small mame cabinet...maybe cabaret style?

[Nerd Of Nerds]

hello! i have pretty much completed my first mame cab and i am well into the construction of my cocktail cab...i love mame

sooo, long story short, my sister was talking about how boring her dorm room was (nothing to do...) so i suggested a mame cabinet...we got talking and she said that i should build one to loan to her and i could keep any money that people put into it...  so i was gonna just loan her one of mine for the school yeah...AFTER we decided that this was all a good idea she thought it might be good to tell me that whe was on the 3rd floor... wow...even a cocktail cab would be a pain in the ass to move up there... soooo the idea passed and i went about my buisness...

until yesterday...there is a very mysterious arcade vendor in nebraska that is selling EVERYTHING they have...and i noticed a cabaret style ms. pac man cab with a centipede cab the same size next to it...i asked the guy how much it was he said it was 800 bucks...hmmm... a bit much...yikes...

but today i decided that it would be fun to build one...for my sisters dorm! are there any plans for cabaret style cabinets? i don't want a bartop style...cuz i am gonna keep it when she is done...so i want it to still be upright...well?

it doesn't HAVE to be ms. pac man (but i'd like it to be...)

[pointdablame]

Just thought I'd chime in for a second and say that you can't charge people to play your MAME machine.  It's illegal, and could possibly grab the attention of someone at a place as big as a college (depending on the school size of course)

Just thought I'd let you know though.... don't wanna bring MAME into the legal limelight moreso that it is, now do we?

[spystyle]

Jelloslug has Tron cabaret plans :

http://www.jelloslug.mamehost.com/
(click cabrio)

There are mini Pac-Man and mini Defender style plans here : www.minimame.com

And you could simply scale/modify any of the cabs @ www.jakobud.com (It's a real American website)

As you've probably read in this forum, if weight is an issue build from plywood.

If it's going in a girl's dormroom keep the controls and menu super simple, and clearly labeled.

Dig it?
Craig

[F1r3f1ght3r]

...there is a very mysterious arcade vendor in nebraska that is selling EVERYTHING they have...

Where is the vendor located... it's not the LL on west O in lincoln is it?  


I set up a CP for a friends little brother to use on his pc in his dorm a few years ago (@ UNL)... he just kept a bank next to the CP .... "free will offering" quarter a game suggested "donation".

I agree with Pointdablame... You WILL DRAW ATTENTION (mostly unwanted)with a cab in a room that you are charging to play on....


Back to lurking....

[spystyle]

I don't think you'd draw attention if it was a dedicated cab (one game only)

But what one game would be lucritave in a girl's dormroom?

Maybe one of the multi-game roms, like the "Namco Classics", it's one rom with several games.

Does anyone have a list of all the 100% working multi-roms?

I don't think we should flame the guy if he wants to make a coin-op cab, he could always purchase one of those legal roms on-line if it would keep him from getting scolded.

Just my opinion,
Craig

[Nerd Of Nerds]

...there is a very mysterious arcade vendor in nebraska that is selling EVERYTHING they have...

Where is the vendor located... it's not the LL on west O in lincoln is it?  


I set up a CP for a friends little brother to use on his pc in his dorm a few years ago (@ UNL)... he just kept a bank next to the CP .... "free will offering" quarter a game suggested "donation".

I agree with Pointdablame... You WILL DRAW ATTENTION (mostly unwanted)with a cab in a room that you are charging to play on....


Back to lurking....

I think it is out by emerald (not sure if i spelled that right...)

but the it is kinda odd...the owner was involved with some kind of drug bust and is running from the law right now and his friend is fixing all of the arcades and selling everything...

and i think i'll have a free credit button on it with the words "cheap ---daisies---! I have to eat to ya know!"

but the vendor has all kinds of stuff...craploads of monitor chassis...some cocktail cabs...a VERY gutted out tron cab with half of one of the joysticks... ...the place was pretty sad...if you go to check it ouy i wouldn't recomend wearing flip flops or sandals...the only words for it are...complete and total craphole...it was naaasty

i realy wish i had the money to go back and but bunches of stuff...but i'm just 14 (soon 15..) and don't have money or a job...

oh...and the buy at the vendor is a bit of a nut...i asked him if he had any working monitors and he said that anything he gets working goes into a n arcade...then he asked if i needed any repaired and i said no, but i am deathly afraid of them...to which he replied "it won't kill ya, it'll just bite you, its low current" hahahahaha

back on topic...

i think i might design my own...or if there are more plans available...

[RayB]

Girl's dorm? If it weren't for the fact that your SISTER is involved, I'd say install a spy camera and wirless transmitter! hee hee  

[F1r3f1ght3r]

I think it is out by emerald (not sure if i spelled that right...)

That's the place.... STAY AWAY... can't tell you how many times that place has been raided by the State Patrol and LCSD.

Why not build a table top like:

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=10;action=display;threadid=21895

you could fit it with a single coin slot on the side and hide a free play button on the back.

[pointdablame]

Just for the record, I wasn't scolding anybody.  I simply said that it wasn't a good idea.  

