A Childhood Dream

It's the last few weeks of Winter and we're all a little stir crazy with cabin fever. I've spent this time inside researching projects at home. After many hours searching for arcade part vendors, comparing prices on parts & pieces, and searching for the perfect display I made the decision to jump into action. My family has been kind enough to let me take over the living room, kitchen, and TV for days. After many orders to various online companies, the first boxes that came were the cabinet pieces. 6 Boxes weighing 30 to 60 LBS each!

The first day with no usable living room and wood parts everywhere! Packages start to stack up from X-arcade controls, Mame marquee artwork, Smart Power strip and TV Signal Converter from Amazon, Compact Inspiron Computer from Dell, Coin Door and monitor bezel from HAPP Controls, and Computer speakers from the local Fred Meyer...

The next few days with no usable living room... programing the computer and X-Arcade controls. This took a couple of days because I had to spend many hours downloading individual files from a number of Arcade Enthusiast forums and file repositories. There is quite a large number of hobbyists to get ideas from and problem solve with! You can tell that the tediousness is getting to me :)

After many days scavenging the local second-hand thrift stores and pawn shops I finally found an old 27" CRT TV on Craig's list for $30.00! I could almost hear the family mutter under their breath as I walked out with their old piece of junk, "sucker!" Their junk was definitely my treasure. Since the computer and controls were setup I needed to get the artwork on before fitting the TV as it would double the weight of the cabinet and moving it empty was hard enough. Lori nominated herself in charge of artwork and I think she chose a wonderful design! Her help in applying the adhesive artwork here was invaluable. Go team Cox!

Once the TV, Florescent light from Wal-Mart and the Powerstrip was installed I could wire the Coin door backlights with an old power supply we don't use anymore and install the Dell Computer.
Here I am soldering the last wires to the coin door bulbs.

Our work of art! I calculate it took 20 hours of research & ordering online plus 46 hours to build, program, and wire. Compared to the ready-built arcades I saw for sale on amazon with only 1 or 2 games installed this one is less than half that price and I can tailor the games list to add any game we want! Right now we are running many different platforms including Arcade, Atari, NES, Super NES, Sega, Sega Genesis, N64, and Daphne. I also have plans to install some Windows games in the future.

I am proud to preserve memories of my childhood and share them with my kids. Just now without all the begging for Quarters! I must thank my family for their patience and support for the last few weeks while I took over our home with parts, boxes, and wires.