Building A Goldfish Arcade

[leapinlew]

Yes!!!

 

 

[Ian]

Yep... keep this up. I want to see the final vision!

[Mike A]

It's not real.

[leapinlew]

It's not real.

Your face is not real!

[opt2not]

 I know the forum has been lackluster as of late, but this is getting to an all-time low. Gone are the days of innovative cool projects, now we get this...mockery. Ban plz.

[UnoWho]

I have a few questions.  Does anyone know how heavy a vector monitor is?  I told my girl friend about this project and she wants to use the original tank which would take up the entire monitor shelf.  So I thought of having a hidden monitor raise up from the bottom of the cabinet via a linear actuator.  This would hide the aquarium when gaming and then lower when finished.

Do you think that would be possible?  Also we talked about what games we would play and she wants to contain my consoles in this cabinet so I don't know how to connect everything up.  Any suggestions?  She wants the artwork to be Pokemon in nature so any suggestions where to find the artwork?

This was to be an easy build....

[jdbailey1206]

The sad thing is I think that pedestal build is ultimately what broke him.

[leapinlew]

I have a few questions.  Does anyone know how heavy a vector monitor is?  I told my girl friend about this project and she wants to use the original tank which would take up the entire monitor shelf.  So I thought of having a hidden monitor raise up from the bottom of the cabinet via a linear actuator.  This would hide the aquarium when gaming and then lower when finished.

Do you think that would be possible?  Also we talked about what games we would play and she wants to contain my consoles in this cabinet so I don't know how to connect everything up.  Any suggestions?  She wants the artwork to be Pokemon in nature so any suggestions where to find the artwork?

This was to be an easy build....

Yes! Actuators, motors and a remote control. Do it!

Also, The coin door area could be a good place for one of those electric fireplaces.

[yotsuya]

I have a few questions.  Does anyone know how heavy a vector monitor is?  I told my girl friend about this project and she wants to use the original tank which would take up the entire monitor shelf.  So I thought of having a hidden monitor raise up from the bottom of the cabinet via a linear actuator.  This would hide the aquarium when gaming and then lower when finished.

Do you think that would be possible?  Also we talked about what games we would play and she wants to contain my consoles in this cabinet so I don't know how to connect everything up.  Any suggestions?  She wants the artwork to be Pokemon in nature so any suggestions where to find the artwork?

This was to be an easy build....

Yes! Actuators, motors and a remote control. Do it!

Also, The coin door area could be a good place for one of those electric fireplaces.

My faith in Lew has been restored.



I’m going to throw this out to be helpful - you can only play vector games on a vector monitor. So your consoles won’t work on it, making that monitor useless to you. So if you trash that monitor, then my original comment to you, which I deleted but you still made reference to, still stands.

My advice - build a great arcade cabinet and set up a great aquarium next to it, but keep the two separate.

[leapinlew]

My advice - build a great arcade cabinet and set up a great aquarium next to it, but keep the two separate.

We'd never have Reeses peanut butter cups with this kind of thinking.

If you don't put a fish tank in your arcade game, you are single handedly breaking the home built arcade scene. This type of innovative design and flawless execution will inspire copycat designs for decades. Play your bitmap games on a vector monitor - don't let the naysayers halt progress. Put your water filled aquarium with your delicate electronics - hell yeah! Live on the edge.

Hell, automate it. "Google, show me fish" to move the monitor and lift the fish tank or "Google, vertical fish" This would put your fish tank in a vertical position for old school 4-way fish. Possibilities are endless bro!

 

[yotsuya]

This will be remembered as the thread that broke Lew. RIP.

[pbj]

Why not start with a simple prototype?

[leapinlew]

This will be remembered as the thread that broke Lew. RIP.

Hell, I'm kind of broken already. At least, when it comes to arcade games. I've been playing older consoles and plan on playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 this winter and hope it's as good as the first one. My arcade games were turned on for the first time in about a year this Halloween for the kids. I'm happy to report they all worked on bootup - no weird computer issues, or loose connections, but I was a little sad trying to recall what the last game I played was. What's worse, there isn't a game on an arcade game that I'm wanting to play.

I'd never sell them and the way I have things setup the arcade games add to the décor of the room and not the sole purpose of the room. I've sold a few dozen games in my time and I'm betting the games I have now didn't actually cost me anything. I'll wait, I'll probably want to play a game again soon - some of my favorites are worth going back to play. Rush'n'Attack and Willow are 2 that come to mind as games I try to beat on 1 quarter.

Anyhow - enough about me. Lets get back to this fishtank arcade.

[yotsuya]

This will be remembered as the thread that broke Lew. RIP.

