How young is too young? (cabinets for children)

[cj1]

So I'm crawling out of my normal "lurker" realm because I need advice.

Having been inspired by some people here who have built really nice scaled-down cabs, I'm currently building a mini-sized cab (pic attached if anyone's interested).   I'm considering giving it as a birthday gift to a friend's son.  He's turning 3. (the son, not the friend...)

The cab would be loaded with vertical classics - the Pacs, Donkey Kong, that type of thing. Simple stuff.

I don't have kids, so am wondering if 3 is a bit too young. I'm hoping that I can get some feedback from people with younger children - Do they use your Cab? Do they "get" the games? Do they have fun just mashing buttons?

I'm not too concerned that he understand every nuance of the games, just that he can have fun with them. I don't mind if he needs to grow into it a bit, but not if that takes 3 years.

Thoughts anyone?

[NoOne=NBA=]

3 might be a bit young, but that will depend on the specific child.
My neighbor's kids play all the time on my JAMMA cab.
The youngest (approaching 2) just wants to do whatever his brothers are doing.
The middle one (age 4 currently) isn't nearly as interested as his 6 year old brother, but likes to play when the older brother is.
The oldest (6) is hooked on Bomberman, and will play it for hours--until you literally drag him screaming from it, most of the time.

My nephew didn't develop a real interest until about 5.
At that point, his favorite game was Tempest.
He particularly liked that one because he could spin the spinner really hard, and shoot away to his heart's content.

He developed strategy at about 6, and has progressed significantly since.
At this point, he can be competitive on just about anything, given time to develop a gameplan.

[AtomSmasher]

I have a nephew who is 3 and a neice who is 4, whenever they come over just just want to sit on my cab and "play" games.  I put play in quotes because all they do is bang randomly on the controls and watch the screen, but they love to do that.  They especially love to watch pole position because it not only has race cars, but the race cars crash

My next project is going to be a mini cab for them.  They may not truely appreciate it for a couple years, but they'll still have fun with it now.

[cj1]

3 might be a bit young, but that will depend on the specific child.

That's my problem... 3 seems a bit young, but he's a pretty bright kid, so I keep going back and forth whether I think it's appropriate or not.

Your comments are great, that's exactly the type of info I'm looking for. Thanks!

[cj1]

I have a nephew who is 3 and a neice who is 4, whenever they come over just just want to sit on my cab and "play" games.  I put play in quotes because all they do is bang randomly on the controls and watch the screen, but they love to do that.  They especially love to watch pole position because it not only has race cars, but the race cars crash

My next project is going to be a mini cab for them.  They may not truely appreciate it for a couple years, but they'll still have fun with it now.

That's pretty much my plan - he'll "play" (in quotes) and still get some enjoyment out of it.

You'll have a blast building a mini. From my experience, it's a really fun build, and much more manageable than a full-size cab. Also, they're just so darn cute.... I mean, um, manly. Yeah, that's it.

[leapinlew]

Did you see the mini-pac cab by markvp? He hacked a jakks and built a beautiful cabinet that he could also use to watch television. Check it out. It's a great buid tutorial.

[quarterstringer]

My kids are 2 and 4 and my cab is older than they are. My daughter just learned to use the joystick and she turned 2 a few months ago, so she is just learning how to "play".  My son 4, loves the games and at 3 he understood how to "play" the games and even navigate Mamewah to select the emulator and games.

But it's up to the parents, if his mom or dad plays the games, then he'll enjoy it even more. Because my kids always wanted to play what I was playing. So we played simple games like Mario Bros,  JJ Squawkers and Bomberman. So I don't think 3 is too young, but maybe you should check with the parents first.

[cj1]

 @ leapinlew: Yeah, markvp's cab is great. Actually, one of the cabs that inspired me. Originally, I wanted to make a mini for myself - not a kid-sized, but a smaller cab for an adult, like a cabaret. markvp's cab is the one that got me thinking about making a child's cab instead. Now, looking at the one that I am bulilding, it's got me thinking of building a mini adult cab again, except more like a homegrown candy cab. Funny how these obsessions evolve.

@ quarterstringer: That's the other issue.  Mom and dad aren't really gamers - retro or other. Seems the 80's kind of passed them by. One way or another, this cab was going to get built.   Now it's just a matter of whether I give it away or keep it. Because, of couse, I would *hate* to keep it for myself.  

[missioncontrol]

I say build it... he'll grow into it in no time at all.........

[TOK]

3 is definitely young to be playing, but the effect arcade machines have on kids is amazing. I have a daughter that is 18 months and a niece thats 3 and both of them go crazy over it. Like others have said, it's just smacking buttons and sticking fingers in the coin returns.

I'd ask the father. You could always cut the bottom off and make it a bartop that'd be appreciated by Jr. and Dad. 

PS, if he doesn't want it, my daughters birthday is in October.     

[amerish]

My younger son is just turning 3 and loves world class bowling. He likes to roll the ball with the track ball. He also likes watching others play the arcade, especially X men and TMNT.

[Level42]

My son is 4 since march and he likes to play my cab. Favorites are Ms.Pac Man, 1942 Suzuka 8 hours. He also loves to play my original Double Axle cab, and is AMAZINGLY good at it (as long as I do the gas and shifting ). Ms.Pac Man, he really knows how to control the Ms., but he is only eating the power pills after eachother and tries to get the ghosts, he hasn't discovered clearing the field yet.

I say go for it. Make it sturdy and if he doesn't like it now, he will in half a year (or a year).

