Do you actually play games on your cabinets after you finish them?

[severdhed]

I was just curious how much your cabinets get used once they are finished.  I thoroughly love the process of designing and building a cabinet, wiring up the controls, setting up the software, tweaking everything to get it just right.  However i find that once that part is done, i very rarely ever play any games on my cabinets.  I will occasionally play a game or two, especially if one of my kids asks me to, but other than that, i barely touch them, unless i am adding a new game or tweaking something.  My kids play them sometimes, and every time we have a group of people over, or the kids have friends over to visit, they get used heavily.  My boss and I will play a few rounds of millipede now and then on the cabinet at work, but i just don't use them as much as I thought i would.  I'm sitting here itching to build another one, even though i really don't have the room, the money, the time, or the wife approval, and knowing full well that i won't play it once it is done. Are any of you like this?

[Vigo]

It's all about the build, baby! I barely play my cabs, but I enjoy building, I enjoy the wow factor of having something unique in my house and having a unique hobby, and I enjoy this community.

Don't feel bad. It's like having that hotrod in the garage that you *might* take out a couple days when the weather is just right. It's cool enough just being a "car guy"

[harveybirdman]

I f you do it right, it's a peice of art.  Art doesn't have to be played to justify it's presence.

[rball5]

I'm probably a bit too new to have a valid answer (my first build has been up & running since the beginning of August / just over a month), but not many days have gone by that I haven't played a game - even if only for a few minutes. 

I work from home and the cabinet is in my office.  I have jukecade installed and play music from the cabinet for background noise while I work... other times I'll just turn it on & let attract mode go (cycles through games every few mintues) - when I hear something interesting I'll play whatever game came up for a few minutes.

I don't expect this behavior to last forever, but for now I'm enjoying it.

[aldub516]

All the builds I've 100% finished were for other people so I've always put my own off until now. With that said I think I'd be one of the ones that appreciates the build more than the play time

[johnrt]

By now I have 3 MAME cabs and one dedicated Arkanoid - Revenge of DoH. The joystick cab I barely play at all. My two driver bartops on the other hand I play a LOT. One of them is actually in my living room.

[WakiMiko]

I'm not finishing my build because I'm playing too much.

[empardopo]

I am always making tutorials and don't usually play, but my sons yes!
Greetings.

[BadMouth]

The fun part for me is building it and the puzzle of getting everything work together.

I fire it up and play one or two games of a Naomi Shmup a couple times a month.
When the driving cab was up and running, I played it for a few hours a week.

I have this pipe dream that someday I'm going to have a lot of free time and dedicate myself to practicing one game at a time and getting the most out of it.

[Malenko]

I play my dedicated cabs far more often than my MAME cab. Im probably going to sell the MAME and a few others and buy a track car.

[pbj]

If I can't walk up to it, flip the switch, and play it - it doesn't last long in my household. 

Sometimes there are lulls but everything gets played fairly regularly.

[ABACABB]

I'm probably a bit too new to have a valid answer (my first build has been up & running since the beginning of August / just over a month), but not many days have gone by that I haven't played a game - even if only for a few minutes. 

I work from home and the cabinet is in my office.  I have jukecade installed and play music from the cabinet for background noise while I work... other times I'll just turn it on & let attract mode go (cycles through games every few mintues) - when I hear something interesting I'll play whatever game came up for a few minutes.

I don't expect this behavior to last forever, but for now I'm enjoying it.

Ohhhhh so dangerous.  I also have a home office but only work from home a few days per month.  My MAME cabinet, and soon pinball cabinet, are sitting near my desk.  Hard to focus on work when it is sitting so close calling my name

[wp34]

I was just curious how much your cabinets get used once they are finished. 

Some of us use our cabinets before they are quite finished.

I am happy to say mine gets enough play that I have no second thoughts about building it. Sure I go weeks where I don't turn it on but I also go weeks where it is played every day. 

[megamoze]

The whole reason I built a cabinet was so I could play it.  My 10 year old self would be mind-blown knowing that I'd have my own arcade machine some day.  I did enjoy the build process, and I learned a lot, but it was always about having my own machine.  That said, adding high score saving went a LONG way to re-playability of the games.  So I'll jump on there a few minutes every night or two.  It's a good way to wind down after the kids of gone to bed.


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[mnewt]

I'm not finishing my build because I'm playing too much.

Likewise - I'd never picked up a tool or attempted any woodworking before this. I got an immense sense of achievement from the build....but it just took me so bloody long (mainly due to the amount of cock-ups on the way)

It's not quite finished now (no rear panel, software not configured, inside wiring a mess etc..), but I just enjoy playing it too much to put the effort into finishing it off 100%.....and work means I have limited time

[Phreakwars]

I play mine with my son on the weekend when I have time. Only for about an hour or so. I don't really have time otherwise... but then, I built it for him, not for me. The one I am doing now is for someone else as well. Have 3 more to build after that. I'm thinking maybe around Christmas break I'll have time to actually play it every day with him.

