RIP Aceldamor's cab.....for now.

[Aceldamor]

It is a sad yet joyous week for me.....

This past weekend I had to tear down my arcade cabinet in efforts to make room for my impending daughter (3 weeks away). Though I am sad for the loss of my arcade, I an terribly excited for the birth of my first child.

A brief history/description:

One day googling random crap as I always do, I thought I would see how tough it would be to scratch build an arcade and use a real board in it (Had Rastan/MK3 at the time).....then I tripped over MAME....and shortly after BYOAC's website. I was instantly hooked. I did research, and at the time, LuSiD's cab design (MK2 based) was a popular choice, so I went with it. I built my cab in a few days, but kept it simple, then waited for my WG 27" monitor, my huge HAPPs order and my IPAC4. Once those showed up I was off to the races...I got everything together and BOOM!!!! arcade bliss. I have been playing it ever since. I have been watching the incredible works that people have been posting here for years with aspirations of re-designing my cab, using some of the great things I have seen on this website (with their permission of course ), but when you have a full time job, are a full time student, there wasn't much time for anything other than planning and dreaming.

After we found out my wife was preggers, we knew that we were going to be short on some space so we started going through the house and found that we really need to give up some things in order to make room for Zoe, so I sacrificed my cab, and my office, while she sacrificed her scrapbook area. We plan on getting a bigger home once I graduate school, as I will probably have to relocate to the west coast anyway, and at that point I will be re-building another cab, by then Zoe should be old enough to start enjoying some of the simpler games anyway : )

I still have the PC hooked up, but will be using a small hacked game pad setup or something along those lines so I can still enjoy my favs, but all my other parts have been relocated to the shed, where they await the day I can enjoy them again.

I still plan on being an active member here, because I enjoy reading about new innovations, ideas, and random other stuff that shows up here, I am always amazed at the things the people come up with. It's amazing to see how Front Ends, cab designs, lighting, and everything else has evolved so much.

Well..at any rate, thanks for reading this nonsense, and i'll see ya'll around!

Aceldamor

[Malenko]

congrats on the baby (in advance) just because you dont have a cab or arent working on one doesnt mean you arent welcome here. nothing wrong with a little stand alone controller, its the space saver's mame cab!

build that controller quick though, it'll give you something to do when you're up all night with a crying baby :p

[Turnarcades]

I guess that's just life. Congrats on the kid, though remember it doesn't necessarily mean you can't have your own arcade machine...

Consider building a slim machine, a bar-top or a box arcade, all of which take up much less room or can be stored away when not in use...

[javeryh]

C'mon - you could definitely build a crib/MAME cab hybrid! 

Congrats on the kid - it is the best thing ever.

[Dartful Dodger]

Congratulations on the daughter, and for having the sense to stopping the madness.

Keep us updated on how wonderful it is to raise a daughter and how wonderful it is to be able to park two cars in a two car garage.

[TOK]

I understand being tight on space limiting options, but I found the MAME cab worked well for me as a new dad. Most arcade games are 10 to 15 minutes, which was perfect for the small slices of down time.

Definitely kept me sane a few times! 

[Turnarcades]

I understand being tight on space limiting options, but I found the MAME cab worked well for me as a new dad. Most arcade games are 10 to 15 minutes, which was perfect for the small slices of down time.

Definitely kept me sane a few times! 

Good point also! One of my biggest gripes with modern console games are that they aren't 'pick-up-and-play' like the classics, so require longer play times to enjoy. For any busy person who enjoys gaming, it's easier to storm through an arcade game whilst stealing a few minutes of spare time. I used to be able to get through SF2 in under 5 minutes.

[drventure]

Congrats on the little one. That'll likely keep you busy for the next year anyway.

But, if space is tight, Bender's Benderama would certainly fit just about anywhere.

And it's a very cool little cab to boot!

[Kman-Sweden]

Zoe is a pretty name. Congratz.

[SavannahLion]

how wonderful it is to be able to park two cars in a two car garage.

Who in their right mind is going to put two cars in a two car garage? 

Cars are like dogs, they belong outside (as I type this with one dog and two cats on the bed). 

Congrats on the baby girl. I'm getting my first in November.