Logo by mckechnossomy - Thanks mckechnossomy!

Last update 09/28/00
Compiled by saint
-with help by-
Tom61


New to the FAQ?  If you haven't yet, read the Welcome & Introduction page to learn what this is all about, and be sure to visit the Step-By-Step guide over there on the left.  Please at least once read the Manifesto.  We're glad you're here!

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WHAT'S NEW?

06/11/2009

 New Product From RAM Controls - 720 Controller Handles
RAM Controls has come out with another one!

Press Release:
RAM CONTROLS NEW RELEASE ITEM

It's been talked about, it's been considered by others, it's even been poo-poo'd just as many times.

The 720 controller handle (not the entire controller, mind you, JUST the handle - shaft and knob) has finally been reproduced and made available to the arcade community by RAM Controls.

The knobs are made from precision ground and drilled phenolic resin, polished to a high gloss. The shafts are made from precision ground 304 stainless steel, machined and drilled to original Atari specification.

BYOAC, as always, is the first to be informed of the development! The discounted offer made to the BYOAC community will be significantly under the RAM Controls website pricing, so take advantage of it.

The reproduction control handles turned out really nice if I do say so myself!! There was a lot of decision making during this phase of the project, but all turned out well.

Take a looksie:

More info, including discount offer, at the link! (Posted By: saint)

 Northwest Pinball and Gameroom Show June 12-14
Seattle, WA, June 2009 -- Thousands of pinball and arcade game fans from across the U.S. will be attending the 2009 Northwest Pinball and Gameroom Show this June at the Seattle Center. The show is the biggest of this type of event in the Northwest. The 2008 show featured over 100 games and drew 2,000 visitors. 2009 promises to be twice as big, with over 200 pinball and arcade games, the most ever seen in one place in the entire Northwest. Featuring games from the 1950s to today, attendees can play all the games for free with the price of admission. The event will also include tournaments, raffles, guest speakers and over a dozen top level players competing for new world record scores. (Posted By: Paladin)

05/21/2009

 New project - Millercade
Added Millercade to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Neon Rotating Panel Arcade Cabinet, complete with authentic Tron Stick, Starwars Yoke, and Pinball Shooter.

This makes 1243 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Wes' Mini-Mame Cabinet
Added Wes' Mini-Mame Cabinet to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Built a countertop system for my son.

This makes 1242 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Linux Arcade
Added Linux Arcade to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    My project is somewhat different from many other excellent cabinets you may find on the nice BYOAC website because it uses *only* open sources applications, from the operating system (GNU/Linux) to the various used emulators programs. I simply don\'t use and even have any microsoft software. Also, the provided plans are in metric measurements, thus easier to follow by european people. I\'m trying to emulate a lot of ancient consoles from classic arcades ones to mysterious beast like the Wonderswan...

This makes 1243 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - CHICO-MANIA
Added CHICO-MANIA to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    It's a Jukebox, Internet, Arcade machine...

This makes 1244 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - slackade fun system machine
Added slackade fun system machine to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    My new 29" arcade cabinet. I already have a 21" cab up and running but I always had a dream to build a 29" one.

This makes 1245 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Space Arcade
Added Space Arcade to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Converted an old upright Space Duel cabinet into a MAME cabinet. New artwork was designed based on the original for the marquee, control panel, and MaLa layout.

This makes 1246 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Bagurditz
Added Bagurditz to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    I built this machine a couple of years ago. Its a scratch-built cabinent that runs WinMame (Arcade), PinMame (Pinball), and Diaphne (LaserDisc).

This makes 1247 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Mame Arcade Cabinet
Added Mame Arcade Cabinet to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    A home build quality, my own plans! Two players upright MAME arcade machine with:
    • - 25" 15 Khz monitor
    • - X-arcade duo
    • - ArcadeVGA
    • - Trackball
    • - Spinner
    • - 4 ways joystick
    • - ActLabs light gun

This makes 1248 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

02/05/2009

 Relay For Life - End cancer in our lifetime!
Forgive me for getting personal a moment here. A dear friend of mine is participating in the Relay For Life, as she does every year. Her page for donations can be found here.

This past November 9th, my mother passed away from lung cancer after a 2 year fight. Everyone loses someone dear to them sooner or later, but cancer is a particularly evil disease. The fight against it is as hard and as devastating as the disease itself, raising hopes one day and then dashing them the next. It not only robs you of health and vitality, but also dignity as well.

The last two weeks of my mother's life she was in an obvious decline, and we felt the end was near. Wednesday they visited the doctor for what was likely to be the last time, only to get the astonishing news that her tumor had shrunk by a significant percentage. My mother, so weakened by her treatments and the cancer that she no longer had the strength to even get herself out of bed, and whom had already made her peace and arrangements, was asked if she wanted to give up or continue to fight. She said she wanted to continue to fight. The next morning she died.

Cancer is an evil evil disease that is likely to affect someone close to you in your lifetime. If you can, please consider a donation to the American Cancer Society relay for life.

I miss my mom.

--- saint (Posted By: saint)

01/30/2009

 Win a SF4 Arcade Machine!
Thanks to forum member Sardu for posting this one!

Street Fighter IV is coming out for the Playstation 3 and the Xbox-360, and to help hype it up Gamestop is giving away a Street Fighter IV arcade machine!

No purchase necessary to win, see site for details.

Thanks Sardu! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2009-01-30, posted by saint)

01/17/2009

 DreamAuthentics now shipping the Tornado Spinner!
From DreamAuthentics' newsletter:
    BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND

    Tornado Spinner (NEW) for classic gaming and MAME(tm) for $74.95 plus shipping.

    The Tornado spinner is the world’s first ultra smooth gaming spinner and is the smoothest spinning device ever manufactured.

    Totally custom made, the Tornado spinner is primarily used for arcade games like Tempest, Pong, Arkanoid, and others and can even be used as a steering wheel for driving games.

    If you're looking to play classic games this is the device for you. The custom designed Tornado spinner gives you an authentic arcade gaming experience.

    It has an extremely smooth and effortless spin that is perfect for emulation like MAME(tm) and PC gaming. Get yours today!

    We sell ONLY BRAND NEW (NOS) producs. This price includes your choice of spinner top and color.

The Tornado Spinner was a popular spinner made by SlikStik, a now defunct arcade cabinet and parts vendor. Though there were some unfortunate issues that led to the demise of SlikStik, the quality of their spinner was always highly regarded. (Posted By: saint)
 Legends of Zork online!
I don't normally go for online games, but this caught my eye!
    The Great Underground Empire has recently fallen and the land is in disarray. The stock market has collapsed, leading even mighty FrobozzCo International to fire employees from throughout its subsidiaries. A craze of treasure-hunting has swept through the remnants of the Great Underground Empire. It’s a dangerous time to be a newly-unemployed traveling salesman, but it’s also a great time to try a bit of adventuring.
After the Scott Adams adventure games, I discovered Zork and was hooked for life. This website probably owes some of its existence to my addiction of Infocom and such, so you can bet I'll be trying this out!

    Jolt Online Gaming Announce Legends of Zork ™ Browser Game

    Dublin, Ireland. 14th January 2009. Jolt Online Gaming today announced that it will be publishing Legends of Zork™, which will give players the chance to once again take up the mantle of Zork™, this time via an Internet browser.

    LegendsofZork.com will provide online gamers with a persistent online adventure, playable from any Internet browser. Players take up the role of a recently laid-off salesman and part-time loot-gatherer, as he explores the Great Underground Empire. Designed to provide gamers with a casual MMO game they can play on their laptop, desktop or Apple iPhone (in school, work or on the bus), there’s nothing to download, just go to www.legendsofzork.com

    For more information, beta-registration, and game announcements please go to www.legendsofzork.com.

(Posted By: Grue)
 Issue # 56 of the Retrogaming Times Monthly, is now online.
Issue # 56 of the Retrogaming Times Monthly, is now online.

Highlights from the January 2009 issue include:

  • Classic Computer Idiocy - CoCo & TRS - 80 Fun
  • Apple ][ Incider - Donkey Kong & Pac Man
  • Old Wine New Bottles - Sonic Mega Collection Plus
  • The Thrill of Defeat - Catching the 1k Bug
You can find all these inside the Retrogaming Times Monthly!

136 months in a row - the longest-running online free retro-gaming newsletter ever! (Posted By: saint)

01/02/2009

 WebMAME released
This is a embedded application server that controls multiple versions of mame and seperated groups of games into categories, which each act like their own version of mame. (Posted By: Submitted by Lilwolf on 2009-01-02, posted by saint)

11/16/2008

 Tron Joystick handle reproductions now available!
From Randy at Groovy Game Gear!

    Every once in a while I like to do something that doesn't make the best business sense, but that I know will fill a longtime void in the community. It cost a bundle to do this, but it's my way of showing our appreciation to all the folks who spend their arcade dollars at GGG.

    For those who haven't figured this out already, it's a Tron joystick shell. Not a copy, reproduction or replica. It's the real deal. The actual materials and injection molds were used. The original color chip was uncovered, meticulously matched and, as you can see, it glows like crazy next to a black light. This is the first time anyone has seen a part like this fresh from production since 1982.

    As I want everyone who wants one to be able to afford one, especially in the current economic climate, the price will only be $24.95. That will include the two shell halves, the red trigger (which glows bright reddish orange under UV, BTW) and the one top screw. I will continue to work on accessories for this, which will include a switch assembly (Microleaf™ based), faceplates, mounting hardware, etc. Some parts will come quicker than others.

(Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2008-11-16, posted by saint)
 New Time-Out arcade available at 3DArcade
A new arcade environment for 3DArcade is available for download: "Time-Out - Golden Age". Based on the arcade found in the Sunrise Mall, Massapequa, New York, USA, as it was in the early 1980s. It includes the game room itself, and the surrounding hallway of the mall. Enjoy! (Posted By: saint)
 Galaxian³ : Preliminary works...for an emulator !
Well, no game is immortal, and some games such Galaxian³ are so rare. We need to preserve this game, or it will lost forever.

Only Namco has the source of their games, and I doubt they will release Galaxian³ sources in the future Cry

With the time, repairing such arcade games will be very hard, or maybe impossible : no more spare item, no more knowledge or worse : no more interest Lips Sealed

Impossible to let die this game !!! I'll do all I can in order to give to the Galaxian³ game the immortality and allows a maximum of gamers to see what the game is... (Posted By: Submitted by Darth Nuno on 2008-09-02, posted by saint)

10/28/2008

 OMEGA RACE No Dead Zone Replacement PCB
Over on CGCC.CA, Canadian gaming forum, a very sharp member of the coin-op forum has designed and manufactured a Spinner circuit board that replaces the original on Omega Race. This is great for restorations, but also take note!! This board was designed to get rid of a design flaw in the orignal spinner, whereby there was a small "dead zone" where your ship would do nothing, due to the way a traditional potentiometer works. This board is designed to eliminate this, thereby making gameplay like it should be! (Posted By: Submitted by Ray B on 2008-10-16, posted by saint)
 USB Classic Controller
The classic is back, fully USB equipped and ready for an emulator near you...

With 10 additional contact points inside of the controller on the PCB, you can either add some additional micro buttons to the plastic housing for extra coin, start and fire buttons, or use the board itself in your own arcade desktop control panel or in an arcade cabinet, pricing is very reasonable and this looks like a great low cost gift just in time for the holidays! (Posted By: Submitted by Curt on 2008-10-15, posted by saint)

 Kotaku.com - Space Invaders ... Pumpkin!
(Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2008-01-19, posted by saint)
 8-bit video game pumpkins!
Very impressive! (Posted By: saint)

10/09/2008

 AKI 3.0 USB Interface
A new USB encoder is now available from B-Spec Labs. The AKI 3.0 USB Interface, successor to the AKI and SJC interfaces, is a user-configurable encoder which currently supports analog, digital, and 49-way joysticks, as well as joystick to keyboard, and joystick to mouse conversion. For more details, read the product description here. (Posted By: Submitted by Dave Biedenbach on 2008-10-03, posted by saint)

09/13/2008

 New Video Arcade Builder Site! Cronin's Custom Arcades LLC
More of an ad than news, but check out Cronin's Custom Arcades :)
    Welcome to Cronin's Custom Arcades! (formally CroninsArcade.com) -- The premier Video Arcade Machine builder this side of the web!

    Browse our site to learn about the exciting products we have to offer. We have full, complete turn-key video arcade machines ready to order and ready to play!

    All turn-key systems come with at least 80 games and you can even upgrade to even more pre-installed games.

    Our design service can custom design ANY video arcade cabinet requirement you have. If we don't have what you like, tell us what you want!

(Posted By: Submitted by Jason Cronin on 2008-08-16, posted by saint)

08/10/2008

 Issue # 51 of the Retrogaming Times Monthly, is now online.
Highlights from the August 2008 issue include:
  • Vic 20 Behr Bonz Multicart
  • California Extreme 2008
  • Apple ][ Incider - The Apple ][ today - part 1
  • Who'd Win - Double Dragon vs Bad Dudes
  • Old Wine in New Bottles: Midway Arcade Treasures
You can find all these and more inside the Retrogaming Times Monthly!

131 months in a row - the longest-running online free retro-gaming newsletter ever! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - The Machine Cocktail Arcade
Added The Machine Cocktail Arcade to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    I started with a broken laptop and ended up with a game playin machine. I wanted a nice looking cocktail table where 2 players could play games side by side (for games like Berzerk, Joust, Street Fighter, etc). Cost was < $300

This makes 1237 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Mame Marvel Arcade
Added Mame Marvel Arcade to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    A built from scratch all new design, with a very slim modern style and a great big 26" monitor.

This makes 1238 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Ghost inthe Machine
Added Ghost inthe Machine to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    4 Player Cabinet with Side lit etched acrylic Modular "doc-like" Panels affixed using a Velcro System. Luminglass and Etched Acrylic Marquee. Custom lighted spinner and lighted twisty grip. Automatic rotating monitor

This makes 1239 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Project MAME - Defender
Added Project MAME - Defender to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Here is my first MAME cabinet, based on a X-Arcade and TFT screen. The cabinet is all homemade.

