Author Topic: Arcade Seminar (Read 6084 times)

jd · « **on:** October 24, 2009, 15:17:37 »

Hello everyone,

As we know, many of us who like reef tanks have many other hobbies in common (Wes and I are a frightening example) I know there has been some interest in my Arcade. Some have seen it in person, others have seen the shameless 'coffee maker' picture

I thought I would put together a meeting/seminar on building them.

Topics that I will discuss:

Cabinet plans/materials
Tools required
Control options
Price
How to categorize all the woman's phone numbers you receive after they see it
Displays, which is better for what
PC options
Front end software (GameEx, MAME, MALA)
Games
Other uses for your Arcade: jukebox, DVD player, etc
How you keep your neighbors from beating down your door to play it

So, if you are interested in building your own arcade, come on by. If you'd just like to play and enjoy some snacks you're more than welcome. The meeting will be a few weeks away, depending on when works for everyone. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Please RSVP in this thread if you would like to attend.

My baby:

HUNGER · « **Reply #1 on:** October 24, 2009, 15:38:04 »

ill like to come watch would be cool to see and how it all works

lazylivin · « **Reply #2 on:** October 24, 2009, 16:37:31 »

I am in, hopefully our cabinet will be under way by then, after having the controls for 5 years

jd · « **Reply #3 on:** October 24, 2009, 16:46:44 »

Great, Looking forward to seeing you both.

Lazy, think of it this way, you where 'aging' your controls. For that retro feeling

stickboy_107 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 24, 2009, 17:33:08 »

Dang, wish we would've had more time when we were just there. We'd have played a couple of games on it, lol. Seriously though, count us in and we'll bring our son too since all he does is play video games.

aquavista99 · « **Reply #5 on:** October 24, 2009, 17:35:18 »

Very nice, JD!!!!!!!!!!!!

slandis3 · « **Reply #6 on:** October 24, 2009, 17:40:49 »

I would like to come out and take a look. I love DIy projects. Count me in.

jd · « **Reply #7 on:** October 24, 2009, 19:11:46 »

Scott/Christy: Great. I'd love to have you.

Thanks Tim, that's about 3 years hard work

Don't worry, they don't HAVE to take that long

Mike: Awesome, an arcade is a DIYer dream project. Next to reef tanks

jd · « **Reply #8 on:** October 26, 2009, 00:27:49 »

Alright. How does Sunday Nov. 8th sound, about 1PM? That way anyone that is driving a ways can just just head right on over to Will and Nikki's meeting at 4PM. My girlfriend has graciously offered to make snacks for everyone, the leftovers I can bring to the meeting!

If you know the size/style/type of arcade you are thinking about, post your thoughts. I can put together some info for you on it. (cost, materials, etc)

I know HUNGER wants a pac-man only machine

HUNGER · « **Reply #9 on:** October 26, 2009, 08:33:24 »

its miss pac man lol and yes i do

mdcoblentz · « **Reply #10 on:** October 26, 2009, 08:43:24 »

I'm in, I'm in, I'm IN!!!! would love to build one of those. but seriously. that machine is sweet.

cyberwollf · « **Reply #11 on:** October 26, 2009, 10:15:09 »

Josh, If you get enough intrest, do you think it would be possible to group buy buttons and happ sticks? Any ideas on a vendor?

jd · « **Reply #12 on:** October 26, 2009, 11:31:31 »

Quote from: HUNGER on October 26, 2009, 08:33:24

its miss pac man lol and yes i do

Looking for a miss pac-man style cabinet also?

Quote from: mdcoblentz on October 26, 2009, 08:43:24

I'm in, I'm in, I'm IN!!!! would love to build one of those. but seriously. that machine is sweet.

It'd be great to have you!

Quote from: cyberwollf on October 26, 2009, 10:15:09

Josh, If you get enough intrest, do you think it would be possible to group buy buttons and happ sticks? Any ideas on a vendor?

Wes, My preferred manufacturer is Suzo-Happ. They have been making arcade parts since the mid 1980s are are known for their quaility. My preferred vendor right now is http://groovygamegear.com They offer Happ joysticks and buttons for prices well below Happ's own website. I think this is because Happ offers bulk rates and GGG.com buys a ton of inventory. For example Happ's 8-way Competition Joysticks are listed at $13.95, At GGG.com they are just $8.49. GGG.com also offers almost everything else you may need. Keyboard encoders, t-molding, they have one of the best spinners on the market, trackballs, etc. Using them saves you plenty in shipping as opposed to using 3-4 different companies.

cyberwollf · « **Reply #13 on:** October 26, 2009, 12:29:59 »

Wow that's much cheaper than I remeber when I built mine years ago.

