  The Franklin Mint is making a plate about this dood as we speak.  Order it COD while you smoke in a hospital.  Bammo!

LOL Exactly if you had the room. I to would love to have my own Arcade! Arcade is the keyword. Usually all the Arcades I have been to were in a store front or in a mall LOL not in a shack where this guys lives. Of course I love dedicated original cabs.

[capsule]

Amazing collection. And i insist about the word COLLECTION. MAME is great but MAME is not a collection. It's like comparing a collection of vinyls with a hard drive full of mp3. These are real objects, not a software emulation.

+1 for the pinball comment, there's absolutely no way to emulate the real feeling a pinball machine, and from what I've seen in this video, he has plenty of them!

[gamer2112]

...but if he traded all that for a MAME cab, he would have more room for his Harley collection!!

[TOK]

MAME is cool, it got me into the hobby and I still play those cabs all the time but there is nothing like walking into a room full of games running at the same time.

You need to have the dedicated versions of at least your top 3 favorite games. 

[bkenobi]

He could sell off 90% of those cabs (the ones with typical controls) and get a MAME to replace them.  Then, he'd have lots of money and space to add more pins.  If I had the space/money, I'd have about half a dozen dedicated games, 2-3 MAME cabs, and around 1000 pins.   

[ChadTower]

128 just sounds 'warmer'.

It's the warm white of mp3s.

The part I found interesting is that his version of maintenance was "windex and dusting to keep them in top shape".  He has a guy who comes in once a week to address any actual issues.  He got his games by writing big checks and having them delivered.  Clearly, some local folks have made a lot of money off of this guy.  I wonder how far into retail prices this guy is paying for everything.

[Dervacumen]

I wonder how some of those high scores compare to the competition that goes on here.  I saw a few that even I could beat.

[Seith]

All I know is i'd be all over those pins.

[JohnEDollar]

I'd hate to see his monthly Electric Bill! 

[Dawgz Rule]

I'd hate to see his monthly Electric Bill!

My first thoughts exactly.  My second thought was, "What does this guy do for a living?"  Love the pin collection.

[boardjunkie]

Whenever possible, I'd take the vinyl over the MP3, the cartridge over the ROM, and an arcade full of original cabinets over MAME anyday.

Personally I prefer 128KB MP3s and won't even consider downloading VBR or *gasp* 320KB MP3s. 

128 just sounds 'warmer'.

I sure hope yer kidding....

Even 320s can sound bad. MP3 is the 8 track of this generation....all convenience and no quality.

[boardjunkie]

This guy really has the hot setup. Seems like a cool guy to hang out with over some beers. Bonus points for be'n a Pacman freak.

MAME is a nice "workaround" for not having access to the real thing, but the real thing is *always* better. For those of us who played all that stuff when it was fresh on the scene, its a pretty big deal to own it all. Thats part of the reason I got into the amusement industry (back when it still existed), to get the downlow on how to start obtaining the games I wanted to own. Since there was no collector scene back then, just about anything you wanted could be had for chump change or free. It was "junk" to the ops. But I really enjoyed my time as a game repair tech. It was fun while it lasted....

[BadMouth]

Whenever possible, I'd take the vinyl over the MP3, the cartridge over the ROM, and an arcade full of original cabinets over MAME anyday.

Personally I prefer 128KB MP3s and won't even consider downloading VBR or *gasp* 320KB MP3s. 

128 just sounds 'warmer'.

I sure hope yer kidding....

Even 320s can sound bad. MP3 is the 8 track of this generation....all convenience and no quality.

Everything sounds bad now, no matter what the format.  There's no dynamic range anymore.  It's all mixed to sound loud on an ipod.

[boardjunkie]

Ya got that right. Even the 30 year old CD standard wasn't all that great. 44.1khz sampling just kinda guesses above 15k or so. You only end up with a sample or 2...not much to go on.

DVD audio coulda been the "fix" for it, but MP3 had already begun its tenure and 90% of "music fans" didn't care about the increase in sound quality, so it died quietly. Damn shame...

I used to transfer vinyl to quarter inch tape (3M 226) on a Revox A77. Now *that* was quality sound.

[boardjunkie]

Who's elders?

