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Just Bought A MAME Cabinet (Pics Added) (Question Added 2/14...And Answered)

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jtfields:
I've been wanting to build a four player MAME cabinet for a few years now.  But even after buying and reading Saint's book a year or so ago I didn't feel that confident about it.  It doesn't help that hammering a nail is a challenge for me much less any real woodworking and my spare time seems to have dwindled to nothing these days.  So, the short of it is that I stumbled upon a used fully functional cabinet for sale and on a whim bought it.  I paid $400 for it on Craigslist (seemed like an okay deal) and am going to pick it up this Saturday.  Beside the fact that it's a two player and not four, the only things really missing for me would be a spinner, a couple of guns and maybe some pinball buttons on the sides of the panel.  Not sure how easy these would be to add.  The monitor is jut a PC monitor (I didn't ask, but I'm guessing 17").  I would like to upgrade the monitor to a bigger monitor (maybe an arcade monitor if I feel I can install it without killing myself.)  The coin door has been disconnected and I would like to reconnect (no idea how to do this.)  Based purely on the picture my wife is already inquiring about painting it and changing the marquee (it's going to be located in my home office which is very visible by visitors...in fact I'm surprised she was so understanding when I bought it.)  Anyway, I guess I started this thread just to get some general impressions and ideas.  When I get it I may add additional pictures and questions regarding the changes, if any, I decide to make.

Dartful Dodger:
Congrats on the cab.  I spent 6 years collecting parts and never using them before I gave up on the idea of building a Mame cab myself.  I decided to buy a 2 player cab and convert it.  It's been sitting in my parents' garage for 4 months.  Maybe next year I'll give up on converting the cab and just buy an already built Mame cab too.

Originally I wanted a 4 player control panel too, but (after 6 years of contemplation) I realized that a 4 player cabs don't have the sleek look and feel of the arcade games from my youth.

You should be able to plug in PC joysticks and use them for the 4 times you have 3 or more people over who want to play one of the 4 player games.

DashRendar:
Congrats on the purchase- I think you'll have fun with it.   :D

Has your wife given you any feedback on what she would like marquee-wise for the cab?

Personally, I'm not a fan either of the "MAME" design that a lot of people use.  I think it's better to make it look like an arcade game you would find in an arcade.

Hopefully she doesn't want to hide it with something that blends into your home decor (family pictures, artwork, etc).  Marquees are, by design, there to bring attention to the machine and get people excited to play it!   :lol

Malenko:
Thats worth 400, hope the computer inside is good enough to run a lot of games. paint and tmolding are easily changed (and cheap too!) I'd change the buttons, I'm partial to red, white, and blue buttons myself. marquee, print something at kinkos or hit up mamemarquees.com and maybe get control panel overlay. Its defintely a good start.

you should post up details about the cab

Don:
Nice looking cab, simple design and not buttons everywhere like you see sometimes!

Yes i would definately get a bigger monitor. If the PC has a video card that supprts tv-out then i reccommend you stick an old tv in there, they look great in cabs and are more authentic than a regular PC monitor. If you want to go the real deal get an arcade monitor, they're expensive and you'll need to get an ArcadeVGA card also to get it to work, but from what i've seen they look great.

I'm also not a fan of the 'MAME' marquees, i'd personally either go for a game specific marquee (street fighter II etc.), get a nice one from mamemarquees.com or alternatively make your own in photoshop and get it printed!

Good lunk anyway!

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