Mame arcade overload!!!

[paigeoliver]

Ok, I am finally starting to run short on space, and I don't think I am going to have enough room to build every Mame cabinet that I want (ideally I would have two cabinets for each control type, one vertical and one horizontal, along with a goodly collection of dedicated games).


Here is what I already have done.

Galaga (Formerly Artic Mini Mame). - Vertical monitor with 4-way joystick and 2 button.

Space Firebird - Vertical monitor with 8-way joystick and 2 buttons.

Amazing Maze - Horizontal Monitor, Streetfighter 2 control layout.

Solitaire - Horizontal monitor, 2.5" trackball and 2 buttons. Note I am NOT HAPPY with the placement of the trackball on the (metal) control panel. It is a huge panel, but the trackball is right up against the glass.

Gorf cocktail - Vertical monitor, 8-ways with single button (I am picking this machine up soon, and note that it sort of duplicates the Space Firebird mini).

I also have the following dedicated games fully working.

Kangaroo

Out Run

Do! Run Run (also have Mr. Do's Wild Ride pcb for it)

Time Pilot cocktail (extra PCBs are Time Pilot '84, Road Righter, and Super Basketball)

Popeye (picking up soon).

I have the following non-working cabinets "in stock".

Defender #1. Has working arcade monitor, Currently has an Arch Rivals kit partially installed with boardset.

Defender #2. Wood only, no coin door, monitor glass, control panel, marquee, etc.

Turbo. - I THINK it is complete. Is taken apart, and has both a monitor and boardset problem.

Sprint 2 - Complete, not working. Has two 360 wheels, 2 gas pedals, and two 4-position shifters.

Battlezone. Complete externally, has had a 15" VGA monitor installed.

Magical Spot cocktail - Externally complete. Has 2-way joysticks installed. Internally it is missing monitor and PCB, but has power and wiring intact.

Ok, here are the parts I have "in stock".

About a half dozen assorted 8-way sticks.
3 different 4-way sticks.
About 30 buttons (microswitch and leaf, many used, have some new microswitch ones, and 6 NOS translucent leaf ones)
One Wico mechanical rotary stick.
One 3" PS2 trackball.
One Sega optical spinner.
2 49-way joysticks (balltops, Arch Rivals type).
One 8-way Wico top fire.
One Blue analog top fire (PC stick).
One black analog top fire (PC stick, modded for control panel installation already).
Two tiny analog arcade baseball joysticks.

3 different 21" VGA monitors (one metal frame type, 2 flat tube type).
One 14" VGA monitor.
2 non-working 13" arcade monitors.

NOS Willis Asteroids overlay
NOS Willis Q*Bert overlay
NOS Willis Defender overlay
Repro Defender marquee
City Connection marquee and boardset
7 PGA Tournament Golf marquees.
1 Bootleg/prototype Neo Geo marquee.
Meltec's Big Mouth Marquee
Ajax marquee
Arch Rivals marquee (cut to fit a Defender)
Omega Race marquee (won't fit anything I have, too small).
Arch Rivals control panel (fits Defender).
Complete Tac/Scan control panel.
Complete "Amazing Maze" control panel (dual leaf 8-ways, no buttons).
Complete NOS set of "HB's Olympics" artwork, which I wouldn't even use for anything, but I am mentioning to be complete, this will fit a Nintendo cabinet.

Ok, what would you guys suggest doing with all this stuff? I am definitely gonna toss a PC into the Battlezone, but I am up in the air as to what to do with the rest?

Considerations.

The "Solitaire" has a fairly roomy control panel (couple inches deeper than most classic cabinets), and has room for another control type or two on it. But it has a factory painted metal panel, which would be slightly difficult to modify and still make look good (unless I bought a generic black overlay).

The control panel on the Maze is at a 45 degree angle, and it is really shallow. It currentl has a Capcom layout, but I had considered switching the machine to be a single 4-way type and perhaps using one of the Defenders as my Capcom layout cabinet.

The Gorf is all factory externally, and I will not modify it.

The "Galaga" does not have room for a second joystick, but the panel is large enough to accomadate any non-trackball single player layout.