I took my son to a Retrocomputer fair (http://www.retrocomputerdag.nl) and instead of nagging me all the time, he had great fun and said it was "cool" He also played a mini-cab there and he made me promise I would build one for him 

Sorry....gotta go, the little man wants to play Suzuka.....

[cj1]

Wow. This topic got more replies than I thought it would... and all of them useful.

Looks like the "Max Arcade" is a go!

Thanks all.

[missioncontrol]

great glad to see the project is a go..........

[Quarters]

If you can, put a trackball on the cab. There are some very good kid games out there for windows that would work well in a cab, and have low sytem specs as well.

[CheffoJeffo]

If you can, put a trackball on the cab. There are some very good kid games out there for windows that would work well in a cab, and have low sytem specs as well.

And my 3YO loves GT and Shuffleshot ...

Cheers.

[Dervacumen]

You might consider loading it with *really* simple games at that age.

After I finish *my* cab I'll be building a bartop (read:floortop) for my daughter who will be 3 before it is done.  I plan on loading it with some classics, or/and some Atari 800 stuff (among other things Astrogrover, since I taught my nephew to add and subtract with that game at the same age).

Those games are much easier to "get the hang of" and are slow enough to allow some "thinking time".  Then you can upgrade the games as necessary.

Keep us posted!  I'd like to see how it goes.

[tetsu96]

The choice of games gets more important as they start to get a hang of what they're doing I'd think.  I've got a 1 & 2 yr old and they both just love smacking the buttons / dropping in coins (they love the credit sound in most games) / working the joysticks.  It's a bit hard to play with them since they use both joysticks even outside of Robotron, but it's a lot of fun.

And as props for the candy cabs, they can climb up the chairs I have in front or stand and see (on tippee toes for the 1 YO) the screen and work the games over.

I'm suprised nobody went for the action shots yet:

[CheffoJeffo]

I've got a 1 & 2 yr old and they both just love smacking the buttons / dropping in coins (they love the credit sound in most games) / working the joysticks.

Oh yeah ... coin door is a must ... we went through a period where I had to empty machines/refill change bucket on a daily basis.

Cheers.

[jelwell]

I was at my friend's house the other day and his daughter got up on his arcade cabinet (granted that it could have easily have been his computer instead of arcade cabinet) and loaded noggin.com and started playing games like "The Same Game". Noggin's motto: "We're like preschool on TV -- and online".

I was amazed at how easily my friend's 3 year old was able to move the mouse around playing (and winning) on these games.

I think with the right games very young children can interact appropriately (not simply mashing buttons) and at the same time learn a little.
Joseph Elwell.

[patrickl]

My kid is 3 years old and he loves playing games. He doesn't always completely understand the game play, but still. He does his best I guess and when it's game over he can just start again. He does better with a steering wheel or mouse rather than a joystick though. I don't have a complete cab built jet, but I do have a Galaga style control panel connected to a computer.

I bought 2 of those LCD light guns and he's completely in love with that . He loves to play Duck Hunt although he only hits maybe 1 times out of 10 of the ducks. The zombie type games are too scary of course

He started with a Comfy keyboard he got for his first birthday. Basically that turns your computer into a big toy for babies. Press a button and something happens on screen. He got so addicted to it that I had to hide away my notebook for a while.

[AtomSmasher]

I'm starting to plan my next project, which is going to be a mini-arcade for my neice and nephew (3 and 4 years old).  Its going to be a christmas present and was planning on keeping it secret from everyone in the family until I give it to them on christmas (mainly because my family is horrible at keeping secrets).  My plan was to keep the cost down and use an old monitor and computer I already have, and only put two joysticks w/ buttons.  I'm figuring total cost for the project would probably be around $150, which is pretty close to the most I'm willing to spend on this. 

What I'm wondering is, should I tell my parents and ask them to chip in some money so that I can add a trackball and maybe a spinner?  For those that have kids, would it be worth putting in a trackball or spinner?  Do the kids actually like playing with them?  I'd prefer to keep this project a secret, but if the secret gets out and I make something they enjoy even more, it would be worth it.

[Zeosstud]

I would have to agree with someone that posted earlier, a trackball would be a pretty good addition.  It could be used as a mouse for windows games and would be able to play games like hamsterball.  Gotta figure kids would get a kick out of that. 

Zeosstud

[Crafty]

You are never too young

You are never too old

Enough Said !!!

[romperwomb]

I would have to agree with someone that posted earlier, a trackball would be a pretty good addition.  It could be used as a mouse for windows games and would be able to play games like hamsterball.  Gotta figure kids would get a kick out of that. 

Zeosstud

My 4 year old loves Hamsterball!  The trackball is a must.  She also likes to invite the neighbor kids to "play" Super Gem Fighter (she likes the kitty-girl with Pink Hair). 

She's gotten her finger stuck in the older Williams style coin return a few times when they run out of Quarters so I taught her the Player 1 + light punch coin up trick. 

There are some SNES emulated games she likes.  Barbie (wish I'd never shown her these - blah! the repetitive music drives us nuts!) and there were some Mario Preschool games that are quite good.

[Hellfromabove]

I remember I got a Super Nintendo when I was 3. It was my first videogame system and I was so happy. But we ended putting it in the closet for about 6 months because I didn't know what the hell to do with mario. 6 months later though I was back on the band wagon and have been playing ever since. Give him the machine, he'll love it. Maybe not now but hopefully in 3 months. Watch, it's going to end up being you and your friend playing it all day long isn't it? Thanx.

-See Ya!!!