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    The No Bull MAME Arcade Builder's Guide -or- How to Build Your MAME Compatible Home Video Arcade Cabinet Project
    The No Bull MAME Arcade Builder's Guide -or- How to Build Your MAME Compatible Home Video Arcade Cabinet Project
    The No Bull MAME Arcade Builder's Guide -or- How to Build Your MAME Compatible Home Video Arcade Cabinet Project
    Ebook199 pages2 hours

    The No Bull MAME Arcade Builder's Guide -or- How to Build Your MAME Compatible Home Video Arcade Cabinet Project

    By Adam Aarons

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    About this ebook

    Special limited introductory price.
    With hundreds of pages, 40 images, & dozens of up to date links, The No Bull MAME Arcade Builder's Guide is the ultimate resource for anyone thinking about building the arcade of their dreams.

    The guide covers everything from initial concept & planning to final software configuration. There's even a comprehensive troubleshooting section and additional help link

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAdam Aarons
    Release dateDec 9, 2010
    ISBN9781452389622
    The No Bull MAME Arcade Builder's Guide -or- How to Build Your MAME Compatible Home Video Arcade Cabinet Project

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      Book preview

      The No Bull MAME Arcade Builder's Guide -or- How to Build Your MAME Compatible Home Video Arcade Cabinet Project - Adam Aarons

      The No Bull MAME Arcade Builder's Guide

      -or-

      How to Build your MAME Compatible Home Video Arcade Cabinet

      By Adam Aarons

      DIGITAL EDITION v1a

      Published at smashwords

      Copyright © 2010 by Adam Aarons (mameguy@gmail.com)

      Cover Art © 2010 - Slamet (Blewh) Mujiono

      All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book.

      Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of any product referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners. MAME is the property of the MAME development team. The No Bull MAME Arcade Guide, and Adam Aarons are not, in any way, affiliated with the MAME project.

      Digital Edition License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. If you would like to share this book with another person, please provide them a link to where they can legally download it.

      * * * * *

      For all of my girls.

      * * * * *

      Table of Contents

      About This Book

      Chapter 1 - Why Bother?

      What It Will Take

      Safety

      Chapter 2 - What to Build

      Cocktail Arcades

      Upright Arcades

      Everything Else

      Budgeting

      Chapter 3 - How to Build

      Scratch Building

      Donor Cabinets

      Short-Cutting With Cash

      Assembly

      Chapter 4 - Controls

      Control Panel Design Philosophy

      Joysticks

      Pushbuttons

      Button Layout and Spacing

      Trackballs

      Light Guns

      Spinners

      Everything Else and the Kitchen Sink

      Chapter 5 - A Lowly PC Made Divine

      PCs

      Macintoshes

      Extra Connections

      Chapter 6 – Monitors, Where You Can Really Spend Some Serious Cash

      PC CRT Monitors

      Televisions

      Real Arcade Monitors

      LCD Monitors

      Mounting and Orientation

      Chapter 7 - Putting the Darn Thing Together

      Cutting Your Control Panel

      Wiring

      Troubleshooting Your Wiring

      Electrical and Other Components

      Chapter 8 - Software

      Evil Emulators

      MAME

      Head-to-Head Cocktail Play

      MAME Variants

      Other Emulators

      Jukebox Software

      Conclusion

      Appendix A - Great Arcade Sites

      Appendix B - Commercial Sites

      * * * * *

      About This Book

      Building your own arcade can be enjoyable and rewarding. Reading a book about it, not so much. To make the process as painless as possible, I've added notes throughout the book to assist you in your quest to build the perfect home arcade.

      Tip - These are tidbits, shortcuts and other miscellaneous pieces of advice that might save you time and money.

      Warning - These are safety warnings. Each and every one really is important. Don't skip them.

      Definition - Throughout the book I use industry terms, technical jargon, and occasionally complete nonsense that you may not be familiar with. I've listed as many of as these terms as possible in the text.

      You may notice that I occasionally badmouth a product or company--that's part of my no bull approach. This is just my personal experience. Do your own research and decide for yourself before passing on any company or product.

      In this book, I've compressed the sum of almost ten years of arcade building. I've held nothing back. In fact, I've been so blunt that I'm using a pen name for fear of alienating people in the industry. While you may not agree with all the advice I offer, you can be sure that it's all based on years of trial and error.

      No one likes reading manuals. They're often tossed aside and only referred to when all else fails. This book should be an exception. Unless you already have a good idea of what you are doing, I recommend reading from start to finish before starting your project. I can't tell you how many ugly, pathetic, and just plain misshapen arcades I've seen. A little planning goes a long way—don't build until you've planned everything out.

