New Year's Eve party - 1st Cab use!

[elfman12]

Had a New Year's eve party at the house and my cab is about 95% finished - so I set it up! Man, it was in non-stop use from 7pm till I ran everyone off at 3am. (13 adults, 10 kids)

I still have to get the top marquee, the "control panel side marquees" (see pix) and the Control panel overlay and Lexan installed and I'll be finished! (BTW, the cab's name is ARCADE RENAISSANCE.)  Here's some pix of the cab and some kids - I'm working on a web site for this project, hope to have it up  soon. I took over 400 pix in the last 2 months, so I have to sort through them and post some.

Anyone else have any New Year's Eve parties when their cab got some use/abuse?

[naomi+]

Great way to break it in. looking nice so far.

[isugoat]

it has antlers =P
nice cab man...gotta finish mine up sometime...shouldn't have built my control panel first!

[eightbit]

We had a couple 30+ people Christmas partys and my arcade cab was more popular than my x-box.

Last Saturday me and 2 friends were up till 3am throwing horseshoes on it with the trackball.

[Smack]

Shuuz!

[rampy]

Wow looks cool...  The speaker mounts do look kinda scary, like it's got arms or stingers or something... =P

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the first cabinet example with control panel marquees that light up on the side like that... very inventive (although what do you plan on placing there)

Those of you who had get togethers where "normal" people (non byoac enthusiasts/mamers/etc)  played your machine, what games were the most popular, requested, or generated teh most nostalgia/excitement...  ??/

rampy

[BobA]

Great looking cab.   I thought it looked like a cab that was discussed on the board a while ago.  It is great to see that you were able to turn your drawings into reality so well.  Looking forward to seeing the pictures of your cabinet construction.

BobA

[elfman12]

Wow looks cool...  The speaker mounts do look kinda scary, like it's got arms or stingers or something... =P

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the first cabinet example with control panel marquees that light up on the side like that... very inventive (although what do you plan on placing there)

Those of you who had get togethers where "normal" people (non byoac enthusiasts/mamers/etc)  played your machine, what games were the most popular, requested, or generated teh most nostalgia/excitement...  ??/

rampy

Yeah, I got the idea for the CP sides when I was trying to figure out a way to create the curve on the CP. I needed a material between the top and bottom pieces, and after thinking about it thought that 1/8" lucite would bend and work just fine. I have flouresant lights behind 3 spots on the CP, front and 2 sides. I'm planning on using the same background as the marquee has, a purple/red starfield, but adding manufact. logos (atari, williams, etc) on the front, and characters (donky kong, pac man, etc) on the sides. The lucite fits into a groove both top and bottom, right alont the edge, so that the T-molding helps hold it in.

As for the people playing, the old school adults (all between 28-38) played Ms. Pac Man, Galaga, Donkey Kong and Centepede. The kids all played The Simpsons, TMNT, Metal Slug 3, bowling and Puzzle Bobble. Several of the adults requested games just to see if MAME could run them, so we went through alot just showing off the emulator.

Thanks! BTW, those speaker mounts do look scary in the pictures, but you forget about them after a minute or two in person. (I sprayed them black, but maybe I should have left them their original gray color) And it actually DOES give a sense of being surrounded in sound. Hey, they outta call that "Surround Sound". Another cool thing is that, with the rear speaker pointing down and a bit forward, sound can be adjusted to where it's not so loud in the rest of the room, but still crankin' at the cab. Nice, since it's in my main level dining room/game room!

[elfman12]

Great looking cab.   I thought it looked like a cab that was discussed on the board a while ago.  It is great to see that you were able to turn your drawings into reality so well.  Looking forward to seeing the pictures of your cabinet construction.

BobA

Thanks. Yeah, I didn't know if I could actually get the original idea to translate into reality, but I think it did for the most part, anyway. I'll try to have at least some raw pictures up on the site in the next week or so. BTW, here's the original concept renderings...

[Silverwind]

glad to see it was a big hit!!

looks like everyone had fun...  i'm sure it is nice to see a grin on the faces of the non-believers who request games just to see if they run

hehehe

[motorfish]

Excellent! It's a great feeling to have guests over who aren't familar with MAME. I've had a few instances where I've just let a game run in attract mode, and people come over and say "Hey, I remember "such and such game"!

Then the look on people's faces when you exit out to the MAME menu and ask them what game they want to play.

[eightbit]

Different people had different favorites but golden tee was a big hit along with most of the classics 1943, donkey kong, mario, galaga.

I'd be like "Hey wanna come play some arcade games" and they'd say "what do you mean arcade games". Then I'd ask what their favorite arcade game was and almost always have it and fire it up. Then I'd ask for a quarter but I'd put my own quarters in and show them the game. Then I'd show them where the credit buttons are under the front edge of the control panel box and they'd pull up the bar stool and not leave for extended periods of time.

I've infected 3 more people in the last week that are serious about building or converting cabs of their own.

[atog]

Last Saturday me and 2 friends were up till 3am throwing horseshoes on it with the trackball.

Hey Eightbit, any hints on how to get the horseshoe game to work right with the trackball?  What tweaking did you have to do?  I cannot get that game to work right with my trackball for the life of me.

[elfman12]

I've infected 3 more people in the last week that are serious about building or converting cabs of their own.

Cool! You're contagious!  Same here - I have 2 people who are serious about PAYING me to build them a cab. We'll see how serious they are when it gets down to cutting a check, though.

