Author Topic: Buying a new Arcade Cabinet (Read 5334 times)

dtechlogic · « **on:** August 18, 2009, 01:55:42 pm »

Hi Guys,

I got in contact with the an arcade place here in LA and i told them what i wanted and they said that they will sell me a cabinet withouth monitor just the cabinet for $100. is that a good price or it is expensive. I will need to go over there and check the cabinet this coming friday. To save myself from doing the cabinet from scratch. Please advice or other place here in California, LA to get a good deal on the cabinet itself.

Flake · « **Reply #1 on:** August 18, 2009, 02:01:03 pm »

Depends on the quality of the cabinet but yea I'd say its a great deal.

dtechlogic · « **Reply #2 on:** August 18, 2009, 02:13:57 pm »

So far here are my plans MAME.64, zinc, nes,snes,n64 and other to a P4HTwith 1GB of rams and a HDD 60GB and also maybe Nvidia 7900Gt or ATi Radeon 7900 AGP 128MB. I would like to build the cabinet from scratch but my cutting skills are not that good.

javeryh · « **Reply #3 on:** August 18, 2009, 03:49:49 pm »

$100 for an empty cabinet seems high. $100 for a complete cabinet minus the monitor sounds OK (includes coin door, controls, etc.) It does depend on the cab though - I wouldn't pay that much for a generic Dynamo cab but I'd be all over an empty Galaga or Pac-man.

severdhed · « **Reply #4 on:** August 18, 2009, 04:43:20 pm »

yeah, i'd say it depends alot on the cabinet. around here,(pennsylvania) i've picked up several cabinets that had no monitors or game boards, but came complete with controls, coin doors, marquee/light for $20.

like javeryh said, if it is a classic like galaga or donkey kong or something, then 100 sounds good, but for a generic empty wooden cabinet, i dont know if i would spend that much

discgolfer72 · « **Reply #5 on:** August 18, 2009, 05:00:12 pm »

from all i hear out there in ca arcade machines are a dime a dozen so 100 seems pretty high

i pay 50$ here for non working games (some without monitors,or gameboards but they always have populated controlls and coin doors)
for 100 you could probaly get a working game on cl where you are at

but by all means dont buy a working classic and rape it

dtechlogic · « **Reply #6 on:** August 18, 2009, 06:14:44 pm »

Anyone here in Los Angeles, CA that knows an arcade place were they give good deals on the cabinet. I am going there Friday and i willt ry to take some snapshot of what they have available. Thanks for the response guys. I am still calling up more arcade places to get more prices. I am kind of shopping around for a good deal. if a half working arcade what price should i pay. What is the ideal price for the cabinet and a maybe working cabinet with monitor will worth.

DeLuSioNal29 · « **Reply #7 on:** August 18, 2009, 06:36:55 pm »

Yeah, I agree. $100 may be too high, especially if it does not AT LEAST include the coin doors and control panel.

I have 4 in my garage that I acquired for FREE over the last year, ALL have control panels.

DeLuSioNaL

dtechlogic · « **Reply #8 on:** August 18, 2009, 06:49:58 pm »

I am trying fing out if anyone here in Los Angeles CA does have any arcade cabinets available.

RayB · « **Reply #9 on:** August 18, 2009, 10:04:47 pm »

Glass or no glass?

dtechlogic · « **Reply #10 on:** August 19, 2009, 12:31:38 am »

which every i get will not really matter

RayB · « **Reply #11 on:** August 19, 2009, 12:39:44 pm »

It does matter. You're asking if the price is worth it. Cutting a new glass for a machine that doesn't have one will run you $40 to $70.

dtechlogic · « **Reply #12 on:** August 20, 2009, 03:19:33 pm »

Okay, Now i see there is more to it. I have check few place by giving them a call and so far i have tried to ger ripoff. One guys told me he will sell me the cabinet for 230 dollars. i am not willing to spend that amount on a cabinet only. Anywasy tomorrow Friday i am not working i will be doing some search. I guess Here in LA california no one has any or build mame arcades. I have check on ebay an no luck all out of state. I see that the glass is expensive.

dtechlogic · « **Reply #13 on:** August 21, 2009, 08:14:41 pm »

Hi Guys here are the pics of the arcade i have gone and check. One of them is NEOGEO cabinet with the glass and few scratch on it and the other one is area 51 cabinet. The NEoGeo is 100 dollars and the area 51 is 125 with the guns. Should i keep looking or this will do.

miles2912 · « **Reply #14 on:** August 21, 2009, 08:22:34 pm »

My advice is not rush out and find a cab but do a lot or research here before you jump in. There are a lot of cabs in and around Los Angeles.

