Just bouncing ideas around my head this morning. I was reading Kstillin's thread about an arcade cooperative, and this idea came to me. Not sure if this has ever been discussed, but what about some kind of PCB trading circle? I, like many others here, have a bunch of JAMMA pcbs, both in use and in storage. Why not let some others enjoy some of the pcbs?
Here's what I think:
So here's what I see: every 3 months, you get a new JAMMA pcb to play with. After 3 months, you receive another pcb and send the one you have along to the next person in your chain.
If a person fails to send off a pcb (break the chain), then they will forfeit membership, lose their damage waiver, and whatever pcb(s) they donated to the chain. To get back in, they'll need to pony up another damage waiver.
Obviously we would want to work with JAMMA titles that aren't terribly rare or expensive to repair, to prevent shipping disasters. We'd also need to tag serial numbers to track who's got what in the circle. It would also be nice if we could get a pcb repair guru in the mix as sort of a 'pit stop' for board in need of repair - this person doesn't have to put up a damage waiver, as long they are willing to stand in line and offer repair services in exchange for membership in the circle.
I think if we had about a half dozen people who would be Angels to get this started, it could work. I know I'd be willing to donate a few pcbs and waiver to circulation as seeds.
What does everyone think? Is this idea even worth considering?
Here's what I think:
- Each member offers some number of JAMMA pcbs for circulation.
- Every 3 months, each member will receive a new JAMMA pcb. Once the new pcb arrives, they will forward their current pcb to the next member on their chain.
- PCB rotation continues indefinitely, as long as members keep moving pcbs around and adding new ones to the mix.
- Each member of the group pledges a completely refundable contribution to a de-centralized fund, to cover damage or loss of a pcb. Should a member's pcb be lost or destroyed, the fund will pay to repair/replace the pcb.
- Should a member wish to withdraw from the trading circulation, they can either retrieve their pcb, or pull their damage $$ money, whichever they wish.
So here's what I see: every 3 months, you get a new JAMMA pcb to play with. After 3 months, you receive another pcb and send the one you have along to the next person in your chain.
If a person fails to send off a pcb (break the chain), then they will forfeit membership, lose their damage waiver, and whatever pcb(s) they donated to the chain. To get back in, they'll need to pony up another damage waiver.
Obviously we would want to work with JAMMA titles that aren't terribly rare or expensive to repair, to prevent shipping disasters. We'd also need to tag serial numbers to track who's got what in the circle. It would also be nice if we could get a pcb repair guru in the mix as sort of a 'pit stop' for board in need of repair - this person doesn't have to put up a damage waiver, as long they are willing to stand in line and offer repair services in exchange for membership in the circle.
I think if we had about a half dozen people who would be Angels to get this started, it could work. I know I'd be willing to donate a few pcbs and waiver to circulation as seeds.
What does everyone think? Is this idea even worth considering?