Spystyle - He said he was building a MAME machine, not a dedicated machine.  Dedicated machines are a totally different story, and I wouldn't have said anything about charging in that case.  But he said MAME machine, which makes it illegal.  Also, even if he had Namco classics or the like, that is a personal liscense to play those games.  You CANNOT buy Namco classics at CompUSA, put it in your MAME machine, and charge people to play it.  That is also totally illegal.

I hope NerdOfNerds didn't take my post as a flame.  I'm simply saying that putting a MAME machine in a college that could potentially have 10-20 thousand people on the campus and charging people for it will get the word out QUICK.  And someone on campus, faculty, security, or otherwise may be tipped off that it's illegal, which it is.  And that could lead to a lot of trouble for Nerd's sister, her school, and MAME itself.

Do yourself a favor Nerd... build your sister a cab, its a great idea.  Just tell her to put a donation can on the other side of the room or charge people for drinks or something.  It's not worth the potential trouble.  Plus as a college student myself, I can tell you that we're all broke... she wouldn't make a ton of money anyway.  Just avoid the trouble

[Nerd Of Nerds]

Just for the record, I wasn't scolding anybody.  I simply said that it wasn't a good idea.  

Spystyle - He said he was building a MAME machine, not a dedicated machine.  Dedicated machines are a totally different story, and I wouldn't have said anything about charging in that case.  But he said MAME machine, which makes it illegal.  Also, even if he had Namco classics or the like, that is a personal liscense to play those games.  You CANNOT buy Namco classics at CompUSA, put it in your MAME machine, and charge people to play it.  That is also totally illegal.

I hope NerdOfNerds didn't take my post as a flame.  I'm simply saying that putting a MAME machine in a college that could potentially have 10-20 thousand people on the campus and charging people for it will get the word out QUICK.  And someone on campus, faculty, security, or otherwise may be tipped off that it's illegal, which it is.  And that could lead to a lot of trouble for Nerd's sister, her school, and MAME itself.

Do yourself a favor Nerd... build your sister a cab, its a great idea.  Just tell her to put a donation can on the other side of the room or charge people for drinks or something.  It's not worth the potential trouble.  Plus as a college student myself, I can tell you that we're all broke... she wouldn't make a ton of money anyway.  Just avoid the trouble

i didn't take it as a flame at all...i'd like to have the coindoors and such wired up and ready to go...cuz i'm gonna keep it when she is done...

i was thinking of doing a scaled mortal kombat machine...and keep the controls sort of tight together...

as for the vendor...i think it is the old owners friend working there right now...but...it was still creepy as hell...TOTAL craphole...

but darn it...i want that hang on arcade machine

or maybe it would be a fuuun project to design a build at home version....

 

[pointdablame]

Definitely hook up the coindoors, if for nothing else, for authenticity's sake.  Just make sure you have coin buttons somewhere.  Maybe set up both the coin slots and the coin reject buttons as credits, so you can press the eject for coins, or actually put in coins.

[spystyle]

Groovy,
It's cool to see several different opinions on one matter, that's what gives this forum it's diversity.

Pointdablame : I did'nt think you were flaming or scolding, I was just trying to 'nip it at the bud' , I've seen these sort of 'hot topics' quickly escalate into witch hunts and I did'nt want that to happen here.

I say if he wants to build some kind of coin-op cab let's tell him how to , not just what not to do.

As for the legal aspect, it's worth mentioning, but I can't imagine Namco attourneys visiting the girl's dormroom with a vengence, I just can't see that happening ...

(famous last words)

Just my opinion,
Craig

[pointdablame]

Agreed.

The only reason I told him something he shoudl consider not doing is he said that he already finished his first MAME machine and is building a cocktail... so he obviously doesn't need help in the how to department.

To get off this legal topic: I really do love cabaret style cabinets, and if you make up your own plans, please share.  Hopefully I will own/build one one day.

[Nerd Of Nerds]

ok...i think that i am going to use a scaled down version of the mortal kombat cab...i just REALLY like the 3 part front...

about how tall should it be? and what is the lowest the controls should be? waist level?

and should i keep the controls as a 1 player or widen the panel and make it a double? i think double would be fun...but it would have to be pretty tight together...

and should i eliminate the marquee part? it just seens odd to have it sooooo low... or maybe make a super cool slim marquee...



i haven't finished my mame cab...its in pretty bad shape...needs a new control panel and a finished paint job...and a bigger monitor maybe...my craftsmanship has greatly improved over the last few years... so this new one should be pretty spiffy....

could someone give me a link to the topic explaning how to add buttons to the coin reject deals?

THANKS

[pointdablame]

I don't have a link to a thread, but it's pretty simple to do.  Open up your coin door and push in the coin reject button a few times.  Look at what moves and where it moves to.  Then just place a microswitch on the coin mech so that the microswitch button is pressed everytime the coin reject is pushed.  Then just wire up those microswitches to the coin inputs.

[IG-88]

Any updates on how your project is going?

[MikesSecretStash]

Hey if you're putting it in your sister's dorm room, then you might as well charge, in a hallway your asking for trouble, but in a room, hey..a quarter a play never hurt anyone  

Who's gonna bust you? The R.A. ? I don't think so...