The Space Firebird has a panel at a killer angle, which is also metal and has a factory overlay. Thus I am not modifying it, and it is unsuitable for many joystick types, but the super-stiff Happs Univeral I have on it works well. The joystick on it can technically be switched into a true 4-way mode, although I have never done so.

[paigeoliver]

Also. I am somewhat open to adding a false front with larger control panel onto one of the Defenders so that it can fit more controls (and because one of them is missing a coin door anyway). I won't cut into the cabinet, but I have no problem building a new front/panel that bolts on where the original control panel and coin door were located.

[Apollo]

All credit to you Paige but I've just got to say, you do spend a lot of time telling everyone else here how many games, cabs, pcbs, parts you have and how much of an unbelievable deal u got at the latest auction.
How about posting some tips on how u restored them or how u got such a great deal on ______?
Ya know?

[Generic Eric]

snipped
...but I am up in the air as to what to do with the rest?

Is any of it for sale?

[patrickl]

Wow, that's a lot of stuff. Do you collect all this for yourself or do you trade them? Do you have like a whole arcade full of these machines? Or are they in storage? Would be cool to have such a huge collection, but overhere in the Netherlands I'm having a hard time even finding an arcade let alone an auction of cabinets.

[paigeoliver]

All credit to you Paige but I've just got to say, you do spend a lot of time telling everyone else here how many games, cabs, pcbs, parts you have and how much of an unbelievable deal u got at the latest auction.
How about posting some tips on how u restored them or how u got such a great deal on ______?
Ya know?

Apollo, a while back I posted a quite detailed post explaining exactly how I look for games. Look for "The real place to find games". If anyone else wants help in that area then feel free to message me. I have also posted detailed information about cleaning up steering wheel panels, $3 overlays for wooden panels, the RIGHT place for the 4-way joystick in a mixed panel, how to touch up atari sideart, what to do at the auction, what not to do to your cabinet, where to find cheap quality top fire sticks, and many others. I can repost or bump (if I can find it), any of this information on request.

I do not post a lot of detailed conversion info because I largely do not do anything unique. There are plenty of posts already around explaining how to hook up an I-Pac, hack a gamepad, or hack a keyboard. I have only built one cabinet from scratch, and it was a single sided cocktail that I did without any plans. I enjoyed it for a while and eventually took my Mame stuff out and traded the cabinet empty as part of a trade for my pinball machine (also gave a Final Fight, another empty cocktail, and ALOT of parts).

Now I might post more stuff like that if I actually had a decent digital camera (and internet access at home), but I don't. Someday I do plan on getting a good camera and extensively documenting all my stuff. But right now I can't even update my web page (server issue).

Some of the above could possibly be for sale or trade. I live in St. Louis, MO and do not deliver. Send offers if you are interested in any of it.


Patrickl.

I collect basically just to have my own personal collection, but I do trade and sell from time to time. I (believe) I have been wisely trading for a long time, and because of that many of my games/cabinets have ended up having an essential cost of almost nothing. I keep them all in my apartment, although a few of the dead ones (both Defenders and that Turbo) are in my basement storage.

[Stingray]

In Paige's defense, he certainly does offer a lot of good information. I have no idea what I would do in your situation, Paige. Die of euphoria, maybe. Probably the first project I would tackle would be the Battlezone. That one really needs to be running!

I say again, I am green with envy of your collection.

-S

[Wade]

Paige,

I'd suggest selling off a lot of the cabinets that aren't fully working with real boards and a lot of the parts, and making some of those Mame'd machines into real machines.  Move way from having lots of half-games, and towards having a collection of working games that actually hold some value (read: original parts and not Mame conversions).  Obviously, you love this hobby, but you might as well be building some value into your collection instead of just growing a large number of relatively low-value games.

Also, this would work better for your space situation.  People who have a house and have a room (or garage) dedicated as a gameroom is one thing.  But having a small apartment (with probably very little furniture), and arcade games (working or not) scattered all around in the living room, kitchen, bedroom, etc. is something else entirely.  I mean, I think it's kinda cool, if you lived near me I'd come and visit often.  But what does the average person think?  You probably don't care too much, but you occasionally talk about women on these boards, and let me tell you, it'd be enough to scare off 95% of the women out there.

