Do you guys think there is a good market for selling mame cabinets?

[Anakin]

I'm always looking for a 2nd income and I love building things.  I've built about 3 cabinets but had to get rid of all of them over the years due to space.  I've seen the websites selling mame machines and was wondering if anyone knows how well these companies do.  I'm not looking to become a millionaire but it would be nice to have a 2nd income doing something I love.  What do you guys think the market is for selling cabinets?

[nullb0y]

its very much based on what the person wants u probably would have t0 build them to order instead of build a set design

[Lilwolf]

Not really... to many people doing it... kits for about 50 bucks more then the price of the wood.

Then you also need to consider the ethical part of making money on emulator authors backs... but another issue.

I think there are better bet at making money by doing smaller projects to help people who build their own.  But even that market seems a bit saturated (unless you can build a good starwars controller )

Anyway, this is a hobby.  If you love it, do it... but don't expect to make money... and if you do great...  But expect to loose some money at the same time.

[TOK]

I have quite a few people ask me to either build or help build. Unfortunately, they're all the type of people that don't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of.   

Anyone with the means to purchase also seems to be the type that enjoys building themselves.

[Timoe]

( Re: Do you guys think there is a good market for selling mame cabinets? )

Nope.   You can do it but you'll never make money.  You may enjoy building and helping others however.

[DrewKaree]

I have quite a few people ask me to either build or help build. Unfortunately, they're all the type of people that don't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of.   

Anyone with the means to purchase also seems to be the type that enjoys building themselves.

I think what TOK is telling you is to see what the available window-owning market looks like out there

As far as building cabs, simply building the shells are the only route you can take that won't involve heartache, headache, and several other types of aches.  You certainly CAN build them if you wish, and do it for a side job, but restoring or modifying an existing shell would be the cheaper/easier way to do it, and less costly (although that's certainly not a given)

[leapinlew]

I have quite a few people ask me to either build or help build. Unfortunately, they're all the type of people that don't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of.   

Anyone with the means to purchase also seems to be the type that enjoys building themselves.

I agree.

Thats it. Nothing more to contribute. Agreeing with Drew. gg

I think what TOK is telling you is to see what the available window-owning market looks like out there

As far as building cabs, simply building the shells are the only route you can take that won't involve heartache, headache, and several other types of aches.  You certainly CAN build them if you wish, and do it for a side job, but restoring or modifying an existing shell would be the cheaper/easier way to do it, and less costly (although that's certainly not a given)

[Fozzy The Bear]

The market is already pretty much saturated with suppliers on that front. It's noit as big a market as it seems to be either.

If it's a second income you're looking for, then this won't give it to you.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[PCtech]

Yep, all good stuff said here....

I wouldn't count on it as a second income, but if you can do it at a little over cost, and find a few interested people, then you can get a lot of satisfaction out of it, and the hobby might "sustain itself" (doubtful, but possible)

I was hoping to do something similar, untill I did it myself.  I gutted and MAME'ed an old Mortal Kombat (restored the cabinet, but was in pretty good condition already).  I profited about $200 off it (not counting labor time), and used it to buy some materials for the next one.  A few people have seen that cabinet, and asked if I could do something for them. 

Most show a lot of curiosity....untill you tell them the cost.  The folks that are serious, seem to have a good amount of Disposable income.

My suggestion would be to build 1 (really nice) and try to get it somewhere that other folks (rick fols) will see it, and say "I want one of those".

But, in the end, no BIG money in it, but a lot of satisfaction if you love the stuff.

Good luck!

[Dervacumen]

Most show a lot of curiosity....until you tell them the cost.

I think you hit the nail on the head with this statement.  My experience has been people think it's great and they want one until you tell them you spent a grand on it.  Your best bet would be to do one-offs on a case by case basis and determine if you're getting what you want out of it before you start ordering stuff.  Kinda do an estimate for someone to gauge their seriousness, then work on a pay as you go basis, having them front the $$ for the supplies while you do the sourcing, figuring, and building.  If you do it this way, you won't get stuck with a bunch of "inventory" and no demand.
Just a thought.

[Matthew Anderson]

Either underprice SlikStik on the high end or X-Arcade on the low end

or find a niche.

I (being fairly lazy) "might" be in the market for a custom controller with a 49 way joystick. Too lazy to do it for myself.

But the profit you might make for such things might subsidize your hobby but I can't see you making a lot of money unless you can do things in bulk.

