Bruins' Arcade

The idea forms...

2009-12-25T11:59:00.000-08:00

This all started with my own aspirations to create a personal arcade machine for my home where I could play all of the games I grew up with. My plans included a 4 joystick, 4 player machine, with spinners, a trackball, and guns.

However...

In looking for a machine to convert into my arcade Mark and I make plans to go down to an arcade auction in Indiana. So I ask my father to borrow his truck and this sparks a lot of interest from my parents. They ask me all about the auction and then give me a list of different games they want and a price tag they want me to bid for each game for them.

In the end everything at the auction was overpriced except a nice NBA Jam machine that Mark got, but it did give me an idea.

So it begins...

2009-12-25T11:58:00.000-08:00

At this point I decide I'm going to put my arcade on hold. I decide I'm going to create my parents a MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) machine for Christmas. Instead of playing one game they like it will play every game they like.

I start keeping a close eye on the arcade forums for any arcade in Michigan or nearby that will suit my needs. Amazingly, very quickly I find this: http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=89422 A free machine in Owosso, MI, it's 2 hours away but it's hard to argue with free. I lie to my dad(sorry dad) about how I need to borrow his truck again because Mark bought an arcade and I'm going to help him pick it up.

In the basement and the control panel removed

2009-12-25T00:57:00.000-08:00

After a few months of ordering parts from the forums and different websites I realize that I'm not really getting anywhere with the cabinet in the garage outside. After one attempt to move the machine myself and actually dropping it on it's side I once again I enlist Mark's help to move it into my basement.

Now I can really work on it. I remove the control panel which is the part of the arcade that has all of the joysticks and buttons.

Pinball Buttons

2009-12-25T00:56:00.000-08:00

The arcade will also have a Pinball Machine emulator. Currently my parents already have a real pinball machine in their game room. Magic City is a great pinball machine but it will still be fun to play some simulated pinball machines so it is essential that I drill spots to add pinball buttons to the sides of the arcade.

Paint Prep

2009-12-25T00:55:00.000-08:00

Clearly the arcade will need to be painted to be a presentable gift so I remove the coin door and coin bin door and get the machine ready to be painted.

The Control Panel

2009-12-25T00:53:00.000-08:00

It took longer then I thought to get all of the nuts and brackets off that had been holding the buttons and joysticks for a decade or two, but finally I had an empty control panel. My mom in particular is a big fan of trackball games, specifically Centipede and Missile Command, so obviously this arcade machine will need a trackball. I need someone to cut the trackball hole and mounting screw holes into the metal control panel. There are two people that I love that have the skills to do this for me... my friend Phil and my brother-in-law Steve. Phil just had his second child so the job falls on Steve...

The Monitor

2009-12-25T00:52:00.000-08:00

Bought an excellent 19 inch CRT monitor off of Craigslist for $15, I've actually seen a few for free over the last few months but I was in a hurry to get started and this was the only one available for immediate pickup (I did use my master negotiating skills to talk the guy down from $20).

I decased the monitor, now this is where I put in a generic don't try this at home warning. Monitors are dangerous and can hold a charge even if they've been unplugged, you really have to know what you're doing to decase a monitor. I have done extensive research on the interweb so I'm pretty much an expert.

Also I purchased a black plastic monitor bezel to hide the monitor when it is in the cabinet and cut the bezel to the right size with utility knife and my handy metal ruler.

Painted

2009-12-25T00:51:00.001-08:00

I was really happy with the way the paint job turned out. Also installed the pinball buttons on the sides. Nice...

Marquee Light

2009-12-25T00:50:00.000-08:00

No proper arcade is complete without a lighted marquee. The arcade already has a light fixture mounted in it that just needs a bulb but after some research I find that these bulbs are hard to come by and expensive. Further research leads me to a way that I can modify this fixture to accept a standard bulb but the process involves drilling holes in the metal and some rewiring.

Further further research leads me to a simple suggestion... just add a new light fixture. Originally I was looking at a $12 florescent light fixture that would have gotten the job done but often has a heat problem in the confined space, eventually after some more research I settle on a $22 LED light that will last pretty much forever. I end up having to rig a mount with some wire into the existing screw holes but it ends up working perfectly.

Coin Door

2009-12-25T00:49:00.000-08:00

Now I don't expect my parents or anyone at there home to put quarters into the arcade but an arcade machine just doesn't look authentic without a coin door. I used a hammered metal spray paint that turned out very nicely, then I added some cabinet locks from Menards for an authentic look. As far as lighting it, I could have used the power supply from the computer and figured out the wiring to light the coin door... but instead I decided to just purchase a $5 string of Christmas lights and use that instead. I only needed two bulbs, so I have some backups until pretty much forever.

The Marquee

2009-12-25T00:48:00.000-08:00

I designed a custom Marquee for the arcade and had MameMarquees print it out and cut the plexiglass to the right size.