I'll check out that website. If I can get the power connector soldered back on my laptop I may look at building a table top, or wallmounted flatscreen

jd · « **Reply #14 on:** October 26, 2009, 12:38:00 »

Yeah, prices have came way down. You can build a two player panel for about $100 or so.

You should build a cocktail style cabinet!

jd · « **Reply #15 on:** October 26, 2009, 13:01:26 »

You guys think we can get Lonnie on board....

cyberwollf · « **Reply #16 on:** October 26, 2009, 13:15:09 »

It doesn't really matters since they are so far away, but all through college I ran an arcade that my family owned. When the mall got flooded by a hurricane we put them all in storage and they are still there to this day. $5K DDR cabinet and everything. When we moved up here I was going to get it all shipped up here and open a shop, but the mall manager at fairfield is a major A$$. He treated me and my wife like idoits becuase we were so young, and wanted outragous rent with a 5 year lease! All of this durring horrible economic times when the mall had 10+ empty shops. Long story short, they still sit in Louisiana.

Blown76mav · « **Reply #17 on:** October 26, 2009, 13:21:02 »

Quote from: jd on October 26, 2009, 13:01:26

You guys think we can get Lonnie on board....

I could do that!

jd · « **Reply #18 on:** October 26, 2009, 13:30:59 »

Wes, I'll have us a flat bed but the end of the week, pack a bag!

Alright Lonnie, you build the cabinet, I'll do the wiring

Blown76mav · « **Reply #19 on:** October 26, 2009, 13:34:31 »

Quote from: jd on October 26, 2009, 13:30:59

Wes, I'll have us a flat bed but the end of the week, pack a bag!

Alright Lonnie, you build the cabinet, I'll do the wiring

Heck, I got a 24ft enclosed trailer and a truck, when do we leave?

jd · « **Reply #20 on:** October 26, 2009, 13:36:36 »

Quote from: Blown76mav on October 26, 2009, 13:34:31

Heck, I got a 24ft enclosed trailer and a truck, when do we leave?

As soon as Wes flies back in town.

Seriously Wes, It would be awesome to open an Arcade up here. I can't even think of one around here.

TechGuy · « **Reply #21 on:** October 26, 2009, 13:39:50 »

Quote from: jd on October 26, 2009, 13:36:36

As soon as Wes flies back in town.

Seriously Wes, It would be awesome to open an Arcade up here. I can't even think of one around here.

Ditto! The Mall arcade in Piqua closed.

HUNGER · « **Reply #22 on:** October 26, 2009, 18:17:18 »

now that looks awesome

jd · « **Reply #23 on:** October 26, 2009, 18:19:21 »

Dave, I have full plans for a ms. pacman cab for you

If you kinda what you want, speak up. I'll print some info out for you!

jd · « **Reply #24 on:** October 26, 2009, 18:52:34 »

That should be "if you kinda know what you want..."

jd · « **Reply #25 on:** October 26, 2009, 23:36:18 »

Okay!

What: Arcade Seminar
When: Sunday Nov. 8th
Time: 1pm
Where: PM me for directions and RSVP
What to bring: Your ideas and your questions.

This meeting will be before Will and Nikki's meeting at 4PM I live about 3 minutes away from them. I did this to save people the trip to Huber. If there is enough interest I will hold another meeting in the coming weeks. Please try to RSVP by the end of this week (the 30th)

HUNGER · « **Reply #26 on:** October 27, 2009, 08:34:08 »

ill be there

UDJustin · « **Reply #27 on:** October 27, 2009, 11:01:33 »

Quote from: cyberwollf on October 26, 2009, 13:15:09

It doesn't really matters since they are so far away, but all through college I ran an arcade that my family owned. When the mall got flooded by a hurricane we put them all in storage and they are still there to this day. $5K DDR cabinet and everything. When we moved up here I was going to get it all shipped up here and open a shop, but the mall manager at fairfield is a major A$$. He treated me and my wife like idoits becuase we were so young, and wanted outragous rent with a 5 year lease! All of this durring horrible economic times when the mall had 10+ empty shops. Long story short, they still sit in Louisiana.

Dont know if your still interested or not but my best friends girlfriend is the head of security at Fairfield commons I could drop a line and see if that helps if your still interested in this

mdcoblentz · « **Reply #28 on:** October 27, 2009, 12:50:35 »

DANGIT! I have a bachelor party I'm going to on the 7th. I won't be getting back from it til the afternoon. we are taking a charter bus so I don't really have a choice....

jd · « **Reply #29 on:** October 27, 2009, 12:57:59 »

Quote from: mdcoblentz on October 27, 2009, 12:50:35

DANGIT! I have a bachelor party I'm going to on the 7th. I won't be getting back from it til the afternoon. we are taking a charter bus so I don't really have a choice....

