Rear-projection display in an arcade cabinet?

[JoeStrout]

I'm trying to figure out how to get a nice big display into my Gauntlet Legends cabinet, without (a) using a 100-pound CRT, or (b) settling for a display three inches shorter (vertically) than it's supposed to be, which is what the math says I will get if I use a 16:9" monitor.

So... I'm considering making a rear-projection screen.  It seems a bit ludicrous, but what if I used something like this stuff for the screen, and then used a real (not mini) projector — the sort that is normally used to illuminate a 12-foot screen from 4 meters away?

That would be an awful lot of lumens concentrated into a 16x21 inch area.  And this screen material claims darker blacks, and good function in high ambient light.  (This will be in an ordinary room in my home, often played after school, so we can't assume it will be dark.)

I'd have to see if my projector can actually focus on a surface that close... could be an issue.  But it's tempting to try, because then I could actually get a display as big as it was intended to be (or even bigger, if I lose or modify the bezel!).  What do you think?  Is this crazy?

[JoeStrout]

OK, I tested two of the projectors I have lying around.  One of them can't focus close enough to make an image 25" wide.  The other one can, but it has to sit back 6 feet to do it.  To cram 6 feet of throw into the cabinet I would have to bounce the beam off mirrors twice, and I have serious doubts I could make that stable enough to keep the image from swimming around when kids are playing.  And besides, that one isn't very bright (it's not a pocket projector, but it is a mini).

So... for the moment, I'm concluding that this rear-projection-in-the-cabinet idea is going to be quite difficult to make work.