The ULTIMATE Arcade Machine

This cabinet and webpage are dedicated to my father. His favorite hobby was building hardwood furniture and I couldnt have done it without him.

  This project started back in 1998 when I was searching the internet for an old coin-op arcade game to put in the game room. I stumbled upon the program called M.A.M.E. and was instantly hooked. I decided to build my own arcade cabinet that could play thousands of real arcade games instead of buying an old arcade machine that would probably break often and could play only one game. This webpage documents the construction of my ULTIMATE Arcade Machine and hopefully can offer some helpful ideas on making your own classic stand-up arcade game.

Arcade Machine Specs:
  • Pentium 4 2.66ghz
  • 120 gig hard drive
  • 1 gig Ram
  • 21" Trinitron monitor
  • 256mb ATI 9600XT graphics card
  • buttons, joysticks, trackball from happ controls
  • KE72 keyboard encoder from hagstrom electronics
  • Oscar pro spinner

Construction Photos

Where to get the M.A.M.E program:
http://www.mame.net

Where to find Game info:
http://www.mameworld.net/maws/

Happ Controls parts used:
  • 2 1/4" Atari trackball, blue: (1)
  • Trackball interface kit for IBM pc: (1)
  • Trackball power supply: (1)
  • Trackball adapter plate (black finish): (1)
  • Assorted arcade buttons
  • Ultimate joystick 8-way (blue): (2)
  • Ultimate joystick 4-way (black): (1)
  • Coin door assembly, 2 slot (black): (1)

Misc parts used:
  • Oak Plywood and solid oak wood: $250
  • Radio Shack small buttons, wire and tools
  • 18" Fluorescent light fixture
  • Tools and supplies from Home Depot

Helpful Links:

If you are going to hack a gamepad and solder the button contacts, use a dremel tool with a carving bit to remove the copper fingers inbetween your soldering points. This makes it MUCH easier.

More Photos and Measurements.

The coin door is now functional with the lights hooked to the pc power supply. Keep a mug full of quarters by your machine.

Keyboard easily slides out on a small drawer and users can type in a normal position.

The control panel layout. A 4 way joystick is essential for some of the older games. Using an 8 way will give the game false commands. There are also buttons on each side for pinball games.

The front edges of the monitor case were painted flat black with a small paintbrush. The plexiglass bezel was painted with highgloss black spraypaint bought from a hobby store.

For PC games like Ghost Recon I use the trackball with my thumb, while having my index(fire), middle(run), and ring finger(weapon zoom) on the buttons right above the trackball. Then I use the left hand 8-way joystick for directional movement and the bank of 1-player buttons for various tasks. It totally rocks and blows away playing with a keyboard and mouse.
  Years after finishing the arcade machine i can say this thing gets played ALL the time! There are so many cool video games in MAME that it is truely amazing. I have also found that PC games are a blast to play on this machine. The trackball and the ability to remap keystrokes to the control panel give an up to date arcade experience.

This machine is mostly used for surfing the net, maintaining my rom collection, and playing online multiplayer PC games. The only thing i use my office pc for now is financial stuff.

Click here to see my second handbuilt arcade machine.

Click here to see my third handbuilt arcade machine.

Click here to see my fourth handbuilt arcade machine.

Click here to see my fifth scratch built arcade machine.

Favorite Games (for now):

Classic MAME: Donkey Kong
PARTY GAME: Shuuz (uses trackball)
Plain Cool: 720 (uses spinner)
PC Game: Joint Ops

Questions or comments? email me at netbox@mindspring.com

Cabinet construction completed December 1998.