There is a lot to be said for a Mame cabinet that is configured with a large monitor and a variety of controls, too.  You could replace virtually all of your Mame cabinets with one well planned cabinet.  If you sold off a lot of your parts you could probably do it for very little money.  I recently added a cocktail Mame game and even it feels redundant since I can play all the same stuff on my big Mame.  And, that Mame will go after I get a real nice authentic classic cocktail of a game I really like.

Just some suggestions.

Wade

[BillyJack]

Yeah, Paige is quite helpful.  He hooked me up with a guy to get used cabs from.  Hey Paige, have you ever done any business with MSVend on ebay, or Mike Smith, of Mike's vending in Pryor OK (same person)?


BillyJack

[Apollo]

Yeah sorry Paige, long day at work when I wrote that. I'm just jealous that's all. No hard feelings I hope.
You have posted a lot of very useful stuff in the past, certainly more than I have to offer, lol.
Keep up the good work!  

[paigeoliver]

Hmmm, maybe I will just bite the bullet and scratchbuild a larger "Deluxe" type cabinet with 2 8-ways, trackball, and spinner (and rotating monitor). I could sell my (largely redundant) Space Firebird mini, one of the Defender cabinets, and perhaps the Turbo or Sprint 2 to help finance it.

From there perhaps I could slap the original panel back on the Amazing Maze and downgrade the computer and just have it run the original game. It doesn't have sound in Mame, but that is OK, because (get this) sound was "optional" on the original cabinets anyway (mine was a no sound cab, no speaker, no audio wiring, and an obviously factory speaker hole block off plate where the speaker normally goes).

I think I will go ahead and drop a computer in the Battlezone. The missing vector monitor and boardset would cost as much as a working Battlezone would anyway.

On the Solitaire I am thinking rotate the monitor to vertical, and move the trackball to a more sane location.

As far as the Sprint 2, Turbo, and Defender goes. I am going to try to learn patience, and just wait until I can afford to restore them (in the case of the Defender, since parts are always available), or until the parts I need pop up on ebay.

For the Magical Spot cocktail, I am still up in the air about it. I could PROBABLY trade my two dead 13" monitors for a working one from a guy I know, but the boardsets for that game are largely unavailable. Which basically leaves me with 3 options; Mame running original game (which has sound issues), run a different but similar game, or sell it to someone who might do something worse.

Making an all-in-one cabinet will go a long way towards making it easier to downsize my collection when the time comes to do so. I figure I will have to lose two to eight games when I get married. How many of course will depend on the girl, and where we are gonna live.

Thanks for all who have been the voice of reason in this post.

Now here are a few responses specific to Wade's post.

All of my current complete Mame cabinets (besides the Gorf, which I didn't build myself and haven't even been picked up yet), are in nice yet fairly rare cabinets that have unavailable boardsets and still wouldn't be worth much if they did work (Space Firebirds have a common issue of missing shot animations that no one knows how to fix, mine had that, Solitaires aren't worth jack, and most are dead from battery problems now, Amazing Maze has available boardsets because it uses the Space Invaders boardset, but unavailable input board, and working it would be worth maybe $100, Artic cabinets were all bootleg to begin with, it is a much better game for being Mamed).

I actually have a rather largish apartment. I do have a dedicated gameroom, but right now all of my working games are in the living room (except the pin), and the dead ones are in the gameroom (where I am working on them). It is not overly cramped or game-overloaded. The girls who have been over haven't acted like there was anything weird about it. I do have a bit more in the living room than I want at the moment, but that is because I wanted the gameroom really sparse so I have room to pull those games out from the wall and work on them.

I am going to have to make one space concession though. I don't really have the room to have three separate cocktails set up all the time. I am probably going to put one or two of them in the basement and rotate which one/s get set up.

If I can bust ass and get that Battlezone up and running this weekend, then I can drag the Sprint 2 down to the basement to sit until parts for it show up. Then (after the following weekend's trade pickup), I will be at 100 percent working for games actually in the apartment (would be 12 total), and I can go ahead and move several of the living room games back into the game room. Selling the Firebird and building a new Mame would still keep that total at 12. (Although fixing the Turbo, Defender, Sprint 2, and Magical Spot would bring that total up to 16, which MIGHT be too many).

