New in Silver Spring, Maryland

CelticKnight

Member

Donor 4 years: 2012, 2016-2018
Joined
Aug 16, 2012
Messages
249
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20
Location
Silver Spring, Maryland
I'm a several month lurker on these boards who's been looking at getting into the hobby for awhile. The problem, which seems to be the problem for almost everyone here, was space.

Finally, I just got a new home with a (small) basement room that I'm going to refinish and turn into a (small) arcade. The old carpets are already in the trash and the room will eventually get new paint and tile.

I figure I could have some decor questions before I even look into getting my first cab, so I figured there was no time like the present to make my introduction.

-Ken
 
I'm a several month lurker on these boards who's been looking at getting into the hobby for awhile. The problem, which seems to be the problem for almost everyone here, was space.

Finally, I just got a new home with a (small) basement room that I'm going to refinish and turn into a (small) arcade. The old carpets are already in the trash and the room will eventually get new paint and tile.

I figure I could have some decor questions before I even look into getting my first cab, so I figured there was no time like the present to make my introduction.

-Ken
Welcome, always good to see more Marylanders!
 
Thanks I appreciate the welcome!

Are there any local resources I should be particularly aware of?

There seem to be quite a few collectors on here from the area. Coin-op warehouse seems to usually have pretty good prices on thing and they are in Hagerstown. Crabtowne has not rotated out the games in a while, but they still have a pretty large arcade. It's worth going to both at least once.
 
Welcome CelticKnight!

Only been on here a few months myself. I'm right outside of Hagerstown so I can definitely say CoinOpWarehouse is a good source of game cabs. We're still in the early phases of our build so we're going through the learning process. It's been a fun experience though so far! Good luck with your project!
 
Welcome CelticKnight!

Only been on here a few months myself. I'm right outside of Hagerstown so I can definitely say CoinOpWarehouse is a good source of game cabs. We're still in the early phases of our build so we're going through the learning process. It's been a fun experience though so far! Good luck with your project!

What are you working on? Is Coin Op Warehouse a good source for supplies & parts or just old cabs? I've heard of them, but I think their website is down, so I don't truthfully know too much about them. I think I recall reading somewhere that they had really short working hours, just weekday office hours... which makes them hard to scout for someone working an hour plus south all week, that would also need to rent a truck to bring anything substantial back.

I'm thinking that I want to get something in really good cosmetic & play shape for my first cab. I'd hate to shine up a new room, then fumble around for a few months with nothing at all to play/host guests in. I'd like to make cab #2 or 3 (which is probably as much room as I'll have) the project.
 
There seem to be quite a few collectors on here from the area. Coin-op warehouse seems to usually have pretty good prices on thing and they are in Hagerstown. Crabtowne has not rotated out the games in a while, but they still have a pretty large arcade. It's worth going to both at least once.

I've been meaning to check our Crabtowne. I was planning to go a couple weekends ago, but something else came up. How's the food? Any recommendations?
 
What are you working on? Is Coin Op Warehouse a good source for supplies & parts or just old cabs? I've heard of them, but I think their website is down, so I don't truthfully know too much about them. I think I recall reading somewhere that they had really short working hours, just weekday office hours... which makes them hard to scout for someone working an hour plus south all week, that would also need to rent a truck to bring anything substantial back.

I'm thinking that I want to get something in really good cosmetic & play shape for my first cab. I'd hate to shine up a new room, then fumble around for a few months with nothing at all to play/host guests in. I'd like to make cab #2 or 3 (which is probably as much room as I'll have) the project.

They use their facebook page (which is public if you don't have an account) to do some of their advertising. https://www.facebook.com/coinopwarehouse#!/coinopwarehouse

They are a good source for cabs and parts of various eras as well as pinballs and other random items. They are only open on weekdays till 5:30pm normally. Sometimes you can arrange weekend pickups if you coordinate with their staff.

As for what I'm working on, we're renovating our garage to house around 550 sq ft of arcade equipment with a bar adjacent to the arcade. We've got over half a dozen cabs in storage right now waiting on the floor to be poured. If we're lucky that'll happen in a week or so. Overall we're just taking things as they come and moving ahead as best we can. :)
 
Wow. I thought your project was a single cab... that sounds amazing. Do you have any progress photos? What are using for a finish on the floor? The room I'm using was the only finished part of a basement, but I'm basically gutting all but some of the drywall, so it's basically starting over with an unfinished basement. Garage comparisons could be useful.


Thanks for the link on Coin Op Warehouse... there's some really cool stuff on that page. More working cabs than I thought they were supposed to have. I thought they were largely flipping non-working stuff.
 
Wow. I thought your project was a single cab... that sounds amazing. Do you have any progress photos? What are using for a finish on the floor? The room I'm using was the only finished part of a basement, but I'm basically gutting all but some of the drywall, so it's basically starting over with an unfinished basement. Garage comparisons could be useful.