This makes 1240 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - DualStik - Arcade Controller with Spinner and Trackball for two Players
Added DualStik - Arcade Controller with Spinner and Trackball for two Players to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    The DualStik consists of two controllers linked together with a 25-pin serial cable. The master unit provides buttons, a spinner and a trackball and can be solitarily used in single player games. The slave controller looks similar, but it only works when connected to the master, because it just holds the controls for player two and doesn't contain any logic boards. This provides for a handy size of the single unit while the dual player option is still retained.

This makes 1241 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

08/03/2008

 Dream Arcades Releases the Vision 120 kit Projection Arcade Starting at $799
Dream Arcades (www.DreamArcades.com) announces the launch of the Vision 120 Arcade Kit. This is a build-it-yourself kit version of the company's flagship arcade, the Dreamcade ® Vision 120, featuring the largest commercially available home arcade gaming experience. The stand alone arcade kit features a deluxe control panel that is compatible with virtually any home gaming platform including PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3; pricing starts at only $799.

Sacramento, CA (Bluehost/PRWEB ) July 16, 2008 -- Dream Arcades (www.DreamArcades.com) announces the launch of the arcade kit version of the company's flagship Vision 120. The original Vision 120 kit is the largest home arcade unit commercially available, featuring the industry's first 10 foot video arcade projector, high-performance gaming PC, classic arcade games, and also supports the latest console games, including Nintendo Wii. The arcade kit version, which is available now, is designed for gamers who want that ultimate home arcade experience, but already have an awesome home theater system and just need a control panel, pedestal-style cabinet, and gaming PC. Vision 120 arcade kit prices start at $799 featuring an integrated trackball, dual joysticks with 20 arcade buttons and side pinball buttons. Additional Vision 120 Arcade Kit information and upgrade options are available at Dream Arcades: http://www.dreamarcades.com/120inch.shtml

"The Dreamcade Vision 120 was a huge hit, but many customers ask for a lower cost version," says Michael Ware, Dream Arcade's founder. "Other home arcade gamers expressed that they already had a projector or home theater system and just needed the arcade portion. With our release of the Vision 120 Arcade Kit everyone wins!"

The Vision 120 Arcade Kit is designed to work with almost any video projector. It is easy to connect to virtually any gaming or multi-media platform for the ultimate big screen gaming experience. The kit is compatible with PC games and emulators such as MAME, plus consoles like the Wii, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

For further information about Dream Arcades, please contact via e-mail or visit Dream Arcades online at: http://www.DreamArcades.com. Print size images are available on request.

My evaluation unit's on the way, right guys? Guys? ... (Slightly older news now but I've been away for a bit) --- saint (Posted By: Submitted by Mike on 2008-07-16, posted by saint)

 New project - Frogger and Galaga / Truxton Restoration
Added Frogger and Galaga / Truxton Restoration to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    This site is dedicated to the restoration of an original Sega /Gremlin frogger machine and a Galaga /Truxton cabinet converted to a 48 in 1 arcade. I outline and document the process of restoration as well as have some fun along the way.

This makes 1228 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Mini Arcade (still working on the title)
Added Mini Arcade (still working on the title) to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    I took an old, broken Coleco Donkey Kong Tabletop Arcade & stuffed an HP HX2750 PDA into it. I'm mostly using SmartGear with it, but I'm also looking forward to a new release of PocketCultMAME.

    saint's note - uber-cool!

This makes 1229 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Talking Bull's MiniBartop Touchscreen
Added Talking Bull's MiniBartop Touchscreen to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Using a 15" ELO Touchscreen, this Mini-Bartop is designed to have minimal interface. The games installed are mostly mouse point and click games like Bejeweled and other PopCap or Yahoo Games. There is a BlueTooth keyboard integrated into the control panel since some games require you to enter a name in order to play. I decided on this instead of a software keyboard to make it a little bit more interesting.

This makes 1230 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Parkade
Added Parkade to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Cheesy name, great design.

This makes 1231 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - 007
Added 007 to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    007 is a scratch-built MAME cocktail cabinet based on Kyle Lindstrom’s excellent Pac-Man plans. 007 features switchable 4/8 way joysticks and stereo sound for each player.

This makes 1232 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - David's Arcade system
Added David's Arcade system to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    the never ending story of one man quest for the best home mame arcade...

This makes 1233 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Victor's Arcade
Added Victor's Arcade to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Built-from-scratch upright pacman-style MAME cabinet. 2-joysticks, 6 buttons per player. 21" pc-monitor, I-Pac.


This makes 1234 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Neo Candy 29
Added Neo Candy 29 to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Japanese SNK "Neo Candy" with new 27" Welles-Gardner D9400 multi-resolution arcade monitor. Originally housed an SNK Neo-Geo AES, now houses MAME emulation platform with Gamex front-end. Runs games at original arcade resolution for authentic reproduction of scanlines.

This makes 1235 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Bill's Mame Machine
Added Bill's Mame Machine to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    This project started out as the Midway classics arcade purchased at Big Lots for $250. It had a small 13" display no coin mech, no marquee, real weak sound and only 12 games. I ripped the guts out and stuck a computer in it that I bought from Ebay for $32 ( pent. III 1 ghz, 20 Gig HDD, 512 mb of ram). I also purchased a playstation two port controler adapter to USB. I bought 2 playstation controllers from a local video game store ($10) and preformed a controller hack to the joystick and buttons on the control panel. I bought a 20" monitor from a lady on Craigs list for $20, and purchased plexiglass from Home Depot to make the bezel as the old one was way to small and covered it with contact paper (an idea I got from other website that turned out great). I purchased the coin mech. from ebay for $35. The maquee I made myself with the left over plexiglass and printed out the design on just paper and cut to size. This is only temporary ..... Waiting on a friend to make the offiical one with custom artwork. (Talk\'n about you Alex LOL) And a blacklight is placed behind this to light it (already owned). The sound system is from a 1970's stereo that was striped of its amp and speakers all of which I already owned and was just taking up space in my shed. The only other things where various parts and supplies from Radio Shack.

    I am running MameUI 0.125u4, Daphne 1.2.2, Mess (great emulator that plays everthing from Atari 2600 to Super Nintendo and more), a jukebox program, and Visual Pinball/Pin Mame.

This makes 1236 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

06/23/2008

 Dragon's Lair 25th Anniversary Giveaway from Digital Leisure!
Digital Leisure Celebrates “Dragon’s Lair Week” Honoring the 25th Anniversary with Exciting Giveaways

GORMLEY, Ontario, Canada – June 20, 2008 – Though it may seem like just yesterday that your pockets were being lightened two quarters at a time by the most revolutionary arcade machine on the market, it’s actually been 25 years, and now it’s time to celebrate!

Launched on to the arcade scene in June of 1983, Dragon’s Lair received worldwide acclaim with its ground-breaking animation and interactive gameplay. This would leave a mark on a generation of millions of faithful followers who fondly remember their first ‘Lair’ experience. More recently, Digital Leisure gave Dragon’s Lair the royal treatment and remastered the original film onto Blu-ray High Definition to ensure this classic animated game could be enjoyed by an all-new generation of gamers.

“I can’t believe it’s already been 25 years!” said Dragon’s Lair creator and legendary film animator Don Bluth. “To think a small project conceived by Rick Dyer would become such a beloved classic is something I couldn’t have foreseen. I don’t think Dirk and Daphne have aged a day!”

The week of June 22nd is your opportunity to celebrate this milestone in video gaming history. During the 25th anniversary week, Digital Leisure will be offering 25% off all Dragon’s Lair games from its website. As well, with your purchased copy of Dragon’s Lair on DVD, Blu-ray or on HD PC DVD your copy will be personally signed by original creators Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, John Pomeroy and Rick Dyer.

To top off the celebrations, Digital Leisure will also be giving away a giclee of the opening castle scene from Dragon’s Lair, hand-signed by all of the creators, a $500 value. This limited piece of animation art will be given away to one lucky Dragon’s Lair fan who enters their name at www.digitalleisure.com during Dragon’s Lair Week! Dragon’s Lair fans will also have the opportunity to purchase an original Dragon’s Lair movie-style poster autographed by all four creators! (Posted By: saint)

06/18/2008

 Dream Arcades to support all major home video game console systems
---------------------------------------- Press Release for Immediate Release: ----------------------------------------

Sacramento, CA June 18, 2008 - Dream Arcades (http://www.dreamarcades.com) is the first home arcade manufacturer to support all major home video game console systems, including: Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. Dream Arcades is now also compatible with a number of legacy consoles, including: Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and DreamCast. Dream Arcades console adapters are available for between $35 and $99 depending on which console is desired. Adapters are available at the time of purchase, and existing Dream Arcades owners can purchase them individually.

“There are hundreds of games available for Xbox Live Arcade and Wii Virtual Console that play better using authentic arcade joysticks and buttons instead of plastic gamepads,” says Michael Ware, President of Dream Arcades. “That’s why we have decided to bridge the gap between home arcade and home console gaming. Now gamers have the option to play their favorite arcade-style console games without sacrificing the authentic arcade experience.”

As of today, all Dream Arcades models from self-assemble kits, starting at just $589 to the $3499 Dreamcade Vision 120 featuring a ten foot projection screen support Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PlayStation, Nintendo GameCube, and DreamCast.

Existing owners of Dream Arcades home arcade cabinets should contact Dream Arcades directly to confirm compatibility. For ordering information, please visit http://www.dreamarcades.com.

For additional media information, please contact James Hills at 630-233-8336 or by emailing: media@dreamarcades.com. (Posted By: Submitted by James Hills on 2008-06-18, posted by saint)

06/06/2008

 Video arcades' last gasp
Diana Thompson hears Space Invaders in her head. She hears them in her sleep, marching ever downward, clomping ever closer. She hears them on her way to work. She hears them at work. And when they stop, for even a second, when there's the slightest glitch in their relentless stomp, when their incessant dun-dun-dun-dun hiccups, she hears that too. Thompson has worked at Gameland in Lake Geneva, Wis., for 12 years. Most days, most hours, especially during the off-season, she's alone with this cacophony of ancient coin-operated arcade games... Hit the link to read the rest of this article at the Chicago Tribune - interesting and more than a bit sad :( (Posted By: Submitted by Jeremy Cline on 2008-06-05, posted by saint)
 Roomba - Pacman project!
I've heard a lot about people hacking their Roomba... But this is the only one that I thought was worth it!

(Posted By: saint)

 USB-microDig turns any sensor into a game controller
So I think this is an attempt at free advertising, but what the heck - it's interesting :) --- saint

Submitted:

    The I-CubeX USB-microDig samples 8 analog (10 bit) inputs at upto 5760 samples per second, and, through our configuration software, turns the sensor data into virtual joystick data, accessible to game software. With our wide selection of sensors, we invite you to create the wildest, weirdest game controller !
(Posted By: Submitted by Axel on 2008-05-31, posted by saint)

05/26/2008

 U-HID: A New Generation of Control Interface
Developed by a well-known name in the Arcade Controls arena, the U-HID board is aimed at high-end driving, flight sim and other controllers.

The U-HID board has the following features:
USB 2.0 interface
50 connections arranged in an open pin-header format allowing multiple varieties of standard connector to be used.
Connections can be assigned as:
Keyboard key
Gamepad Button
Gamepad analog axis
Mouse button (including double-click)
Quadrature Mouse Pair. X or Y axis. Normal or reverse direction.
PC-controlled LED output using special software
PC Num/Scroll/Caps lock LEDs
U-HID locally-controlled LED output based on the state of any switch.
5 Volt output (30ma max)
Ground
(Posted By: Submitted by Andy Warne on 2008-05-22, posted by saint)

 NES coffee table
Very pretty, and it work !!!!

(Posted By: Submitted by arcadefever on 2008-05-20, posted by saint)

 Retroware TV new episode with new Retro Intro!
The latest episode of Season 2 of RetrowareTV has been released! This episode is the debut of the new Retro Intro graphics designed by DeLuSioNaL29 from BYOAC. :-P Go check it out!

(Posted By: Submitted by DeLuSioNaL29 on 2008-05-17, posted by saint)

 Huge touchcreen Missle Command
Too cool - a wall-sized touch screen version of Missile Command!

(Posted By: Submitted by Your Name Here on 2008-05-14, posted by saint)

 Aluminum Engraved Arcade Game Keychains
Three different cabinet shapes, Williams, Atari and Taito, and a myriad of different art, these keychains are highly detailed and affordably priced. (Posted By: Jeff Rothe)

05/03/2008

 Best Post of the Day!
Even if it was yesterday :) http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=79740.0 (Posted By: saint)

04/27/2008

 Super Genintari, batman!
Quote form benheck.com:

There was once a time when a person had to use separate consoles for playing their Atari 2600, NES, SNES or Genesis games… This filled the land with sadness, despair and an overabundance of power bricks, threatening the very fabric of the universe! (Or at least clogging up power strips)

But now, in this brave year 2008, Richard has come to rescue us all. The “Super Genintari” combines all these fine systems into one easy-to-use beast that goes great with any decor. (Includes giant glowing Pac-Man icon) I especially like the chunky solid selector buttons. (Posted By: Submitted by ryan_the_leach on 2008-04-26, posted by saint)

04/24/2008

 Unreleased Atari 2600 Game Found At Flea Market
From the Slashdot posting - "I was at the flea market in Oakland yesterday when a pile of EPROMs caught my eye. When I got them home I found that they were prototypes for Colecovision games. A few were unpublished or saw limited runs, like Video Hustler (billiards). Others were fully released, like WarGames. But the crown jewel is what look to be a number of chips with various revisions of Cabbage Patch Kids Adventures in the Park for Atari 2600. This game was never released and has never been seen. It was a port of the version for Colecovision, and this lot of chips also included the Coleco version. So now I have to find someone who can dump EPROMs gently onto a PC so we can play this never-before seen game, which is almost certainly awful." (Posted By: saint)
 Amusement Game Auction on Saturday, April 26 in Columbus, OH
Just a reminder of our Amusement Game Auction on Saturday, April 26 in Columbus, OH at the Ohio Expo Center. The doors open for inspection at 8am and the auction will begin a little after 10am.

For further info please contact Jeff Schwartz at 502-551-1866.

(Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2008-04-24, posted by saint)

 MegaMan stained glass project
Wish I had talent like this :)

(Posted By: saint)

 Does your grandma got game? Arcade knits
Saw this over at ripten.com -- a collection of knit arcade goodies. Cool stuff :) Check out the PacMan hat and the NES controller afghan!

(Posted By: saint)

 EmuMovies
From Circo:

Ok everyone I think this is a fun idea, I am looking for youtube videos of folks showing off their gaming system using video snaps from emumovies with their front end.

I will be accepting submissions through May 10th 2008. All submissions will be posted in the news section and the winner's video will be posted on the homepage at emumovies.com

1st Place: ArcadeVGA Card (AGP) (ATI9250)
2nd Place: EmuMovies Complete DVD Collection w/lifetime FTP access
3rd Place: EmuMovies MAME DVD Collection

I look forward to seeing your setups, please post your submissions in the thread. (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2008-04-24, posted by saint)

 Free Games! Digital Eel Wants You To Play With Their Bloxs, Blobs, and Worms!
PRESS RELEASE News Release For Immediate Release

Digital Eel Wants You To Play With Their Bloxs, Blobs, and Worms!

Three Digital Eel Classic Titles Available For Free!

Hampstead, NC, 23 April 2008

Many years ago, at the dawning of the new century, a trio of industry veterans gathered together to form the ultimate independent triumvirate. Under the name Digital Eel they plotted to storm the digital world with games of wit, ingenuity, creativity, and a healthy dose of good ol' fashioned fun. Deep in the bowels of their sprawling Seattle Gamecommand (actual size may vary) they hammered away at the furnaces, carefully crafting their first game.

In 2001 Digital Eel unveiled the fruit of their labor and the world met Plasmaworm. Now, in 2008, Digital Eel is making it available (along with two other classics from their award-winning library of titles) to gamers everywhere for FREE!
...[Rest of press release snipped]...

Plasmaworm is the fiendishly addictive arcade game of weird worms eating random probability eidolons in a tank of otherspatial plasma. Wait, what happens where? Fret not, it's a fairly straightforward game that can be enjoyed by gamers young and old alike.

Big Box of Blox can best be summed up as Tetris on acid. So crank up some Floyd and challenge yourself to game modes such as Flaming Peelout, Blok Atak, Groink, Mushroom King and Asylum Cubez. Enjoy mind-blowing visuals as only Digital Eel delivers as you smash and squish boxes with six different game variants, special blox, ten levels of difficulty while bopping along with eight far out music tracks.

Are you a gamer sick of blowing away Nazis, terrorists, and aliens? Ever think there has to be something else to shoot at? Does Digital Eel have the game for you...

Dr. Blob's Organism, winner in not one, but two, IGF categories (2004 IGF Innovation In Audio and Innovation in Visual Art), is a game about shooting one-celled organisms in a petri dish. Think of it like the old arcade game Tempest, only with much squishier targets. (Posted By: saint)

04/11/2008

 NEW RetrowareTV Season 2 is online!
Season 2 has now been released: Their most recent episode reviews the classic Robocop vs. Terminator game for consoles. View the new episode here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=74235.0

(Posted By: Submitted by DeLuSioNaL29 on 2008-03-30, posted by saint)

 Fan made Tron light cycles
This is a fantastic remake of the light cycles from Tron. (Posted By: Submitted by cw on 2008-03-29, posted by saint)

03/19/2008

 Jon Norris of Gottlieb on TOPcast tonight
Wednesday March 19, 9pm E.S.T. 2008 (8pm Chicago, 7pm Denver, 6pm LA): Jon Norris of Gottlieb pinball will be on TOPcast. Jon was a game designer at Gottlieb during the System80b and System3 solidstate era, working at Gottlieb from 1986 until they closed in 1996. He also worked at Sega/Stern as a game designer, and collects classic Gottlieb woodrails.

For more details see http://marvin3m.com/topcast (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2008-03-19, posted by saint)

03/16/2008

 80's Arcade Stories
There's an interesting contest going on at the Ficlets web site. A ficlet is a short story that contains a maximum of 1024 characters.

User YodaOnCrack has asked fellow ficleteers to write ficlet-sized arcade game stories. So far, Q-Bert, Time Pilot, Joust, and Defender have been "ficletized".

Visit the contest web site for more details (Posted By: Submitted by Jason on 2008-03-15, posted by saint)

 Retroware: Season One DVD on sale
Retroware: Season One DVD is now available for purchase!

For those that are curious, you can read more about RetrowareTV here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=74235.0 (Posted By: Submitted by DeLuSioNaL29 on 2008-03-13, posted by saint)

 Arcade-In-A-Box: Smash It Up Video Contest
Arcade-in-a-Box will be holding a contest and will be giving away a complete Arcade-in-a-Box solo console arcade controller to the winner. More prizes will be added as the contest progresses. New sponsors and prizes will be added to this post including other prizes for Arcade-in-a-Box, Gameroom magazine and more.

For the contest we are asking contestants to enter videos showing them destroying gamepads in the most creative ways possible. We just ask that you be safe, be smart, and don’t injure yourself in the process.

The contest will last about until the end of April, at which time our panel of judges will pick the top 10 videos. Once those videos are selected, there will be a website created where users can vote on their favorite video by DIGGing them. The winners will be determined by the amount of DIGGs each video gets.

We have a youtube group created for you to upload your videos. http://www.youtube.com/groups_layout?name=smashitup

We just have a few simple rules. No nudity
No drug use
Nothing illegal
Must be a United States Resident

That’s it, now get out there and Smash up those wussy gamepads ;).

Prizes: (More prizes are coming - Updated March 15th) 1st Place - Arcade-In-A-Box Solo Arcade controller built to order. You choose the system, button type, layout, Joystick type and artwork.
1 Year Subscription to ConsoleClassix

2nd Place - $75 gift certificate towards the purchase of an Aracde-In-A-Box Solo Arcade Controller
1 Year Subscription to ConsoleClassix

3rd Place - $25 gift certificate towards the purchase of an Aracde-In-A-Box Solo Arcade Controller
1 Year Subscription to ConsoleClassix

4th-10th Place - 6 month subscription to ConsoleClassix (Posted By: Submitted by Ed Farias on 2008-03-16, posted by saint)

03/08/2008

 Interview: 22 Arcade Machines + 1 House = Awesome Party and Brian Saur
Brian has 22 original arcade machines scattered across his house, self maintained and lovingly preserved. Periodically he opens his doors to hold video game parties for friends and family. LA.CityZine.com was lucky enough to be on the invite list so we sat down to find out more about what motivates someone to turn their family home into Los Angeles’ version of Funspot. (Posted By: Submitted by theob42 on 2008-03-06, posted by saint)
 Retrogaming Times Monthly issue #46 online!
Issue # 46 of the Retrogaming Times Monthly, is now online.

Highlights from our March 2008 issue include:

  • NES'cade - Galaga
  • Apple ][ Incider - Silent Service
  • Many Faces of Keystone Kapers
  • Game Archeologist
  • Growing Up With Games: Part II
You can find all these and more inside the Retrogaming Times Monthly!

126 months in a row - the longest-running online free retro-gaming newsletter ever! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2008-03-08, posted by saint)

03/03/2008

 Arcade Games Make A Comeback
Yes, the Xbox is more high-tech. But a new wave of game players is bringing home something even more special -- old-style arcade games. (Posted By: Submitted by efjayel on 2008-03-03, posted by saint)
 World's Largest Arcade Machine
A really big arcade machine!!! It's very interesting... :)

(Posted By: Submitted by Leo on 2008-02-10, posted by saint)

 The 50 greatest arcade cabinets in video game history.
From I-Mockery.com

Seeing classic arcade game machines lined up next to each other is an easy way to have a wave of nostalgia smack you in the face harder than a hurled barrel compliments of Donkey Kong himself. It brings you back to a time when games were simple, fun, and fairly cheap to play for the most part. Whether it was laughing at how all the enemies bullets traveled 75% slower than your own or enjoying the cheesy digitized voices, there's no denying the classic games had something special.

But there is something about arcade games that we don't think gets enough credit. While everybody has their picks for the best games, most people don't give too much thought about the artistry that was put into the cabinets which held these games. It is with that in mind that I-Mockery is paying tribute to what we consider to be the The 50 Greatest Arcade Cabinets In Video Game History! Keep in mind, this list isn't ranking the games themselves, but the unique designs for the cabinets and cockpits which encased them. Chances are, you'll see some games on here that you've never even heard of, and that's likely because some of them sucked more than E.T. on the Atari 2600. But hey, at least their outer shell designs were damned nice to look at! (Posted By: Submitted by Darkhelmet on 2008-02-11, posted by saint)

01/22/2008

 Evolution of video games
Another cool Gametrailers.com video. Man, watching this made me miss the arcade I frequented when I was a kid. I need a slurpy darnit!

(Posted By: saint)

 The Ultimate GameRoom?
I dunno, but it's cool :) Check out Barry's playroom!

(Posted By: saint)

 Now *there's* classic artwork the gamer geek can proudly display
... or not maybe. I think it's funny :)

(Posted By: saint)

01/20/2008

 Serial #1 Cinematronics Dragon's Lair is ALIVE !
Back in 2006. The location is the Finny's Lair in UK : One of the biggest piece of the Arcade history is in front of me : The Serial #1 Cinematronics Dragon's Lair cabinet... owned by Don Bluth himself !!!

Darth Nuno : Jason, can you plug it please ? Can I try it please ? Can I flim it please ?

Jas' : No problem my friend ^^

YYeeeeehhhaaaaaaaaa !!!!! ...and I would like to share that moment with all the Dragon's Lair Fans of course !

Now, better than words, even better than pictures... ENJOY THE SN #1 VIDEO ;-)

(Posted By: Submitted by Darth Nuno on 2008-01-20, posted by saint)

 Walter Day interview at Funspot 2007 Tourney
Back in June of 2007 RetrowareTV paid a visit to the 9th Annual Classic Gaming Tournament at FunSpot, John D got a chance to interview Walter Day of the Twin Galaxies fame. Check it out!

(Posted By: saint)

 New project - Gorf to Galaga...sortof
Added Gorf to Galaga...sortof to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Old Gorf cabinet converted to MAME Galaga themed cabinet.

This makes 1226 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Sit down driving arcade cabinet
Added Sit down driving arcade cabinet to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Sit down driving cabinet using xbox with force feedback controls.

This makes 1227 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

01/19/2008

 King of Kong DVD reviewed
OK, I have to admit a shameful secret. I don't quite get the hype behind King of Kong, but I also haven't seen it so I'm uninformed. The DVD Lounge folks took a look at it though, and had this to say:
    The Inside Pulse: There's nothing like real life. Not the TV-scripted reality shows, but a documentary. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is a gem of a film about obsession in a culture presumably occupied by nerds and geeks. With a bit of luck, director Seth Gordon allows us to enter a world of fascinating characters, some of whom are good, bad, and, well, something else entirely. This DVD release is loaded with extras that will keep you busy for a while. Take a trip back to when arcade games were king and there was no such thing as a PS3. Fascinating, entertaining and suspenseful? You betcha. Grab some snacks, kick back and get your Kong on!
Hit the link to read the rest of their review. Guess I'll be picking this up to keep my retro-geek-badge! (Posted By: saint)
 Nolan Bushnell Interview on NPR
Thirty-five years ago, Nolan Bushnell and his new company, Atari, released the world's first successful video arcade game: Pong. Bushnell talks to Liane Hansen about the grandfather of modern video games and how it relates to today's gaming industry. Visit npr.org to hear the interview. (Posted By: saint)
 Space Invaders ... Underoos?
Not quite Underoos, but Space Invaders unmentionables? Must... restrain... self... from... bad... jokes...

Check out Gamegirl.com for more interesting undies!

(Posted By: saint)

 Space Invaders ... Jacket
OK - we have had:

Presenting the latest addition to the mix, the Space Invaders Jacket. I'm still waiting for the Space Invaders Underoos :) (Posted By: saint)

 Working Mini Tempest Cabinet
I don't have the space for a full size arcade cabinet and the little paper ones just aren't enough for me. So I used the paper template and made a tiny wooden cabinet. I also fitted a working Tempest game inside.

(Posted By: saint)

01/18/2008

 A glimmer of hope, and an all around nice group of guys.
So I was surfing craigslist for the usual "arcade" "Pinball" and "Soda machine" and came across some guys named 1984 arcade (www.1984arcade.com) I went to them to buy a dead cab and when I showed up I saw something truly amazing...

a THRIVING ARCADE ..and more amazing its in my neck of the woods, springfield mo.

It was small by todays standards, maybe 30 games ? didn't count and maybe 20 people. its a 5 dollar admission fee, and and the guys there are more than happy to talk to you about anything. I didn't pay the fee just asked if I could look around and I got a royal treatment from these guys.

Just wanted to say thanks for the "winner IV cab" to them, and to let y'all know if you're around this area, give them a look. Devin was an all around good guy who was more than happy to give a fella a decent deal on a quality shell with mechs...

and Yes I know this is old news, but it was new news to me. They've been open for 2.5 years and there's mentions of them in the forums... Man I gotta read the forums more.

ps. if you guys from there are reading this you REALLY need to make a 3darcade FE room of your arcade :) (Posted By: Submitted by Khigh on 2007-12-08, posted by saint)

 Turnarcades working towards 'turn-key' PC-based arcades
UK arcade builders Turnarcades have just made an agreement to include a pre-configured, custom-themed installation of popular front-end Mamewah on all of our custom-built arcade machines.

This is our first step towards trying to create a 'turn-key' PC-based arcade machine for re-sale. Although licensing laws prohibit the release of rom images and most emulators, we are committed to trying to bring a simplified PC-Arcade to the community. This step is focused on taking some of the software complexity away from classic game enthusiasts who are new to the concept of PC-based arcade gaming. More information is available in this thread: (Posted By: Submitted by Craig on 2008-01-16, posted by saint)

 Sinistar cake!
Too cool. Nuff said. (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2008-01-18, posted by saint)
 New project - old skool arcade
Added old skool arcade to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    bartop mame32 arcade built with a pentium 2 pc one player controls

This makes 1222 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Sparcade!
Added Sparcade! to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Sparcade is a MAME arcade machine with a loose theme based on the MSU Spartans, which my son and I are big fans of. I kept a pretty decent history of pictures from start to finish. It turned out great! My main motivation was to be able to play Defender any time I wanted to :-)

This makes 1223 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - TV Stand Jukebox
Added TV Stand Jukebox to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Jukebox created from an old TV stand using an ELO touchscreen monitor.