[spidermonkey]

Paige just likes to verbally wallow in his slew of games and parts. Thats what makes him who he is. He lives,sleeps and breathes arcade games.  Reminds me of Daffy Duck when he and Porky Pig find a genie's pyramid full of gold and treasure and Daffy is doing the back stroke through a pile of gold coins screaming "Its MINE MINE ALL MINE !! . This place wouldn't be the same without you Paige. Thanks to your knowledge you've probably answered at least one question from just about everyone on this board at one time or another. I'm starting to learn a bit more about dedicated games since I've been lurking around the message boards over at the KLOV site.  Oh yeh by the way, I have two MAME uprights in my dining room and I can't decide if I should move the larger one against the opposite wall next to my box of joysticks or maybe I should make a wall display with the joysticks and move my barrel of pushbuttons back over by the smaller machine so I have a place to sit. Or better yet ect....  Just bustin your chops Paige. Nothin but luv here.

[paigeoliver]

My collection might be huge by the standards of the Mame community, but it is only about average compared to what most dedicated game collectors have.

There are collectors out there who literally have HUNDREDS of games. I wouldn't even want that many (ok, yes I would), the extra rent/home price required to support a collection that size, combined with the extra power work in the house you would need to even be able to power them all up, combined with keeping them all running would just be a nightmare.

Reading some of the RGVAC posts about people having to upgrade their home's elestrical systems because of games, makes me realize that my collection is tame by comparison.

[Spaced Invader]

At least your not obsessed with cats!  

Seriously...NICE collection!

[Stingray]

The girls who have been over haven't acted like there was anything weird about it.

Oh there's definitely something weird about it, but it's good weird.  

Good luck on that Battlezone.

-S

[paigeoliver]

Ok, I took a bit of an inventory today, and I am beginning to form some more solid plans on projects, and changes to current machines.

Amazing Maze (currently holding a Capcom layout). Reinstall factory overlay, swith over to new 4-way sticks, one for each player. That will make this cabinet into a horizontal 4-way one, so I can finally play Rally-X and Zoo Keeper without letterboxing. Install a set of casters on the bottom of the cabinet, not so much to be able to move it, but simply to raise it up a few inches. This cabinet is almost unique among games as it actually places the 1st player on the right and the second player on the left (as labeled on the overlay). Will need 2 new 4-ways.

Dynamo mini. (Currently has trackball, start buttons, and 14" display). Replace 14" display with 21" model. Add player one and player 2 joysticks (wicos), with 4 buttons each. I did some measuring and this cabinet will actually hold a 2 player layout in addition to the trackball, it is just BARELY short of being able to handle 6 buttons though. I never play 6 button games anyway, so no loss.

Those are the most immediate changes. Those changes alone will mean that I can eventually cut my collection down to 3, if needed.

[Wade]

Hmmm, maybe I will just bite the bullet and scratchbuild a larger "Deluxe" type cabinet with 2 8-ways, trackball, and spinner (and rotating monitor). I could sell my (largely redundant) Space Firebird mini, one of the Defender cabinets, and perhaps the Turbo or Sprint 2 to help finance it.

Why have a rotating monitor?  If you use a 27" or 25" monitor vertically, you can play vertical games very close to their original size.  This just seems like the perfect compromise to me, when there is space for a large monitor in an appropriate cab (read: not a classic but one meant for a large monitor and 2+ players) then I just don't see the drawbacks.

From there perhaps I could slap the original panel back on the Amazing Maze and downgrade the computer and just have it run the original game. It doesn't have sound in Mame, but that is OK, because (get this) sound was "optional" on the original cabinets anyway (mine was a no sound cab, no speaker, no audio wiring, and an obviously factory speaker hole block off plate where the speaker normally goes).

I think I will go ahead and drop a computer in the Battlezone. The missing vector monitor and boardset would cost as much as a working Battlezone would anyway.

On the Solitaire I am thinking rotate the monitor to vertical, and move the trackball to a more sane location.

