YIKE$, I added up my expenditures...

[RayB]

I don't know how many of you are anal enough to keep track of your purchases in a spreadsheet, but I am (it's the best way to know when you've gone a little too "ebay crazy", and to chill for a while).

I added up all Arcade related purchases for the last 12 months: $2,325.38!! YEOW! (that's canadian, so we're talking about $1750 us).

That adds up to the same monthly as my car payments.

And no, it's not all for the one MAME cab I'm working on. This includes parts for several cabs, and also includes things like the parts I used on the top-fire joysticks I sold, and includes shipping.

But still!    I could've gone on vacation instead!

~Ray B.

[Hoagie_one]

I spent about $140 for the bartop I built.  I estimate it will cost 3 times that to finish my big one.

[Mr. Dude]

Yeah... I figured my cab cost just a little over a grand.  The wife still hangs that one over my head too.

[Chris]

When I first built my cab, it cost about $300 total.  Then, when the Act-Labs guns came out, I decided to upgrade it... and that started a ball of expenditures that's over a thousand dollars now...

[MinerAl]

In all, the first revision of my cab cost me about $300.  Since that first version, I've probably "improved" it another $200.

The stupid thing is the $500 of parts that don't go to anything I have in closets and boxes.  I reallly need to make that 2nd, 3rd, and 4th cabinets

[johnnysmitch]

Yeah, I'm almost glad I haven't been saving receipts on my arcade purchases - I don't really want to know how much I've thrown at it.  It's all the little extras that come up that add up like crazy... too many 'improvements' that I think up as I build.  I'd have to guess my costs are around $600 thus far...

[Buddabing]

Today my wife threw away the plywood I had cut for my swappable CPs.

That'll teach me to procrastinate.

[namzep]

I've been keeping track of expenditures on my website and all I can say is that this hobby is very expensive.  Fun, but expensive.  

[DYNAGOD]

not to mention...
how much is your time worth?  

[NoOne=NBA=]

I was smart enough to NOT add anything up.

[GGKoul]

I was smart enough to NOT add anything up.

Don't tell your wife.

[sonicflood]

I'm in for about $810.00 thus far & still need a spinner to complete my CP.

I'm getting back $200.00 in rebates from the purchase of my barebones computer that I bought from TigerDirect.

So, when all is done, $710.00 for my first cab.

I bought the cab (complete NBA JAM) & began the project in August, so that's about $350.00/month thus far!  

Oh $h*t, I need to eBay some stuff!    Ha!  It's SO much fun though & I found this place too hang out too!

Scott

[Bgnome]

I'm getting back $200.00 in rebates from the purchase of my barebones computer that I bought from TigerDirect.

don't hold your breath..

[telengard]

I don't know how many of you are anal enough to keep track of your purchases in a spreadsheet, but I am (it's the best way to know when you've gone a little too "ebay crazy", and to chill for a while).

I added up all Arcade related purchases for the last 12 months: $2,325.38!! YEOW!

That adds up to the same monthly as my car payments.

And no, it's not all for the one MAME cab I'm working on. This includes parts for several cabs, and also includes things like the parts I used on the top-fire joysticks I sold, and includes shipping.

But still!    I could've gone on vacation instead!

~Ray B.

Oh man, I wouldn't even want to think about this.  Between the botched artwork, original controls, swappable panels then modular panels, moving from molex to cat 5, just too much $$ to think about.

It's all worth it though, and I'll keep spending    

( an arcade monitor is next hopefully )        

[SpamMe]

I've spent a bit over $1,000 so far, about $350 more than I'd planned on. $250 for a used dance pad I thought I'd never need, about $100 for a spinner and knob I hadn't planned on getting

[Gunstar Hero]

I love this hobby. Never have I been able to have so much fun for so little cash. This hobby also rewards you well for scavanging old wood scraps & hardware piles and being inventive!
 
You wanna spend some bucks, try R/C cars! I spent well over $3000 one summer on R/C racing and haven't touched those things in 10 months at best.

Seriously, unless you go hog wild, wood is cheap, PC stuff these days (especially MAME quality) isn't too bad, and you can slap together a nice CP for $100.

So far, my expense report looks like... (amounts rounded up)

Empty and stripped PolePos shell - Free
Project Arcade Book - $20.00
PolePos marquee and glass monotor bezel (and unused dash panel, shifter, wheel, optical board and pedal) - $60.00 (ebay)
Used coin door - $40.00 (ebay)
Wood, Paint and Connectors - $100.00 (and that's being generous!)
MAME PC (Athlon XP 2000, 40Gb, 256 DDR, Radeon 7200) - $250.00
Monitor (KDS 21 inch) - $100.00
CP (2 P360 sticks, 17 buttons, wires, IPAC) - $120.00
Emus and ROMS - Free

All in all, I'm into my cab for about $700.00. If I'd just made my own marquee and bezel, used my old PC and monitor and gone with cheaper sticks I could easily take almost $400 of that off!!