On right of the marquee there are three small marquees of three of my dads favorite arcade games: Bezerk, Asteroids & Frogger. On the left are three of my moms favorite games: Ms. Pacman, Pacman & Centipede, I was originally going to use Missle Command instead of Pacman since I already had Ms. Pacman, but the Missle Command marquee is really bland and didn't look good.

A word of advice for anyone ordering a marquee from on the internet: when you measure your marquee make sure you take into account the amount of plexi/marquee that is hidden behind the bracket and order the right size so that you don't have to have such a headache mounting it like I did.

Light it up

2009-12-25T00:47:00.000-08:00

Just a few shots of the coin door and the marquee lit up in the dark. A little blurry in the pictures, but you get the idea.

Mounting the Trackball

2009-12-25T00:46:00.000-08:00

Got the control panel back from Steve, the trackball hole is the perfect size but he forgot to drill the four mounting screw holes. It took me two nights and one morning for my crappy cordless drill to get them drilled. In the end it wasn't pretty but it was a good fit and the vinyl should cover up the ugliness.

Vinyl

2009-12-25T00:45:00.000-08:00

Put the vinyl overlay on the control panel. If I had to do it over again I would have used a textured vinyl as the stuff that I have really shows all the imperfections in the metal, but it should look better once all the joysticks and buttons are on. I might end up redoing it sometime after Christmas.

Joysticks and Buttons

2009-12-25T00:44:00.000-08:00

Installed all the joysticks and buttons. Mmmmm... beautiful. Now they just need to be wired...

Casey comes over and the wiring begins.

2009-12-25T00:43:00.000-08:00

My brother Casey is a master electrician and came over to wire in a button to turn the computer on that can be pressed from the outside of the arcade. He also wired an existing switch in the arcade to turn on a power strip hidden inside. Then he offered to help me wire up all the buttons and joysticks too. The joysticks and buttons all are wired into an iPac keyboard encoder that translates the button presses into keystrokes that the computer can understand.

We foolishly thought we were going to get to play some games that night but we were actually up until 5:30am doing tedious wiring. Luckily the amp came in the mail last week so I was able to wire up the arcade's speakers and play my iPod through them, we listened to music and Paton Oswalt all night.

My brother is awesome... (and currently single ladies)

The arcade part is done... it just doesn't play games...

2009-12-25T00:42:00.000-08:00

Mounted the monitor. I used the bottom of the original case to create a shelf that the monitor clips into. Put the bezel on to hide all the ugly bits. It's the day before Christmas Eve and the arcade part is done. Just need to finish the computer now so that it actually does something other than look pretty.

The Computer... ARGGHHHH (this is a bit ranty)

2009-12-25T00:40:00.000-08:00

Really a MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) Arcade is just a fancy computer that runs software that makes it look like an arcade and runs all the games off of hard drive images. The computer doesn't have to be very powerful since it's running games that are mostly over a decade old.

I have two old Pentium computers to work with, an old machine my parents didn't want anymore when the upgraded their computer, and another machine from my old apartment in Grandville. I was originally working on my parents old computer months ago, I had a lot of the emulation software installed and working, but then it started acting up and resetting itself for no reason. So I decided to stop messing with it and just use the other computer. I hadn't started working on it yet though since I started doing other stuff on the arcade.

I have the whole day before Christmas Eve off so I figured it wouldn't be a problem to get everything up and running... Turns out I was wrong. This computer has an onboard graphics card and it is really outdated and the emulator software will not work with it. My first solution was to take the graphics card out of the other computer but after doing that I found out it is a PCI Express card and this computer only has standard PCI, so it won't fit.

So then I spent the next 2 hours driving around to stores on the day before Christmas Eve looking for a PCI graphics card... it wasn't a lot of fun. Not only were all the stores really busy with people doing their last minute shopping but also none of them had what I was looking for. Best Buy only has PCI Express and AGP cards, and the cheapest one was $50 anyway. Seriously if had the luxary of ordering this from eBay and waiting for it to be shipped I could get a $10 card shipped to my door. I call my wife Kristin to see if she has any ideas and she suggests a little computer shop called Computer's Plus near her work. Thankfully they were open and they did have a PCI Graphics card. At that point I was happy to pay $23 for it.

So I got back home and expected to spend 5 minutes installing this card and then getting on with configuring the computer... Of course it couldn't be that simple. Everytime I put the graphics card in the computer won't boot, the fan comes on but that is it, it just sits there whirring away. I disable the existing video drivers and try again and the same thing happens. There is no way to disable to onboard video in the BIOS and I can't find any documention for jumper settings for the motherboard. I start looking around on the internet and apparently this is a common problem with these older EMachines, but even though lot of people seem to have the same problem, nobody has a solution.

After 3 hours I admit defeat. It is now 9:30pm on the day before Christmas Eve and I'm extremely frustrated. I will have limited time to work on it tomorrow since I have to work during the day and then have a family Christmas party at night on my wifes side. I go down and clear my head doing some miscelanious work on the arcade.