As far as the Sprint 2, Turbo, and Defender goes. I am going to try to learn patience, and just wait until I can afford to restore them (in the case of the Defender, since parts are always available), or until the parts I need pop up on ebay.

For the Magical Spot cocktail, I am still up in the air about it. I could PROBABLY trade my two dead 13" monitors for a working one from a guy I know, but the boardsets for that game are largely unavailable. Which basically leaves me with 3 options; Mame running original game (which has sound issues), run a different but similar game, or sell it to someone who might do something worse.

Making an all-in-one cabinet will go a long way towards making it easier to downsize my collection when the time comes to do so. I figure I will have to lose two to eight games when I get married. How many of course will depend on the girl, and where we are gonna live.

Well, hopefully when you find a woman she won't force you to do anything.  I'm sure there will be a point when she starts asking why you have so many broken games and so many games that all do the same thing and have a PC in them.

An all-in-one mame really makes sense for a lot of reasons.  I really don't understand why you would want to keep around a bunch of boxes that essentially do the same thing, if you have an all-in-one that can do it all?

I have a versatile upright mame and a cocktail mame, and I can't help but feel the cocktail is redundant when all the same games can be played on the upright.  I'm probably going to get rid of the cocktail eventually in favor of a classic cocktail.  At least that way, the game is actually holding some value, rather than just sitting there taking up space.

Thanks for all who have been the voice of reason in this post.

Now here are a few responses specific to Wade's post.

You say it as if my response isn't the voice of reason...  Trust me, I'm making very reasonable suggestions.

All of my current complete Mame cabinets (besides the Gorf, which I didn't build myself and haven't even been picked up yet), are in nice yet fairly rare cabinets that have unavailable boardsets and still wouldn't be worth much if they did work (Space Firebirds have a common issue of missing shot animations that no one knows how to fix, mine had that, Solitaires aren't worth jack, and most are dead from battery problems now, Amazing Maze has available boardsets because it uses the Space Invaders boardset, but unavailable input board, and working it would be worth maybe $100, Artic cabinets were all bootleg to begin with, it is a much better game for being Mamed).

So they might not be worth fixing.  But they would make good cabinets for someone else wanting a Mame, right?  So at least, you might be able to get rid of them if you are wanting to clean up or narrow down your collection.

I actually have a rather largish apartment. I do have a dedicated gameroom, but right now all of my working games are in the living room (except the pin), and the dead ones are in the gameroom (where I am working on them). It is not overly cramped or game-overloaded. The girls who have been over haven't acted like there was anything weird about it. I do have a bit more in the living room than I want at the moment, but that is because I wanted the gameroom really sparse so I have room to pull those games out from the wall and work on them.

It's not just the size of your apartment or how many rooms you have with games in them.  I'm just saying that it makes more sense when people who already have a house/family etc. turn an extra room/basement etc. into a gameroom.  You are young and single and living in an apartment, your life hopefully has huge changes ahead.  Of course, I guess you could always try to sell, give away, or trash your games if you were in a pinch.  You may not think the girls think it is weird but then again you don't know what they say after they leave.

I am going to have to make one space concession though. I don't really have the room to have three separate cocktails set up all the time. I am probably going to put one or two of them in the basement and rotate which one/s get set up.

If I can bust ass and get that Battlezone up and running this weekend, then I can drag the Sprint 2 down to the basement to sit until parts for it show up. Then (after the following weekend's trade pickup), I will be at 100 percent working for games actually in the apartment (would be 12 total), and I can go ahead and move several of the living room games back into the game room. Selling the Firebird and building a new Mame would still keep that total at 12. (Although fixing the Turbo, Defender, Sprint 2, and Magical Spot would bring that total up to 16, which MIGHT be too many).

Then again, it sounds like you really want to have as many games as possible, valuable/working or not.  It's your choice of course, not ours!  Regardless of what you think, I *am* the voice of reason when I assure you that most "reasonable" people would think that when a young person without a pot to p!ss in has enough arcade games to fill a tractor trailer, then he probably has his priorities screwed up.

