Gonna tackle my first game build

Kongerman

New member
Joined
Feb 9, 2012
Messages
269
Reaction score
1
Location
Sparks, Nevada
Ok, after paying a little too much for a cocktail (my first game), I've decided that I'd like to build a system myself, probably go with a 19-1 upright cab (the one with ghosts and goblins and joust, etc). Now I know it's a JAMMA board but I honestly really don't know what I'm doing and plan on figuring things out as I go. Is there a post on here that shows a step by step on how someone put their upright together and did their project? Should I spend the money to buy one of the upright cab kits from online or should I look for certain used cabs to use?

Basically my big question is how do I get this project started?
 
I would take this slow so you don't over pay again. I would make sure you don't butcher a classic first of all (you will catch serious crap for that). Look for a generic cab gutted , a dynamo or something for cheap ( Free to 50 or 60 bucks). Then start searching threads on here. Read who offers parts,( Nix, Paradise, Liteyear98, Bob Roberts...I dont mean just these guys just quick examples, there are plenty of people.) You have alot of choices to make.

What board, what type of monitor LCD or classic CRT, art, ect....

Good luck go slow and don't over spend keep to a budget. Just my opinion.

Toby
 
Really depends mainly on the board you go with. 60n1, 19n1,48n1, Blue elf, ect... They range from 70 to 350+. Then you have to get the cab, I don't know how your area is for CL and empty cabs.

Those 2 are going to be the "Big" costs and art, maybe unless you go all black or something.
 
Ok, after paying a little too much for a cocktail (my first game), I've decided that I'd like to build a system myself, probably go with a 19-1 upright cab (the one with ghosts and goblins and joust, etc). Now I know it's a JAMMA board but I honestly really don't know what I'm doing and plan on figuring things out as I go. Is there a post on here that shows a step by step on how someone put their upright together and did their project? Should I spend the money to buy one of the upright cab kits from online or should I look for certain used cabs to use?

Basically my big question is how do I get this project started?

Before I found this site and its various resources, I came across Bob Roberts site. He has some great info about working on arcade games.

http://therealbobroberts.net/index.html
http://therealbobroberts.net/buildit.html
http://therealbobroberts.net/acwiring.html
http://therealbobroberts.net/inthecab.html
 
your best bet is to find a cab that is either generic or has already been converted. You don't want to ruin a classic. I guess I should also point out that if the game is a classic that has been converted shoot for something that has been stripped of it's art or painted over. Sometimes people converted games and left a lot of the stuff original and just changed the basics to make it a different games. These types of conversions are often good candidates to be converted back to the original game so you might steer clear of these as it's frowned upon to destroy a nice original cab that can be converted back to it's classic form.

That said if you can pick up a cab that has all the basics you will save a good deal of money. Often times you can get a complete working game (think jamma kit game) in the $100-150 range. You can learn how to fix up the cosmetics of the cab and do some bondo and painting. You can learn to strip a cpo and apply a new cpo. If the wiring is hacked or not so cleanly done you can replace it with a new jamma harness and learn how to wire a cab.

Unless your are particularly skilled at wood working I would not suggest scratch building a cab right out the gate. As for the kits places sell they are just another way to end up overpaying. Unless you've got tons of cash then disregard what I have to say and just buy whatever you want for whatever price. There is something to be said for having nice condition games rather than a garage full of projects.
 
Honestly if your just gonna play classics on a multi you might as well just play them on your computer, xbox, iphone etc. and save yourself the money.
 
I plan on playing some of the newer ones too. Even with the classics though, it's just not the same on a computer when you grew up saving up your quarters so you could go to the arcade and spend all day trying to get the high scores.

I'm going to try to find a used cabinet somewhere, (don't worry, if I find a classic cab that's restorable I won't deface it or do anything that isn't undoable) and I know that if I get a jamma compatible cab I can get an adaptor to play sega games... How about if I get a Neo Geo? I can get a neo geo and adapt it to play jamma right? Can I adapt a neo geo to play sega games too? I'd like to get the most versatile cab that I could easily just swap out game boards. What do you guys think?
 
Back
Top Bottom