Others were freaked to see that MAME runs on any PC. They want it for their home computers... clunky keyboard controls be damned, they wanna play Galaga, and they wanna play now!

[eightbit]

I have a ps/2 Imperial trackball with the stock encoder wheels. I've played with replacing them but they are still stock. I'm using a driver that seems way to slow even at its fastest speed. In most games like marble madness I can't spin the ball fast enough to play the game. I haven't changed any of the mame sensitivity so everything is default.

We thought it played horseshoes pretty well. What I found worked the best was to spin it as fast as I could and then stop it. The trick was all in the timing of stopping it. You almost couldn't through the shoes to hard so I think I need to play with the settings some to get it so that you could overthrow without trying so hard.

[elfman12]

We thought it played horseshoes pretty well. What I found worked the best was to spin it as fast as I could and then stop it. The trick was all in the timing of stopping it. You almost couldn't through the shoes to hard so I think I need to play with the settings some to get it so that you could overthrow without trying so hard.

Two questions:

1. Which game is the horseshoes game? sounds like a good party game.

2.  Is there any way to adjust the analog settings for an individual game in MAME? I have a happ track ball and an Oscar spinner, and they both respond differently in windows. If I change the settings by slowing it down in all of MAME, then the trackball is too slow. If I set it properly for the trackball, then the spinner is too fast. Any ideas?

[eightbit]

Its called American Horse shoes. I was looking for the horse racing game "neck and neck" When I found horseshoes. Neck and neck is a great party game because each player gets a single button and I think you can play with up to 8 people.

You can change the analog settings in the game and its game specific. Just enter the in game menu and select analog settings. Analog settings will only be an option in the menu if the game your playing supports analog.

[elfman12]

You can change the analog settings in the game and its game specific. Just enter the in game menu and select analog settings. Analog settings will only be an option in the menu if the game your playing supports analog.

Cool, I thought that was for the whole system, but I just checked and of course you are right! Now to go and set all of the individual game settings!

[elfman12]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the first cabinet example with control panel marquees that light up on the side like that... very inventive (although what do you plan on placing there)
rampy

I don't think I've seen it anywhere else before - it was born from the necessity to form the curved panel. It adds complexity to the panel, but not really any weight. In fact, it's probably lighter, since the 3 lamp fixtures and plexi weigh less than the MDF that would have been there. And since I couldn't fit all the graphics I wanted onto the regular marquee, there's more space!

[1UP]

Lookin good...aw, you used Max too, good thinking!    That's one monster CP!  I like the layout for the flipper buttons.

[elfman12]

Lookin good...aw, you used Max too, good thinking!    That's one monster CP!  I like the layout for the flipper buttons.

Thanks. Yeah, I had to lay it out before I built it, and MAX is a great tool to visualize stuff. I didn't get into textures and rendering too much, just for the structure and layout.

I was worried about the CP being too massive, but man, does it feel comfortable - lots of room, and lots of area to rest your arms on, and SOLID. My forearms are glad I left alot of room on the front (near) area.

Now to finish!

[1UP]

Thanks. Yeah, I had to lay it out before I built it, and MAX is a great tool to visualize stuff. I didn't get into textures and rendering too much, just for the structure and layout.

I was worried about the CP being too massive, but man, does it feel comfortable - lots of room, and lots of area to rest your arms on, and SOLID. My forearms are glad I left alot of room on the front (near) area.

Now to finish!

Definitely a good party cab there!  I actually built mine more to please my thirst for a variety of arcade authentic controls (mainly the T2 guns and yoke) and not really for parties.  Still lots of fun with friends though, but I'd really like to get a good game of 4 player Gauntlet or TMNT going!  Guess I've got something else to build...  

[elfman12]

Definitely a good party cab there!  I actually built mine more to please my thirst for a variety of arcade authentic controls (mainly the T2 guns and yoke) and not really for parties.  Still lots of fun with friends though, but I'd really like to get a good game of 4 player Gauntlet or TMNT going!  Guess I've got something else to build...  

My main thought was for a good party cab, both for my 9 year old daughter and her friends and, of course, for me and my 30-something friends to play at parties, LAN parties, etc. And MAN it's fun to get 4 guys in on a good Gauntlet game, or (2 at a time) on Track and Field. Easy way to waste hours and hours...

1UP, you really outta put you a 4-player cab together. I'm not just saying this lightly, but I think you've just about perfected the "replica" cab, both look and multiple/rotating CP. I'd love to see what you'd do with a big ole' honkin' TMNT type cab!

[1UP]

1UP, you really outta put you a 4-player cab together. I'm not just saying this lightly, but I think you've just about perfected the "replica" cab, both look and multiple/rotating CP. I'd love to see what you'd do with a big ole' honkin' TMNT type cab!

Actually, I'll probably build something like an add-on 4-player panel that goes on the rotating setup.  It won't be able to rotate of course, but I'll just bolt it on when enough people come over to play.  The other possibility is to make some bolt-on side panels that connect like "wings" on either side of my 2-player panel.  But this might require drilling holes in the sides, which might ruin the look...

[Analog-X]

  that was funny about the antlers joke there

Anyways, great cab hope to have mine setup one of these days.
 
Where did you get your stools? and what make/model height etc.. are they? I see those in a lot of mame cab projects and would eventualy like to buy a couple.