MINI MS PACMAN FINISHED

[briktop11b]

  Well i finished this about 2 months ago. I didnt take many pictures of the proces but it was really easy and straight forward. I wanted to build it for my daughter for her 3rd birthday. I used the ms pacman plug and play game. I didnt get measurements i just based it off the screen and just built it close to scale. Its about 47" tall, 23"  deep, and 17" wide. I had less than $100 in it until i ordered all the artwork which set me back about $300. It was all worth it because it turned it better than expected. Im using a smart strip and have the tv power button wired to the switch on the back so everything comes on with a flick of the switch.

    To mount the tv i screwed shelf brackets to the side of it and glued 2x4"s on the inside and screwed the brackets to the 2x4s. For the plexi i scored the inside of the cabinet with a skillsaw about a quarter inch deep and after i mounted the tv i just sled the plexi in the grooves from the back and it looks nice and clean. I used a real ms pacman joystick and pushbuttons. For the speakers i bought a cheap set of pc speakers and used one since its just mono anyway. I mounted the speaker controls on the top of the cab to adjust volume.

Anyway here are the pictures,ill be happy to answer any questions.

Thanks.

[jeffhlewis]

it's a shame you didn't document it as you went, that's a great looking cab.  good work!

[javeryh]

Unbelievably nice.   

[TOK]

Very nice!

Kind of an oddball question, but does she play it? My daughter is 3 1/2 and doesn't really seem to have developed the motor skills to play Pac Man or Frogger yet (the attention span either, for that matter). She'll play World Class Bowling for a few tries, but thats just a matter of spinning the trackball forward.

[briktop11b]

she will play it and push the button and move the stick around but she really doest understand how to work it, YET.

[GAtekwriter]

That's a GREAT looking mini cabinet... I'm considering doing something similar for my boy when he gets older (you and javeryh have me thinking smaller for next project).

Just curious - you're not from the Houston, TX area are you?  Your daughter looks similar to a family I knew in Houston years ago...

Jim

[javeryh]

Kind of an oddball question, but does she play it? My daughter is 3 1/2 and doesn't really seem to have developed the motor skills to play Pac Man or Frogger yet (the attention span either, for that matter). She'll play World Class Bowling for a few tries, but thats just a matter of spinning the trackball forward.

Same here.  My daughter will be 4 in late September and she doesn't quite understand how it all works yet.  She can play Pac-man or anything that doesn't require pushing buttons (Frogger, etc.) but she doesn't understand the objective and her game is over in about 10 seconds.  If I had to guess I'd say in about 6 months or so she will be able to play for real.

On a side note, I always laugh when someone tells me that "they beat Super Mario Bros." or something when they were 2.  There's simply no way.   

[briktop11b]

I think by the time she turns 4 she will be able to play the simple games like pacman,frogger,and galaga. Maybe some other things like metal slug. We try toplay metal slug together every now and then and she just mashes buttons. I was born and raised in Stratford, OKlahoma.

[GameDork]

My little girl (3yo) likes track and field. she can actually qualify on the sprint!

[oljake]

NEWBIE JUMPS IN WITH A QUESTION!

Okay, so, here's my very first post:  Where did you get the artwork, and how much did each panel cost you?  I know there was some talk in here a long while back about the popular artwork providers stopping their Pac-Man related artwork reproduction due to copyright issues, and I was wondering if you went with the official company, or another one.  I will be building a cabinet myself in the weeks to come, and was dead set on using Pac-Man artwork until I found out about the whole shutdown (and the huge cost of the official art... ).  Thanks for any info you can give me, and beautiful job on the cabinet!

[briktop11b]

     For the artwork most of the sites say they dont carry galaga/pacman. I took that as they dont have the exact reproduction templates for copyright purposes. But, since this is a smaller cabinet therefore i need smaller artwork which is not reproduction that it shouldnt be a problem. I found the artwork on the internet myself and had to redraw a couple in photoshop and match the colors of all of them. I couldnt find the bezel at all so i pretty much made it from scratch in photoshop. I edited the cp overlay to only have one spot for one player instead of 2. I placed the order with a very popular one from this forum and received the artwork about a week later. The sides cost the most i think they were about $170 for the pair. Then the rest was anywhere from $20 to $50. Does anybody else have any input on the copyright issue thing. I really dont understand it either. I just took a chance and placed my order, uploaded my artwork, and they printed it for me?

Thanks for all the comments.

[Spaced Ace]

It's so cute, I want to eat it.  It looks like a huge birthday cake.  Aparently you didnt cut any corners at all. 

Thing looks awesome.

But I still want to eat it....

[Singapura]

OMG, your daughter is huge! 

[SirPeale]

On a side note, I always laugh when someone tells me that "they beat Super Mario Bros." or something when they were 2.  There's simply no way.   

My oldest was trouncing me in Super Mario Land on the NES when he was three.  Once he figured things out you couldn't stop him.

[Paulson]

 Great job...maybe you could have installed a coin mech for a savings bank too..


 Just a thought.

[Malenko]

can you draw up the plans for it? I wanna make a cab thats pretty much exactly that size but I cant work out the dimensions.

looks AMAZING!

[briktop11b]

I was really wanting to incorporate a coin mech because it just doesn't look right without it. That's a great idea! Any suggestions on where to get a small coin mech? Maybe ill make a home made one with a slot and a vinyl sticker that looks like a coin mech.

I don't have plans for the dimensions as i just sort of eye balled the full sized cab and then built it around my TV and just tried to keep it somewhat proportioned to the full sized cab. I will try to drawsomething up with the measurements and post them in this thread. Give me a week and ill see what i can do.

Thanks for the comments.

[Stobe]

Have you seen this product?

Unreal Coin Door

[briktop11b]

That's perfect.I remember seeing it before but forgot about it. Thanks. now i just have to figure out how to make a believable slot. Any suggestions?

[GameDork]

Maybe put that unreal sticker on there and use a real lit reject button installed flush into the front panel with a hole behind it that would dump the coin in a box.