Wade

[paigeoliver]

Why have a rotating monitor?  If you use a 27" or 25" monitor vertically, you can play vertical games very close to their original size.  This just seems like the perfect compromise to me, when there is space for a large monitor in an appropriate cab (read: not a classic but one meant for a large monitor and 2+ players) then I just don't see the drawbacks.

The main reason (to me) not to use a 27" monitor is cost. A 27" VGA costs a lot of money, and they are not easily found used in decent condition (I have been looking). And using a standard res with arcadeVGA is unacceptable to me, because the vertical games would display, but they would be "scaled down" to a lower resolution than what they run natively.

Well, hopefully when you find a woman she won't force you to do anything.  I'm sure there will be a point when she starts asking why you have so many broken games and so many games that all do the same thing and have a PC in them.

I hope she won't MAKE me do anything either. One assumption I have always worked with is that I would be selling at least a couple of games simply to finance the engagement ring and honeymoon.

An all-in-one mame really makes sense for a lot of reasons.  I really don't understand why you would want to keep around a bunch of boxes that essentially do the same thing, if you have an all-in-one that can do it all?

I have a versatile upright mame and a cocktail mame, and I can't help but feel the cocktail is redundant when all the same games can be played on the upright.  I'm probably going to get rid of the cocktail eventually in favor of a classic cocktail.  At least that way, the game is actually holding some value, rather than just sitting there taking up space.

They have different feels, sometimes very different feels. Although (as stated before), I TRY not to end up with completely redundant machines. Doing different control types and monitor orientations helps to come up with a unique game list for each machine.

You say it as if my response isn't the voice of reason...  Trust me, I'm making very reasonable suggestions.

Actually, I respected your opinion enough that I personally responded, please take no offense.

So they might not be worth fixing.  But they would make good cabinets for someone else wanting a Mame, right?  So at least, you might be able to get rid of them if you are wanting to clean up or narrow down your collection.

Very true. Over the years I have bought and sold many games, and mostly kept the "gems". I rarely ever part with a gem. It can be difficult. I can sell an imperfect Crystal Castles or Turbo in a minute (despite the fact that I LOVE those games), as I can always find a nicer one. But I have more touble with other games, how can I part with a Do! Run Run that looks like it just came out of the crate, how can I sell the only known surviving example of an Amazing Maze upright, why would I sell the nicest Out Run I have ever seen? I know eventually I will have to, but for now it is hard.

It's not just the size of your apartment or how many rooms you have with games in them.  I'm just saying that it makes more sense when people who already have a house/family etc. turn an extra room/basement etc. into a gameroom.  You are young and single and living in an apartment, your life hopefully has huge changes ahead.  Of course, I guess you could always try to sell, give away, or trash your games if you were in a pinch.  You may not think the girls think it is weird but then again you don't know what they say after they leave.

You are right, I DON'T know what the girls say when they leave.  

Then again, it sounds like you really want to have as many games as possible, valuable/working or not.  It's your choice of course, not ours!  Regardless of what you think, I *am* the voice of reason when I assure you that most "reasonable" people would think that when a young person without a pot to p!ss in has enough arcade games to fill a tractor trailer, then he probably has his priorities screwed up.

It isn't that I want to have AS MANY games as possible. I am pretty sure I have owned more in the past (and I have straight out sold at least 20 games, maybe more), it is just that once I get a really nice game, I just don't want to let it go. I don't really make a lot of distinction about what is actually running inside (Mame or original boards), as for right now Mame powered machines are actually more valuable, and one day it is almost all going to be Mame anyway.

Now it is VERY true that I don't have a lot of money, and my arcade collection does probably comprise 60 percent or more of my net worth (did some quick calculations based on conservative resale values and figured I have $6600 worth of games, while my car is maybe worth $2500, and I own little else of value). But, with interest rates this low, my games are probably a better investment right now than having money in the bank.

But, yes, someday there will come a time of major downsizing, unless I purchase a house as soon as I get married (in which case they would all just go in the basement). Oh, and I am likely Maming that spare cocktail (the empty one) and selling it to another BYOAC member (am in discussions about it now). I should probably (probably soon) just get myself to sell my Time Pilot cocktail, since my other cocktail (the mame one that I am picking up tommorrow) is nicer, and can play Time Pilot anyway. Talks are also currently going on to rid myself of the Firebird as well (except right now the most likely deal would actually end up with me receiving 2 games for it, EEEK!)

