The Drop In Quarters 2.0 - Don't call it a come back.

Griffin

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 26, 2012
Messages
5,534
Reaction score
1,342
Location
EL CAJON, California
Hi all,

I stepped away from refurb and collecting for about 7 years or so after getting burned out on the process and going through a divorce which, as I am sure many of you know, can cause you to refocus many of your life choices.

I've been floating around in the background doing other projects like building a home theater and a nice bar which was focused on social fun and hangouts first with some arcade and retro games for people to enjoy should they wish to, rather than my space being hyper focused on the arcade collecting theme. The bar has turned out very well and we regularly fill it up with family and friends when we have a get together. Most of my machines in there are focused on multi-game and reliability rather the original hardware in dedicated cabs.

Here's a quick walk thru of the bar which sits outside of the movie theater.


Now that life has calmed down and I'm in a much better place I found myself wanting to finish up some of the left over project cabs that I had in my little workshop so I pulled them out and started into them. After a couple of weeks of working on a water-damaged Robotron and a couple of other things I really started to get the itch back and remembered the satisfaction and fun (and frustrations) that came from the hobby which of course started the gears turning.

Sure enough I decided to convert half of my garage gym back into a small area to turn back into an arcade space. The area is 10ft deep and 20ft wide, not huge but certainly big enough to create a nice fun space.

How it started.
IMG_3786.JPG

How it's going.
IMG_4277.jpegIMG_3879.jpeg

Last update: 9/6/2025

'Finished' games.
- Robotron 2084 -
Restore Thread
- Ms. Pac/Galaga 20th Anniversary 25" - Pickup
- Gyruss
- Tempest cabaret (with multi-vector Major Havoc and Omega Race)
- Neo Geo 4-slot Big Red -
Restore Thread
- Paperboy
- Donkey Kong

Project list progress.

Mad Planets. -
Restore
Status: In progress
All internals acquired, fully working repro board set and harness, original power block, original flight stick, repro wico spinner on the way, repro CPOs, Bezel, metal control panel and marquee. Original cabinet, coin door/mechs and side art, monitor chassis needs rebuild and retube.

Warlords cocktail. - Scratch build
Status: In progress
All internals and metals from wrecked cab, semi working board out for repair, re-tubed matsushita monitor, repro wiring harness inbound, NOS Atari slip-clutch Mil Spec 5K pots, all metal powder coated, repro cabinet, glass and CPOs.

City Connection. - Custom art pack on donor cab
Status: In progress
Working original board in a 25" Arcade Legends cabinet wrapped in deep blue with smoke grey t-mold. Upper/lower CP art and Bezel done. Only one side art piece survived, art file is missing along with marquee file. Motivation to finish is sorely lacking.

Sega Pulsar Cocktail. - FOR SALE/TRADE
Status: In progress
Excellent condition all original cocktail, only one I have ever seen. Boards rebuilt, monitor chassis out for repair.

Burgertime (Deco Cassette System). - FOR SALE/TRADE
Status: In limbo - waiting on part rerun
Complete original cabinet and internals, working 'phat stack' board set, Burgertime cassette and security dongle, non-working cassette system. 2x seiko coin mechs, repro acrylic CPO inbound, waiting to see if DarkSoft makes any more multi-conversion kits to emulate the cassette system. Missing coin door windows above the coin slots. Monitor needs retube and rebuild.

Timber. - Scratch build
Status: Ready to start
No board set. Partial harness. MCR Suitcase, power board (needs repair), MCR amp board. Repro cabinet, Midway coin door/mechs, coin bucket and basket, all exterior trim, repro Tapper side+kickplate art, Timber additional art, repro CPO, Glass Bezel, Glass Marquee, Takeman repro control panel, 2x 2-way midway sticks, 2x Midway 4-way sticks. Rebuilt G07 chassis, retube, proper Timber monitor shroud..

Space Harrier - Light refresh
Status: Ready to start
Full working cabinet in good shape except for usual lower blade and footplate damage. Have replacement side art for blades and upper cabinet.

Outrun - Light refresh
Status: Ready to start
Fully working in good condition with enhanced rom set. Dashboard cracks around the shifter. Heavy ding in top right of cabinet.

