Planning to build a MAME arcade. I would appreciate a cost approximation.

[Johnny Blade]

Hello everyone!

I learned about MAME and I'm starting to like all those kinds of arcade games. They weren't a lot of arcades around here when I was younger so I only played a few games. Right now I'm interested into building a MAME arcade.

Now, the project is just in the "planning" stage. I'd like to know how much it would cost for this project. That would include: the rebuilding an arcade cabinet (My dad knows people who might have old broken arcades); the controls and buttons (I'm thinking 4 joysticks, a trackball, and possibly light guns [not sure if it can work because I didn't check it yet]); and all the other things to make everything work (I know, I'll be doing a bit of research to find out about all the other components). I don't need the price for a computer and a monitor.

I'll be posting more questions and progress reports here!

[TOK]

Very dependent on what you go with... I don't track prices, but the first machine I built from a modified arcade cabinet wound up costing roughly 700 bucks using an existing computer, but a new monitor. It is a two player machine w/7 buttons per player and a trackball and spinner.

Controls and encoder alone if you just go with basic stuff and a 2 player 6 button layout will likely be in the area of $130. The detail stuff that you don't consider get expensive quickly... Wood, fasteners, art, and plexi/lexan really add up fast. I also ended up buying quite a few tools that I didn't factor into the cost.

[theCoder]

1st - conversion, was around $550 (existing computer and monitor, 2 player,  trackball).

2nd - scratch built bartop, project cost around $400 (existing laptop and monitor, 1 player + trackball) and a LOT of time.

3rd - scratch built driving cab at around $1,200 (most major components purchased used).

4th - current conversion project, will come in somewhere around $700 (existing computer, purchased LCD, spinner, lots of lighting effects, etc.)

For what it's worth.

[BobA]

Based on an existing arcade cabinet with 4 player CP

All prices given with a base price and a higher price if premium priced items are used.

Joysticks and Buttons and Controller  150 to 250
Trackball   40 to 100
Guns  100 to 200
Supplies 50 to 150

So base cab price 200 to 450 not including the cab itself.
Based on no custom artwork or laminates.
If you have to buy tools or bits these are an extra cost.

If you want to make it pretty and add some bling you can easily
get the price up to 1200 to 1500

[bluevolume]

Price out your knowns (cabinet, monitor, controls, computer, etc.).  Then add $200 for the unknowns.  Then add another 20% to that.

There's really no generic price for a MAME machine because a lot of it has to do with your personality/expectations.  Some people are focused on functionality and are completely satisfied with a machine that works and more or less looks like crap.  Then there's others (like a lot of us here) who will spend more time prepping the wood on our cabinets for finishing, than others will spend on their whole project.

I'm about half way through my first build and I've learned that it makes a lot of sense to do your first machine on the cheap (opposite of what I did).  Get a cheap or free cabinet and throw a used PC monitor in there, and don't worry about running Killer Instinct when you pick out a computer to run it.  Build this first machine and play it for a while -- then take all of that experience and put it into your next machine (which will be MUCH better for it).  It will be no problem finding a friend that wants to buy your first machine, in fact, you'll probably have a few of them fighting over it.

[johnm160]

Take what you thought it was going to cost you and double or triple it. 

Also I dont think anyone factored in artwork yet. Depending on what you want on the side that can add several hundred bucks also.

[DaveMMR]

By the time it's done, my project will have cost probably around $1,200 - $1,400 or more.  But my goals involved making it look nice as well as being playable.  So that means artwork, a good arcade monitor, LED drivers to light up buttons, etc.  You can probably do it for less if you shop around for parts and keep it simpler than I did.  (NOTE: That estimate includes parts I received as gifts, as well as wood and tools).

You implied that you already had a monitor, and that's usually one of the biggest expenses (unless you're satisfied with a small computer monitor with too much empty space).  And if you want to save more money, don't buy from Happs directly - check the top of the B/S/T forum for Ponyboy and Divemasters stickied threads.   You should be able to do it for much cheaper than I did.