This makes 1224 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Emphatic's X-Arcadepowered MAME upright
Added Emphatic's X-Arcadepowered MAME upright to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    I bought myself and X-Arcade dual, but that wasn't enough for me so I built a cabinet around it.

This makes 1225 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 The King of Kong ... as a feature film with Johnny Depp?
Er.....?

IGN sits down with Seth Gordon, director of The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, where he talks about future plans... (Posted By: saint)

01/07/2008

 Two more ROMs from Exidy legally available now!
I normally steer away from pure emulation news, but this is the kind of news I love to see! MAMEDev reports Exidy has released two more games from their library for free public use, Targ and Spectar, with apparently more to come? Kudos to Exidy! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2008-01-07, posted by saint)
 Acrosser Launches Two More All-in-One Gaming platform in ICE 2008
Not the type of news that's normally on my radar for the site, but the bit about the JAMMA interface embedded on the motherboard caught my eye. Interesting potential for home market?

PRESS RELEASE Using industrial PC as the hardware platform of gaming machine like video slot machine, poker, and video lottery terminal has been a trend to full fill the longevity and graphic intensive demand of games. The leading designer and manufacturer of industrial computer, Acrosser wants to present at the world's premier exhibition for gaming and gambling ICE: two new All-in-One gamming platforms and series of fanless embedded systems.

To reduce the system cost, and increase the reliability, an idea PC-based gaming platform should be integrated into a single board with many specific features required on a gaming machine. Acrosser¡¦s All-in-One products feature digital I/O with interrupt, timer, intrusion logger, SRAM, security, RNG, ccTalk, and read only RTC. All these off-the-shelf products are designed to meet GLI, BMM and many other gaming regulations. Acrosser also provides ODM services by modifying the standard products to meet the jurisdictions of specific countries.

Acrosser Technologies is opening the opportunities of cooperating with professional gaming machine manufacturer as Acrosser's partner in some countries.

2 more All-in-One gaming platform join Wager series The two new All-in-One gaming platforms added to Acrosser's Wager series include one AGB (Acrosser Gaming Bus) board with backplane and a JAMMA/72-pin interface gaming board. The AGB model AR-B5600 is All-in-One gaming board designed with Intel's latest mobile chipset GME965 which supports dual and single core mobile processors. It enables the market to implement the game with the most advanced technologies from Intel. The JAMMA interface All-in-One gamming board AR-B5292 is an extended model of the most popular product AR-B5290. This Intel GME915 basis AR-B5292 offers a PCI express video acceleration card slot, Hagiwara bNand support and on board chassis intrusion switches.

All products in Acrosser Wager series are supported by the same AGC (Acrosser Gaming Core) device driver and API for Windows XP, Windows CE and Linux. This outstanding design reduces customer's development time and investment over gaming software. It also enables reusing the software investments on a wide range product line which are based on any Acrosser Wager families.

Fanless Embedded SBC and System Acrosser fanless Embedded SBCs and systems enable integration of the gaming worlds with high quality and reliable industrial PC technology. PC-based embedded computers are based on Intel and AMD¡¦s processor and chipsets: from low cost 486 to high performance dual core processors. The single board computers are designed with various small form factors as EPIC, 3.5¡¨ and PC-104 plus.

...... And so on -- read the rest of the press release at the link ...... (Posted By: saint)

 New Retroware TV episode is up
Retroware TV is a joint effort from two guys with a love for Retro gaming. They reviews games, devices, conduct interviews with classic gaming legends and they even made a trip out to Las Vegas for the Classic Gaming Expo in 2007. It's worth a look since the reviews are delivered in a easy to digest, professionally edited format. (Posted By: Submitted by DeLuSioNaL on 2007-12-11, posted by saint)
 2007 BYOAC Tokens, first photos!!
The nickel 2007 BYOAC tokens have arrived, see the link for the first pictures. I think they turned out really well. (Posted By: Submitted by Dave Santoro on 2007-12-19, posted by saint)
 >>>>>>>> Donkey Kong II released <<<<<<<<<
4 brand new levels of Donkey Kong bliss !!!!

You can buy it for either the Braze kit, or for the Multi-Game Jamma PCB from arcadeshop.com

http://www.jeffsromhack.com/products/d2k.htm

or

http://arcadeshop.com/multi-pcb/dk2/dk2.htm

Now, if only I had a DK cab.......

saint's note - heh... you can always build one! :) (Posted By: Submitted by Level42 on 2007-12-20, posted by saint)

 New application - MultiMAME
MultiMAME is a middleware, command line application which combines multiple emulators (or currently only MAME and ZINC) and allows you to filter the games that will show up, and also allow you to have different configurations for different types of games, all transparent to your frontend. (like hide all trackball games, and make all the 8way, 6 buttons games run with a different button configuration to swap 1-3 and 4-8). This works great with MAMEWAH (and should with most other frontends) Great for those who like to try different frontends, but hate trying to figure out all the weird configurations. (Posted By: Submitted by Lilwolf on 2007-12-22, posted by saint)
 News? What's this?
I took just about all of December off to concentrate on family and friends. Didn't plan it, just worked out that way. Today I'm catching up on news items submitted while I was on hiatus so some may be a bit old but still good to see if you haven't yet :) Next I'll tackle submitted cabinets that haven't been posted yet. Here's looking forward to a great 2008! (Posted By: saint)

12/13/2007

 Sad news for BYOAC forum members :(
Sad news yesterday that forum regular psik0tik (Eric) passed away. His fiancee has posted the news and there is a condolences thread if you wish to say something or remember him. (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-12-13, posted by saint)

11/26/2007

 New project - Lindz's 2nd MameAracde machine - Lindz In America :)
Added Lindz's 2nd MameAracde machine - Lindz In America :) to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    I build my last project in England 7 years ago, it's linked in here with an Archive.org way back machine link. This machine is my 2nd attempt and does A LOT More, I have a YouTube video up explaining the whole thing, Take a look, let me know what you think :)

This makes 1221 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 Month of MAME volume 4 now online!
(Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-11-26, posted by saint)
 2007 Houston Arcade Expo Nov 30th & Dec 1st
The Houston Area Arcade Group (HAAG) is holding their 6th Annual Arcade Expo on Nov 30th & Dec1st at the Houston Grand Plaza Hotel.

Admission is $25 for a weekend pass or $15 for a single day, which gets you access to over 150 arcade games and pinball machines all set to free play!

You can also participate in arcade and pinball tournaments, win door prizes, try your luck at a game raffle, and partake in the full bar.

There aren't many opportunities to enjoy large collections of classic arcade games, so if you are in the Houston area (or can get there!), you should be at this expo! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-11-26, posted by saint)

 MAMEWorld.net updating again!
MAMEWorld.net is updating again! After a hiatus of almost 1/2 year, ~Roc~ has taken the bull by the horns and is updating the site again! Hooray! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-11-26, posted by saint)
 The GameRoom Magazine Reader Survey 2007
Kevin Steele boldly steps up and proclaims:

Go ahead: Tell me what you really think about GameRoom!

GameRoom Magazine subscribers, this is your chance: fill out the survey below for a chance to win one of several great prizes, including the grand prize: a complete set (19 volumes) of every issue of GameRoom Magazine ever published in digital format!

Just answer a small handful of questions and you're entered! I'm looking to give you more of what you want in GameRoom Magazine, and the only way I can do that is if I actually know what you want—so tell me! Click the link below, answer a few questions, and you're entered. You just might win a great prize!

Grand Prize: 19-volume set of the GameRoom Digital Archives: Every issue ever published!

1st Prize: King of Kong Poster, Hat, and Copy of the August 2007 issue of GameRoom, signed by Steve Weibe

2nd Prizes (7 in all): King of Kong Hat

3rd Prizes (9 in all): King of Kong Movie Poster

Take the survey here!

Contest ends February 1st, 2008! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-11-26, posted by saint)

 MAMERoom.com donating 10% of all sales to charity
Scott from MAMERoom posted this note this evening: In addition to offering a 10% off discount during the holiday seasons (coupon code XMAS), Mameroom designs will be donating a portion of all sales to the Tay-Sachs foundation.

Tay-Sachs is a nasty disease that strikes children in the first few months of life and is always fatal. You can read a bit more about it on the National Institute of Health page about the disease.

If you're in the market for one of the products MAMERoom offers you can also turn a good deed by shopping there this season. You can also just donate directly via the shopping cart at MAMERoom without buying something, or donate directly to the charity Scott's supporting. (Posted By: saint)

11/20/2007

 SYSTM Episode 26 - MAME part 3, now online!
Episode 26 - MAME Part 3: Mounting the TV, Buttons, Trackball, Coin Door and Speakers!

Buttons! Trackball! TV! Coin Door! Speakers! Our arcade sized MAME case is on track. We've got template help for the buttons... and tips on not getting shocked by the TV!

(Posted By: saint)

11/19/2007

 Mario Kingdom Massacre
Heh. What are these folks on?

(Posted By: saint)

 Roadtrip : Quest for SEGA G-LOC Air Battle *Deluxe*
...not as big as a Galaxian Theater, or a Sega R-360 ...

Here's one of the most beautiful cockpit game ever made by Sega :

-= G-Loc Air Battle *Deluxe* version =-

Check out the RoadTrip done to bring back this simulator from Belgium...to Belgium ;-) saint's note - holy cow Darth's building quite a collection! (Posted By: saint)

 MAMEROOM Christmas sale!
For all BYOAC members, Mameroom.com is having a 10% off X-mas sale (until 12/25/2007) on all products.

Our new ready-to-assemble showcase cabinet kit would make just about anyone on your x-mas list happy. Simply enter coupon code XMAS on checkout to receive your discount.

Happy holidays! www.mameroom.com (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-11-19, posted by saint)

 New project - Jam Session
Added Jam Session to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Scratch built Arcade Machine, based on Mame emulation, for 4-players

This makes 1220 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 Drumline Video Games
This video shows the drum line re-enacting video games. Pretty neat. I missed one game couldn't figure out which one it was. (Posted By: Submitted by darkhelmet on 2007-11-15, posted by saint)

11/13/2007

 Star Trekkin!
Posted for absolutely no good reason! (Posted By: saint)
 Good news everyone! Tron handles!
One of the holy grails of this hobby (at least to me, and from the message board activity I'm not alone) is the Tron joystick. There have been a couple of ventures at reproducing them (Fozzy is working on one solution now), but in the past there was one vendor already selling them -- Specialty Plastics.

Unfortunately, real life got in the way as happens to most of us, and Specialty Plastics stopped taking orders and closed up shop (before I could order a set for me, dangit!)...

Or did they? :)

I received an email from the owner a day or two ago in response to one I'd sent him asking about the status of his business. He said:

    Pass this along. I have been extremely busy with family house renovations and such. I still have all my equipment and is my full intent to ramp up production of many old needed parts as well as Tron handles. I thank you much for your interest. I am sorry I could not be around when you all needed me but family must come first. I am thinking late spring of 08 I will have my house done and the shop cleaned up and ready to go.
Woot! Tron and Satan's Hollow joystick reproductions! He's asked that we give him breathing room (read that as not pestering him about when he's going to be selling again) until he announces he's back in production. Looking forward to announcing that next spring! (Posted By: saint)

11/12/2007

 Houston Area Arcade Expo
The 2007 Houston Area Arcade Group will be having their annual arcade expo on November 30 and December 1 at the Houston Grand Plaza hotel. There will be a good number of old and new video games and pinball machines, including the brand-new Spiderman pin, at the expo, all set to free play. Tickets are $15 for one day or $25 for both days. Some machines will be available for purchase.

There is also a special hotel rate for expo attendees! (Posted By: Submitted by Cakemeister on 2007-11-11, posted by saint)

 New projects website
I have set up a new site that I think maybe of interest to your site's visitors. My site is called projectsbyU and you can document all of your hobbies and projects with photos in one place. My site does have a section for Arcades and Jukeboxes as well as anything else you can build or work on yourself!

One of the biggest advantages of listing projects on ProjectsByU is no more dead links, members also have their own homepage so that they can showcase all of their projects in one place.

You will find that you can leave comments on other member’s pages, watch projects in your favorites and get one email when projects you are watching are updated by the owner. Also there is a rating system in stars for the overall highest rated projects on the site and by category rating.

Please feel free to visit the site and start posting and voting today, oh and one more thing it’s free to join!

Gary www.projectsbyu.com (Posted By: Submitted by Gary on 2007-11-08, posted by saint)

 Systm's Month of MAME, building the arcade machine! Episode 24-a
The second episode of Systm's Month of MAME is online, check it out! :) Thanks Kdog!

(Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-11-12, posted by saint)

11/11/2007

 Build Your Own ... Space Invaders Telescope!
Forum member jasonbar posted his uber-geek Space Invaders telescope project for us to oogle!

He says:

    A coworker who's an an amateur astronomer hosted a workshop for people who wanted to build telescopes. Everybody wanted a clever theme: R2-D2, a giraffe, a surfing penguin, etc.

    For me, an arcade game. And what would be more appropriate than Space Invaders for a telescope?

    A few short months later, I got it all together & kludged together some graphics (sharp readers will note that I mixed some Midway & Taito graphics on the same cabinet--sorry, I went w/ the artwork that I could find & download...).

Once again, I am impressed by the ingenuity of the folks that haunt this place. Good work Jason! More pictures at the link :) (Posted By: saint)
 Local NBC affiliate catches on to the arcade game bug
NBC-15 News in Wisconsin paid a visit to their classic arcade videogames exhibit and caught the bug. Buckethead shares it with us here :)

A couple more clips can be found in the comments thread! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-11-11, posted by saint)

 Retrogaming Times Monthly issue #42 online!
(I'm a bit late on this one, but....)

Issue # 42 of the Retrogaming Times Monthly, is now online!