I figure before I finish with this cab I'll spend at least another few hundred tho on just trimmings... new t molding, better input devices, ect ect.

Where this hobby gets expensive is classic arcade parts, custom graphics and big, new monitors. =)

[Pieman2004]

I think I've spent about $110 on my project. Which is still a newborn you could say.
I got a free cab. Used one of my PC monitors I got from work. I also used an older PC that my dad no longer needed. All I've really done to the cabinet is get the control panel set up. I didn't have to buy would either, cause I cut it out of metal on my dads cybermation machine at work.
Now I can play it and might not spend much money on it for a while.
I looks like crap though.
no paint. no bezel. no marquee. no artwork. no coindoor.
It's fun though

[Hoagie_one]

my bartop is finishied except the artwork and im unhappy with it.  Lets not forget teh costs of re-modeling the things.

[danny_galaga]

hurts doesn't it, when you add it up?  

[Hoagie_one]

thinking about the costs along with the the thread last week about how much we actually play these things is making me reconcider finishing my upright

[danny_galaga]

thinking about the costs along with the the thread last week about how much we actually play these things is making me reconcider finishing my upright

"ahhh, but its not the destination, its the journey on the way..."

or "its not the kill, its the thrill of the chase"

[Hoagie_one]

i guess, lol

[AlanS17]

My first machine probably cost me around $1000, of which I'd say $300 or $400 was just in little parts, tools, and supplies that weren't even arcade-specific. Otherwise, the PC was free, the monitor was $250, and the machine was $50.

That's breaks down as:
big essentials -> $300
new small stuff -> $400
improvements ->$300

A cabinet that isn't already in stellar condition can be a real money pit if you're you're satisfied with it.

[LeedsFan]

I'm starting out on my first MAME cab. I did loads of research first on prices for components etc. and I even considered buying a ready made machine from DreamAuthentics. Their Excalibur unit costs around

[RayB]

I shold have converted my figure. It was in Canadian dollars. The US amount is closer to $1750.

Includes new monitor from Happ, with shipping, taxes and import fees... Parts for my Galaga, t-molding for 4 cabs, cost of 3 used cabs in various shape... so at least what I spent isn't all on one project.

~Ray

[warreng]

I love this hobby. Never have I been able to have so much fun for so little cash. This hobby also rewards you well for scavanging old wood scraps & hardware piles and being inventive!
 
You wanna spend some bucks, try R/C cars! I spent well over $3000 one summer on R/C racing and haven't touched those things in 10 months at best.

I must agree with GH here. If you think MAME is an OVERLY expensive hobby, then you must not have had very many hobbies.

I used to fly R/C planes. A single plane runs anywhere from $300.00 to $2000.00 or more and almost nobody has just one plane. I had six of them at one point. Not to mention the fact that when I went out for a day of flying, it was an all day event which meant I was not home nearly as much.

If my wife starts to complain about the amount of time or money I'm spending on my MAME project, all I have to do is remind her of all of her friends whose husbands play golf. Those guys are away from home ALOT and a round of golf at a decent course is anywhere from $30 to $100 a pop. At least my MAME cabinet is more-or-less a one-time expenditure, and if she needs me for something, all she has to do is yell upstairs to get my attention.

All-in-all, I think MAME is one of the more innocuous hobbies I have had.

-warreng

[RayB]

Actually to put things in persepective.... if you buy 2 modern day games a month at $50 a pop, you're spending $1200 a year on games (not counting the consoles themselves). Correction, when i say "you" I mean ME.  

[atari2600chick]

I have only started adding up my expenses... and i havent even started building yet.....  

   This week I ordered some of my stuff for my arcade and got a call from my bank today to just check that I made the purchases (in case of visa fraud I ordered online from Australia) which is nice that my bank did that but I nearly had a heart attack when they told me how much it was for.

I will start with the worst expense... $US to $AU conversion has cost me $AU78 on top of a $US 193.85 order to convert from AU to US$ (lousy Aussie $  )

Grand total so far is AU$271 for IPAC2, 2 tstick plus, 25 pushbuttons, wrench, marquee retainer. Even with the high cost its still cheepa for me to get them all from the US than here in Australia (or works about the same give or take a few $ but I get to choose what I want rather than limited AU stock.)

Shipping $US45 (AU$60). Jennifer from Happ controls sent me an email regarding shipping I picked DHL as an option which would have cost AU$117 for shipping, now its costing $AU40 from them, I was so grateful... for her email it has saved me a lot of money...

Wood and hardwear supplies so far $55. At this stage its for a mini arcade but I am starting to rethink this and maybe I should make an upright seeing I have spent all this money on a 2P CP config......



 

[wrxh8r]

Yes well shipping on top of cost is a pain when you all the way down here.im in nz.allthough on a happier note the cost of shipping a coin door from happs doesnt excede the cost of the door.Arcade parts in nz that ive been able to find cost an arm and a leg.