Hell, I'm kind of broken already. At least, when it comes to arcade games. I've been playing older consoles and plan on playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 this winter and hope it's as good as the first one. My arcade games were turned on for the first time in about a year this Halloween for the kids. I'm happy to report they all worked on bootup - no weird computer issues, or loose connections, but I was a little sad trying to recall what the last game I played was. What's worse, there isn't a game on an arcade game that I'm wanting to play.

I'd never sell them and the way I have things setup the arcade games add to the décor of the room and not the sole purpose of the room. I've sold a few dozen games in my time and I'm betting the games I have now didn't actually cost me anything. I'll wait, I'll probably want to play a game again soon - some of my favorites are worth going back to play. Rush'n'Attack and Willow are 2 that come to mind as games I try to beat on 1 quarter.

Anyhow - enough about me. Lets get back to this fishtank arcade.

I’m going to merge this thread with Rackoon’s “let’s all sit down and play games” thread.

[pbj]

I go months at a time without playing my stuff, and then I'll play like crazy for a few weeks.  It also instantly makes your home a party destination.  Just keep them around, ready to play.  You'll come back.

[rackoon]

Am I missing something.

How are the fish going to play the arcade if they dont even have fingers?

Are they just going to slap the buttons with their fins or something?
 
Mybee an underwater track ball would work

[PL1]

Mybee an underwater track ball would work

Somebody has already done a tank with an underwater mouse. 




Scott

[yotsuya]

Mybee an underwater track ball would work

Somebody has already done a tank with an underwater mouse. 




Scott

[jennifer]

     I am not so sure there is ever a bad idea, More of a learning experience and opportunity for creativity and innovation.... find it odd you guys don't see this for what it is. 

[Titchgamer]

Over looking the humour here I have to ask.... Really!?

I can see a whole host of problems with this idea!

Firstly water and electric dont mix.
Secondly how are you going to safely maintain your fish tank?
Clean, move, refill etc etc.
Also sound creates waves/ripples in water.
Ime no fish expert but I dont think they will like the experience you will be enjoying!

This is a terrible idea borderline animal cruelty imo so nope...

Ime with Yots, build a killer cade and a killer fish tank and leave em separate.

[leapinlew]

find it odd you guys don't see this for what it is.

I find it odd that you can't see that I'm being supportive from your high horse.

[jennifer]

find it odd you guys don't see this for what it is.

I find it odd that you can't see that I'm being supportive from your high horse.

Well NOT you then, What you want Jennifer to cook you some brownies too???..... RE: T/gamer, A digital fish tank would be the short answer, kinda like they do in the casinos, Or real fish and digital tech, reducing heat and EMI radiation (IMO)

[yotsuya]

     I am not so sure there is ever a bad idea, More of a learning experience and opportunity for creativity and innovation.... find it odd you guys don't see this for what it is.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Reichelt

[jennifer]

     I am not so sure there is ever a bad idea, More of a learning experience and opportunity for creativity and innovation.... find it odd you guys don't see this for what it is.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Reichelt

OMG, That is a HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE story, he most obviously thought that would work....However it should be pointed out, That is a lesson learned for the ages and was a conceptual idea at the time, Today people jump out of airplanes with parachutes just for recreation and a cheap thrill.   

[yotsuya]

     I am not so sure there is ever a bad idea, More of a learning experience and opportunity for creativity and innovation.... find it odd you guys don't see this for what it is.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Reichelt

OMG, That is a HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE story, he most obviously thought that would work....However it should be pointed out, That is a lesson learned for the ages and was a conceptual idea at the time, Today people jump out of airplanes with parachutes just for recreation and a cheap thrill.

And their parachutes look NOTHING like his concept. Sometimes a bad idea is just a bad idea. Titch actually outlined all the reasons why.

[jennifer]

Thats evolution, making it better and more functional over time....Cars for example look and function nothing like they did back in the late 1800"s, Arcade machines too are platforms for new tech, modified and used in our everyday lives....Not to say I am going to go grab some live wires or jump off towers in pursuit of knowledge , but imagine someone took a few volts back in the day. <electrocuted emoji guy (Jenn laughs)

[yotsuya]

Thats evolution, making it better and more functional over time....Cars for example look and function nothing like they did back in the late 1800"s, Arcade machines too are platforms for new tech, modified and used in our everyday lives....Not to say I am going to go grab some live wires or jump off towers in pursuit of knowledge , but imagine someone took a few volts back in the day. <electrocuted emoji guy (Jenn laughs)

If arcade games/cabinets are to evolve, it should be to improve game play, not because you want your fish closer to your face.

