31 Mar 08

So I’m building an arcade game cabinet. In talking with a student today, I realized I haven’t blogged about this at all. Whoops.

Arcade game cabinet? Yes, like in the arcades. Black, sloped, with a few rounded corners. I’ve already grabbed a spare computer from a closet, got a free big old monitor from a friend, and bought an X-Arcade controller pad.

The cabinet is made of three pieces of MDF, 4’x8′. I brought it all out to my parents’ house. Dad and I cut two pieces—the sides—into 3’x6′ sections, then cut a large 10″x10″ notch three feet from the bottom. That’s where the controller will rest. We cut a 2’x6′ section for the front, then cut that into sections for a door at the bottom, and a hole at the top for the monitor. There’s a 2’x2′ platform about four and a half feet up, which the monitor rests on.

We screwed the pieces to a few 2″x2″ boards inside, to keep it stable, and added a few two-foot-wide sections on the back for stability. We put hinges and a handle on the door, and cut a three foot wide platform for the controller. In a fit of excitement, we also cut a piece for a marquee at the top (I think I’ll order a custom one from MAME Marquees).

That’s about it. Once the rain stops, I’ll spray paint it black, bring it home, and plug everything in. And I’ll have a complete custom arcade game cabinet loaded with several dozen games, from Asteroids to Galaga to Joust to Ms. Pac-Man to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to X-Men: Children of the Atom.