When to multi?

jmack

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I've been working on games for a little while, a year or so but I haven't done any multis. I've looked at the jamma multis online a couple of times and now I wonder. When do you decide to muti? Is there a much greater market for a multi? Does it pay off to multi? Do you have to chew up the control panel in some cases? Who makes the better multi boards?
 
While you have a simple question, the answer you are looking for is obviously complicated.

Speaking only for myself, a multi setup was desirable as it left more room for pins and dedicated drivers while getting the 'you should have some/more arcade machines' or 'do you have x?' people off of my back. Mame is ok if your setup is tweaked with a sweet front-end but for someone who doesn't want to go through all that and at the same time make it easy for the end user, multi seems to be the answer.

I also had a friend who I hadn't seen in years stop by last summer and check out my game room - he loved the idea but didn't think he had the time, money, or space for it. I showed him my multi setup and ended up building one for him for cost and now he is thinking about adding a pin and some other games. In this case it was sort of like crack, getting that first one in his own basement opened the door for desire for others and added another member of the community to the ranks. However, YMMV.

I know some purists scream 'Sacrilege!' from their mountain tops but for me and some others that I know, it gives some otherwise destined to be destroyed cab new life. I do understand that it is in poor taste to destroy a working classic just to throw in a multi but in the case of a game that is too expensive to fix, has parts made of unobtainium, already been molested beyond hope, etc something like this gives it new life for someone else to enjoy.
 
I assume you plan on selling these, not just building one for your collection.

If you have no competition on craigslist, then hellll yea you should make some sales. That's money in the bank.

If you use regular ol junk cabs that are just sitting around, even better. If you plan on doing all PAC style cabs, take one to a local cabinet maker and have him make you new cabs, this will preserve what is left of original machines. If you care....

Good luck!
 
I appreciate the information. For my personal collection, I prefer dedicated cabs. The market out here is really thin, so I thought I might try to boost any sales by doing a multi or two. That seems to be what people are asking for as well. I think my wife would probably like one as well, ie space issue. Thanks.
 
You could also make a complete working classic cab into a multi without parting out the original cab or modifying the control panel or harness in any way.

Just get another used control panel that fits the cab, or make one, and use that for the multiboard. Install another power supply, etc. and JAMMA harness to use with the multiboard too. Make a Y adapter to have the RGB molex on the multi harness and the original harness easily hooked up to the monitor. Make sure the multiboard supports whatever type of monitor setup the cab originally uses, vertical or horizontal. Most likely vertical it seems for most multiboards.

With a setup like this you can just put the extra power switch for the multi inside the cab by the coin door somewhere to turn on the multi when you want. You'll have to change the control panel whenever you want to play the multi or the original game that's in the cab. But at least your not ruining a good original panel or hacking up an original harness.

I haven't tried this myself, but I plan on doing it this Spring since I have some extra parts laying around.
 
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The general public loves multi games. You don't even have to make them look nice. I get asked about them all of the time.

If you have some spare cabs around - there is always someone out there who is looking to get one on a budget. I've sold 3-4 of them for $500 in junk cabinets with no artwork whatsoever, monitors with slight burn-in and just cleaned up the games a little (black paint, magic eraser, etc). I also cap and tweak the monitors and cap the power supplies so I know I'm not selling complete junk - but all in all I spend about $200 total on the machine and sell it for $500 - and that is a junker. 1 Junker can usually get me another project/classic.

I always tell the customer it depends on how nice they want it to look on how much it costs.
 
Flipping a crappy jamma game/cab into a simple multicade pays off 9 times outta 10. I've earned a higher percentage of profit by keeping them simple. No sideart! 100% of people who've come to look and buy have always said "Oh, it's OK that it doesn't have that, I like it without sideart."

And while I've murdered a Dead Space Invaders for multi-cade purposes and got flamed for it- let me advise you to never multi a classic game. Or atleast never, ever post pics here of it. ;)
 
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