Playing emulators in time mode with a coin mech?

[Turnarcades]

Does anyone know if there is a software solution to playing games in my arcade cabinet in a paid 'time mode'. I know there are mechanisms that allow machines to be played in time mode (paying for a few minutes, rather than per credit) for arcade games, and obviously I know that you can hook up a coin mech for MAME, but is it possible to apply this feature to other emulators or a front-end by means of software?

The reason I ask is that I am building a cabinet for my nephew, but my sister would like to restrict his use of the machine. Obviously this would be easy for MAME (paying for credits), but I want him to be able to use any of the other platforms and just pay for time he uses instead. Is there software out there that can do this, or if not, maybe this is a suggestion for the guys at MAMEWAH development......? Surely it would be easy to add a switch in the programming that could close the program until more coins are entered?
I use credit buttons for MAME anyway so the only function of the coin slot would be to 'add time'.....

[Macarro]

I think you can use Total Game Controller http://www.bmtmicro.com/BMTCatalog/win/totalgamecontrol.html

You can launch it just before the game and set it to "keypress" Alt-F4 or the exit key at a defined time.

I hope it works.

[Turnarcades]

TThanks for the suggestion, but unforunately this does not work in the way I want it to.

It needs to run automatically on the insertion of the coin, and restrict access to any of the games until credit is applied. Could anyone write an addition to MAMEWAH or a simple program to link to the emulators?

[Howard_Casto]

This gets very close to a turn key solution to making a profit off of a mame cab.  Since this is very illegal it isn't a popular feature for obvious reasons. 

[Thenasty]

work the cab with TOKENS. Reward the boy the tokens and once boy finish all tokens, no more game play. Then Dad/Mommy take tokens out again for the next time the boy gets a 100 on his test. 

[youki]

AtomicFe was able to do that.  But Mame team is against that kind of feature , so i removed that feature from official release.

PS: Don't ask me for the Unofficial release... it is just for my own use and few close friends.

[Turnarcades]

I understand the motives for not releasing versions with this feature, and I know the MAME team have their reservations.

However, they also stand by the fact that they are not responsible for how users utilise the MAME project anyway, itself a piece of legal grey area. If they continue to work on a project that is already questionabe and can be easily manipulated for more questionable use (at the end of the day anyone can wire a coin mech) then why frown upon people modifying the code and then make the source code available? It seems a little hypocritical to me, and I know a lot of people sweep this under the carpet when they challenge them on it. OK it's their project and they can decide when to draw the line, but if they disassociate themselves with any other individuals manipulating the code (misfit mame etc.) then surely it's none of their biz if people choose to manipulate front-ends or whatever which run things other than their project. That's like taking ownership for the entire emulation world.

The token suggestion was a thought by the way, but again it would be exactly the same as adding coins, and would only work for credits in MAME.

Even if I wanted it for token use (as suggested here) I could do so, so why inhibit a time play feature? Ah well, another great idea flushed down the pan on a technicality. Looks like I'll have to get my programming head on and try to write one myself, if anyone would care to join me.....!

I'm not trying to discredit the stirling work the mame team do, but I wonder if it's really them being picky or if it's just other project leaders having false paranoia about how much control the mame team have. Yeah no-one wants to piss them off, but it's not like they're gonna associate themselves with what others choose to do with their machines anyway. Chill peeps!