If enough are interested, I plan on holding another get-together

jd · « **Reply #30 on:** October 29, 2009, 17:29:14 »

Please remember to RSVP me as soon as you can

In a effort to clam everyone down around here...

What is your favorite game?

Mine is Bubble Bobble for sure. As you can see I used it for my marquee.

What's your favorite game-hack/piece of trivia?

I think it has to be the 'safe' spot in Pac-man where no ghosts can get you. (betca didn't know about it

)

Joel · « **Reply #31 on:** October 29, 2009, 17:36:25 »

I remember the safe spot on pacman - wow I was in like 6th grade then - whoa!!!

I also used to be able to get the Centipede stuck and just kill spiders to rack up points.

I still play tempest pretty regularly and know a few "safe" spots to sit

On the old 2600 I played a game called "adventure" and there was this tiny "dot" you could find that opened an hidden area in one of the castles. I think that was the first game that I discovered a "secret" on.

HUNGER · « **Reply #32 on:** October 29, 2009, 17:38:32 »

wow joel u r old jk

jd · « **Reply #33 on:** October 29, 2009, 17:41:12 »

Joel: I too rememeber when pac-man came out. I was the spry young age of -8.

It sounds like you need an Arcade Joel...

Joel · « **Reply #34 on:** October 29, 2009, 17:47:27 »

I wasted countless hours and money on Video games and loved it. My weekends were spend at Video City on Kingsridge and had two smalled game rooms and a bowling alley with in walking distance of my home as a kid. In fact, the building I just moved my business out of was a game room called PinBall alley from about 79 till about 82. I was there hours and hous every week. It was cool Oh, and don't forget Malibu Grand Prix, I spent lots of time there too.

I got into pin ball and could play litterally for hours on one token. Loved Black Knight 2000, I'd have one if I had the room.

Oh and yes and thanks for pointing out how old I am----real nice.....

jd · « **Reply #35 on:** October 29, 2009, 17:56:29 »

Joel: I think you need a machine in your new shop

For anyone that doesn't know about the pacman secret spot, here it is. If you enter it without the ghosts seeing you, you can stay there forever

Trivia: The Red ghost (Blinky) is the smartest and fastest.

HUNGER · « **Reply #36 on:** October 29, 2009, 18:03:42 »

wow never knew that

Joel · « **Reply #37 on:** October 29, 2009, 18:09:04 »

I looked at a system recently that played a couple hundred games, kind - of pricey though. I assumed that building one was doable and perhaps cheaper too. THe one I was looking at used a ps2 to run it. It was called X- something or another.

OH, remember when the lazer games first came out. They were so cool back then, it was like playing a cartoon. I liked Dragon's Liar and Space Ace but I wonder how cool I would think they are now

jd · « **Reply #38 on:** October 29, 2009, 18:15:30 »

Joel, they are MUCH cheaper than the ones you can buy pre-made. I just looked up the spreadsheet on mine, it ran me about $1000. But, not to toot my own horn, I have pretty much the best controls(and most)you can get. They can be done for cheaper still. I've been considering building myself a small pacman machine.

Joel · « **Reply #39 on:** October 29, 2009, 21:27:12 »

I'm trying to rearrange my schedule so I can come to your get together and go to Will and Nikki's afterward. I'd love to build a system.

I have a disk of most of the williams games (defender / stargate, robotron, Joust, etc.0 and have an atari disk (tempest, battlezone, missle command, asteroids, etc.) for my computer but a stand up consul would be much cooler.

I want a tron, gorf and Phoenix game too.

I'll figure out my schedule this weekend and see if I can work it out.

jd · « **Reply #40 on:** October 29, 2009, 22:06:26 »

Joel; That would be great! I'd love to have you.

FYI: My arcade has about 6000 games on it... So would yours

jd · « **Reply #41 on:** November 05, 2009, 12:52:39 »

I've got space for one or two more people. First ones to RSVP get it. I plan on doing this again so don't worry if you miss out this time.

slandis3 · « **Reply #42 on:** November 05, 2009, 13:31:27 »

Hey who all is on the list to show up? Im pretty sure I said I would be there.Just want to make sure you have me down

jd · « **Reply #43 on:** November 05, 2009, 14:47:02 »

I got you down. That should about fill my tiny house.