If you buy the first thing you run across odds are that you are going to be disappointed. If you find out what the monitor is worth, what the controls are and what they cost, heck what a coin mech is and does the machine have em?

Are you going to mame it? If so how? What parts? Jamma? What monitor? Salvage the one in teh cab or add your own? Does the one you want to put in fit?

If you want any hope of doing this right you will NEED to know.. not have to rely on anyone's opinion. Those pics are hard to look at BTW. Cell phones make bad cameras.

cboy · « **Reply #15 on:** August 21, 2009, 10:17:16 pm »

i think u should look on craigslist...there are tons of cabs that show up all the time. i would imagine the same goes for the LA area.....

dtechlogic · « **Reply #16 on:** August 21, 2009, 10:41:42 pm »

I will continue my search. Since i just started so what is the ideal price to pay for a cabinet. Also when i go there the guy will sell me a neogeo cabinet with one slot neogeo standard system with metal slug 1 for 399. Also any other site i should check aside from craigslist and ebay.

RayB · « **Reply #17 on:** August 22, 2009, 11:33:29 pm »

I'd pay $100 for the Neo Geo.

Oni2382 · « **Reply #18 on:** August 23, 2009, 12:29:39 am »

That red cab isn't a Neo Geo it's a Dynamo cab......Does it come with the PCB/motherboard or any hardware? If it does it would def. be worth it.

dtechlogic · « **Reply #19 on:** August 23, 2009, 12:10:37 pm »

ni it will come nothing. i guest they will leave the power supply intact and the controller. When i look in their they have a neogeo multi slot with 4 games. They will sell me one with the game for 399. I think that is to much or is it cheap but a neogoe single slot

dtechlogic · « **Reply #20 on:** August 25, 2009, 03:03:15 pm »

Any more ideas where else to look and usually how long it takes to find an arcade cabinet

severdhed · « **Reply #21 on:** August 26, 2009, 01:47:22 pm »

are there any arcades in your area? if there are, go there and talk to the manager...

also, look in the phone book for "amusements". i found a small vending/amusements company in the area, called them up and got a cabinet for $20.

spOOf · « **Reply #22 on:** August 26, 2009, 04:25:51 pm »

Quote from: severdhed on August 18, 2009, 04:43:20 pm

yeah, i'd say it depends alot on the cabinet. around here,(pennsylvania) i've picked up several cabinets that had no monitors or game boards, but came complete with controls, coin doors, marquee/light for $20.

like javeryh said, if it is a classic like galaga or donkey kong or something, then 100 sounds good, but for a generic empty wooden cabinet, i dont know if i would spend that much

I picked 1 up in PA also for @ $30. And that was an NFL Blitz cab with all buttons, coin mech, wiring, lighting, etc. No monitor or some other accessories. Where did you get yours, javeryh?

I'd recommend shopping craigslist/ebay for a bit with local only searching. I shopped for a couple weeks until I found a great deal.

dtechlogic · « **Reply #23 on:** August 26, 2009, 05:53:21 pm »

Good, This weekend i am going to vintage arcade in Glendale to check on some cabinets. The guy told me he will negotiate the price of the cabinets he has from cabinet that are water damaged to cabinet unusable.

Hogie1418 · « **Reply #24 on:** August 27, 2009, 06:17:46 am »

yeah I found a few empty jamma cabs on craigslist here in northern california (probably about 5 or 6 hours north of you). They want $25 bucks for each. Keep looking and you will find an empty one for cheap.

bkenobi · « **Reply #25 on:** August 27, 2009, 02:22:58 pm »

I waited long enough that I was able to pick up both of mine (at different times) for free. I had to drive between 20 and 60 minutes for them, so I was pretty happy. They both had coin doors, cp's, etc, so I know it's possible to find them for cheap/free. However, you might not want to wait as long as it takes to get one at that price. Building one yourself will cost more than $100 depending on the materials you pick, but if the one you buy needs repairs, that kinda equalizes things.

I'm in the Seattle area, so prices I see are obviously different than in So Cal. Good luck!

dtechlogic · « **Reply #26 on:** August 27, 2009, 03:34:47 pm »

I am going to keep looking and i am going this monday to few places and check if they have empty cabinet arcade places. I have the pc already and is it recommended to use the original control or just rebuild it again. I have the xarcade 2 player.


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