Finally! My first row of games in my basement

[mrclean]

Finally got around to bringing down some games into my new house / basement.

 MAME | Bubble Bobble | Galaga 88' | Gun Smoke | Dig Dug | 1943 | Pengo | Circus Charlie

[Kman-Sweden]

I think I might be able to kill for 1943... 

[ArcadeBliss]

 

[cw]

looking good....

[Visitor Q]

Nice!

[Ginsu Victim]

Man, it didn't take long for the collection to grow. I wish the houses where I live had basements. Just not very common to the area.

[Dr Zero]

Looks good! 



We have basements in Florida we just call them indoor pools. 

[bkenobi]

Add a sump pump and you could have a water fall "feature" or a fountain depending on the source.   

[mrclean]

I can probably squeeze another game in that row, but I like the machines to have some space in between them. another seperate some what hidden room in the basement, so far is most likely going to be a "console room" / or "nintendo room". Here you can see the section of the room with a large storage bench area which I may or may not keep depending on if I need more room for cabs.



Right now the storage benches are holding all of my console stuff, and are only "primed". I might paint them nintendo themed or other video game related themed.

*not shown* I already cut into the sheet rock and placed a CRT behind the wall just for classic console games ! I still need to frame it out, and might add shelving with pull out draws for other consoles.

[Dr Zero]

Thats cool!

Before I moved I had a stereo cabinet that I added shelves to with the 5 main consoles I wanted to play in there hooked up to the regular tv. Got a remote control switch box and could just flip from one to the other.

You going to plump in some of those in the wall speakers with the tv?

[mrclean]

Thats cool!

You going to plump in some of those in the wall speakers with the tv?

Yeah that's not a bad idea, I already have my receiver in the other room so it could work with the A/B switch. other fun things in the other room currently are 40'' LCD for Wii / TV, In-Wall Fish tank (no fish yet, Ph is too high!), & Wet Bar.


Does anyone make video game related fishtank items ?

perhaps a custom background;

[SithMaster]

Man, it didn't take long for the collection to grow. I wish the houses where I live had basements. Just not very common to the area.

Working with the stairs wouldn't be fun though.  I'd rather claim a dining room or something.

[Benevolance]

I love that mural on the wall.

[Dr Zero]

Thats cool!

You going to plump in some of those in the wall speakers with the tv?

Yeah that's not a bad idea, I already have my receiver in the other room so it could work with the A/B switch. other fun things in the other room currently are 40'' LCD for Wii / TV, In-Wall Fish tank (no fish yet, Ph is too high!), & Wet Bar.


Does anyone make video game related fishtank items ?

perhaps a custom background;

Maybe get someone who prints the marquee to print out a custom back?

[mrclean]

Working with the stairs wouldn't be fun though.  I'd rather claim a dining room or something.

I couldn't agree with you more, the stairs were rather difficult. I found the trick was to pull out the monitors and remove the back doors to reduce the weight.

I love that mural on the wall.

It's called Blik, you can remove / rearrange them however you want, and it doesn't leave any marks or residue. I might get the donkey kong one for another wall, or perhaps the space invaders ones. You can find them on http://www.Thinkgeek.com

[RayB]

MrClean, do you have kids?

[mvsfan]

Man, it didn't take long for the collection to grow. I wish the houses where I live had basements. Just not very common to the area.

Working with the stairs wouldn't be fun though.  I'd rather claim a dining room or something.

yeah i never had a house with a basement in my life since im from florida.

the first house i get with a basement, Luckout! it has a Ramp going down to the basement not stairs. its funny cause i was wondering the same thing about the stairs deal.

[mrclean]

MrClean, do you have kids?

none that I'm aware of

[Ummon]

Nice arcade room, nice arcade room.

MrClean, do you have kids?

none that I'm aware of

Well, it's sorta a toss-up between the labor they provide, and the means it takes ta keep em goin.

[extendedplayarcade]

Sweet nice game room

I hope to be there someday when I sell my current house and buy a house with a basement that doesn't get water in it.

[mrclean]

Slowllly starting to work on my 2nd row of games in another room in the basement. Although I still have alot room left in the other area, I decided to remove the storage bench in the above photo to make room for more games (at least 3 will fit in that area), so far I only added 1x a pac-man, which was actually once a galaxian. Feel free to read about the conversion on my website / blog http://www.guscade.com .

