Arcade cabinets: When are they worth it?

[aaron]

i'm thinking of getting one of those ms. pac-man/galaga machines. two of my favorite classics in one. now just to find one cheaply.

[xxstatic]

Thanks.

Older gamer here too, seen Pong and Space Wars when they first came out. Man I would also have that monster cab Space Wars!

Agree not as an investment, but pure nostalgia and actually being able to own one's Dream Machine. Something to ponder, to get the Spouse's approval with the collection already amassed shown in my signature link.

I have a weakness for all vector's, If I came across a Space War I'd snap it up.

i'm thinking of getting one of those ms. pac-man/galaga machines. two of my favorite classics in one. now just to find one cheaply.

If you can get a deal on one, the reunion cab and artwork do look nice, seen others get a cheap pac/ms pac cab and run a jamma adapter with a multi 48-1 or 60-1 but without giving up that og dedicated look.

[Erik_Twice]

What I want to ask, do you feel that the 600$ you can invest in a classic game would be better spent on 30 console titles? To me that's the problem, it's not a matter of being good is a matter of how much it gives compared to other options.

Of course, there's something to consider: You may not want to play 30 other games, if you are happy with a handful of games and have money to spare you don't really lose much.

I think that if you are lucky to like Jamma based games buying a cabinet is a smart choice. It's like a big console and boards are not that expensive.


I have been thinking about the Pump Machine more lately. I play that game with a bunch of people a bit lately, not as much as I used to but getting closer to two days per month, and given how much we spend when we go to play there it may be worthwhile to buy one.

I know several arcades with machines that don't make money and fell into disrepair because of lazy management and if we could find a price we could recoup in one year or less it would be great. The main problem to this plan is the stupidity of arcade managers and if a friend of us could house the machine.

Fortunatedly even an old version would suffice, we normally play in a version that is 6 years old and once you get the machine upgrades are cheap. 200 euro is too much for a person but very little for a group of ten people.

I'm making sky castles all over again!

[Dakinggamer87]

If you have the space and the cash I think it's worth it. My first arcade cabinet I picked up earlier this year was a Neo-Geo MVS it brought back lots of great memories of classic nostalgia which was the biggest reason I got it for my gaming room.

[the King]

I went through a brief arcade addiction. Not as bad others I have seen, but for a time I wanted to create a arcade area in my basement. It first started with a Street Fighter 2 machine. Then I bought a gutted cab and made a 60 in 1 out of it. Then one day I found a 2 person sit down Final Lap 3 on ebay pretty cheap. Only problem it was heavy as hell and I couldn't get it in my basement. So, that was regulated to the garage. Then a week later my cousin called me because he drove by a After Burner on the side of the road. I was checking craigslist multiple times daily for more machines. I obtained all this in about the span of 6 months and at the time we ended up selling that house because my wife was pregnant with our second child.

So when we made the move I decided I didn't want to move with the Final Lap and the After Burner. Street Fighter and the multicade made the move, but once I finished the basement in my current house I had planned to make half the basement an arcade area and the other half a tv area with the bar in the middle I realized the Street Fighter machine just wasn't getting used. So, I sold that and just have the one machine I'm pretty happy with.

I guess it's all up to the individual person. I've seen collections that rival an actual arcade, but I decided that wasn't for me. I've got my 60 classics on one machine and that works for me. Part of it is the thought of owning a machine sounds awesome, but once you get one it's not as big of a deal and we are talking about electronics that are 25 years old, they can be a pain to keep going.

[presicion25]

Ive got two cabs. One's a rare Korean cab Im selling:

https://accounts.craigslist.org/post/sh ... 3551&db=lv

Although If I cant sell it Ill probablye take it off the market and try to resell it later on.

Then Ive got a Super Neo 29 Candy:

http://hard--candy.com/index.asp

Both good cabs. I dont have the room for a million cabs so Ive got the 1712 in 1 Jamma board that has all the classic games plus more. In the other cab Ive got a 100 in 1 Neo Cart.

[xxstatic]

What I want to ask, do you feel that the 600$ you can invest in a classic game would be better spent on 30 console titles?

$600???? Good Lord no...... I have never spent that much on any cab I own other than the Donkey Kong, the $$$ added up to over $600 after I restored it to it's original condition.
Most of my games were projects, I got my Asteroids machine for $50, it was sitting in a side room off of a t-shirt silk screening operation, it was covered in dirt, I had a huge cleanup to do, I touched up the black paint on the cab in the few places it needed it, I stripped the control panel, repainted it, and installed a repro overlay with new buttons.
My Tempest I got for $100, it was only missing the game pcb's, after another $200 I had a complete solid looking Tempest at $300 total after minimal cleaning and touch up's.
Got my Asteroids Deluxe for $100, need a deflection pcb for the monitor, $60 later it was up and running.
I think I enjoy some of the resto process involved, console gaming doesn't really require much of that, and the prices I have gotten these for are about the same as some of the consoles out now.

[girlracer]

My machines

my $20 tekken 2, mame cocktail with lcd, galaxian cocktail, and my donkey kong cocktail.