      For overseas readers, I am sorry to say this book is predominantly US-centric. While I have listed some European suppliers, both the scope of this book and my limited knowledge of overseas companies make providing complete information for all countries impossible. You will find, however, that many of the US suppliers I've listed are more than happy to ship overseas. Those, along with the included European suppliers, should hopefully be enough to make your arcade dreams a reality.

      A note about images: This book contains over 40 images. Most are included to assist you with critical parts of the build process, like wiring your control panel. I've made every effort to make these images as clear as possible, especially for black & white eReaders. However, if you would like to see larger and clearer color images, consider downloading the free Kindle Reader for PC. This will allow you view the images optimally.

      Chapter 1 – Why Bother?

      So you're thinking about building your own home video arcade. The first question you have to ask yourself is: why? If the answer is simply to play video games, then building an arcade cabinet might not be the best solution for you.

      Definition - Home video arcade: Throughout this book I'll refer to home arcades, or home video arcades. This is simply any arcade set up for home use. While it can include a coin door, it is not an arcade designed for commercial use. In this book, home arcade always means a PC-based arcade. Whenever you read those words, just think of the cabinet of your dream.

      Building a home arcade cabinet from scratch will cost you hundreds, maybe thousands, of dollars and is likely to require over a hundred hours to complete. If all you want to do is play a little Pac-Man, then buying an old machine off eBay is probably a more sensible way to go.

      If you are short on time, but want to enjoy every arcade game you played as a kid, in the comfort of your own home, then you might consider buying a kit or even a pre-built arcade cabinet.

      However, if what you're looking for is a challenging, rewarding—but usually not overwhelming—project that will provide you hundreds of hours of enjoyment, then building an arcade cabinet might just be for you.

      What It Will Take

      Building your own video arcade machine from scratch requires woodworking, electrical, PC, and software skills. In addition, the average cost to complete a homebuilt arcade is over $1,000. It's a project most people go into not knowing what they're in for. Fortunately, you've got this book, so you'll know just what a ginormous project you've signed up for.

      Money – Okay, let's cut right to the chase. Even if you plan to beg, borrow, and steal to build your arcade, you need to budget at least a couple hundred dollars for the project. Most home arcade projects go well over budget by the time they are finished. It's not unheard of for someone to spend upwards of $3,000 to build their dream arcade. $500 is a good rule of thumb for the minimum you'll spend.

      Yes, it's possible to build your arcade for less than $500. In fact, it's possible to build one for free. However, every arcade project that I've seen has gone over budget—usually way over budget. You're probably going to need to budget a hundred bucks alone for specialty tools, and that's if your workshop is already well-stocked.

      Definition - Donor cabinet: Usually non-working, this is a real arcade cabinet that is stripped, gutted, re-finished and rebuilt into a PC-based arcade machine. This can save you money, but greatly limits your design option (not to mention kills a poor, innocent arcade machine).

      If you plan to use a donor cabinet (more on the plight of these defenseless donor cabinets later), and already have an old PC and monitor lying around, then it's reasonable to assume that—as long as you're frugal—you can build your arcade for $500 or less.

      If however, you plan to buy a cabinet kit, large monitor, or high-end PC, your costs can rise dramatically. A 27-inch Happ Controls (Makvision brand) high-resolution monitor will run you over $600 (including delivery) alone.

      Definition – High-resolution monitor: Any monitor that can display 640x480 is technically hi-res. However, what I mean here is a monitor that not only displays at least 800x600, but also supports 31kHz--the refresh rate used by PC video cards (refresh rates are explained in Chapter 3).

      Skills

      If you are an experienced woodworker, then building your own arcade cabinet from scratch is relatively simple. If not, you're hosed (or at least you shouldn't build your cabinet from scratch without help). There are many free plans available on the Internet (my favorite sites are: http://www.jakobud.com/plan-list.php and http://www.arcadecab.com). But if you had trouble putting together that TV stand you bought at Wal-mart, you may find it a challenge, even with a pre-fabricated kit.

      You'll also have to know, or learn, how to do some basic wiring. However, this book covers control panel wiring in great depth (in Chapter 7). This guide should be the only resource you need to complete this task.

      If you're able to check your e-mail, download and install a software program, and surf the Internet, then you are likely computer-literate enough to configure the software required to play games on your arcade. Basic software setup is also covered in depth in Chapter 8.

      Time - Perhaps time should be covered along with money. Because when you're building a video arcade, everything comes down to time versus money. Almost every step of the way, you have the option to save time by spending more money. Finding the right balance between your budget and spare time is the key to a successful project.

      This project will take a lot of time. Be sure you can set aside at least a few four-hour bocks of time. Even if you buy a complete arcade kit from one of the manufactures, you should set aside at least ten hours to build and configure the arcade.

      If you plan on buying a cabinet kit, using a donor cabinet, or building a cabinet from scratch, it’s wise to set aside at least 40 hours total to complete the project. However, the actual time it takes to complete an arcade is highly variable depending on the complexity of the

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