[orion]

Thats cool!

You going to plump in some of those in the wall speakers with the tv?

Yeah that's not a bad idea, I already have my receiver in the other room so it could work with the A/B switch. other fun things in the other room currently are 40'' LCD for Wii / TV, In-Wall Fish tank (no fish yet, Ph is too high!), & Wet Bar.


Does anyone make video game related fishtank items ?

perhaps a custom background;

What are you planning on putting in that tank? From the looks of the tank it looks like a setup for african cichlids. If so, I can't imagine the PH being to high for those guys. I have discus myself, luckily I'm on a well and all that acid rain gives me a low PH that they just love. Oh yeah this is an Arcade forum... cool basement BTW! I have been pondering making an old school console rack, just like you are planning ever since I picked up my Atari 2600 the other day. Actually what I though would be cool would be to try and pick up some of the old console display kiosks, like this one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SEGA-store-KIOSK-for-Genesis-Saturn-nice_W0QQitemZ110448281092QQcmdZViewItemQQptZVideo_Games?hash=item19b73b0604

[torcer]

Wow…. That’s awesome.  My wife threatened to divorce me if I added a 3rd Cab to my basement~! 

[bkenobi]

Wow…. That’s awesome.  My wife threatened to divorce me if I added a 3rd Cab to my basement~! 

Sounds like it's not really your basement.   

[Thenasty]

yea like kenobi said ("not your basement") 

[Ummon]

Wow…. That’s awesome.  My wife threatened to divorce me if I added a 3rd Cab to my basement~! 

Purse - cabinet. Hat - cabinet. Shoes.......

[Kordova]

Beautiful sight.  I have always wanted a room like that but we don't really have basements in Texas, so I'll have to wait until I can buy a bigger house.

[mrclean]

Bumping my old thread as I have updated my line up ever so slightly.. Still not finished and won't be for sometime but it's coming along nicely. 

sold my pengo...
the in-wall fish tank now holds my stereo equipment
new flooring
cut some sheet rock that connected the two basement rooms to open it up a little bit, removed sliding pocket door. (still need to frame it out)

Now it's;

MAME(You can see the corner of it re-located to another wall) | Circus Charlie | Pac-Man | Ms. Pac-Man |Arkanoid | Buster Bros. | 1943 | Centipede | Dig Dug | Ghost N' Goblins | Bubble Bobble | Gun.Smoke | Galaga 88' | Pooyan | *Burger Time project in my garage(on the back burner) & Now finally a JP Pinball.

Wow…. That’s awesome.  My wife threatened to divorce me if I added a 3rd Cab to my basement~! 

I convince my fiance to play a round on the Jurassic Park.. finally after twisting her arm she agreed to play the machine. She LOVED it, and said ;"This is my favorite machine of yours, feel free to get more of these!". I hit the start button twice for a two player game, she said; "yeah I'm playing both games I'm going to need the practice". Literally the next day she said "can we play Jurassic Park again?" I couldn't believe my ears... I was like say whhhhaaat?!!?! So i'd love to add more pins eventually they are just pricey! All in due time. It all started because of MAME with one machine (AKA the gateway drug)... ;-)

[Gray_Area]

Yeah, some chicks really get into pinball. Bonus.

[DaOld Man]

My jealousy is controlling me now. Must kill Mrclean.

Seriously, that is one fine setup you have.

[DaveMMR]

My jealousy is controlling me now. Must kill Mrclean.

Tell me about it. Uggh, I hate you guys with your awesome game rooms!! 
Very, very sexy.  I love it. 

[FALSE]

AWESOME game room mrclean!

Question for you and others that have a bunch of cabinets?
Do you leave them all powered on all the time??
If so, what does that do to your electricity bill?

[yotsuya]

Very nice, my friend!

[mrclean]

My jealousy is controlling me now. Must kill Mrclean.

Seriously, that is one fine setup you have.

I'm still here! thanks for not killing me! lol... Thanks for the kind words of the fine setup though haha

Tell me about it. Uggh, I hate you guys with your awesome game rooms!! 
Very, very sexy.  I love it. 

It's sexy and I know it... lol... thanks!... But it can be sexier down the road!

AWESOME game room mrclean!

Question for you and others that have a bunch of cabinets?
Do you leave them all powered on all the time??
If so, what does that do to your electricity bill?