If anyone else is interested let me know, I can do this again in a few weeks (assuming I don't botch it too bad

)

mdcoblentz · « **Reply #44 on:** November 06, 2009, 10:06:06 »

you know i'm interested!!! just can't make it this weekend

jd · « **Reply #45 on:** November 06, 2009, 10:12:46 »

Quote from: mdcoblentz on November 06, 2009, 10:06:06

you know i'm interested!!! just can't make it this weekend

Heh, how is yours coming? I haven't heard from you in a while.

mdcoblentz · « **Reply #46 on:** November 06, 2009, 11:25:25 »

been working on getting roms for mame. then I'm gonna work on getting a good SNES emu and work on those roms, I got most of the bios's for mame but am still working on getting most of the CHD's. I have them coming on a torrent. 103 gig or something like that. will take a few days! Still have alot of Roms not working on my mame. I'm using mamefx 0.135. Can't get Final Fight to work on it which is one of my favs. but I can get it to work on another emulator. I am planning on getting the 4x8 sheets of plywood tonight for the cabinet but still need some decent dimensions before I start. Am I right in saying that I can't use a lcd screen for my display if I want to play shooting games with a light gun??? I've researched it a bit but alot of what I'm finding is 4 years old or older.

jd · « **Reply #47 on:** November 06, 2009, 11:32:52 »

This lightgun encoder works with any TV

http://www.ultimarc.com/aimtrak.php

Let me know how your CHD games work, I haven't messed much with them after I found out that Gauntlet Legends won't run. You've got a PM also.

lazylivin · « **Reply #48 on:** November 06, 2009, 22:36:16 »

Micah, I have 621 NES ROMS if you want them

cyberwollf · « **Reply #49 on:** November 06, 2009, 22:59:11 »

Quote from: Lazylivin on November 06, 2009, 22:36:16

Micah, I have 621 NES ROMS if you want them

Any you have all 621 cartridges to back them up right?

lazylivin · « **Reply #50 on:** November 06, 2009, 23:08:53 »

Whats a cartridge.

jungliztkruger · « **Reply #51 on:** November 06, 2009, 23:51:18 »

those things you would spend hours getting to work and then when they did you would play about 5 minutes before they froze

cyberwollf · « **Reply #52 on:** November 07, 2009, 00:57:22 »

Quote from: Lazylivin on November 06, 2009, 23:08:53

Whats a cartridge.

The piece of actual hardware you need to own in order to legally posses the ROMs

jd · « **Reply #53 on:** November 07, 2009, 11:11:50 »

Quote from: cyberwollf on November 07, 2009, 00:57:22

The piece of actual hardware you need to own in order to legally posses the ROMs

SSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

jd · « **Reply #54 on:** November 07, 2009, 17:10:30 »

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow at 1pm! If you are bringing food for the meeting I should have extra fridge space for you.

Rayman · « **Reply #55 on:** November 07, 2009, 20:23:44 »

Quote from: jd on October 24, 2009, 15:17:37

Hello everyone,

As we know, many of us who like reef tanks have many other hobbies in common (Wes and I are a frightening example) I know there has been some interest in my Arcade. Some have seen it in person, others have seen the shameless 'coffee maker' picture I thought I would put together a meeting/seminar on building them.

Topics that I will discuss:

Cabinet plans/materials
Tools required
Control options
Price

IDK what the that is but i want two of them.
How to categorize all the woman's phone numbers you receive after they see it
Displays, which is better for what
PC options
Front end software (GameEx, MAME, MALA)
Games
Other uses for your Arcade: jukebox, DVD player, etc
How you keep your neighbors from beating down your door to play it

So, if you are interested in building your own arcade, come on by. If you'd just like to play and enjoy some snacks you're more than welcome. The meeting will be a few weeks away, depending on when works for everyone. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Please RSVP in this thread if you would like to attend.

My baby:

Rayman · « **Reply #56 on:** November 08, 2009, 02:24:31 »

was supposed to say idk what that is but i'll take two of them , not sure what happend.

Reefd Up · « **Reply #57 on:** November 08, 2009, 19:31:37 »

Sorry JD, didn't get to ask you how this went...so how did it go?

slandis3 · « **Reply #58 on:** November 08, 2009, 19:42:12 »

it was horrible, sat around a bunch of grown men and women playing video games.

I learned that when I get ready to build mine I'm just going to buy the parts and call JD and watch him build it. His arcade looks great.

HUNGER · « **Reply #59 on:** November 08, 2009, 20:44:26 »

vary cool loved the games cant wait till i can build mine or you can just give me yours lol thank you vary much

jd · « **Reply #60 on:** November 15, 2009, 15:14:13 »

Whoops, I missed these.

Thanks to everyone who came out. I'm hope you had a good time and learned a little bit.

I would love to take an weekend and build one start to finish, if I can facilitate some garage space. If you might be interesting in something like that, let me know. I think we could put one together in 2 afternoons.

2024 Ohio Reef Frag Swap

Author Topic: Arcade Seminar (Read 6084 times)

slandis3

Blown76mav

Blown76mav

slandis3

Reefd Up

slandis3