Afterburner - Light refresh
Status: Ready to start
Fully working, burn free, working shaker, enhanced ROMs, good plastics and monitor. Needs light wood attention before adding the repro side art and tidying the base.

Pooyan. - Repro cab build
Status: Harvesting Parts
Working original board set, working bootleg board set, original harness, joystick, CPO and Marquee (Chuck E. Cheese version). Repro side art from this old game. @DPtwiz CAD files for the Stern Bagman cabinet.

Bubbles. - Original upright
Status: Harvesting Parts
Beautiful survivor upright cab, original side art, original CPO, rebuilt original boardset by @braedel, 49-way Arch Rivals stick for conversion, repro blue top stick, baby blue repro buttons, repro wiring harness inbound, Williams power board, manual & schematics

Ikari Warriors. - HS-1 Cabinet transplant
Status: Harvesting Parts
Original semi-working 3-board stack, 2x SNK LS-30 sticks, NOS side art, NOS CPO, Original cardboard Bezel, original non-cut marquee, HS-1 control panel fully populated with LS-30s and a SNK harness, manuals

Bomb Jack. - Cabaret style build
Status: Harvesting Parts
Non-working original board stack, working bootleg board stack, Tehkan-to-jamma converter.
 
Last edited:
The garage already has a few things in place due to the gym setup, I have a 65" TV up on the wall, Sonos speakers and a Linux mini pc wired in. The floor is also covered in gym padded rubber tiles so it was a decent starting point already. I still have all the electrical in place from the previous arcade layout in here and the house has a 200A panel upgrade.

I had a spare 50" TV sitting around from an old project that was just collecting dust so I threw that up on the wall too and hooked it into the existing system so I can run multiple screens with the same content, or use the TV smart apps to do different things on different screens.

IMG_3808.JPG
 
What a great space. Very cool.

I'm stealing that stainless steel foot panels idea on your Paperboy. :)

Can you provide some details on that Aliens movie poster running with the LCD screen. That's awesome.
 
This time around I'm going to make sure I dial the room lighting and decorations in prior to moving in more machines, the vibe matters so much and trying to do that all later on is a bit of a headache, I might as well take advantage of my situation.

Playing with an animated wall curtain to brighten up the back wall behind the cabs.


 
What a great space. Very cool.

I'm stealing that stainless steel foot panels idea on your Paperboy. :)

Can you provide some details on that Aliens movie poster running with the LCD screen. That's awesome.
Ahhh the controversial Griffin Diamond plate effect :D

The movie poster was a scratch build, it's just two monitors running my own slightly customized version of Movie Poster software from the AVS Forums. It scans my Emby library and then pulls down the movie posters and trailers to display. The secret part is that it is also my fold-out virtual pinball machine, here's a quick video showing how it converts.

 
One of the lessons I've learned from having people over to the arcade in the past, is that you really need to set a small area aside for people to just hang out, chat, leave their drinks etc otherwise I find that people don't want to stay in the space unless they are actively playing the machines. Obviously I have the main bar area in the house, but it is on a different floor and quite separate from the garage area, so I got this mini corner bar from Temu which should do the job without eating up too much floorspace.

It's also close to the mini fridge I already had in the gym, so that works out well enough for refreshments.

IMG_3814.JPG
 
One of the other lessons I've learned - if you want a cool feel to the space then take the opportunity to install as much display space as possible. I installed shelves at about 7ft high across the back corner and made sure to place two 8-socket multi strips on those to power illuminated signs etc.

I also added an LED kit to the shelving of the bar as it's a great spot to put more fun display pieces.

Now the place is starting to get some fun energy.

 
Salutations Griffin!

As another that resumed after a long layoff (10 years)…understand some of the fortitude it takes…though my reasons for being away weren't as serious.

Your space is looking good and can relate on the importance and emphasis on getting the decor right.. have found it's an ever evolving process and very cool to see where it ends up. This is a fun and satisfying aspect of establishing a game room that didn't know going in.

Looking forward to your updates. Sharing progress helped keep me motivated and countered some of the loneliness of the endeavor…Well that and rocking Spotify while putting in the work. 😂

Am approaching "completion" of my home setup now and have resumed hosting arcade parties…Encouragement and support from friends (here and elsewhere) has helped sustain my journey.

Welcome back :)
 
Back
Top Bottom