Arcade Cab
As a kid my Dad was the local Pac-Man king. He could make a quarter last an hour or so gobbling pac pellets. When get got our Atari 2600 (and then the Colecovision and NES and...) I was always amazed at how good he was at all the games. Turns out he'd played the games before we got them for Christmas. So it's safe to say my video game obsession is inherited.
While I like consoles and PC games (I do have a Quake III tatt...), it's just not the same as an arcade machine. There's something about standing in front of the cabinet banging away at the controls that can't be duplicated with a console or PC.
So I built one.
I ended up using real arcade controls, a keyboard interface and some software to build an upright arcade cabinet in the summer of 2000.
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Some features of the beast:
- A PS/2 Kidsball trackball
- A serial spinner for Tempest
- Joystick and USB ports, speaker volume, power switch and activity LEDs routed up front
- Pinball style flipper buttons on the sides
- Pull-out keyboard tray.
- Light up marquee
- Around 250 lbs of 3/4 inch plywood.
When we moved to NY, it sat in storage (thanks Mom and Dad!) for about a year.
Then the inevitable; my folks moved and I had to let her go.
Waaaaahhhhhhaaaaaa!
However, as soon as some space becomes available I have some plans...