I only have one solution... the other computer. I pull the computer back out, put the graphics card back into it, and pull the hard drive out of the other computer and install it. I do some tinkering with the computer and make a few changes here and there, then start getting the emulators set up.

I work on the computer until about 2am and don't have any issues with it restarting, it seems to be fixed but I put all the information on the external hard drive so it shouldn't be too hard to swap it to another computer if there are problems later on.

At this point I have it mostly set up, I think two or three hours work tomorrow night and I should be playing arcade games...

whew...

2 or 3 hours worth of work...

2009-12-25T00:39:00.000-08:00

We get home from the Christmas Eve party at about 10pm. I went back to work on the computer for the arcade immediately. Two and a half hours later I was still working on it when Mark showed up to help me move the arcade into my kitchen where in the morning I could, in theory, easily move it outside and onto the truck(I've been driving my dad's truck lately because my car blew up, which isn't a good thing in the overall scheme of things but good in the moving an arcade to your parents house scheme of things).

Mark and I get the arcade to the top of the stairs and realize that there is no way to navigate it around the corner and up into the kitchen. Even if we could somehow navigate it into the kitchen(basically by lifting it over our heads) there is no way that in the morning my wife and I were going to be able to get it back past the corner and outside. The door knob on the back door is just barely in the way to the point that the only way to get it outside is to lay it on it's back and slide it underneath the knob (the same way we got it in the basement). Unfortunately we can't even do that because the weather outside is so horrible we can't leave the arcade outside overnight without it getting ruined.

In true Christmas spirit Mark offers to come on Christmas day and help me load it into the truck in the morning. We move it back down the stairs and I say goodnight to my very generous and awesome friend (and also currently single) and then I go back to work on the computer.

At 4:30am I put the computer into the cabinet and start it up. There are two very disappointing things for me, #1 is the trackball is not working, and #2 is the sound is not working, the speakers definitely work but there is something wrong with the sound card. This is especially disappointing because the arcade is also a stand alone mp3 player but this is pretty worthless if the sound does not work, in addition to my parents favorite bands I also but a lot of Christmas music on the machine so we could listen to it...

At 5am I give up. At this point I feel defeated as I brush my teeth and go to bed, ready to get up in 3 hours. Really I'm just burnt out, in truth the arcade still looks awesome and it plays over 3,000 Arcade, Nintendo, Sega, and Virtual Pinball games. I wish that I had time to work on the boot up screens to hide all windows components and I wish the sound worked but overall it is still pretty awesome and I'm sure I'll be able to get everything working in it's entirety in the next week or so.

Maximus Arcade Frontend

2009-12-25T00:38:00.000-08:00

The arcade is running Maximus Arcade frontend software. This basically hides all the ugly computer stuff and makes the machine look like a real arcade and makes it easy to select and start games using just joysticks and buttons.

This is a youtube video of someone else's arcade using Maximus Arcade. It pretty much looks exactly like what my parents arcade looks like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqbK5yqlfZI

Christmas Morning

2009-12-25T00:37:00.000-08:00

I wake up relatively refreshed for only getting 3 hours of sleep. Mark showed up punctual as ever at exactly 9am. After the mix of snow and rain my driveway is basically slush, we take some time brushing the gunk out of the back of the truck and laying down a tarp. We actually get everything loaded up rather easily. I cover the arcade in another tarp and tie everything down for the trip. I say goodbye and a big thank you to Mark and start loading up the truck.

The monitor and the computer I put in the front cab with us. After we load up all of the presents there is very little room for my wife and me. We had foolishly left her car at her parents the night before so we didn't have any choice but to pack ourselves in. I had very little elbow room but I shouldn't complain because I don't think she was able to move at all.

We arrive at my parents house on Christmas morning, slightly behind schedule but not too bad. My brother Casey tells my parents to go into the bedroom and close the door. Then he grabs my brother in law Steve, and the three of us unload the arcade and put it into my parents game room. I reassemble the arcade and put on the sideart (it was delivered to my parents by mistake and my brother was going to bring it to me when we did the wiring but my mom and put the package in her car to give me at a Christmas party and then forgot and left it in her car).

After seven months I finally had an arcade in my parents game room. They were surprised and very excited, especially my mom who said she had always wanted an arcade game and was already picking which one of my dads fake slot machines was going to get shipped off to my uncle. It really made all the work worthwhile especially when my nephew Meryk got all excited about grandma and grandpa's new toy before it was even plugged in or set up. My parents argued over which one would be first to play, they played Millipede and Ms Pac-man and Asteroids. A little later my brother and I got a chance to play some 2 player Joust against each other in tribute to the machines origins when it was made in 1983 (I won both games).

I'm waiting to get some more pictures from Christmas morning but these are the ones I have now.