[nakeworks]

I've heard that the problem with today's audio is that it is digital.  The human brain does not process audio digital well at all.  The analog sounds produced by vinyl are the natural state that is interpreted by the brain and sounds awesome.  From what I've read, an mp3 only carries about 5% of the sound quality of a vinyl.  That said the vinyl has to be played through tubes that have to stay warm with high quality components from the needle all the way to the gold plated wire.  But I'm no expert.  I have a couple doctors that I work with that have $50,000+ sound systems and a room dedicated to listening to music.  I asked them if I could bring over some of my old Social Distortion records and they didn't know what I was talking about. 

I would love to have a bunch of cabs.  Like its been said, MAME is a gateway drug.

[vanrose72]

I hope this guy's arcade isn't eventually taken down by his significant other (à la Peter Hirschberg's wife). 

[boardjunkie]

All that cork sniffer "gold plated wire" BS is just that....BS. You don't *need* a tube amp to have a great sounding system. Tube amps work very well with compression horn speakers such as Klipsch. The tube amp helps to smooth out the normally "squawky" sound of the horn drivers and really does make a difference. For normal speakers...its really not a benefit.

High end audio is a very slippery road for those who can't seperate the snake oil from reality. Proof that there's a market for just about anything....and someone will be there to buy it who doesn't know any better.

[lcmgadgets]

SWEET!

I agree with the bulk of the post(er)s here: If I had the time/money/room, I'd own a HUGE arcade with a MOUNTAIN of dedicated cabs & pins any day over a MAME machine! I've always been as interested in recapturing the 'feel' as much as actually playing the games. I hope my someday-to-b MAME cab does some of that (can anyone tell me: does it?).

& I'm looking at maps & dreaming of making a road trip from here in London, Ontario, Canada, to Wisconsin.

[lcmgadgets]

I hope this guy's arcade isn't eventually taken down by his significant other (à la Peter Hirschberg's wife). 

ARGGGHHH!!

I didn't know!:cry: I just went looking--when did this happen?!? I've dreamt for years of making a road trip (from here: London, Ontario, Canada). Okay, I'm going hunting for details...

[molton]

first of all digital music is still heard in it's analog form, it's not like we hear a bunch of high pitched noise that we convert to music in our brains.

that being said, 128kbps mp3s sure do have that vintage 1996 sound too them  

Rooms full of Arcade machines and vinyl albums have their good and bad qualities, Mame cabinets and hard drives full of mp3's do too, the difference is you don't have to be rich and spend a fortune plus dedicate half your life to a have mame cabinet or a hard drive full of mp3s.  

Not to say that dedicating a lot of time money and energy into something you love isn't worthwhile, it's just that most people wouldn't go to such extremes when amazing alternatives are available.

[Gray_Area]

I hope this guy's arcade isn't eventually taken down by his significant other (à la Peter Hirschberg's wife).  

Yeah? Nothing new on his blog for over two years. And the arcade page is down.

[DaveMMR]

first of all digital music is still heard in it's analog form, it's not like we hear a bunch of high pitched noise that we convert to music in our brains.

that being said, 128kbps mp3s sure do have that vintage 1996 sound too them  

Rooms full of Arcade machines and vinyl albums have their good and bad qualities, Mame cabinets and hard drives full of mp3's do too, the difference is you don't have to be rich and spend a fortune plus dedicate half your life to a have mame cabinet or a hard drive full of mp3s.  

Not to say that dedicating a lot of time money and energy into something you love isn't worthwhile, it's just that most people wouldn't go to such extremes when amazing alternatives are available.

Who spends a fortune on vinyl? I get great stuff for next to nothing (sometimes free) and new vinyl is often the same price as a CD. And much of the newer vinyl comes with a digitial copy as well. My copy of Devo's new album (on blue vinyl, natch) even came with a CD copy.

Of course you can't really carry vinyl with you on the road.  . MP3s are just fine for that purpose.

As for cabs, you can really search around and spend a lot less than this guy obviously did. The main concerns are space and your electric bill.

[tommyinajar]

"The electric bill"- He said he only turns them all on for parties and the like. I think some of the Christmas decorations up in November around here probably dwarf the cost of the few times he has them all on.