[Wade]

As far as a 27" monitor... I'm sure if you keep feelers out there you'll turn one up inexpensively eventually.  I don't know about the arcadevga problem you mention, probably deserves it's own thread.  There are other options though (25"-27" arcade with Trident blade card, etc.)  And we even know of a place selling new 27" cga's for < $200 now!  Every mame display is a compromise of some sort.

Well, at least you are thinking about this stuff.  It really is a fun hobby and I know where you're coming from, but it's good to try to keep it in perspective.  Bottom line, if you are doing what you want to do then that's all that really matters (until you have someone else to consider).

These talks about the cocktail Mame stuff has me really thinking I should try to sell my Mame cocktail and get a dedicated cocktail instead, assuming I can get a fair amount for it (never sold a Mame before and don't know how easy or hard it is going to be!).  I've been on the fence about it all along but now I'm really thinking this is the way to go.

Wade

[paigeoliver]

I don't know about the arcadevga problem you mention, probably deserves it's own thread.  

It is not a limitation of the arcadeVGA as much as it is a limitation of the tube.
Like for example, if you are watching a TV show, which shows a picture of a television. Whatever that TV inside your TV is showing cannot be running at its true size because a standard horizontal tv signal is a certain amount of lines tall, and it is taking up less lines on your set, and thus it is scaled down.

It is the same thing with the vertical games. Their proper resolution makes them fill the entire screen, when they are turned and displayed with the black lines on the side, they MUST be scaled down somewhat. The exact same thing also holds true for using a television for a display, and is actually where I first witnessed the fact that you CAN tell, at least on some games.

Games that tend to have big solid pixels and not too many colors tend to display just fine scaled down a bit. Newer games with really good graphics also scale very well. What scales terribly are games with simple, but highly detailed graphics. Stuff like a shot that is one pixel wide (very common), you can't scale down a single pixel, all you can really do is either display it too large, or blend it in with whatever is around it (which I THINK is what is being done with arcade VGA or a TV), which muddies the picture.

[Wade]

I'm not a monitor expert but that makes sense to me from a layman's perspective.  So skip the arcadevga and use an big EGA or VGA monitor.

Wade

[Nailz]

Paige, I despise you and all you stand for you bastard.....  

Actually, I just want to live vicariously through you, it's eough work just keeping what I have now (Mame cab and a Pac-Man).  Women say they understand your stupid hobbies until you get married and then things change, because of course a big-ass yellow Pac-Man cab goes with nothing in a typical house so it must go to the garage, along with everything else you collect.  

Although admittedly, the Pac-Man looks pretty good sitting next to the 66' Mustang Coupe my wife agreed to let me buy, so what the heck do I know?  

Anyways, enjoy your hobby and give us some damn pictures.

[krick]

I don't know about the arcadevga problem you mention, probably deserves it's own thread.  

It is the same thing with the vertical games. Their proper resolution makes them fill the entire screen, when they are turned and displayed with the black lines on the side, they MUST be scaled down somewhat. The exact same thing also holds true for using a television for a display, and is actually where I first witnessed the fact that you CAN tell, at least on some games.

You could get a Wells Gardner D9200 27" arcade monitor.  It is a multi-freq monitor that can handle 15/25/31KHz.  There's a patch for the ArcadeVGA that allows you to send 15 or 31 KHz signals.  So in theory, you could run all the horizontal games at 15KHz, and run all the vertical games at 31KHz with a higher resolution, so they don't need to be scaled down.

I talked with a salesperson at Wells Gardner a few weeks ago and they said that they're coming out with a 25" multi-freq model sometime this year.  So if the 27" is out of your price range, maybe the 25" will fit the bill.

I plan on getting the 25" model for my cab when it is available.

...
Krick

[paigeoliver]

I don't know about the arcadevga problem you mention, probably deserves it's own thread.  