[Titchgamer]

find it odd you guys don't see this for what it is.

I find it odd that you can't see that I'm being supportive from your high horse.

Well NOT you then, What you want Jennifer to cook you some brownies too???..... RE: T/gamer, A digital fish tank would be the short answer, kinda like they do in the casinos, Or real fish and digital tech, reducing heat and EMI radiation (IMO)

A digital fish tank!?

Jennifer dear you are talking nonsense lol

In my day we would call that a screen saver on Windows 98, or possibly a looped video or pretty animation.

But alas it would be on a monitor of some description not in a tank.

That being said if you could use a tank of water to display a image of some kind, Now that would be freaking cool!

[Titchgamer]

Thats evolution, making it better and more functional over time....Cars for example look and function nothing like they did back in the late 1800"s, Arcade machines too are platforms for new tech, modified and used in our everyday lives....Not to say I am going to go grab some live wires or jump off towers in pursuit of knowledge , but imagine someone took a few volts back in the day. <electrocuted emoji guy (Jenn laughs)

If arcade games/cabinets are to evolve, it should be to improve game play, not because you want your fish closer to your face.

This just made me laugh so hard I nearly spat coke over my work mate!

But I have no idea why! Lol

[thomas_surles]

Bros quit talking him out of this. I gotta see this get built. Not like we have a whole lot going on right now.

[yotsuya]

Bros quit talking him out of this. I gotta see this get built. Not like we have a whole lot going on right now.

That in itself is the crux of the matter.

[Titchgamer]

Bros quit talking him out of this. I gotta see this get built. Not like we have a whole lot going on right now.

Fair point :p

[stigzler]

My shout's on this being that Nephasth fella. Call it a hunch.

Thus, being that he's such a lovely, cuddly fella I help out gladly:

It depends if you are aiming on petting tropical or cold water fish. For a tropical fish tank, maintaining a warm environmental temperature ranging between 75 and 80 °F (24 to 27 °C) enables the fish to thrive. For cold water fish, when kept in a household aquarium, they do not require a heater and are quite comfortable at around 60 °F (15 °C).

Thus, tropical fish may present less of a challenge to your design brief as opposed to cold water fish, given the reduced cooling requirements.

As for the baby oil, that is an area of your subconscious that only people on Death Row and Crack can aspire to understand.

[jennifer]

   Good grief, you guys amuse me, I am walking around the mall laughing at my phone like some kind of idiot .... (Giggle)..... However, The mineral oil thing, ya maybe not so much, Large liquid cooled transformers are built that way and when they let go its a firestorm, And oddy enough could imagine an amused Beta fish as spongebob swims by, (or the terrifying Jaws shark... snort. ).

[yotsuya]

My shout's on this being that Nephasth fella. Call it a hunch.

Neph don’t have no time to troll.

As for the baby oil, that is an area of your subconscious that only people on Death Row and Crack can aspire to understand.

Totally agree.

[Ian]

Bros quit talking him out of this. I gotta see this get built. Not like we have a whole lot going on right now.

We havn't had a lot this summer... or year. BUILD IT!

[yotsuya]

[yotsuya]

[jennifer]

   That desk is some high end delicious, Not very practical Though, just sit there and look cute I s"pose.

[UnoWho]

Thanks for the encouragement.  I still haven't got the Asteroids cabinet.  I went over to my mates house last weekend and he showed me the asteroids cabinet which looked odd.  The coin door look very different.  My mate calls them owl eyes as they do look like Bubo from Clash of the Titans (sorry its from an old 1980 movie we like) but the monitor doesn't work.  We hear the sounds but no picture.  He took the monitor to a TV repair shop and the guy said it was dead.  Sorry Yotsuya but it is going in the special recycle bin.

So I get to have the cabinet without the monitor.  My mate says I can use a LCD screen.  I told him about my design and he laughed.  He thinks I am off my head but my mate needs it gone, so it will be lighter to move.  He lives on the other side of the country so it will take some time to shift it to my house.  I still need to figure out the support of the monitor shelf.  Does the TV in the asteroids weigh 90 kilos?  We are going to make a cupboard inside the cabinet to store our consoles.  My guess the electronics are dead too and my mate knows someone that wants the innards so the wires will be removed.

The baby oil is for the PC.  It is an AMD and it runs too hot.  So another mate showed me a youtube clip where they sunk the PC in baby oil and it cooled down the PC.  It will be sloshing in the bottom of the cabinet so the fish will not be baby oiled.  I will add more photos and drawing on the plans of the actuator.  I am using the plans from the internet to create mock ups and using cardboard.  I am really looking forward to this being a reality. 

Thanks for the input.