garcade progress update *pic heavy*

fatherpain

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Well, its been about a year since I posted pix of my games at the old place we were renting. Last October, we finally scraped enough together to buy a house. For the record, being an addict in this hobby really made saving difficult...it seems we're always payday to payday :(

Our new place is nicer, but there are alot of improvements we'd like to make. I'd resigned myself to shoving my games into storage and forgetting about them for a few years while we focused on other things, but my wife wouldn't have it. She urged me to fix the Garage and I didn't need much convincing, heh. Its been a 9 month renovation thats been hampered by a hectic 80-100 hour a week work schedule this year, that finally eased up a couple weeks ago.

The renovation consisted of tearing out the old drywall and cabinets, replacing termite damaged wood, insulating, drywall and paint, epoxy coating the floor, a garage expansion from 2 car to a suedo 3 car + storage, upgrading to a 225v main + 125v subpanel for the garage so all the games could be powered at once, installing recessed lighting and replacing the entire electrical system to include enough wall outlets and circuits to allow for multiple configurations, stucco work and redoing the roof which also serves as a deck and my good friend Xray2's favorite upgrade: a 36,000 btu AC wall unit.

Well without further ado, here is a progress update and photo tour of my Garcade, I apologize for the lack of decorations, neon signs, scoreboard and blacklight carpeting.. my space is abit bland and sterile, but these are things I'd like to pursue somewhere down the road. It may be awhile though, especially the carpet, unless another SoCal klover that would like to split an order ;) There are currently 33 games in the garage. All work 100% except for the (2) Spacelords and Bank Panic which are my current project cabs. Hopefully I can get them working 100% within the next month or so. Please enjoy and thanks for looking, this is my way of coping with another year of missing out on CAX :)

Tom
 
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This is the garage we started off with...the junk was the previous owners and they removed it before we moved in. I wish I had taken photos along the way as we progressed, but this gives a good idea:

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My wife hated the bridge, so we spanned it. She wanted to keep the walkthru, but being the opportunic arcade bastard I am...had my brother-in-law drop 2 walls down and knocked out the 2 windows and opened 2 walkways from the main garage to the new addition. There is enough space to fit 8 games in the new addition. We also added the equivalent of a 1 car garage for storage on the opposite end (not pictured)

it now looks like this from the inside:

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As previously mentioned.. there are tons of electrical outlets on every wall, including along the top center beam for a center row. All of the receptacles are now in. We considered installing surge protector outlets instead of regular, but it was to0 cost prohibitive to install 30+ @$20-40 each. I may change them in a few at a time later on.
 
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my 3 JAMMA candy cab workhorses to the left.. I PCB swap most games that use a standard joystick button configuration like Donkey Kong, Ms Pacman, etc.
Assault (need to apply the CPO from Quarterarcade), Bank Panic (need to apply CPO) and Spyhunter. The AC unit is a beast..at least 3 feet long. Its not flush mounted because itd overhang way to far out in the courtyard so we split the difference. Kinda hokey, but the candies fit perfectly underneath so there isnt any impact...I'm kind of tempted to remove the garage door and make it a solid wall...not sure if thats a good idea or not.

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As you make the turn: Frontline, Madplanets, Qbert, Zeke's Peak and Afterburner. Afterburner fits really nicely in the corner and it feels a little bit safer sandwiched between the wall and a game due to the moving cab. Wouldn't want any little kids getting pinched... I'm temporarily storing some artwork and stuff underneath until I get the shelving done in the storage room (not pictured)

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as you look down the row at the center island of games, 2 Spacelords back to back...Not sure if these are keeper games, but would like to get them fully operational and linked for multiplayer action. I'm really on the fence about these because I can probably fit 6 more games in their place...though I prolly could only add 1 game every couple years due to being saddled with a huge mortgage payment now + bills and I promised my wife we'd start doing the things she wants to do around the house :(

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before entering the addition, Warlords and Crazy Climber cocktails...I'd really like to add a high score table or something on the wall behind them.


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On the left, the new addition houses SmashTV (which is also switchable to Robotron and Total Carnage..I plan to get Timber running in it also, has repro joystick shafts), and Asteroids Deluxe (nos cpo). My high score on AD is 69k. That game is friggin hard!

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as you pan right within the addition: Battlezone (I have the step removed, also has 2 fire joysticks), Black Widow (nos sideart), Millipede (huo Ben Gold's) and Berzerk (with cnl moore's repro panel and perfect 360 joystick... awaiting his repro joystick shaft.)

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and back out to the main Garcade. The layout might change a little when Zookeeper and StarWars come home...or alot if SpaceLords are moved out for something else.

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You may not have the flash in yet. But danm it still looks very nice.

Side note: I wish you still had the honda trail 90 from the guy that had the house prior. Those were an awsome off road bikes next to a old 200 bid red... ah my childhood....
 
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