Christmas Vacation, My Ass . . .

Well, here's a surprise.  Didn't get time to work on anything arcade-related.  Too much stuff going on with family holiday get-togethers, housework / home repairs and taking care of the baby while the daycare was closed.  Baby brought home an awesome cold / sinus infection for the holidays, and we've all been getting it. The wife and I are still sick.

While I haven't had time to actually 'work' on it, I have been thinking the directions I'm wanting to take with the game room.  I've decided to nix the idea of a cabinet that's dedicated to the 3d Pinball! game that I have.  Even though it's a great emulator, it's not the same as a real pin.  I've also chosen to forego making a sister cabaret cab to the Horizons cab.  The reason is simply that while a cabaret cab is enjoyable, it's not the most comfortable cab to play at.  I would rather have another full-size upright.  Also, the cocktail cab I will should cover all of those vertical-screen games that the Horizons cab isn't designed for.  So my thinking has gone to actually have one REAL cab in the arcade.  Something like a Space Invaders, Robotron, Berzerk, Missile Command or Defender.  I wouldn't mind an Asteroids or Lunar Lander cab, but they're actually too tall to fit in the basement with the suspended ceiling.  Here's the list of what games I want included in the game room (currently):

1.  MAME cabaret cab (Horizons - 95% complete).
2.  MAME cocktail cab (0% complete).
3.  MAME 4-player, full-sized upright cab (0% complete).
4.  Original, real arcade cab (when time & money allows).
5.  Real pinball machine or cockpit / driver-style MAME cab (still pondering)

There is room for only 4 cabs in this game room in its current setup, and I figure the pinball machine, etc. will be last on my 'to-do' list.  Once the baby gets a little older and the teenager moves out on his own, I'll be able to reorganize a couple areas to potentially add more cabs.

That's what I've got for now.  Live the Arcade Dream!!

Have Christmas Vacation, Will Work on the Arcade!

I lucked out and was able to get vacation time off from the 24th of December through the 1st of January.  Actually I kind of had to, as our daycare is closed during that time, so someone's got to stay home and take care of the little one.  At just over 8 months old, he's quite the handful, so I'm still going to have to use the 'moonlight' hours of the evening to work on the game room.  But at least having time off from the normal work day will make it easier to lose a little sleep while pushing towards more progress in the basement.

The Horizons Cabinet:  recently, I was able to get the control panel front cover, back access door and the control front cover-to-keyboard drawer filler panel primed for painting.  I'm hoping on getting the color coats done in the next day or two.  After that, all that really needs done is get the filler peice between the control panel and the monitor bezel installed (once I make it), and adding a little adhesive backed insulation stripping on the cabinet internals, to keep the marquee lighting from shining through a couple gaps.  I do eventually have to look into taking care of some other cosmetics (i.e. paint bleed on the side-art that needs touching up, etc.).  I also have to finish the DOS-based batch file front-end / gaming menu system.

Also on my to-do list over the next week:
1.  Install bezels over the ceiling mounted black lights that shine on the space mural.
2.  Finish painting planet Earth on the space mural and begin working on Saturn.
3.  Look into adding a couple more mirrors (as my budget allows) to the west arcade wall.
4.  Optimize / reorganize console games that are currently in use in the arcade, as they're just kind of a mess all over the northwest corner of the game room.
5.  Finish cleaning out the arcade fish tank and begin testing the current equipment (light/bezel, air pumps etc.).
6.  Begin working on the PC for the next planned arcade cabinet (cocktail).

We'll see how much of this list I get get accomplished, but I'm trying to keep up my enthusiasm, because if I don't see a little more progress, I'm going to get a bit bummed out and possibly a touch crazy!!!  More soon!

When will I get time to work on my dream?!?!?

     Well, it's been a good year for me.  New job, baby, busy family stuff, etc.  The only thing that does suck is the fact that I'm a little older, and being able to stay up late at night to work on hobbies, etc. (FYI - I quit night school for now) has been a rather challenging task.  I'll plan out what I want to do with the arcade some evening, and once everything has been done with taking care of the honey-do's etc. I'm shot and have to go to bed.  Frustrating.

     There's things to do that I already have the material for: finishing up the Horizons Cab, as well as finishing up the front-end menu system for it.  There's work to be done on the space mural, wiring up the black lights in the ceiling, etc. to run from a remote control, and I even have a couple more machines that can be set up with MAME for future cabs.  Also of note is that technically I can get started on the iTunes music kiosk for the arcade as well.  And then there's the arcade fish tank that still needs to be cleaned and painted . . . lot's of things I could work on right now,  if I could get off my tired butt at night and just do it.

     Hopefully I can get some energy and motivation this next month and make things happen.  I'm such a slacker - Geez!!

Finally - a real update!!!!

So yeah . . . it's been a slow year for the arcade.  But it IS still moving.  Progress on the space mural, as well as the Horizons cab.  I've got the control panel front cover and the back access door installed.  All that's left to finish on the cab is the filler panel between the control panel front and the keyboard drawer, a filler between the screen bezel and the control panel top, a little painting and the first cab will be at 100% completion!!

Well . . . I still have to finish up the batch file front-end for Horizons as well, but that's not a big deal, really.  Once this cab is finished, I'll most likely start work on either the cocktail cab or the Hyper 3D pinball cab.  Stay tuned!!

Long time, no post!

Yeah, it's been a friggin' eternity since the last time I put anything up on the blog (or the website). So much has happened over the last few months; almost every 'hobby' has been put off. The reason for this is that there's a new baby in the arcade!! Gabriel Joseph, born April 16, 2012. He's taken most of my attention, and of course the schoolwork has continued to be significant time-eater as well. I have also embarked on a new chapter in my work life as well. I'm now a data programmer for a major clinical research firm.

What can I say? Too busy to make the arcade dream progress to another level. That's not to say that I haven't been planning / thinking about it. This week I will accquire the PC that will be used for the eventual 4-player mega-cab. When I get done, this beast should literally play thousands of arcade games through MAME, along with Rogue Synapse's versions of Space Paranoids and The Last StarFighter.

Hopefully the next project I will show will be the addition of more black light sconces, progress on the space mural and the completion of the Horizons Cab. Stay tuned!!

Mini Arcade Tour

I thought it would be fun to create a little video of the arcade space, to show the slow but steady progress. Hopefully I can make some good progress during Christmas, as I'll finally have some time off from work and school. Check out the vid below!

Fun with Ms.Pacman

Went to our local arcade recently (yes, we actually have an arcade!), owned by a local pizzeria (Valentino's). Once there, my friend Rick and I enjoyed a few games of Ms.Pacman. The machine's DIP switches were set for ultra-fast game play, and Ms.Pac flew around the mazes at an astonishing rate. Check out the video that Rick filmed . . . please forgive the quality, as my phone isn't that great for videos.





Anyway, it was fun while it lasted. It's just a little too bad that I suck at Ms.Pacman!