Jammin with Jamma

[ballboff]

Hi guys,

I wonder if you can help me.  I've been asked to build an arcade machine for a friend who runs a tattoo studio.  I just need some advice on how to start one up.  I've built a mame machine before and it's fully completed and operational.  My mate actually saw this machine when he came round at the weekend, which prompted him to ask me about building one.  I don't want to build another mame machine as it opens up a can of worms with boot times, not sure about the pc he has spare whether that will be any good.  I've seen these multigame boards that are jamma compatible, and I just wondered since it will be in a shop as such, I want to know if these are legit and legal as long as I set it to "freeplay" perhaps.  Also what other items do I need to configure the board and get it up and running.  I assume I need a specific power supply for the jamma board and a jamma harness?  and joysticks and buttons obviously.  Is there anything else?

[opt2not]

Give this a good read to give you a primer on JAMMA:  http://www.therealbobroberts.net/jh.html

[talkgeek]

I've got MAME and JAMMA arcades and understand the reluctance to provide MAME based machines to friends - I personally won't any more having had on-going issues with a couple of MAME CABs I built for friends (since converted).

For business use/rental I try to only implement legitimate JAMMA boards (lots of sources for finding these - ebay etc) as there are lots of questions around legitimacy of the  [Chinese made] multi-game JAMMA boards

but I have used those boards for youth clubs and friends where reliability [appliance style operation] is important - personal favourites are the iCade 60-n-1 (cheap reliable card with late 70's early 80's turn based vertical screen games) and the 500+ multi-game Tornado / GameELF (horizontal screen KOF/StreetFighter & platform games like Metal Slug etc - note about 20% of the games on this card are crap, but still makes for a cheap multi game alternative)

I don't recommend using the multigame boards for coin operations as a rule - the menu systems often cause confusion and users can loose credits (which can cause lots of aggravation), if you go down this path I highly suggest limiting number of games to 1 (also powers up faster) or a least just one screen of game options (and providing clearer instruction on how to use on the Bezel - than shown on the game menu screen). 

JAMMA is really easy to implement - you can buy the wiring harnesses really cheap (so you don't need to make your own until you've got some experience under you belt) and hooking up the power supply / CP etc is really easy.  

looking forward to seeing your project progress

all the best

[ballboff]

Thanks very much both of you, this is all good stuff.  I'm a bit apprehensive at the moment as this is the first machine i will have built for somebody else, and although mine is fully functional and I'm happy with it, there are things I will do differently to make it a little more professional looking.  I think I've already got an idea in my head of what i want it to look like, and since my mate is a tattooist I'm hoping he will be able to provide some kick-ass artwork for the cab.  In fact, I don't think it would do him justice in his shop if he didn't provide something artistic.  I didn't go to town on the control panel on my machine, and I'm thinking I'll do this properly this time. I've seen some multi-game cabs in the arcades, and I even saw one in the media museum in bradford.