[KillerArcades]

Yep, all good stuff said here....

Definitely

The folks that are serious, seem to have a good amount of Disposable income. Build one [and] try to get it somewhere that other folks (rich folks) will see it, and say "I want one of those".

Yep, this is best way to make any cash out of it, as far as I can tell.

Kinda do an estimate for someone to gauge their seriousness, then work on a pay as you go basis, having them front the $$ for the supplies while you do the sourcing, figuring, and building.

This is how I'm doing it with some friends. Our secretary at work really got excited when I started showing people my first cabinet a few weeks ago, she's convinced her husband that they need me to make one for their kids, etc. So, I made her take her fam to a nicklecade to help her and her hubby decide on just what type of games they want to be able to play, and then I gave them a reality check on some of it, etc. Then I created a price-list for them of what it's going to cost (w/ a line item for my cost of labor, etc), it's a bit more than what they we're hoping it'd be, so now we're just trying to massage their list of "wants" more into what they "need" and hopefully I'll be off and running. But, no, the profit won't be tremendous, just enough to make it worth my time, and maybe help recoup a bit of the cost of my own (ok, no, I've got way too much into my own for that to happen ).

The other extreme is another friend of my wife's who came over to our house and saw my machine. Now her and her hubby really want one, but they want the absolute top-o-the-line machine. She basically wants a duplicate of mine, with all the animated LED's, etc. I told my wife to let her friend know that a duplicate of mine would cost an insane amount of money, because I'm not doing all that soldering and wiring again without getting some serious cash out of it! So, I'm still not sure where they'll end up, but they're a very affluent family (million dollar house, and all that (even here in Utah!)), so they might still want to convince me to do it. Now, that one will be the one I'd make some cash on, if it happens.

Anyways, so yeah, in a nut-shell, everyone that seriously wants one either wants to build it themselves, or else they usually don't want to spend the money. So, if you want to make any money at all, you're going to need to aim for the high-end market where people don't blink at the idea of spending upwards of $2-3k for their own arcade machine, but the last thing they want is to build it themselves.

[ahofle]

TWO women showed interest in your arcade cabinet and then convinced their husbands to get one?  Sounds like a nice parallel universe you're living in there.

[KillerArcades]

heh, heh!, yeah, I gotta admit, they both surprised me. The first one even told me that her husband said he's not really into arcade games, but that if she wants one for her and the kids, that he'll let her get one, etc.. that really blew me away, I assumed she was only into it at all because he must be a fanatic, etc. but apparently it's just a crazy tear in the time-space continuim or something over here..... 

[leapinlew]

I tell you what....

I think a bigger market with more potential would be jukeboxes. I can't believe the interest mine generates. I've had lots of people want me to make them one. It's much less costly too:

Material to build the juke (1 4x8 sheet)
1/2 gallon or less of paint and primer
T-mold
Touchscreen
Computer
Speakers
Speaker Grills
Casters

I did mine for around $300 (I already had a computer). But everyone is interested in it - seems that everyone has a music preference.

Shameless Self Plug:

[KillerArcades]

I agree with leapinlew on this, (though perhaps we're now straying off topic just a smidge ). I've had lots of people become very interested in a custom jukebox and/or karaoke machine (about the same price range for either). So, these are some other good routes to go if you're looking for some extra spending cash.

[rbarr110]

I tell you what....

I think a bigger market with more potential would be jukeboxes. I can't believe the interest mine generates. I've had lots of people want me to make them one. It's much less costly too:

Material to build the juke (1 4x8 sheet)
1/2 gallon or less of paint and primer
T-mold
Touchscreen
Computer
Speakers
Speaker Grills
Casters

I did mine for around $300 (I already had a computer). But everyone is interested in it - seems that everyone has a music preference.

Shameless Self Plug:

Sorry - but I have a hard tim believing you got that size of touchscreen and still had around $300 of expense.  I have a 3x5 touchscreen and it was over $150 for the overlay and USB controller.  If it really was around $300 for all that....let us in on the secret to finding inexpensive touchscreens.

[leapinlew]

Good call rbarr! I posted this in the project announcements and I didn't want to go on and on in the OP's thread about my jukebox. You are right to be suspicious.

What your looking at is a 15" CRT from 3M. I picked it up for $71 shipped on ebay. I believe it was a good find, but they are out there.