Appreciate it. I hate guys with even awesomerrr game rooms! But that gives me some motivation to keep going. I've noticed some are out of control.. hopefully mine will reach that somewhat status when and if I come to the end, but I won't go too crazy (although my space is limited). If I were to ever migrate any of my games upstairs and have the collection start to invade other areas of my house other than my basement than it becomes an arcade hoarding problem.. lol.. maybe just my den.

Some people have collections based on needing to have sister / twin cabinets in other words must own a popeye, mario, dk, dkjr and every nintendo cab or a taito row with a zoo keeper, qix, jungle hunt, etc.. others I've noticed have pretty rare cabs env. discs of tron, cliff hanger, cockpit starwars, major havok basically all high ticket items almost just to say... I got one do you? While I think rarity is cool some of them I've played and flat out although respect all video games I don't care for certain titles even if it's a 3k-10k machine. My collection is based on games that I actually enjoy to play all of which as of now vid wise is between 1980-1989 (which could eventually change). I've seen people that have just fighter collections of MK1,MK2,MK3,MK3U,MK4, KI, KI2 etc.. and to me that's a tad repetitive but to others it's what they enjoy. And to be honest that's what really makes this hobby so great in a way. Outside of let's say Fun Spot in NH for the most part no private local collector will be able to have the ultimate collection. I think it's great that we all have a variety of games in our collections. Obviously some will be repeated as they are common  titles but for the most part no two private collector game rooms are the same.

Yeah, some chicks really get into pinball. Bonus.

Yeah i thought she would of walked away. She's actually upset about how much she enjoyed it lol. I wish I could go and order more pins tonight but they are expensive. In retrospective vids are much cheaper with the exception of a few rare gems. My collection didn't exactly grow over night. I've been in this hobby for about 6-7 years or so. Probably more in-terms of MAME.. but about 6-7 with the dedicated games. Basically in this hobby you need in no particular order: money,space,time,dedication,patients (to name a few).

AWESOME game room mrclean!

Question for you and others that have a bunch of cabinets?
Do you leave them all powered on all the time??
If so, what does that do to your electricity bill?

I never leave them on all the time. Generally if I have a few people come over they all get turned on. Sometimes If I want to just play one game I will turn on that specific game individually. Sometimes I'm lazy and my games are on a power strip so maybe I'll turn one power strip on so 3-4 of my machines would be on at once.

As a side note, completely not cost productive as a cheap power strip essentially does the same thing.. but I always wanted to rig them up like the circuit breakers in Jurassic Park movie:

Very nice, my friend!

Thanks!

[molton]

As a side note, completely not cost productive as a cheap power strip essentially does the same thing.. but I always wanted to rig them up like the circuit breakers in Jurassic Park movie:

You could make a giant metal shed to house them and surround it with velociraptors for security.  

Very nice room, congratulations on all that.

[CoryBee]

As a side note, completely not cost productive as a cheap power strip essentially does the same thing.. but I always wanted to rig them up like the circuit breakers in Jurassic Park movie:

YES! YES! Do this! Make a smaller scale version, that would be so awesome. With labels for each system. 

[mrclean]

YES! YES! Do this! Make a smaller scale version, that would be so awesome. With labels for each system. 

Trust me I want to badly... But it's not really cost productive. Another collector friend of mine had about 35-40 games hooked up with blank white rocker switches / breaker panel that looks pretty neat. I would take it to the next level though...Just as an example go to the bottom of this page: http://www.advantageavionics.com/engraving.htm I think it would be neat to engrave my games into the switches so I can individually turn them on. I might do that when all said and done and I have 25-30+ games but for right now i'm sticking to my lame power strips. 

Other companies...
http://www.engravers.net/aircraft/rocker_switches.htm
http://javelina.com/laser_engraving.htm


Guy that did this for his air plane panel (*attached image)... said:
"I purchased the switches at Allied Electronics - http://www.alliedelec.com/.  Here's the details:

(642-0131) AML34FBA4AC01 - Switch
(642-1060) AML91LA73 - Bulb ( yes they are lighted and they look great )
(642-5521) AML54-F10W - Cap ( white )"

Gave me a great idea :-) All in due time...

[Gray_Area]

I remember some years ago someone saying that when you get past ten games, it's a hassle turning on all those switches. I'd modernize it, and have a touch display, with the option to 'highlight+shift' rows of games.

[Trebeck]

Beautiful room, well done!