  • Highlights from our November 2007 issue include:
  • Many Faces of Tutankham
  • Nintendo Realm - Sep 1986
  • Lost Titles of Tengen Xybots
  • TI99 Modded RGB Video Bones, you paying attention?
  • Apple ][ Incider - Shanghai'ed
  • Mastering Sega - F-16 Fighting Falcon
You can find all these and more inside the Retrogaming Times Monthly! 122 months in a row - the longest-running online free retro-gaming newsletter ever! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-11-11, posted by saint)
 Systm's Month of MAME, building the arcade machine!
Systm on Revision3.com is running a series called "The Month of MAME: The Cabinet!"
    "Revision3 is the first media company that gets it, born from the Internet, on-demand generation. Unlike aggregators, mash-ups, and user-generated video sites, Revision3 is an actual TV network for the web, creating and producing its own original, broadcast quality shows."
One of their segments is called Systm.
    "Systm is the Do It Yourself show designed for the common geek who wants to quickly and easily learn how to dive into the latest and hottest tech projects."
This month, Systm is building an arcade cabinet divided across 4 video segments, one a week. Episode 1 is up now, with the next one coming soon. They start out with a very nice piece about using Project Arcade as the inspiration for their project. Woot!

Thanks to Kdog for pointing this out. Very entertaining, check it out :)

(Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-11-11, posted by saint)

11/09/2007

 The world's largest arcade cabinet!
Holy cow!

(Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-11-09, posted by saint)

 Space Ace 2 - Kimberly's Quest!
A sequel to Space Ace!?
    This is a follow up to 'Space Ace' I created (you can actually play it on a PC!) where you control his gal pal Kimmy in her quest to escape the evil clutches of Commander Borf!

Sadly, no. This was a home-brew project from a few years ago that was stopped due to a request from Bluth Productions for obvious reasons. Still, an interesting look at what might have been!

Hit the link for some more pictures and a link to the attract mode video and playable demo of the first level.

I think this might go into my cabinet's screen saver video collection :) (Posted By: saint)

11/07/2007

 Congratulations to SirWoogie and wife!
Congratulations to SirWoogie and his wife on the birth of their bouncing baby boy! I guess it's ok if you take a couple of days off then... [grin] (Posted By: saint)

11/06/2007

 Twin Musical Tesla Coils playing Mario Bros
Steve Ward's and Jeff Larson's Twin Solid State Musical Tesla Coils Playing Mario Bros. Visit

(Posted By: Submitted by MPTech on 2007-11-06, posted by saint)

11/04/2007

 Pac-Gentleman?
BYOAC forum regular Xiaou2 posted this oddball little guy. There are a bunch of other interesting widgets on the page as well. Not sure what it's about but it's interesting! :) (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-11-04, posted by saint)
 New project - Wasteds Arcade
Added Wasteds Arcade to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    My first attempt in creating a whole entertainment center. I have windows MCE 2005 and GameEX as my emulator frontend.This project is a arcade jukebox and a home entertainment system. The specs on the PC in use is sort of an overkill but what the heck. peace and enjoy your visit.

This makes 1219 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 Child's Play 2007 charity drive - put our money where our hearts are!
The 2007 Child's Play charity drive is happening now. From their site:
    Since 2003, we've set up and organized Child's Play, a game industry charity dedicated to improving the lives of children with toys and games in our network of over 40 hospitals worldwide. In four short years, you as a community have answered the call and come together to raise millions of dollars.

    That was awesome. You guys have proven over and over again that you are an overwhelming force, and you really came through and made a real difference to the millions of kids that children's hospitals care for each year. So we're doing it again this year, only this time we've expanded Child's Play to more hospitals around US and the globe so you can send toys to a hospital a little closer to home.

    Child's Play works the same as last year. With the help of hospital staff, we've set up gift wish lists full of video games, toys, and movies. You can go to each hospital's list and buy a toy, and that toy will be sent to the hospital. Some of these kids are in pretty bad shape. Imagine being stuck alone in a hospital over the holidays, getting something from a fellow gamer would really raise their spirits. Some of the stuff the hospital will give away for kids to keep, while other gifts (like consoles) will be kept by the hospital for patients to use throughout the year.

    We are arguably the largest community of gamers on the internet. The important word there being community. We are not a faceless corporation and you are not just a number tracked by a database and then relayed to hungry advertisers. You guys have proven yourselves to be a powerful force when stirred into action. Here is your opportunity to use that power to do some real good.

Here's a chance for those who can afford it to help out hospitalized kids around the world with what's near and dear to our hearts. Please take a look and think about it :)

Thanks to AtomSmasher for pointing out this year's charity drive! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-11-04, posted by saint)

11/03/2007

 Pac-Man meets Zork
I saw this and thought it was funny. Pac-Man the text adventure game. Two great gaming tastes that taste great together or not. (Posted By: Submitted by Jim Ulrich on 2007-11-03, posted by saint)
 The UK Public Enemy #1
This is it... Darth Nuno has done his 10th UK roadtrip !

The perfect moment for doing something special... like a video retrospective of all the UK roadtrips done until now ^^

Check out the retrospective/video first, then watch his latest roadtrip done to bring back no less than five Classics : Zaxxon, Galaga, Super Bug, RadarScope & Spy Hunter!

(Posted By: Submitted by Darth Nuno on 2007-11-03, posted by saint)

 New project - black scab
Added black scab to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    A self contained arcade box featuring a pair of U360's and 7 buttons per player built to satisfy the need to play classic arcade games with friends and family. The project quickly turned to also have the unit be as portable as possible.

    The box is currently running Mala featuring MAME, MiSFiT MAME and ZiNC with others being added soon. Ultimarc U360's we're selected due to the excellent mode mapping software and Mala's use of it via plugin.

This makes 1217 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Pacmanprojekti
Added Pacmanprojekti to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    120cm tall upright mini cabinet made with minimum budget.

    17" monitor 66Mhz cpu Custom made UI (programmed in QuickBasic) SID player & loads of SID files inside

    Its written in finnish but theres a lot of pictures. Click "Vanhempi viesti" for older post

This makes 1218 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

10/26/2007

 New project - Digital Press
Added Digital Press to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Cabinet was a converted Atari Pitfighter (courtesy of TNT Amusements). What little was left inside was removed and the cab was stripped, repaired, and painted gloss black (as per the new owner's request), and finished with new molding from T-Molding.com. Since I installed a sub in the bottom, I decided to make some front vents (which also helped to conceal several bolt holes - less to repair!). The monitor is a 25" Makovision from Happ, as is the bezel. The control panel top (which wasn't original) was scrapped in favor of a new homemade one. All the controls are USB-ready - the Act-Labs light guns, the SlikStik spinner, and the Happ trakball. The joysticks are running off modified Gravis GamePad Pro controllers. The aluminum panel used already had some holes in it, so the joystick mounting bolts had to be visible (as a consolation, the brushed finish really came out nice this time). Because of the cabinet's design, I was forced to use the original cp mounting bolts as well :(. The PC was mounted in the drawer tray, along with several cooling fans (front, back, and top). Software is just MAME32, along with a few mods to make XP less noticeable. The custom marquee (a.k.a. piece de resistance) was designed by artist extraordinaire Dave Giarusso (of Digital Press).

This makes 1215 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Unnamed Cocktail
Added Unnamed Cocktail to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Scratch built cocktail; centered around mspacman and donkey kong.

This makes 1216 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

10/25/2007

 New project - Guitar Hero Cabinet
Added Guitar Hero Cabinet to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    A 3-piece cabinet created to showcase the Guitar Hero series of games. It is based on the style of a Marshall amplifier stack and was built using many genuine Marshall parts, including the vinyl wrap and emblems.

This makes 1213 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Claudio's Mini Arcade
Added Claudio's Mini Arcade to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    My Second Mini Cab that I made. This time not for my self but a friend of mine in Italy. Its a shorter design of my first designed and build cab (Spontanious Mini Arcade) Because its not using a CRT. Its made to fit 17"(max) lcd screens and Mini-ATX motherboards. Used Sanwa Joystick and Buttons hooked up to a hacked usb joypad. Claudio finished it when it Arrived at his home. With speakers,LCD,Computer and the Maximus Frontend. Marquee is Backlit with a light tube. As you can see the Controller Graphics are partly from the Marquee drawing of my first cab.

    I made Claudio a very happy guy :o) with his new toy. But has trouble getting his wife off the machine.

This makes 1214 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 Freebox V3.12 demo released!
Barcrest has released a demo of the latest release of Freebox. Check it out! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-10-25, posted by saint)
 VGXPO 2007 is right around the corner!
VGXPO 2007 is coming soon! "America's Video Game Expo" is coming to the Pennsylvania Convention Center November 2nd - 4th.

In it's third year, some of the highlights this year include:

  • MTV'S ROCK BAND TOUR - The tour features a wicked awesome 38’ custom trailer with demo areas and stage that gives gamers one of the first chances to play MTV's and EA's Rock Band.
  • Over 40 exhibitors, including NVIDIA, Videotopia, 1up.com, and more!
  • VGXPO AND GAMEJOB'S: EDUCATION & JOB FAIR - This special event is the only fair of its kind on the east coast in 2007. Participating companies and schools will provide information about jobs and educational programs.
  • VGXPO'S BATTLE OF THE BANDS - an event that features music inspired by, or covering, the tunes you love in videogames. Be it classic 8-bit melodies or complete covers of the opening theme for Halo, this event is sure to be lots of fun.
  • GIRLS VS. BOYS AT VGXPO - Woot! Woot! The PMS Clan is coming to VGXPO! These lovely ladies know how to play and we're giving you the chance to see if you can beat a professional gamer.
  • COSPLAY - For the third year in a row we will be holding the biggest videogame COSPlay competition in America! This year we'll be hosting competitions on BOTH Saturday and Sunday.
And more, and more, and more. Looks like a hell of an event. Lordtodd75 is trying to see if BYOAC'ers want to meet up at the show. Have fun everyone! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-10-25, posted by saint)
 Arcade-In-A-Box gets dugg!
News of Arcade-In-A-Box's Xbox 360 controller makes the front page of Digg. Congratulations Ed! Hope this turns into a bajillion units sold! :) (Posted By: saint)

10/20/2007

 RetroBlast! Grand Re-Opening!
Several folks, with some determination (and Kevin Steele's blessing), have re-opened RetroBlast!

In a move some might say more foolish than bold, RetroBlast! frontman Kevin Steele is handing over the keys to the RetroBlast.com website to a bunch of slack-jawed good for nothing punk kids.

This has been some time in the making and is a complete redesign of the site. Head on over and take a look! (Posted By: saint)

10/19/2007

 Hi Frank!
(Posted By: saint)

10/14/2007

 Video Harden Pich Arcade
saint's note - it's not often that someone sends a video of their cabinet project as a submission - cool beans! :)

hi saint here is the link of my video link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2zity_harden-pich-arcade_videogames


Harden pich arcade
Uploaded by hardenpich
 (Posted By: Submitted by Your Name Here on 2007-09-17, posted by saint)

10/11/2007

 Classic game themes Orchestrated live
I thought my fellow BYOACers would get a kick out of this video!

(Posted By: saint)

 Transforming Transformers Costumes - incredible!
Wow! This must have taken a lot of work and planning!

(Posted By: saint)

 Build Your Own Arcade . . . Costumes?
Going to a party? Halloween around the corner? Check out the inspiration here and get busy!

Make: How to - PacMan arcade costume


It's actually playable!

A working Gameboy costume!

Another working PacMan costume!

Or you could always just buy a costume

(Posted By: saint)

10/09/2007

 New project - Mortal Kabinet!
Added Mortal Kabinet! to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Pengo, converted to MAME. Black paint on the sides, red tmolding, Ipac2, 27\" monitor, Top Gun LED guns, etc

    I did all the art work, printed it at Kinkos.

This makes 1209 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Jam Session Arcade
Added Jam Session Arcade to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    This is an arcade machine built from scratch, as it allways was my dream to create one for myself. The machine is based on my favorite band Pearl Jam, as the art on the machine would show. The cabinet has controls for 4 players in total, and is playing the MAME and Daphne emulator.

This makes 1210 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Sort-a Donkey Kong
Added Sort-a Donkey Kong to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    My Donkey Kong inspired cabinet - a refurbished cabinet with all of my favorite classics. An old ROMSTAR cabinet in need of some MAJOR love became my stepping stone for this project.

This makes 1211 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Nameless cocktail
Added Nameless cocktail to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Scratch built cocktail cabinet. Built around a 22 inch monitor, but still using the same detentions of the original. Made to play the classics

This makes 1212 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 First video roadtrip ever... Hunt for Battlezone in UK !
Tired about same roadtrip stories in pictures ?

Check out the real stuff in video !

Be ready for the Battlezone UK roadtrip ^^ (Posted By: saint)

 Her first time in the arcade...
My little girls first time in the arcade, I don't know, I felt it was news worthy :) - Khigh

saint's note - OK, I agree :) (Posted By: saint)

 Digital Leisure announces release of Space Ace in HD
Press Release!

GORMLEY, Ontario, Canada (October 4, 2007) -- For the first time ever you can experience the stunning classical animation of Space Ace in true High Definition. This release of Don Bluth's legendary animated arcade game features video transferred directly from the original film source, delivering the sharpest images and most vibrant colors ever - even better than the original laser disc release.

The follow-up to last year's release of Dragon's Lair PC HD, Space Ace PC HD also comes with a completely new five channel surround sound audio mix. The original audio has been cleaned and remastered to eliminate any impure background audio then analyzed to determine the best placement to immerse the players in the action. With the striking visuals and remarkable 5.1 surround sound audio, Space Ace HD offers fans an experience well beyond the arcade.

In Space Ace you play the heroic Ace who must stop the evil Commander Borf from taking over the Earth! Borf plans to reduce all of humankind to infants and take over the planet. Only two people have the courage and strength to stop Borf and save Earth: the beautiful Kimberly and the heroic Ace. But as they approach Borf's stronghold, Ace is hit by the Infanto Ray, changing him into a child, and Kimberly is kidnapped by the evil madman! The fate of Earth is in your hands!

Space Ace HD PC will be available this fall at many fine game retailers as well as at www.digitalleisure.com. Look for Blu-ray and HD DVD releases of Space Ace in 2008.

