AtariAge Forums: AtariAge Forums -> Tour of My Basement Arcade

Jump to content

Subscribe to Dave Neuman's Blog        RSS Feed

Tour of My Basement Arcade

15 November 2009
Icon 11 Comments
Posted by Dave Neuman Icon
I found a video my wife shot of our basement arcade a year or so ago. Pole Position was giving me some trouble at the time so the screen is a blank raster. I moved a few more games down there since then and will make another video this week of my current setup.Arcade Tour 11/16/2009 below:
Back to Dave Neuman's Blog →

11 Comments On This Entry

Page 1 of 1

EricBall Icon

Mon Nov 16, 2009 1:45 PM
I'm green with envy. Star Wars sitdown, droool. And you rescued a Space War, bonus!

One of these years I'm going to have to finish my MAME in a Tempest Cabinet and finish building my MAME cocktail cab.
0

Dave Neuman Icon

Mon Nov 16, 2009 3:19 PM
The Space Wars was sitting on the side of the road waiting for the garbage collectors. I had to rebuild the power supply, the vector monitor, and the control panel, but the game board was OK. The cabinet was water damaged and I had to replace some of the particle board too. It's a huge cabinet and I have thought of selling it to make room. I did have a minty Donkey Kong once, but sold it ... kicking myself now for letting it go. Probably the most fun though was a Mortal Kombat that I once had. It was a blast playing and finally beating it. The Star Wars was a pain to get in the basement. My brother and I were in the process of moving it down to the basement and it got wedged between the steps and the ceiling of the basement. I was stuck downstairs and had to make a sizable cut in the ceiling to get it unstuck. I have made a few changes since this movie was made. One addition is a Mame cocktail cabinet ... probably similar to the one you are building.
0

jboypacman Icon

Mon Nov 16, 2009 5:39 PM
Wow Dave very awesome!Love your whole set-up in there i hope to be able to do something like that someday.

Question...How hard was it to get everything down there and set-up to play?
0

Dave Neuman Icon

Mon Nov 16, 2009 7:45 PM
Thanks! I have been collecting games for about 25 years. The first one was Galaxian ... I signed over my paycheck to a bar owner after a long night of drinking. We live in a quad level house and with the exception of the Star Wars cockpit, I moved them all down two short flights of stairs by myself. I dolly them into the house and then slide em down the carpeted stairs on their backs. Gets a little dicey with some of the heavier games, but I would get below them on the stairs and muscle them down. Actually, it's easier to push them up the stairs. I have Teflon sliders on the bottoms of the leg levelers and they slide around the carpeted floor pretty easily. I have two 20 amp circuits to supply power and it seems to be sufficient. My setup now is a little more crowded as I moved two other games down that were in my family room.
0

EricBall Icon

Mon Nov 16, 2009 8:57 PM

Dave Neuman, on Mon Nov 16, 2009 4:19 PM, said:

One addition is a Mame cocktail cabinet ... probably similar to the one you are building.

Heh, probably not. If you check out my profile on BYOAC (although I haven't been there in years), IIRC my avatar is a POV render of the concept. It's a 3 sided cocktail with modular control panels entirely made out of maple & maple ply. I have a lot of it cut out, but I'm stymied by two things: 1. staining maple & how to mount the monitor PCB to the bottom of the top.

Hmm... I just realized that I've got an IEC male to female extension cord at work which would be great for the project...
0

EricBall Icon

Tue Nov 17, 2009 12:42 PM
Tempest, StarWars sitdown and Tron.. Dang.. My envy increases even more.
0

Dave Neuman Icon

Tue Nov 17, 2009 3:52 PM

Quote

Heh, probably not. If you check out my profile on BYOAC (although I haven't been there in years), IIRC my avatar is a POV render of the concept. It's a 3 sided cocktail with modular control panels entirely made out of maple & maple ply. I have a lot of it cut out, but I'm stymied by two things: 1. staining maple & how to mount the monitor PCB to the bottom of the top


This is very cool. Ideal for playing virtually every game. Although I have done some woodworking, I opted for a cocktail kit to assemble. I'm very limited in what I can play with only one joystick and two buttons. I made a few end tables out of pine and did some limited woodworking with oak (hard and brittle wood but sure stains nice), but never worked with cherry although it is a beautiful species. These will probably not work for your application, but I used them to mount an arcade monitor in my cocktail.
0

Nathan Strum Icon

Tue Nov 17, 2009 4:06 PM
Wow... that's a very cool arcade! Man, I'd love to have a setup like that. For that matter, I'd love to even have a basement. :roll:

Congrats on rescuing Space Wars - that (along with Starship 1) was one of the first video games I ever got hooked on.

If I were setting one up for myself, I'd have to get at least these five:
  • Battlezone
  • Bosconian
  • Gorf
  • Tron
  • Tempest


After that, maybe Armor Attack, Joust, Mad Planets, Vs. Golf...

This could get expensive. :ponder:
0

Dave Neuman Icon

Tue Nov 17, 2009 4:14 PM

Quote

Tempest, StarWars sitdown and Tron.. Dang.. My envy increases even more


That Tempest was really a mess when I got it ... rats nest in the bottom with old rat skeletons. Had to rebuild monitor and then spent weeks troubleshooting and finally fixing the Game PCB. I first played the game on a o'scope. I traded a PacMan upright for the Tron. It worked OK, but I gutted it stripped the cab and resprayed it in my garage with an automotive spray gun. I remember sending all the contol panel parts out for powder coating and buying sideart from Phoenix Arcade.
0

jboypacman Icon

Tue Nov 17, 2009 4:18 PM

Dave Neuman, on Mon Nov 16, 2009 8:45 PM, said:

Thanks! I have been collecting games for about 25 years. The first one was Galaxian ... I signed over my paycheck to a bar owner after a long night of drinking. We live in a quad level house and with the exception of the Star Wars cockpit, I moved them all down two short flights of stairs by myself. I dolly them into the house and then slide em down the carpeted stairs on their backs. Gets a little dicey with some of the heavier games, but I would get below them on the stairs and muscle them down. Actually, it's easier to push them up the stairs. I have Teflon sliders on the bottoms of the leg levelers and they slide around the carpeted floor pretty easily. I have two 20 amp circuits to supply power and it seems to be sufficient. My setup now is a little more crowded as I moved two other games down that were in my family room.


Cool i was wondering how you were able to get everything down there. :)
0

Dave Neuman Icon

Tue Nov 17, 2009 4:29 PM

Quote

Wow... that's a very cool arcade! Man, I'd love to have a setup like that


Thanks!!

Quote

If I were setting one up for myself, I'd have to get at least these five:
•Battlezone

•Bosconian

•Gorf

•Tron

•Tempest


After that, maybe Armor Attack, Joust, Mad Planets, Vs. Golf...

This could get expensive.


I have come close to getting a Battlezone, but always just missed. Gorf is sweet also with its speech synthesis. I've always wanted a Joust ... groundbreaking in its style of play. There was a time when you could get arcade games for a good price. I recall paying $50 for a non-working Donkey Kong and $100 for 2 non-working Pole Positions from a local operator. Man those days are gone. Did you notice artwork on the wall by the Baby Pacman game. :cool:
0
Page 1 of 1

← March 2010 →

S M T W T F S
 123456
78910111213
14151617 18 1920
21222324252627
28293031   

Recent Entries

Recent Comments

Search My Blog

1 user(s) viewing

1 Guests
0 member(s)
0 anonymous member(s)

Tags

    Latest Visitors