It is the same thing with the vertical games. Their proper resolution makes them fill the entire screen, when they are turned and displayed with the black lines on the side, they MUST be scaled down somewhat. The exact same thing also holds true for using a television for a display, and is actually where I first witnessed the fact that you CAN tell, at least on some games.

You could get a Wells Gardner D9200 27" arcade monitor.  It is a multi-freq monitor that can handle 15/25/31KHz.  There's a patch for the ArcadeVGA that allows you to send 15 or 31 KHz signals.  So in theory, you could run all the horizontal games at 15KHz, and run all the vertical games at 31KHz with a higher resolution, so they don't need to be scaled down.

I talked with a salesperson at Wells Gardner a few weeks ago and they said that they're coming out with a 25" multi-freq model sometime this year.  So if the 27" is out of your price range, maybe the 25" will fit the bill.

I plan on getting the 25" model for my cab when it is available.

...
Krick

I have been wary about the D9200 for quite some time. People seem to love it around here, but it seems to have quite a bad reputation in the actual industry. High failure rates apparently (one clue is the sheer number of "refurb" units they have available). Of course I wouldn't pass up one if the price was right.

I don't mind scaling things up (running low res games at VGA res), so a VGA-only monitor is fine by my book (don't want to particularly fork out an extra $100 for an arcadeVGA anyway).

But, things just keep a changing around my place.

I brought home my new games. Popeye (dedicated, working), and Gorf (cocktail, Mame, working). I had THOUGHT the Gorf was going to seem like a duplicate of my Space Firebird, but it doesn't. Turns out that MOST 8-way vertical games have two buttons, and thus the Gorf has a MUCH smaller gamelist (compare 600, to like 40).

After getting the new stuff home (and in the process losing my non-working Force II pin, which the new owner fixed in an HOUR, and my nonworking Sprint One), I rearranged EVERYTHING.

The game room is now an actual gameroom again, and not a dead game graveyard. ALL of my uprights and minis are now in there, and it is full, but not cramped. The left wall has Kangaroo, Solitaire, Galaga, and Do! Run Run, while the right wall has Out Run, Amazing Maze, Battlezone, Popeye, and my Victory pinball, while the Space Firebird is on the other wall by the door (only game I own that would fit there without making it hard to enter the room). Everything works in there now except the Battlezone, and since the Battlezone now has it's monitor installed and keyboard hacked, it should be up before this weekends party. That room is now fully dedicated to games, and no longer holds any random junk.

The Time Pilot cocktail is still serving as my kitchen table. While I put my Gorf cocktail where my main row of uprights used to be (in the living room), and my (non-working) Magical Spot cocktail is also in the living room.

I will not be keeping the Magical Spot. I will never find a board to make it dedicated again, and anything Mame would just duplicate something I already have. The only thing I could possibly do with it that wouldn't be a duplicate would be to turn it into a Pong, and I am not going to do that.

Once the Magical Spot is gone I am going to have A LOT of open living room space, which I will probably use for a table, or maybe another couch? There is still one prime spot open in there for an upright, which is reserved for my Defender when I finish it.

I have decided that Turbo, Sprint 2, and that second Defender cabinet have all gotta go. The Sprint 2 isn't nice enough for the living room, and it would take up the space of two games if I was to put it in the game room. I never did need two Defenders, that was just an accident. I made separate deals for what I THOUGHT was one Defender cabinet with sideart, and one with laminate, to be picked up from separate people the same day, I ended up getting TWO of them with sideart. I had planned on making one a Defender, and using the laminate one for Road Fighter or City Connection, but now I can't do that, because I refuse to paint over sideart. I like Turbo, but the one I have is a little beat up, probably my roughest game. I might try to clean it up before I make a final decision on it.

Soon as I move a game/cabinet for some cash I am going to finish up my Defender, upgrade the monitor size on my Solitaire (and add a spinner and a 4-way stick), and pretty much be done with this whole business.

[Wade]

Paige,

   The scaling problem with the ArcadeVGA you mentioned doesn't exist.  I asked Andy about it and he said that vertical games are played in exactly the correct resolution as intended, when in a horizontal config.  At least, that's how I interpreted what he said.  Perhaps he will chime in.

   Maybe you are thinking about the way vector games look on an arcade monitor?

Wade