Digital Leisure is a leading publisher of interactive video based titles. The company acquires and re-masters existing video-intensive titles that would benefit from the superior video and audio quality of DVD and HD. (Posted By: saint)

10/03/2007

 New project - Solocade
Added Solocade to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    LCD Slim Arcade Cabinet designed for singler player.

    Unique design with built-in cup holder in control panel and pull out computer coin drawer.

    saint's note - check out the bottom pull-out section. Unique design!

    Finished product:

This makes 1206 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Wisconsin Themed MAME
Added Wisconsin Themed MAME to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    I modeled my MAME machine after my alma mater, the University of Wisconsin -- Madison. This is a standard full cabinet, with 2-player control panel and trackball, 27-inch television.

This makes 1207 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Original Design of my own
Added Original Design of my own to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    I built an original design of my own because I could not find anything I liked.

    saint's note - wow! Another unique cabinet! Once again a BYOACer's innovativeness (is that a word?) amazes me!

This makes 1208 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 Amusement Equipment Auction on Saturday, October 13th in Indianapolis, IN
What the title said :)

For information concerning this auction please contact Jeff Schwartz at 502-551-1866 (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-10-03, posted by saint)

 Linux I-Pac programming tool
Hey you Linux users with an Ultimarc I-Pac! arkanoid has posted about a new version of ipacutil for Linux!
    Hey, just FYI for any Linux + IPAC users, there is a new version of ipacutil for Linux. Currently, only USB is supported on 2.6 kernels. However, I should have a PS2 version running shortly.

    There is also a GUI tool coming shortly. It's about 80% done.

    http://www.zumbrovalley.net/ipacutil/ipac_dnld.html

By the way - this news and other such ilk can be found in the new Linux forum here at BYOAC! (Posted By: saint)
 Retrogaming Times Monthly issue #41 online!
Issue # 41 of the Retrogaming Times Monthly, is now online.

Highlights from our October 2007 issue include:

  • Lost Faces of H.E.R.O.
  • Nintendo Realm - Late July to Aug 1986
  • Old wine in new bottles - Activision TV Games
  • NESCade - Mario Bros.
  • Apple ][ Incider - EA Sports
  • Mastering Sega - Kenseiden
You can find all these and more inside the Retrogaming Times Monthly!

121 months in a row - the longest-running online free retro-gaming newsletter ever! (Posted By: saint)

 Suburban Rocketry opens its doors!
BYOAC member Bones has started a new obsession... er... hobby! Actually he's been at it for a while, but his new joy in life is model rocketry. What makes this news-worthy? Well, Bones is one of those Aussie folks with the kangaroos, aborigines, and not a lot of model rocket stores around. He had to import a lot of his new toys from overseas and that made it an expensive hobby!

In his words:

    So about 6 months ago I started playing with the idea of importing unique and locally unavailable rocket kits and building supplies. I spoke to a few American manufacturers who were quite helpful and supportive and before long my initial idea grew incredibly out of control.

    My website is www.suburbanrocketry.com. Although this is probably not much interest to the lucky Americans who are spoilt by a plethora of rocketry companies, for Aussies (and perhaps New Zealanders), Suburban Rocketry now offers the largest range of rocketry products in Australia - or for that matter, probably the South Pacific. While I am making such a claim I might push my luck and claim the entire Southern Hemisphere. The nice parts anyway....

Even if you're not sure you're ready to join the model rocketry crew, take a look at his site for his Bones rocket videos :) (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-10-03, posted by saint)

 2007 BYOAC token pre-ordering is now open!
Pre-ordering for the 2007 BYOAC tokens (take a look at this year's design!) is now open! If enough pre-orders are taken these tokens will become a reality. As a bonus, if the 2007 tokens are a go then Santoro will also order a quantity of the 2006 tokens to sell for those of you who missed out last year. Sweet!

These would make great gifts for the arcade geek in your life, even if that geek is you :) If you're interested, place your pre-order soon! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-10-03, posted by saint)

09/25/2007

 RetroBlast mirror online!
SirWoogie's been busy and has put up a mirror for RetroBlast! here at BYOAC - http://retroblast.arcadecontrols.com/. The mirror is up with Kevin Steele's consent and will stay there until/unless Kevin asks us to take it down.

Is this the final resting spot of RetroBlast? Why would saint ask such a leading question, hmmmm?

By the way, it took a bit of work to get the mirror online and everything working, so if you use it/appreciate it, be sure to thank SirWoogie for his hard work and Kevin for allowing us to post it! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-09-25, posted by saint)

 2007 BYOAC token voting thread!
The 2007 BYOAC tokens are getting closer to reality - Santoro has posted the voting thread for the back of the token, and holy cow are there some amazing entries this year! Take a look at these and then head over to the thread to vote!

I've said it before, I'll say it again - I'm stunned by the talent of the people in this hobby! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-09-25, posted by saint)

 Another new product from Groovy Game Gear!
New Product: Micro-Leaf™ Arcade Pushbutton Switches!

Here's yet another GroovyGameGear Innovation! The Micro-Leaf™ Arcade Pushbutton Switch. The only pushbutton switch to combine the best traits of both the classic leaf-style switch and the modern micro or "snap" switches. The Micro-Leaf gets rid of the loud clicking. Much like a leaf switch, it's virtually inaudible when installed in a panel and the actuation can't be felt at all. Actuation is fast and reset travel is tiny, making ultra-fast cycling a reality for the first time ever in a microswitch based arcade pushbutton. Even the replacement of only the primary fire button switches on your panel with Micro-Leafs will make those rapid-fire games more enjoyable.

Features:

  • Fast actuation and provides excellent button sensitivity.
  • Extremely short "reset travel" for rapid fire capability
  • Specially engineered to allow advanced functionality with virtually all conventional microswitch-based arcade pushbuttons including RGB-Drive™ outfitted Pushbuttons, NovaGem™ and other bottom lit Pushbuttons
  • No more problems related to loud clicking, excessive resistance, long actuation/reset travel, dirty or mis-aligned contact points.
  • Smaller control panel footprint. Contacts are vertical and will accept standard .187 Female QD's
  • Switch is manufacturer rated at 1,000,000 mechanical cycles
  • Tough Acrylic and Polyester Construction. Adapter Plate can be re-used.
Price: $2.75 each

And my shopping list for my next project grows once again! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-09-25, posted by saint)

 saint - slow news, slow emails
You may have noticed a slowdown in news, and if you've emailed me, slow responses, or if you've submitted a project, slow approvals. Bit of personal family stuff cropped up over the past few weeks that took quite a bit of my time, and may do so in the future coming weeks. Nothing to worry as far as BYOAC goes -- neither I nor the site are going away or anything -- but if it seems a bit slow that's why. Thanks for bearing with me! :) --- saint (Posted By: saint)

09/10/2007

 MameMaster Mitch on TV showing his home built arcade!
Our very own MameMaster Mitch (he also belongs to another less reputable website I understand...) was featured on an episode of Open House New York City!

The show has a feature called "Floorplan" and this week's segment "appeals to the kid in all of us as OpenHouseNYC host, George Oliphant outlines how anyone, in any home, can build a game room and arcade."

First they start with a look at Jeff Kinder's (of the Dragon's Lair Project) awesome arcade, and then they take a look at MameMaster's home built arcade cabinets and his arcade. Very nice!

If you look *REALLY* quickly you'll catch Mitch displaying his BYOAC hat (hint, 2:08 into the clip) :) You'll also see some of the Pinewood Princess' artwork on the wall!

(Posted By: saint)

09/09/2007

 Free issue of GameRoom Magazine!
Kevin has put the August 2007 issue of GameRoom Magazine online in PDF format for those of you who haven't yet subscribed! This is a great chance for those of you who haven't yet been enlightened to see what it's all about!

This issue, among other things, has an article by MameMaster Mitch on the controversial King of Kong movie (OK, it's arcade stuff. How controversial can we get?). Other articles include part 2 of restoring arcade artwork, Tales of the SilverBall, Gameroom of the month, and much more. If you haven't seen Gameroom Magazine yet, what have you got to lose - check it out! :)

(Bottom of the main page) (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-09-08, posted by saint)

 Retrogaming Times Monthly issue #40 online - 10th anniversary!
Issue # 40 of the Retrogaming Times Monthly, is now online -- 10th anniversary!

Highlights from the September 2007 issue include:

  • Our 10th Anniversary
  • Many Faces of Astrochase
  • Nintendo Realm - Before the Famicom
  • Taking the Pole Position
  • Gaming in the Magic Kingdom
  • Old wine in new bottles - Namco TV Games
  • Nintendo Amusement Park
  • Inside the Numbers of the Many Faces
You can find all these and more inside the Retrogaming Times Monthly!

120 months in a row - the longest-running online free retro-gaming newsletter ever! (Posted By: saint)

09/07/2007

 What's happening on the front page?
So it's been a few weeks since there's been any updates on the front page. I've had some family health issues, work's stressful, etc etc... Picking back up again. Some of the news I'm about to post is old and may be outdated, but for posterity and because some of you might not have seen it....

(Posted By: saint)

 Why build a cocktail cab, when you can buy one for nearly 7 grand?
Ridiculously expensive commercial cocktail cabinet. This British import retails for £3295, or more than $6600 USD at current exchange rates.

saint's note - it's a fairly cool looking table and a nicely done web site, but as the news submitter noted it *is* a bit pricey :)

(Posted By: Submitted by Herbert Kornfeld on 2007-09-04, posted by saint)

 25% off Arcade Memories Tokens at Arcadereplay.com
In preparation for the 2007 tokens, I am trying to clear out some of the Arcade Memories tokens. Use the coupon code "Back2School" during checkout to get 25% off your Arcade Memories tokens. Does not apply to BYOAC or MAME tokens, code is valid through September. (Posted By: Submitted by Dave on 2007-08-31, posted by saint)
 Retoblast.com Shutdown
Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that RetroBlast has been shut down. Kevin is going to focus his energies on >GameRoom Magazine. Not to worry though, Kevin's not going to allow all the wonderful content that was RetroBlast to be lost. You will soon see the content available at another location, and if nothing else pans out Kevin and I have discussed hosting a mirror of the last version of the site here. Stay tuned, and good luck Kevin with the magazine! (Posted By: Submitted by (many folks) on 2007-08-30, posted by saint)
 Time Out Tunnel arcade for 3D Arcade!
Wigmuseum made a new arcade based on the Time Out Tunnel arcades from the early eighties! (Posted By: Submitted by )p( on 2007-08-28, posted by saint)
 New Simulator need Sound Traks
Hi Im Talool1 and im working on a new simulator of an old physical game...a cabinet for the software is only sound based.

more information in My site the only thing that i need is sound tracks like "time over","you win"... if you think you can help by voice acting sound tracks pleas go here: http://talool1.blogspot.com/ 10x (Posted By: Submitted by Tal on 2007-08-23, posted by saint)

 NES on the iPhone
An NES emulator has been released for the iPhone, I can't wait to get one. (Posted By: Submitted by squirrellydw on 2007-08-07, posted by saint)
 New project - 4 Player Portable Tabletop MAME Cabinet
Added 4 Player Portable Tabletop MAME Cabinet to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    This is a portable, tabletop MAME cabinet with support for four (4) players. It can be used for both side-by-side and cocktail games. I primarily created it for entry in the 2007 Austin Makerfaire, but also so my children and I could have fun playing some of the simpler arcade games that I grew up with in the 1980s.

This makes 1202 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - The Varsity Club
Added The Varsity Club to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    A dual monitor arcade inspired by the Golden Tee Fore series. I themed it after the University that helped me get to where I am today. Many thanks to the entire BYOAC community for their help and support. Please hit me up by PM on the forums if you have any questions.

    saint's note - Artwork by the way by the Pinewood Princess!

This makes 1203 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Suits 6ftx6ft M.A.M.E
Added Suits 6ftx6ft M.A.M.E to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    This is a cabinet that has a 6ft, in lengths, control panel. It is a stand up that plays any system (xbox, gamecube, 360) via playstaion controllers with converters purchased as neccessary.

This makes 1204 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - McMean's MAME Arcade
Added McMean's MAME Arcade to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    upright MAME project.. first one for me.

This makes 1205 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

08/19/2007

 New project - My Mini Bartop Mame
Added My Mini Bartop Mame to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    This little baby is light and portable (thanks to it's LCD monitor)! The cabinet was professionally CNC routed from 3/4" melamine and 1/4" plexi protects the control panel and gives it a nice shine.

This makes 1197 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Wes' MAME Cabinet
Added Wes' MAME Cabinet to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    My MAME cabinet which is a compilation of 3 separate plans I found online.

This makes 1198 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Timewarp
Added Timewarp to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    This is a simple project using an empty Bubbles cabinet that was being trashed. I designed it mostly for one player.

This makes 1199 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Chris' MAME Cabinet
Added Chris' MAME Cabinet to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Hand made upright cabinet used for MAME.

This makes 1200 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - GDE Arcade MAME cabinet
Added GDE Arcade MAME cabinet to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Based on Mameroom's Ultimate Arcade II Cabinet plans, this cabinet was done from scratch. With a 29" Sony TV and a 4 player control panel. All in all, the materials and some of the tools cost us about 1500 US dollars. Best money we've ever spent. :)

    Site in Danish at the moment, an updated English version with a few guides is on the way.

This makes 1201 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

08/04/2007

 Retrogaming Times Monthly issue #39 online!
Issue # 39 of the Retrogaming Times Monthly, is now online!

Highlights from the August 2007 issue include:

  • Many Faces of Xevious
  • Nintendo Realm - late July - early August 1986
  • NEScade - "Popeye"
  • Apple ][ Incider - Part ][, Apple ][ GS Vs Competition
  • Mastering Sega (SMS - new series)
  • Old wine in new bottles - Retrogaming on modern hardware
You can find all these and more inside the Retrogaming Times Monthly!

119 months in a row - the longest-running online free retro-gaming newsletter ever!

Next month: Retrogaming Times (Monthly) - 10 year Anniversary! (Posted By: saint)

 Want a job in the retro-gaming industry?
Dream Arcades has two openings right now, one entry level one experienced.

