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New with questions
petrosky:
Thanks Maxim. I appreciate it. I'll have to ask him. Have you built your own machine?
Jabba:
--- Quote from: MaximRecoil on December 19, 2005, 08:09:52 am ---
--- Quote ---Building a Real arcade game will cost a lot more than building a MAME cabinet in my opinion...
--- End quote ---
How do you figure? You can assume the same amount of money for everything that a Mame cabinet and a dedicated arcade machine have in common, but a common JAMMA board is about $20 and you are done. You won't get much of a PC for $20, and then forget about any Whatever-PACs and ArcadeVGA cards, it's keyboard hacks and AdvanceMame (or a PC monitor) if you want to have a prayer of keeping the cost down to a real arcade machine level.
--- End quote ---
I was thinking more from a perspective of cost per game. With a real Arcade, you can play only one game. Assume $20 per game on average. Even if you only liked 100 games, thats a lot of coin and shipping and handling paying for 100 PCBs....
You could probable get an old P166 with a small harddrive for pretty cheap/free on Freecycle or some other such place (pawn shop, classified, etc). As long as you're playing a low version of MAME (i.e., .55 and lower), mame would work out fine. What $100 tops for a old computer with monitor? Mini-Pac will run ya about $30. Joystick and buttons, about another $30.
Also, real Arcade will probably break more often than not with old 20 - 30 year old PCBs. A lot of threads in Arcade Misc forum where chip legs break, chips fry, bad power suppies, etc, etc.
But, if you just were to play 1 game, then I guess a real Arcade would be the chapest route to go assuming you're pretty good with wiring et al.
javeryh:
--- Quote from: Jabba on December 19, 2005, 12:12:37 am ---In my opinion (IMO), building the cab was the "longest" part of it...
Wiring was simple.
Artwork was the hardest...(only because I'm not that good at graphics/artistic)...
--- End quote ---
Heh, I'm the exact opposite - I thought building the cab was a snap (took me about 3 days worth of work - roughly 30 hours - spread out over many months) but the wiring and electronics are giving me a headache because I've never done something like this before. I still need to wire everything up and hopefully once I actually do it I will think it is easy but right now .... not so much!
pointdablame:
What you are looking to build is a JAMMA cab that you can swap different games into.
Your best bet is to look around your area and in your yellow pages, etc and get to know a few Operators and/or collectors. Especially if you aren't in a rush to get going, you'll be able to find a JAMMA cab for dirt cheap. Unless you are in an area with very few machines, you'll be able to pick up something like a 25" JAMMA cab for probably $100.
Once you have a JAMMA cab, you can add games as you see fit. Any JAMMA board will fit right in, and assuming you have the controls for it, you'll be up and running in no time. If its a JAMMA+ game (which means its has more buttons than the JAMMA standard), you'll need some kick harnesses (extra cables for the extra controls) to hook up the other controls. You'll also need to have a control panel that can accept the new controls of course.
Older classics like Pacman, Frogger, etc aren't JAMMA, but you can get a JAMMA adapter for them and make them pretty much plug-and-play.
That is, IMHO, the easiest way to attack this for you. Get a working JAMMA cab, even if you don't like the game that's in it... or if it doesn't have a game at all... then just build up your PCB collection as fast/slow as you want. You can add new art to the cab if you wanted, a new control panel, etc etc... and IMO, its a lot easier to start with an original cab than building your own from scratch.
Just don't butcher a classic cab... we don't like that around here :)
EDIT: I also forgot to mention: If you do wind up wanting a MAME machine, you can use a JPAC and just plug that into the JAMMA harness in your cab. That way you can add your computer to the cab just like you would a different game board.
petrosky:
Wow guys. Thanks for the info :)
Yea Point that sounds like the best option for me. I have been in contact with a guy from where I live and he has some machines he wants to get rid of.
Unfortunately I live in a small area so there's not many options :'(
I'm sorry for bugging you guys with stupid and pointless questions and will probably have more lol
I would like to create a few other machines that has been mentioned.
I guess I better start getting more knowledgeable about wiring.
Thanks for the help so far, this is been the best and most helpful board I ever been on. :)
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