NEW ASTRO CITY 1:3 SCALE REPLICA - Kickstarter campaign!

[dex77]

Hi there,
I just had the chance to test out a true state of the art prototype of an arcade replica which has been officially launched few days ago on kickstarter,
It’s legit as it comes (the team leader is a French fella btw), so far I think this is the most accurate and complete New Astro City 1:3 replica I’ve ever seen in the whole market,
a must have in my humble geek opinion!

The Kickstarter Campaign has also a commercial video displaying the unit, cool stuff... maybe some of you might be interested! ; )

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ac-r/arcade-replica-ac-r/description

This team and the project itself deserve support and a round of applause for their vision!

[pbj]

Hard pass.

[mikejkelley]

I like it! Your campaign has three big problems however;

• You don't clearly define your reward terms (eg. main unit)
• People don't understand how expensive it is to do short runs like this
• There aren't any low and mid tier rewards

There were successful campaigns like this just a few years ago, but that was when everyone was flush with Covid cash. I'm hoping to do a crowdfunding campaign too with my Mini-Cute-like countercades but most of my stuff will be aimed at DIYers. I wish you good luck!

[dex77]

Not my campaign, just a tester, I will try to notify your feedback to the team, thnx!

[dex77]

PS. what's the price range you think would suit the unit?

[pbj]

My god, I didn't even look at the price.  $1,000? 

AliExpress has tons of similar devices for $150 that nobody wants.

Good luck.

[Mike A]

One thousand dollars?

Holy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---!

[dex77]

One thousand dollars?

Holy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---!

The mini Taito Egrett costs now around 350 bucks and it's a toy...
The MGS version is around 1600 dollars, it's good but it's 3D printed, no marquee, no base, just a tabletop with a mini pc,
this version is for those who want to train and at the same time buying something solid with a complete design...
production price is high cause all parts will be made with a factory mold plus the electronic components are all premium...
same thing happened with the Neo Geo AES, quality had a price in the 90's like in 2026... nothing crazy actually...
DIY is surely the way for a low budget solution.

[mikejkelley]

$1K is actually cheaper than the comps sold in this successful KS ca. 2016 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/multigamesystem/kawaii-cade-japanese-style-bartop-arcade-cabinets. I have a BOM spreadsheet for the countercades I've created and the totals are never less than $600, not including the many hundreds spent on R&D dead-ends. Apprx. $50 reclaimed mon, $25 Sanwa Joystick, $30 Sanwa buttons, $15 power button, $15 select/start buttons, $10 screws, $15 heat-nut inserts, $10 crimp connects, $20 wires, $15 HDMI splitter, $7 x 3 HDMI cables, $10 x 3 panel mounts, $10 speakers, $25 amp, $28 paint/clear coat, $23 spot putty, $50 filament, $130 R Pi5, $80 custom CP and sideart, $21 psu, $7 fan, $8 fan button, $10 JST connectors, $9 USB panel mounts, $10 LEDs, $18 encoder... that's just raw materials off the top of my head and I'm forgetting a bunch of stuff. A prototype countercade takes over 250 hours from CAD to completion. Subsequent builds are about half as expensive in times of time and only slightly less in money but are still not cheap! This is an expensive hobby but you get a lot out of it!