    Dream Arcades is looking for 2 Arcade Technicians with immediate availability. Must reside around the Sacramento area (Our office is located in Folsom). Pay is dependent on qualifications. Forklift certification is a plus. The workweek is negotiable from 30 to 40 hours a week. Must have basic wiring and PC skills as well as the ability to lift 55 pounds (19 inch monitors). Must be able to work unsupervised and with only minimal direction.

    This position is responsible for day-to-day operations of the shop. Including wiring and testing controls, assembling and packing arcades, preparation of computers and monitors and other job duties as needed. The ideal candidate will also handle first level e-mail and phone support and may also direct the work of other techs.

    Training will be provided for future job responsibilities including; handling phone support, training new techs, and assisting with arcade and software design.

    Please submit a resume to: support@dreamarcades.com. Pictures of your DIY cabs are encouraged, but not required. BYOAC members please include your screen name [...].

    Great opportunity for the right person!!

(Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-08-04, posted by saint)

08/03/2007

 New project - harden pich arcade
Added harden pich arcade to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    A large cabinet for four players who play sitted .

    Construction at weak cost:
    computer screen - already had
    computer - already had
    wood - already had
    joystick: ebay 70€
    tools: 45 €

    Some details must be finished :
    marquee and control panel .

    saint's note - site is French

This makes 1196 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 King of Kong Movie
Follows a middle school science teacher as he battles a hot sauce mogul for the Guinness World Record on the arcade classic Donkey Kong.

saint's note - reviewed in the August issue of GameRoom Magazine by MameMaster! (Posted By: Submitted by Darkhelmet on 2007-07-31, posted by saint)

 California Extreme - Aug 11-12!
Are you ready for California Extreme - the arcade game and pinball celebration?

If you're anywhere near San Jose, California August 11-12, check out the 2007 California Extreme show!

What is California Extreme?

    California Extreme is the "Classic Arcade Games Show". In a nutshell, it's an annual celebration of coin operated pinball machines, video games and other novelties you once found in game arcades. It's two days that celebrate this exceptional entertainment medium, featuring tournaments, speakers, parts vendors, and an opportunity to play games you may have not seen for years. All the games on display are set for free play, so leave your quarters in the ash tray in your car. You won't need 'em.
As an added bonus, SuperAuctions will be having an auction next door during the show.

By all reports, the show is great fun every year. Wish I could make it :)

California Extreme 2007
August 11-12 , 2007
Parkside Hall
San Jose, California
(Posted By: saint)

07/30/2007

 NOS WIlliams parts available
Stumbled across this at US Amusement Auctions the other day -- when Williams closed their doors, US Amusement Auctions picked up a selection of their stock (NOS - New Old Stock). Items from Williams, Atari and Midway are included.

I suspect most of this will be useful to folks restoring cabinets. I saw at least one part on their I'm inquiring about :) (Posted By: saint)

 Speaking of new products - Ultimarc Pac-Drive dev kits now available
From Andy at Ultimarc:
    Our new USB output output driver board is now available as a dev kit to bona-fide developers of plug-ins and other software.

    The board is a simple 16-channel driver which is low-cost and very easy to use. It can be used for any devices such as LEDs, solenoids etc.

    16 LEDs can be controlled per board with no additional power, more if a power source is connected. Up to 4 boards can be connected.

    The dev kit consists of a board with test LEDs attached and a sample VB application with source, plus sample C++ code snippets. All driver software is fully open-source. Note that Mala and Game-Ex are already covered.

Minwah (of MameWah fame) notes that he is working on a standalone app. for use with the Pac-Drive. It can be used as a simple output-tester, or run from a commandline (eg from e FE) in order to switch on button/controller lights.

Interesting stuff coming out these days! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-07-29, posted by saint)

 New Product from Groovy Game Gear - NovaMatrix™ LED Marquee Light
Randy's bringing us another one. Frustrated by the marquee lighting in a cabinet of his, he dreamed up the NovaMatrix™ LED Marquee Light.

Features:

  • Incredibly Bright - Each unit includes 16 intensely high output, wide-angle, "cool white" LEDs.
  • Low Voltage - 12v operation means that the marquee light may be connected directly to your PC power supply for simple "auto-on" operation .
  • Long Life - LEDs are rated at up to 100,000 hours of "on" time. That's up to 10 years longer than conventional lighting!
  • Low Operating Costs - Reduce your carbon footprint by 1/1500 and stave off the end of the world by several milliseconds for every fluorescent you replace!*
  • Small and Lightweight - 11.5" x .5" Can be mounted just about anywhere and on almost any surface. Optimal distance from marquee is 6" to 14".
  • Includes a 6" power cable with connector for attaching to unit, screws and plastic standoffs.
Price: $17.95

I have dead marquee lights in about half my cabinets right now, so it looks like I'll be giving these a whirl. As always, anyone trying one of these be sure to leave your feedback on the forum! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-07-29, posted by saint)

07/29/2007

 New project - In-wall Arcade
Added In-wall Arcade to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    An In-Wall arcade system.

    Rather than build a cabinet, we built a table behind wall to seat a 27" TV set and put a shelf for the control panel in front of it. a 22"x22" hole in the wall was all we needed.

    Parts used:
    27" TV - already had
    dell laptop - already had
    500Gig external drive - already had
    Game Ex software (frontend)- free
    mame software - free
    X-arcade tankstick - $200
    Lumber, brackets, cables - $80

This makes 1194 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Rock-Ola Trivue Wallbox Conversion
Added Rock-Ola Trivue Wallbox Conversion to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    The Rock-Ola Trivue was gutted and revived as an MP3 Jukebox with an old Dell laptop dismembered and fitted inside.

This makes 1195 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 Site of the week! - Arcade Lifestyle... it's not only a matter of games
Here's something I've been wanting to do for a while - once a week, pick an interesting arcade related site that everyone might not know about yet and highlight it as the "Site of the week!"

Darth Nuno beat me to the punch by submitting his site, but it's a great place to start :)

Darth is the owner of the DragonsLairFans website, and is the chap behind many great arcade projects that he's shown off here. He's also the owner of what may be the largest arcade collection in the world -- ok, maybe not in regards the number, but he's the only private collector I know of who owns a Galaxian 3 theater arcade game!

Darth lives way across the ocean in the Belgium, and often has to go on epic journies to pick up his arcade treasures, such as his trip halfway across the world (ok, through the Euro Tunnel) to pick up his Computer Space (I'm more than a bit jealous).

Darth also chronicles some nice restorations he's done, such as a Defender restoration, and a very nice Space Ace restoration.

So you can see, Darth's got some nice toys in his collection :) The same passion that shows in his arcade collection shows in his web site as well. You'll find details on his collection and restorations, Dragon's Lair and Space Ace emulation, pictures of Dragon's Lair collectibles, videos of the Dragon's Lair and Space Ace cartoon series, and a lot of other eye candy for fans of the laser disc games. Darth also has a message forum for fans to talk about all the fun on his website.

I'm a big fan of the laser disc games, Dragon's Lair and Space Ace being the foremost of that genre. The Dragon's Lair Fans and newly dubbed Arcade Lifestyle website of Darth's is a great place to visit, and is our first Site of the Week. Check it out! :)

(Posted By: saint)

07/27/2007

 First Person Pinball - Pinball in your face!
Enter the Furminator - A Terminator 2 Pinball Machine with some very interesting modifications. I could explain it in detail, but the video does a much better job than I ever could hope to. (Posted By: Submitted by Zero_Hour on 2007-07-26, posted by saint)
 Out Run 2SP on Daytona cab'
...What to do with a dead Daytona USA cabinet... PCB are some expensive to repair...

Here's one solution... using an XBOX360 ... and play the almost *arcade perfect* OUT RUN 2SP like this !

Now enjoy the youtube video!

(Posted By: Submitted by Darth Nuno on 2007-07-26, posted by saint)

 smallest pc for case mods and mame cabs
Pico-ITX is the latest in a long line of tiny-form-factor motherboard formats from Via Technologies of Taiwan. At only 4 inches square, it's the perfect toy for case-mod enthusiasts or technology hobbyists. Sporting a Via C7 embedded CPU and a discrete GPU, it'll work well supporting media center and MAME-like applications, but it won't run the latest games. (Posted By: Submitted by cw on 2007-07-23, posted by saint)

07/25/2007

 Project Arcade on Slashdot!
Woot! Project Arcade got reviewed on Slashdot! Woot! Welcome Slashdotters! :) (Thanks supercadeblue, MustardTemp, and others for passing on the news!) (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-07-25, posted by saint)

07/23/2007

 The History of Zork
I love Zork. I love the whole interactive fiction genre. If you took every bit of computer/video game playing available, threw it all in a pot, interactive fiction would float to the top. To me, there really isn't anything better as far as entertainment value.

Zork is one of the classics that started it all - yes, its roots are from Adventure and Colossal Cave, and I actually cut my teeth with Scott Adams adventure games on my C=64, but Zork and Infocom are easily arguably responsible for making the genre the goliath of entertainment it was.

(Maybe you can tell I really like this stuff?)

I'm not the only one who feels this way, as Zork's entry as one of the first 10 games in the Digital Game Canon attests to. "The Canon provides a starting-point for the difficult task of preserving this history inspired by the role of that the U.S. National Film Registry has played for film culture and history." The first 10 games were inducted in 2007.

Gamasutra is doing a series on each of the 10 games that are the inaugural inductees. After reading it, I had to load up one of my several collections that include Zork and the others to play again.

New to the interactive fiction scene or a veteran, give this a read :) (Posted By: saint)

 Complete Oscar Controls mirror online!
This is something I've wanted to get done for quite a while now. I've been in touch with Kelsey, the owner of Oscar Controls. The short bottom line is that Oscar Controls is officially closed for good. Real life claims another victim :) There is some good news however!

Kelsey is a great guy, truly one of the best in our community. He's staying involved in the hobby side of things, but doesn't have the time for the business side anymore. He made it plain however that he wanted to share and keep online everything he's ever created and contributed to the hobby.

I've had partial mirrors online with his blessing before, but I'm pleased as a punch to announce that we now have online the 100% complete mirror of everything that was Oscar Controls! All the product information, all the technical how-to's, all of Kelsey's personal projects, the font library, the graphics -- I'm pretty sure we've got it all now. You'll find it at http://mirrors.arcadecontrols.com/OscarControls. Any previous mirrors of Oscar Controls material will be offline soon, but all content will be at the main mirror now.

Thanks, Kelsey, for everything you did for us all and for allowing BYOAC to keep it online - cheers!

Hmmm... what's that lurking over there? Might we be hearing something else about Oscar Controls soon? Hmmm..... (Posted By: saint)

07/22/2007

 Build Your Own ... Linux Based Arcade Cabinet
fatfingers pointed out that the most recent issue of Linux Journal has a feature entitled "Build It Yourself Arcade" by Shawn Walters. "I grow weary of hearing how bad Linux is for gaming" begins Shawn, and proceeds on with a 5 page article on building an arcade cabinet running MAME.

Although building cabinets and controls is nothing new to regular visitors here (although it's always nice to see another person's take on it), Shawn does go into the software options on the Linux side of things which doesn't get as much press as other operating systems. He ended up using Ubuntu, xMAME, and WahCade.

Nice article, and BYOAC gets a couple of mentions :) (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-07-22, posted by saint)

 Zelda Love - Today's Gratuitous video game related video
Will Linc and Zelda find happiness, or will Gannon ruin things? Watch and see!

(Posted By: saint)

07/21/2007

 Build Your Own . . . Knitted PacMan and Ghosts?
So it's confession time - the knitting forum was supposed to be a joke. However, Danny_Galaga and Zero_Hour just had to go and find something appropriately on subject to talk about!

Check out the knitted PacMan scarf and the crocheted set of PacMan and the ghosts.

Imagine what might have been found had I started an underwater basket weaving forum.... (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-07-21, posted by saint)

 Mario and Sonic Olympic Games trailer
Say it isn't so -- Mario and Sonic together? OK, that news has been out for a while, but at E3 they released a trailer for the Mario and Sonic Olympic Games ...er... game, coming out this year. Check it out!

Sadly, I don't think we'll be seeing this in anyone's cabinet anytime soon.... (Posted By: saint)

 *sniff* *sniff* - Cabinet Genocide
RabyB points out this sad picture of the week over at Time.com -- Confiscated gambling cabinets destroyed in Foshan, China. Click the picture to get the full image. (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-07-21, posted by saint)

07/19/2007

 Arcade-In-A-Box to be at Classic Gaming Expo
Las Vegas, NV - July 18, 2007
Arcade-In-A-Box (www.arcadeinabox.com), will be at the Classic Gaming Expo this weekend (July 28th and 29th) at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

"Our goal is to bring classic arcade games with the authentic arcade controls to places they have never been before - apartments, smaller houses, and even home theaters," Says Ed Farias, Owner of Arcade-In-A-Box. "We recognized that there are tons of people who just can't afford to dedicate an entire room to fill with bulky arcade games - and many of us have spouses who don’t want to see even one full sized arcade cabinet."

The company will be exhibiting the Arcade-In-A-Box self contained classic gaming console as well as the Jamma-In-A-Box at the expo on a 70" projection screen.

Sweet! Any BYOAC'ers going be sure to pop by Ed's booth and introduce yourself! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-07-19, posted by saint)

07/18/2007

 First new Mario in a while.
I saw this while browsing around. I know there has been paper mario and others, but this looks like the first real new mario in forever. I know it's not arcade but good none-the-less.

(Posted By: Submitted by Darkhelmet on 2007-07-13, posted by saint)

 CGE 2007 coming next week!
Ed from Arcade In A Box reminded me that...

The 10th annual Classic Gaming Expo is coming to Vegas next week on the 28th and 29th, and it looks to be quite a show!

