Sunday, September 27, 2009

The project has begun

So what is this all about anyway? Well, we can place blame on a longtime friend of mine, Brett for casually mentioning to me a few weeks ago "Paul, I've got a project for you." I suppose further credit for this crazy idea goes to the person who initially conceptualized doing it: my brother Dave. Apparently a few years ago, he mentioned to Brett that they ought to each build a MAME cabinet. (More on what "MAME" means later) To make a long story short, Brett was the only one who was serious enough to actually DO it. I'm still working on my brother to join me on this. He says he wants to but....

This is the first winter in awhile that I actually have some time to call my own. The last several years my wife and I were pursuing a graduate degree that consumed much of our time. Now that we are done, I've actually got some time this winter to mess around with something (before we start another program next fall). Actually, I need something to work on, something to provide me with my "fix". It's almost like therapy for me to work on, or build something. Something to help unwind from the day, and immerse myself in. I thought this would be just the thing. Now I must admit that I have no idea what I am doing here. Everything about this project is self taught, with each detail carefully researched. I've kinda "schooled" myself on the topic, and since my day job is actually teaching, hence the blog title "home schooled arcade".

What I'm wanting to build is a MAME cabinet. I dabbled with MAME software nearly 10 years ago but was not terribly impressed. MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. It is basically is a computer program that runs all of the old arcade style games that I played as a kid. You name it, you can play it right on your home computer. Classics from "Pac-Man", all the way up to early 90's games. Back when I first messed with it, much of the authenticity was lost with having to use a keyboard to control games that were meant to be played with joysticks. Since then guys realized with a little work and creativity, they could build an arcade style cabinet complete with controls to enhance the experience. This is what I am aiming to do. I've always wanted a real arcade machine since I was a kid, but I was not fond of the idea of committing that much space in my basement for just one game. Now that I can literally program several thousand games into one machine, as well as make it double as a digital jukebox/media player, the idea sounds pretty cool.

The purpose of the whole concept also goes back to nostalgia. It's a piece of history, as well as my childhood. I certainly did not frequent the arcade much, but I was no stranger to it either. There was nothing better than my parents taking my brother and I out to the mall on a Friday night for dinner. After a choice dinner at York Steakhouse, my Dad would reach into his pocket and give each of us a quarter, maybe two if we were lucky, and let my brother and I run upstairs to "Tilt", the local arcade. It was this little room in the mall with about 40 games stuffed inside it. The sights, and sounds still stick with me. I would choose my game carefully, and savor the gaming experience while it lasted.....probably about two minutes if I was lucky. Later, my parents would stop in to pick us up after they did a little shopping or walking around the mall.

Even in my teens and through high school Tilt was a happening place. It was the place to stop in on a Friday night with crowds of teens hanging out. The games were far superior to anything one could play at home, and that is why the phenomena of the arcade existed. Fast forward just five years later, and Tilt was nearly empty, all except for a few pathetic "claw" stuffed animal grabs, and a air hockey table. With the technological advances in home gaming consoles, kids could now play just as good of games at home, without have to travel to the mall with a pocket full of quarters. This was simply the trend here in my hometown. Things could have been different in larger cities as there are still high tech, advanced games out there. Just go to your nearest "Dave and Busters" to see a few. This however is a far cry from the true arcade experience of the 80's that I grew up knowing.

So here I am doing a little research, trying to get some ideas together as to what I want to build. One thing I do know is that every site I read says that the first decision is what monitor to go with. Since all the old games were low resolution, a common t.v. will suffice. Also, not much computing power is required to run these games, so a 5 or 6 year old computer will more than suffice. In comes Craigs list. I plan on doing this project on the cheap, so I went looking for used stuff this past week. I picked up a couple year old 27" t.v. for the monitor, and a several year old Dell desktop to run the show. Here is my first picture to post:
It's not much, but I have to start somewhere. The cordless keyboard and mouse are compliments of my brother in law. The t.v. was $30, and the computer $70. The cat is simply in the way. Next step is to decide on a design, purchase some lumber, and start construction of the cabinet itself.

I have no idea how long this will take. I'd like to guess anywhere from 6-9 months. I could be way off. We'll see. What I don't want is for this to seem like work. I want to enjoy working on it and not get in a hurry. Let's face it, this is going to be a pretty big focal point in my basement, so I don't want it to look like my local home center regurgitated some heap of junk in the middle of my rec room. Plus, the longer I take the more I can spread the cost out. I read where guys have built their cabinets for under $500 or as much as $2500. I'd prefer to as close a possible to the first number.

Hopefully my next post will be in a couple of weeks when I've got a few boards bought. Until then....

PS. And by the way, this blog would not be complete without giving acknowledgement to my beautiful, loving wife for supporting and backing this project. She says she can't wait to play on it. First up for her: some classic Nintendo "Tetris", "Excitebike" and of course "Super Mario Bros", the only three games I have ever heard her talk fondly of playing as a kid.

In case you were wondering, the cabinet will not only play old arcade games, but emulate a number of home systems as well, such as Atari, Sega, Nintendo, etc.

4 comments:

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  2. I love the picture, complete with the cat. Can't have a picture around here without at least one of the cats in it. I look forward to more pictures, complete with cats.
    P.S. Thanks for the shout out. I love you more.

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  3. Sounds like a worthwhile endeavor. I would like to join you in a parallel construction project at my house. Have to see where it falls on the priority list...

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  4. Paul, can't wait to see those first pieces start coming together. I've seen how your kitchen turned out, so I have high expectations!

    -Brett

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