tester007
Well-known member
Question to people with dedicated house arcades - regret?
Starting with architects soon for a new house build.. been waiting years to be able to build an arcade in the basement (and collecting in anticipation of it), but lately have been a little on the fence over it. Due to the neighborhood I live in, my choice is to build a single house on my lot (in which case I would have lots of room to waste ideas on), or build a contemporary duplex, sell half and pocket a pile of cash, and live in the other side.. so it was an easy choice with door #2. So in saying that, the footprint of the house goes down significantly. I will have approximately 1000 ft2 to work with down there minus the landing, mechanical room. My idea was with that rectangular shape (approx 45'x22') that I would have the stairway coming down roughly in the center to one edge, and the mechanical room/bathroom across from that. So basically if looking down from above it would look like an Atari 8-bit dog bone. Presently I have a dedicated home theater, but rarely use it with a 3 year old so one end of the dog bone would have the big screen and projector, but be more like a lounge with a bar..etc.. The other end of the dog bone would of course be the arcade. BUT, since I do not have the total room in this house overall for everything I want as far as a small gym, wine room...etc..etc.. I as I was sayin', am on the fence if the arcade should go in.
What has made me think this way is that I have been collecting these machines for about 5-6 years in anticipation of my own arcade... restore them.. have some in the garage I play rarely, with the majority (30 or so) in a garage I rent. I love to go and turn them on and look at the attracts while working, and there was a time I had them all in one space in my garage with them all on and running and loved the look, but no-one else really cared to play them or hang around in there. I find when having people over, playing a game is almost like a solitary thing so people have to leave the conversation/party/group to do so and people rarely did.. And the posts here where long timers with a great collection sell them off because in their words "sick of a room full of games that no body plays and only I like" sort of thing has got me thinking if I will end up there sooner than later..
None of my friends would play these. If I lived in the city where I grew up, then sure.. those friends would for sure and the arcade would get plenty of use, but not here.. So I think this thing would pretty well be for myself, and that is it... So having said that, I'm not really sure what I want to get out of this.. to feel like I am 16 again.. to have the feeling of owning all these games I could only dream of owning from BITD.. to play them.. rarely..? I honestly don't know.. I mean there are some of them I really like to play, but certainly not all 30..like Pac, Frogger..etc..etc.. Have them there mainly for the completeness of it.
So I am wondering to 'only' the guys that have built dedicated arcades in their houses, did you get it all done and wonder why you did it.. and never use it again? Did you regret doing so? I'm mainly I guess asking people who don't have a ton of people that come by to play the games since that would be my situation.. I'm basically asking if aside from that, if it got you any sort of personal satisfaction or enjoyment really.. because right now, I think I'm just fantasizing since I have not built it yet, that I will walk in and feel like I am in Wizards Castle again back in the day.. which I am sure I won't at this age.. so not sure if it will be a 'what did I just waste all this cash on' moment or not. What has been some peoples feelings after a build?
Starting with architects soon for a new house build.. been waiting years to be able to build an arcade in the basement (and collecting in anticipation of it), but lately have been a little on the fence over it. Due to the neighborhood I live in, my choice is to build a single house on my lot (in which case I would have lots of room to waste ideas on), or build a contemporary duplex, sell half and pocket a pile of cash, and live in the other side.. so it was an easy choice with door #2. So in saying that, the footprint of the house goes down significantly. I will have approximately 1000 ft2 to work with down there minus the landing, mechanical room. My idea was with that rectangular shape (approx 45'x22') that I would have the stairway coming down roughly in the center to one edge, and the mechanical room/bathroom across from that. So basically if looking down from above it would look like an Atari 8-bit dog bone. Presently I have a dedicated home theater, but rarely use it with a 3 year old so one end of the dog bone would have the big screen and projector, but be more like a lounge with a bar..etc.. The other end of the dog bone would of course be the arcade. BUT, since I do not have the total room in this house overall for everything I want as far as a small gym, wine room...etc..etc.. I as I was sayin', am on the fence if the arcade should go in.
What has made me think this way is that I have been collecting these machines for about 5-6 years in anticipation of my own arcade... restore them.. have some in the garage I play rarely, with the majority (30 or so) in a garage I rent. I love to go and turn them on and look at the attracts while working, and there was a time I had them all in one space in my garage with them all on and running and loved the look, but no-one else really cared to play them or hang around in there. I find when having people over, playing a game is almost like a solitary thing so people have to leave the conversation/party/group to do so and people rarely did.. And the posts here where long timers with a great collection sell them off because in their words "sick of a room full of games that no body plays and only I like" sort of thing has got me thinking if I will end up there sooner than later..
None of my friends would play these. If I lived in the city where I grew up, then sure.. those friends would for sure and the arcade would get plenty of use, but not here.. So I think this thing would pretty well be for myself, and that is it... So having said that, I'm not really sure what I want to get out of this.. to feel like I am 16 again.. to have the feeling of owning all these games I could only dream of owning from BITD.. to play them.. rarely..? I honestly don't know.. I mean there are some of them I really like to play, but certainly not all 30..like Pac, Frogger..etc..etc.. Have them there mainly for the completeness of it.
So I am wondering to 'only' the guys that have built dedicated arcades in their houses, did you get it all done and wonder why you did it.. and never use it again? Did you regret doing so? I'm mainly I guess asking people who don't have a ton of people that come by to play the games since that would be my situation.. I'm basically asking if aside from that, if it got you any sort of personal satisfaction or enjoyment really.. because right now, I think I'm just fantasizing since I have not built it yet, that I will walk in and feel like I am in Wizards Castle again back in the day.. which I am sure I won't at this age.. so not sure if it will be a 'what did I just waste all this cash on' moment or not. What has been some peoples feelings after a build?
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