Old Tetris cab + MAME cab in one?

[palpacino]

Is it possible?

I have a tetris cab i bought on ebay and the monitor looks awesome and the feel of the game just simply rocks. I guess my question is...

Could I change the control panel by adding a total of six buttons for two players...  and route the original "FLIP" button that tetris uses back into the PCB and have some sort of cool switch on the front of the cab that runs the computer for mame and all that and puts it on the screen?

So in other words, i could turn the whole thing on and have a toggle switch that allows me to pay the original tetris or flip it and the cpu boots up and on comes the frontend with all the mame options? anyone thought about this or done it? just kinda curious on the endeavor...

[paigeoliver]

This sort of thing COULD be done, but really it is more trouble than it is worth. It gains no real functionality over just running Mame, and you can easily fry your Tetris board, computer, and/or power supply if you mess up your wiring.

Also, please don't mess up your original control panel by adding buttons. Make a new panel if you decide to Mame, and just leave your old one unharmed. Or even better, just stick with the controls that are on the panel, and simply run games that work with those controls. (No matter what controls you have there are a ton of games that can use them).

[Lilwolf]

I second that... Make a new control panel if its easy.

Also, if it's jamma, consider keeping all the wiring and get a jpac and arcadevga.  This way you can plug one in, and swap the other.  Original boards are SUPER cheap on ebay (some exceptions of course... rares).  And you never know when you want to grab a real version of your favorite game and plug it in.

[palpacino]

I feel kinda dum asking/saying this...  but i guess i reall dont understand, THANK YOU for your comments...

Of course, i see how i could fry the circuitry....     but with that aside and having the proper knowledge..... there is a way im sure right? oh..  and great point about the control panel  etc....    the control panel in my tetris is removable....  actually (contrary to my orignal post) ill just make a new CP.... so ill buld it to the exact specs of the tetris CP and make it so i can swap them (but staying true to the original post... the CP i make will still work with the original tetris game)...

>>>

[SirPoonga]

Yeah, it might be easier to make a new control panel to get the room you need.

Use the JPAC (www.ultimarc.com) as an  interface teh computer to the jamma controls.
Use the ArcadeVGA (www.ultimarc.com) to interface the computer to the arcade monitor.
Use multijamma (www.multigame.com/jamma.html) to switch between the two.

You don't need multijamma, to switch between the two you'd just transfer the jamma harness from the pcb to the jpac.  But it would make a nice feature to use the multijamma.