[keilmillerjr]

Games? Ain't nobody got time fo dat! Lol However, I will be throwing a boo's and cades halloween party this year. The mvs will see plenty of action!

[stigzler]

You can play games on them? Cool.

[fleskebacon]

It's very comparable to having a classic car.. 1/3 tinkering and polishing and fixing things that are or are not broken, 1/3 actually using it and 1/3 just admiring its presence.

[mgb]

I f you do it right, it's a peice of art.  Art doesn't have to be played to justify it's presence.

I fully agree with this statement.

I do play my cab but with the kids and work and life, theres just not always time.

We have an adopted son that first came to us when he was 4.
He was in awe of the machine so for the first few years it got very heavy use.
He loves the classics and especially on Friday nights we would have really fun game nights.
Now the machine may stay off for a week or two.
But it still gets played.

But wether or not it's getting played regularly, I still glance over at it many times and smile because I know what went into it and I love the way it looks.

[drventure]

Mine's getting a lot more use now. People love the classics, and the kids love PhaseShift (a rockband clone) and Performous (a singing/karaoke game).

Plus it looks great in a room we're slowly converting to our "steampunk room". 

[michelevit]

i fire mine up when i have guests. i try to fire it up at lease once a month. I used to have a cab in my bedroom and play it daily. It also functioned as my tv and web browser. The availabbility of the tablet as a gaming device  has really reduced my arcade time. 

[tomstewdevine]

I play mine every day. It's how I chill for the night, listen to podcasts and play arcade, it's better than most TV shows.

[wp34]

I play mine every day. It's how I chill for the night, listen to podcasts and play arcade, it's better than most TV shows.

I do that as well.  Podcasts or audiobooks.

[harveybirdman]

We need a new poll, Do you ever have three friends over to play that travesty of a four player aircraft carrier peice of ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- you built and if so do they ever touch the fifth button in one setting.

Seriously don't build ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- people.

Mfers act like they forgot about Crapmame.

[drventure]

Yeah, yeah, I've got a flight stick and seven buttons on P3 and P4. I know. 

Ah well. I obviously hadn't read enough of the posts here at the time I built my buffet.

But, it's still a lot of fun playing Simpsons or World beach volleyball.

And two player marble madness is great fun.

Now, if I could only figure out how to put 3 more turbo twists on the thing, I could actually play a real game of Warlords   

[severdhed]

We need a new poll, Do you ever have three friends over to play that travesty of a four player aircraft carrier peice of ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- you built and if so do they ever touch the fifth button in one setting.

Seriously don't build ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- people.

Mfers act like they forgot about Crapmame.

Honestly, the majority of the time that my 4 player pedestal cabinet gets played is for 3 or 4 player tmnt/sunset riders/battle toads action with my kids and their friends, or some 2 player mk...which justifies the 4 player controls, and the 7 buttons for players 1 and 2. ...but then again I have 4 children. 
We have a big 4 player setup at work also, but we could have built a small panel with a trackball, 4 way stick and 3 buttons and been fine, because we only really pay millipede and donkey Kong

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[Malenko]

4 players isnt very frequent, 3 happens enough that Im not super pissed I made a panel for more than 2 players.

Turtles (both), Xmen, Bucky O Hare, sunset all get good rotation. NBA Jam, Hangtime, and Open Ice are up there too

[harveybirdman]

Yes but both of your four player panels are neither aircraft carriers or have useless buttons and were both nominated for UCA's

To clarify I hold builds like both of yours as rare exceptions.

[BorgDog]

To be honest I have enough hobbies and I get kinda OCD about them that it is very streaky.  I'll play mame games daily for a few weeks, then on to something else and I may not touch it for a couple months, then I'll get on the mame kick again and play daily for a few weeks and on and around it goes, with all my hobbies.  But I also enjoy building them probably more than playing them.

[arcadepcnut]

To be honest I have enough hobbies and I get kinda OCD about them that it is very streaky.  I'll play mame games daily for a few weeks, then on to something else and I may not touch it for a couple months, then I'll get on the mame kick again and play daily for a few weeks and on and around it goes, with all my hobbies.  But I also enjoy building them probably more than playing them.

Wow there is another person just like me?! You described yourself when I read, it looks like I typed it. Nice to know. I have so many hobbies and they go each in spurts. I think its more ADD than OCD

[Fursphere]

Couple of times a week I fire it up and play a couple of games.

...but I find myself playing the same games almost every time.  Rarely do I try something new.