Is this a worthy start for a cabinet?

[Russ15]

Hello everyone this is my first post here and was looking for some advice.  Have always wanted to build my own arcade cabinet and yesterday as I was checking out a local thrift store I stumbled upon this strange piece of furniture.. http://flic.kr/p/efAbV3.  The fist thought that popped in my head was arcade cabinet!  It seems to have T molding and although cut off it has a slight upper section that could be a marquee if closed off.  However after digging through things here I see how much goes into supporting everything properly inside and just getting your overall shape using plans and etc.  Bottom line is... would it be worth it to grab this and carve out the cabinet within or should I just start from scratch?  I can get this piece of furniture for about $15.  Thanks guys.

[Drnick]

I know what you mean about looking around and seeing Arcade machines in everything.  I had to move a wooden chair set once and they looked just like a massive weecade from the side 

Personally I would give that a miss, although it could possibly make a nice base for a bartop to sit on it doesn't really look like you could use it for the basis of an arcade machine.  Do what I did, grab some large Graph Paper and a pad and pencil, start doodling down Ideas and when you have one you think you can work with transfer it to the Graph paper, If you are happy with that then get some MDF and get cutting and building.

Before you do anything though you need to ask yourself a most important question "What games are most important to me?" 

If it's Fighters then you would probably want to go with 2 player full sized 6 button layout Horizontal screen
If it's 4 way classics then you could go Bartop with 1 Player 4 buttons and a vertical screen

[kahlid74]

I know what you mean about looking around and seeing Arcade machines in everything.  I had to move a wooden chair set once and they looked just like a massive weecade from the side 

Personally I would give that a miss, although it could possibly make a nice base for a bartop to sit on it doesn't really look like you could use it for the basis of an arcade machine.  Do what I did, grab some large Graph Paper and a pad and pencil, start doodling down Ideas and when you have one you think you can work with transfer it to the Graph paper, If you are happy with that then get some MDF and get cutting and building.

Before you do anything though you need to ask yourself a most important question "What games are most important to me?" 

If it's Fighters then you would probably want to go with 2 player full sized 6 button layout Horizontal screen
If it's 4 way classics then you could go Bartop with 1 Player 4 buttons and a vertical screen

Craigslist and local arcade shops can get you a shell of a real arcade cabinet for 20-100 bucks depending on your haggling abilities.  So pass on that piece of furniture and jot down your thoughts like DrNick said.  Then once you have a vision/direction, find yourself a used cabinet and start rocking.