Thanks for the link on Coin Op Warehouse... there's some really cool stuff on that page. More working cabs than I thought they were supposed to have. I thought they were largely flipping non-working stuff.

And to add to that, you really have to show up in person or talk to Lloyd to see what he has. Their e-bay listings don't seem to change very often. I know they had a row of nice mini's the last time I was there. I have yet to see them on their site.
 
Wow. I thought your project was a single cab... that sounds amazing. Do you have any progress photos? What are using for a finish on the floor? The room I'm using was the only finished part of a basement, but I'm basically gutting all but some of the drywall, so it's basically starting over with an unfinished basement. Garage comparisons could be useful.


Thanks for the link on Coin Op Warehouse... there's some really cool stuff on that page. More working cabs than I thought they were supposed to have. I thought they were largely flipping non-working stuff.

I have some progress photos I've been posting on my FB page but nothing I thought worthy of sticking here just yet since we're still only a few months into the project. As for my flooring, I plan to use blacklight arcade carpeting in the arcade section and a combination of arcade carpeting and pergot in the bar area. I specifically targeted our garage because it was just a cluttered mess that wasn't being used for parking a vehicle so this project forced me to clean up the area to be usable and finally part with things that should have been gotten rid of a long time ago. We couldn't use the basement in our house because it has no outside access (and I'm getting too old to drag cabinets downstairs) and gets water during really bad rainstorms.

As for CoinOp, yea they have a selection of both working and non working so you can kinda of chose what level of restore you want to start with if you have the patience to hold off for a good cabinet.

I will post some pics as we get some of the construction done so you can see where we are but for now it's just not far enough along to look like much. Have more cabinet pics than I do construction at this point. :\ Starting off with a gutted area though is the best for me because then you can do whatever you want without pre-defined limitations based off previous construction.
 
And to add to that, you really have to show up in person or talk to Lloyd to see what he has. Their e-bay listings don't seem to change very often. I know they had a row of nice mini's the last time I was there. I have yet to see them on their site.

I've seen those listings... I think that's what colored my impression of them.
 
I will post some pics as we get some of the construction done so you can see where we are but for now it's just not far enough along to look like much. Have more cabinet pics than I do construction at this point. :\ Starting off with a gutted area though is the best for me because then you can do whatever you want without pre-defined limitations based off previous construction.

I'll be keeping an eye out for those. Sounds like a great project.

I understand the desire to escape the potential water hazards of a basement. I'm facing that issue myself. I fixed up the drain right outside the door, but a bit of water still sneaks under and forms a small puddle just inside the door, even if it looks like things are draining right from the outside. I think I may need new weather stripping, at the least.

Water really destroyed a lot of that floor while it was unoccupied. Needless to say, any games I get will be on the opposite side of the room, but the preexisting water issue makes me wary of putting any carpet that might soak up and hide moisture anywhere in the room. I think I'll have to go with tile rather than arcade-style carpeting.
 
I'll be keeping an eye out for those. Sounds like a great project.

I understand the desire to escape the potential water hazards of a basement. I'm facing that issue myself. I fixed up the drain right outside the door, but a bit of water still sneaks under and forms a small puddle just inside the door, even if it looks like things are draining right from the outside. I think I may need new weather stripping, at the least.

Water really destroyed a lot of that floor while it was unoccupied. Needless to say, any games I get will be on the opposite side of the room, but the preexisting water issue makes me wary of putting any carpet that might soak up and hide moisture anywhere in the room. I think I'll have to go with tile rather than arcade-style carpeting.

Good idea. With ours we have a no win scenario. Our house was built in '46 and the water once every 5 or 10 years will come in at all 4 corners and it wont run to any specific corner so there's no way to have a sump in the house to take care of it efficiently. We've had some crazy estimates on fixes that just aren't reasonable to consider to "reduce" the chances of water but it would be more cost efficient to tear the place down and start over. It's just enough water to damage things but nothing like my grandads house that can flood to the ceilings at times in the basement.

With the garage I have no water currently and we're going to make the floor a few inches higher just to be certain that the carpet will never see any kind of water. Soaked carpeting takes a long time to dry and smells absolutely horrible!
 
I have a few machines im thinking of getting rid of. Im pretty much out of space and have about 4 too many.
If I can ever get this place cleaned up long enough I want to have another party. I guess its been a couple years now since the last one I hosted.

Thanks I appreciate the welcome!

Are there any local resources I should be particularly aware of?
 
Hey Riptor, welcome to my little first thread party! You're a little far from me, but keep me in mind if your looking to move some cabs.


I joined the local DC group on here, but no one's posted there in years. Is there a local thread on the main boards that my search terms missed?
 
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