Arcade Collecting > Miscellaneous Arcade Talk
Building gameroom in my basement - ideas?
RetroJames:
Hey,
I have another very important suggestion. Iwent over to a local collector's house today and he has a great arcade / gameroom in the basement. On the subject of power, he said he has a full dedicated panel for the basement only. He has at least 10 upright arcade games and at least 8 pins as well as a jukebox.
The feature he pointed out that I thought was very well done was the outlet switches. All outlets in the gameroom are controlled by a panel of about 10 light switches. Each is designated according to the area they serve allowing you to flip your machines on and off from a central location. Very slick, no rooting around for a surge protector on the floor.
You can see his gameroom here:
http://www.alsarcade.com/
His site is a little hard to navigate, but just click "Video" then "Current" for the video games or "Pinball" then "Current" for the pins.
He also has a Varkon. It is an upright arcade cabinet with a pinball game inside. Actual pinball, reflected in a half-silvered mirror. I got to play it and it is WAYYYY cool. Only 90 made. He also has a Reactor, Serial Number 2. Very nice guy to boot.
Good luck!
RayB:
Why's it necessary to have a second electrical panel? Is it because he likes to run all his games at the same time?
Wade:
--- Quote from: Wienerdog on February 05, 2005, 08:10:49 pm ---I'm constantly trying to pictures the roome dimensions needed for this stuff. Wade, what size is your gameroom?
--- End quote ---
It is about 22'x22' I think, but one wall is irregular and has a hallway and only accommodates one game currently. The rest is a couch, stereo, mini fridge. Same wall where we plan to add a booth (in place of the couch).
--- Quote from: DrewKaree on February 05, 2005, 08:43:00 pm ---
--- Quote from: Wade on February 05, 2005, 12:29:28 pm ---
It's important to make accomodations for all the "regular people" too. :)
--- End quote ---
I accomodate people like that by not inviting them ;D
And who are these...how you say....re-gyoo-lur? people you speak of?
--- End quote ---
Seriously, a lot of my friends love the gameroom. But when we have parties, my wife and her friends tend to spend all their time upstairs. I'm really making an effort to make the gameroom more appealing to the non-gamers. It sucks to have parties that are clearly divided up. I'd rather everyone just hang in the gameroom, or at least stay somewhere in the basement.
--- Quote from: RayB on February 07, 2005, 10:11:21 am ---Why's it necessary to have a second electrical panel? Is it because he likes to run all his games at the same time?
--- End quote ---
I don't think having a second panel serves any real purpose (no higher capacity), it is mostly for convenience. For example, if I trip a breaker, I have to run all the way upstairs to the garage to flip it back on.
Being able to have all the games on at the same time SAFELY is just a matter of having enough circuits that are designed for the proper loads. Most people really overload their circuits, but it is dangerous and can cause a fire. Not worth it. A 20amp circuit should have ALL 12 gauge wire, 12 gauge grounded outlets, and should only have 5 or 6 games on it. And that's pushing it. So realistically a gameroom with many games should have 4-5 20amp circuits. Most homes have one circuit per room or worse, and usually are only wired for 15 amps too.
This is why I keep adding circuits, even though I don't have a huge number of games (3 pins 6 vids). I'd rather be safe than sorry. :)
Wade
Trimoor:
Don't worry about overloading. As long as everything is wired to code, the breakers will trip long before it would cause a fire.
RayB:
Hmmm... In my house, the lights will flicker once when an appliance turns on (dryer, furnace, washer, etc...). What causes that? The house is less than 2 years old. I'm gonna have at least 5 games in the basement, plus a home office.
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