How happy are you with your cabinets ? (projects, etc)

[mike boss]

Sometimes when I talk to people about the coin-op hobby I tell them I have "the bug."
This itch to work on, acquire, modify my cabinets comes and goes.
I'm never really FULLY happy with my line up, or I'll see something that inspires me and makes me want to change what I have.

Just wondering who is the same ?
I ask this laughing to myself, thinking of a buddy of mine (who's wife is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO the BOSS).
He has one cabinet and even if he wanted more he'd never get another.
He managed to pick up one project that he has stalled for a year. I think he doesn't want to spend the money to complete it. Where as I'm sure many of us keep pouring money into our line up.

Speaking for myself my basement "man cave" is made up for 4 Nintendo cabinets.
Mario Bros, Popeye, Donkey Kong, and Donkey Kong Jr.

However Mario Bros is a MAME machine........ and true to the title of this thread. How happy am I ? Well Mario Bros is going to be paired with a pair of Aim Traks when I finish them. And I may even add a new HDD that I purchased with a Hyperspin image. It is full of consoles and all kinds of goodies.

Popeye is wired Jamma and has WWF Wrestlefest in it. However, unhappy with how it sits now I purchased a 138 in 1 jamma board. I plan on pulling out the WWF board, pulling out the arcade monitor and putting in the 138 in 1 board with an LCD monitor. I think 138 games is better than 1 any day!

Donkey Kong w/ a 60-in-1 jamma board I'm happy with. As am I happy with my DK JR which is a MAME cabinet also.

I just find the need to tweak and imporve what I have. Put new life into the machines.
I think the mods make it better.
I think part of it is knowing I can find a use for my other items. For example, outside in my garage I have a jamma Bad Dudes and jamma Final Fight. I picked up a 6-in-1 jamma switcher. I figure I can add my WWF board to either of the two cabinets which again gives new life to them.

How do you guys cope ?

[SavannahLion]

I suffer the same disease my father did, CFS. Before my father passed away, his workshop (a three story building with multiple sub-basements) was filled to the gills with his projects. I make an effort not to reach that level of insanity. Keeping that in mind.

My wife also has her own projects (she works with glass and fabrics amongst others). This creates competing projects in limited space. For instance, it would be absurd for me to work on my projects involving grease, sawdust, chemicals, whatever in the same room as her fabric based projects. On the flip side, I have no interest in working on electronics while she has the glass kiln fired up. My wife is also a "traveler" and likes to go and explore on the weekends. She likes to make it a family thing so I, and the kids, generally get dragged around all weekend. My son is like me and prefers to stay home to do stuff. My daughters are like my wife.

Couple that with a natural categorization of projects into "required" and those into the "fun" group. Building an arcade machine is squarely in the fun group. Installing a new ceiling fan, or new plumbing in the bathroom, or fixing the electrical wiring in one room falls into the required category.

Since I haven't made clones of myself yet, (I've attempted to order a kit from Ond), my fun projects take damn near forever to complete and my required projects only take one day less than damn near forever to complete.

Programming is really the only activity that keeps my itch somewhat scratched as it's the only activity that I can carry with me on the trips, do while at work, and late into the night whilst not disturbing the neighbors.

[mike boss]

There is just "something" about this hobby that keeps us going!
I think many of us like the quest for a deal, or despite the fact that perhaps our entire line up is made up of "deals".............we think that another wont come along. So we see something and we grab it. It goes in a pile to be touched months, even years later.

I can't tell you how many "to do" lists I've done as of late that relate to my coin-op hobby. Only problem is stuff never gets ticked off.

[Dawgz Rule]

My work comes and goes in waves.  After I got the initial cabinet build done, it sat for a while.   I then worked some more on getting the FE the way I want it.  Stopped for a while again.  Last, I really went through the game list and pared it down considerably.    Added video preview later, etc.  About the only thing left is to replace the marquee light.  For some reason, it doesn't always shutdown with the rest of the cabinet.  Tried adjusting the smartstrip to no avail.  Only seems to do it when the cabinet has been on for hours.    So, it is just about "done" and just in time to start my Time Soldiers rebuild. 

[mike boss]

One of (if not my biggest) problems is I hate tinkering with what I have.
So if I get something to a state I want I like to leave it.
So if I get some new great PC or what not, I never think, OK...add that PC to "X" machine.
My brain says get another machine and fix that up. Which is stupid.

As of late I'm "KINDA" breaking that mold, but only because I can make two cabinets better by parting one out.
(if that makes sense)

[Generic Eric]

Lets just say that if anyone saw interior shots of this cabinet, they would probably pass.   It should be made a sacrificial totem.     It almost plays games.

[knave]

I had the bug...went from 0 to 6 cabs in my garage, MAME project, Game hack projects, Cab restore projects etc...then life caught up with me and they all went on the back burner...they are still there.

I just decided to sell some...(shameless plug for my sell thread in the BST forum if you are in Nor cal)

But I will always keep a cab or two around. Recently I moved my Galaga Cocktail into storage, In the truck I run a cord, power it up and play. The nostalgia and fun all came back. If I had the room I would have moved it into my living room right then. LOL

[Generic Eric]

If I had the room I would have moved it into my living room right then. LOL

I hope to one day use a cocktail in the living room as an end table.  If not their, then in the basement in the same way.