Some of the show highlights:

  • 8-bit Weapon and ComputeHER to rock out CGE2K7
    Using Commodore's Vic20, 64, & 128, Nintendo's NES. & GameBoy, Intellivision, Atari 2600, Speak n Spell, Speak n Read, Speak n Math, Apple IIc's & IIe's, a Vocoder, Coleco's Talking Teacher, and some assorted toy synths for kids as well as a vast library of video game sound effects, 8-bit weapon & ComputeHER make some of the most catchy music you have ever heard ...
  • Good Deal Games to Re-release Many Retired Homebrews & More
    Good Deal Games will be supporting homebrew at CGE2K7 in a BIG way. They will be re-releasing many of their older titles that have long since sold out .... including titles for many older consoles.
  • Vectrex Pitcher’s Duel Found!
    The long-rumored Pitcher’s Duel for the Vectrex has been found and will make its debut at CGE... Limited quantities will be available for purchase as well!
  • Atari2600.com Announces Three Exclusive CGE releases
  • Oldergames.com announces CGE releases for 3DO, Saturn, C64, PC, and more

They will also have free shuttle service to the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum, so it's looking like a great show all around! Wish I could go :) (Posted By: saint)

 Mechatron 2004 - awesome looking Robotron remake!
Check out Mechatron 2004! There are a lot of classic game clones and remakes out there, but this is one that looks like it was designed with us in mind! Aside from the improved graphics and sound, check out some of the features. Definitely going on my cabinet :)

07/16/2007

 Quest for the holy grail... er.... StarWars Cockpit cabinet
Level42 seems to get in the news here quite a bit lately. Today it's for his score of a StarWars Cockpit cabinet (one of my personal two holy grails of arcadedom).

Check out his DarthNuno'esque trip report on picking up his new prize - several drool inducing photos :) (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-07-15, posted by saint)

07/15/2007

 Nothing Happening!
In the exciting, fast-paced world of retrogaming, for the last 12 days, absolutely nothing has happened. The front page at www.arcadecontrols.com hasn't seen an update since June 30, leaving many to speculate that John St. Clair (owner and administrator of the arcadecontrols.com website) has given up arcade gaming entirely, in order to pursue his new hobby, knitting. You might as well stop reading this page and just go crochet yourself a doily or something.

saint's note -- heh, ok this obviously isn't true, but someone submitted it as news and I thought it was funny. I *did* have to fix the link to the comment thread which was broken, but ... OK, there is news out there and here goes... (Posted By: saint)

 New project - MAMEOTH
Added MAMEOTH to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Home made 3 piece unit with 33" ICE Arcade monitor, Groovy Game Gear ps2 controller, Ultimarc video card, Happ joys and buttons, 1.7 p4 with 512 mb ram.

This makes 1191 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - NEW FOSSILS ARCADE
Added NEW FOSSILS ARCADE to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    It's been a LONG journey but the NEW FOSSILS arcade machine is complete! It's taken over a year and a half and a new baby girl to complete but overall I am happy with the results. This is my first attempt at building an arcade machine and I feel this will not be my last. The artwork was inspired by my band New Fossils which I play bass guitar in. Visit our web site (www.NewFossils.com), listen to the music and post a message on our forum!

This makes 1192 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Tony's Arcade
Added Tony's Arcade to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Awesome cabinet.

    1 of two prototypes in the world capable of sending separate information output to both an LCD and and an LED simultaneously.

This makes 1193 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 Video Game Deaths
Not sure if this is news worthy, just thought some people might be curious about how you die in certain games.

saint's note - I thought it was news worthy :) Thanks for the news!

(Posted By: Submitted by Darkhelmet on 2007-07-09, posted by saint)

 Virtualcogs open source gaming platform
It's an open gaming platform built around a PSP LCD. It's got all the basics, and it's expandable. They'd like to put together an order for a run of boards, so let em know if you want one. If you're lazy, here's the specs:

 Hmm... What's Brent up to now?
Check out this before/after picture of his next mysterious project. What's he up to now? ... (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-07-15, posted by saint)
 In the I'm happy to host things department
Level42 ran across a set of Galaxian service bulletins that he hadn't seen online and wanted to share them with everyone (thanks for doing that btw!).

They're available off the server here at http://www.arcadecontrols.com/files/Manuals/Galaxian-Service-Bulletins.zip.

There are a few Gottlieb Black Hole manuals someone was looking for online there as well for what that's worth. You can see what's available by browsing the directory.

Obviously I don't own or take credit for any of these, just sharing the arcade collecting wealth :) If you have something you want to share that needs a host, feel free to drop me a line.

Thanks for doing the hard work of scanning Level42!

By the way, the picture has nothing to do with this news per se, it's just another chance for me to show off Richard Horsman's retro eye candy :) This one is titled Galaxian, which seemed appropriate! Check out his web site for more. (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-07-15, posted by saint)

 Win a Maxim sponsored arcade party and gaming gear!
Missioncontrol was reading Maxim online for the articles when he noticed this bit of fun and passed it on to us!

In celebration of the premier of Code Monkeys on G4, Maxim is awarding a grand-prize winner a Maxim sponsored gaming party! The winner will get to keep a cocktail arcade cabinet, game console and Maxim gaming gear, and a variety of other stuff.

You only have until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on July 18th to enter so don't wait! Sorry folks, this one is USA citizens only. (Posted By: missioncontrol)

 Retrogaming Times Montly issue #38 online!
I'm a bit pokey on this one, but...

Issue # 38 of the Retrogaming Times Monthly, is now online!

Highlights from the July 2007 issue include:

  • Lost Face of "Pooyan" Apple ][
  • Nintendo Realm - Mid June to Mid July 1986
  • NEScade - "Millipede"
  • Apple ][ Incider - Apple IIGS Vs its competition
  • Old wine in new bottles - Retrogaming on modern hardware
You can find all these and more inside the Retrogaming Times Monthly!

118 months in a row - the longest-running online free retro-gaming newsletter ever! (Posted By: saint)

 History of Video Games upped to Google Video
Sam sent in this -- The History of Video Games (Discovery Channel) is on Google Video right now. Interesting stuff!

(Posted By: saint)

06/30/2007

 Invisible Harleys: A Mario Kart Parody
Heh, this is well done. Caught this over at The Last Boss blog. Harley Davidson and the University of California, Santa Barbara, ran a video contest.

Check out this entry entitled "Invisible Harleys: A Mario Kart Parody" -- well done and funny!

    A stop-motion animation with Mario Kart items. No greenscreens. This took a group of college students thirteen nights to animate.

See the video here, or catch a larger high quality version here.

(Posted By: saint)

06/28/2007

 Dragon's Lair For DS!
Dragon's Lair is coming out for the DS! More info here on Destructoid (occasionally NSFW).

saint's note - cool beans! Also more information on IGN as well as the developer's page - Wizardry Engineering. Sweet! (Posted By: Eric Rihm)

 GameRoom Magazine sale - 60% off back issues!
Kevin's running a sale right now - GameRoom Magazine back issues are on sale for 60% off! If you haven't checked out GameRoom magazine you're missing out - Kevin's done a great job since he took over the reins. I'm on my second year of subscribing and I'll be checking out the back-issue catalog myself :) (Posted By: saint)
 Get Wowed! with the 3D tactile Novint Falcon
First saw this over at GamerSquad and 1UP -- check out the new $189 Novint Falcon!

This is an odd looking beast. It's a game controller for the PC that purports to give you enhanced tactile feedback for game control. In their own words:

    Forget about games that rely on overly complex button combinations to control your actions. Novint's groundbreaking touch-enabled games allow you to realistically feel and interact as you play, letting you "become" the character.

    Pick up a basketball and feel its weight and inertia; swing a bat and feel its impact; feel the recoil of your weapon and the direction and strength when you are hit; or be able to feel the textures and surfaces of objects even with your eyes closed. Grab hold of the Novint Falcon and let it take you to an entirely new gaming dimension.

    The Novint Falcon lets you control a game in three dimensions, and also lets you feel high-fidelity three-dimensional force feedback. The Falcon controller moves right and left, forwards and backwards, like a mouse, but also moves up and down. When you hold the Falcon’s detachable Grip and move your cursor to interact with a virtual object, environment, or character, motors in the device turn on and are updated approximately 1000 times a second, letting you feel texture, shape, weight, dimension, and dynamics. The Falcon lets you control and interact with games in more realistic way, allowing you to develop real physical skill and muscle memory, adding a new dimension to gaming.

I don't know - at first I thought the controller might irritate the heck out of me, but then in the video I saw a marble-madness type of game and thought that might just be da bomb! They've got a video of the thing to take a look at it in action.

Order now and it's $189, $50 off the regular price, and includes 24 mini-games.

I dunno, I'm intrigued and want to get my hands on one :) (Posted By: saint)

06/25/2007

 UK Roadtrip for the holy grail for all arcade collectors : COMPUTER SPACE
Computer Space is a video arcade game released in November 1971 by Nutting Associates. Created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, who would both later found Atari, it was the world's first commercially sold coin-operated video game — and indeed, the first commercially sold video game of any kind.

It's very difficult to catch one nowadays ... but this is it. Have a look at this nice roadtrip done to bring back the most amazing cabinet from UK to Belgium ^^ (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Xbox Arcade Cabinet ( México )
Added Xbox Arcade Cabinet ( México ) to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Just another Xbox cabinet ( trackball, racing wheels, Lightguns & more, Take a look!!)

This makes 1190 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

06/23/2007

 Mameroom.com Ultimate Arcade II review at I4U News
MAMERoom.com's Ultimate Arcade II cabinet was reviewed as the base for an X-Arcade Tank Stick by I4U news. They gave it a 9.5 out of 10 -- read the review to find out what they liked and didn't :)

(Posted By: saint)

 Groovy Game Gear New Product: GP-WizRX™ - with new Roto-X Technology!
That may be one of the longest titles for a news item yet! RandyT has announced yet another new product in the Groovy Game Gear lineup!

    Introducing the new GP-WizRX™ with integrated Roto-X™ Technology.

    In addition to the standard, high-performance features of the GP-Wiz, the GP-WizRX includes the most advanced rotary joystick implementation available. Costly specialized interfaces with limited capabilities are no longer required to use mechanical rotary joysticks, thanks to GroovyGameGear's exclusive Roto-X Technology.

    Features:

  • Dual, Independent Auto-Sensing Rotary control support. If Rotary control is not sensed, the respective inputs will revert to standard button operation.
  • User tunable pulse output. Match the pulse timings to the application for best performance.
  • Unique Dual-mode Selectabiliy. Standard CW / CCW and exclusive "8-Way" mode. Finally, games with "Front Line-type" controls can be played with a standard rotary joystick!
  • Compatible with any rotary switch with pin quantities in multiples of 3 + Ground. (3, 6, 9, 12, etc.)
  • Fully Buffered. Each rotary has it's own dedicated 20 action circular buffer.
  • Easy to use Software. May be used interactively (shown above) or silently via the command line.

    • The GP-Wiz portion now has an intuitive "1 player per side" layout, with recommended control assignments linked to the board labels. A total of 32 inputs are available, with each rotary control using only 3 inputs. In "8-way" rotary mode, an additional input will be borrowed for output purposes. Rotary controls may be disabled through software, even after auto-sensed activation. This allows for up to 2 buttons to be shared with each rotary control if desired.

    Price as shown: $37.95 (6' USB cable included)

Looks like another winner :) (ps to Randy - I do *not* ignore your emails :p) (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-06-22, posted by saint)
 Pinewood Princess News
Pinewood Princess has been busy busy busy. Couple of items that have been in the works for a while are complete now -- check out the BYOAC logo she made for MameMaster! Sweet!

In addition to the BYOAC logo, she's done a GameRoom logo for Kevin over at RetroBlast/GameRoom Magazine, some BurgerTime carvings, and a slew of others. I have a good half-dozen of her carvings myself and there are more on my wish-list still :)

Other nifty news for the Pinewood Princess:

    On Display in Vegas A lot of times it is very hard to capture the 3-D aspect of her carvings with a camera. So if you have always wanted to see her work, touch it and see the detail that goes into The Princess' carvings for yourself. They will be on display and available for purchase at Billiards N More in Las Vegas.
Good stuff, a great decoration for a game room. Check out the thread and their website for more eye candy :) (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-06-22, posted by saint)
 PS3 adapters for the X-Arcade line available July 5th
X-Arcade has announced they will have an adapter for their line of X-Arcade joystick controllers allowing you to connect them to the PS3. They also have adapters for the Wii, are actively working on one for the Xbox-360, and have adapters for a variety of older consoles as well.

Disclaimer: If you purchase something from X-Arcade after clicking this link, BYOAC will get a small commission (and we thank you for the support :) ) (Posted By: saint)

06/21/2007

 Where do all those names come from?
Slow-News-Day-Trivia: Where do the gaming companies get their names from? I knew Atari was originally going to be called "Syzygy" until they realized someone else had the name already, but I was ignorant of most of the rest of these. Blog videolamer.com has a piece on where they all came from with some commentary to boot. (Posted By: saint)
 What the heck is this?
Can someone - anyone - explain what this is about? (Posted By: saint)
 Scumm(y) news!
I don't normally post news items when emulators/simulators get updates unless there's something specifically relating to arcade controls/interfaces, but I've mentioned before that classic adventure gaming warms the cockles of my heart.

In that vein, check out the fairly exciting news from ScummVM!

    Jun. 20th, 2007: ScummVM 0.X.0: "Tic-tac-toe edition"

    Finally, here it is! Our long awaited, best-ever new release, ScummVM 0.X.0 (or 0.10.0, for those roman numeral challenged amongst you), code named "Tic-tac-toe edition", has arrived today. Now available in stores, err, on download servers worldwide!

    "What's new? What's in it? Can I open it up yet?" - Hah, I can already see you shifting impatiently on your seats. But before you run, let me shed some light on the details of this latest installment of the successful ScummVM series:

    * Several new engines and thus new games supported:

  • Sierra AGI engine: Space Quest I & II, King's Quest I-III and many more, including a vast number of fan-made games,
  • Cinematique evo 1 engine: Future Wars,
  • GOB engine: Bargon Attack, Gobliins 2, Goblins 3, Ween: The Prophecy,
  • AGOS engine: Simon the Sorcerer's Puzzle Pack,
  • Parallaction engine: Nippon Safes Inc.,
  • Touche: The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer engine.
And the new features list goes on. The thing that caught my eye was the addition of the Sierra AGI engine. I think I own at least half of the adventure games ScummVM supports now -- think I'm going to have to give this a whirl :) (Posted By: saint)

06/20/2007

 Build Your Own . . . Star Wars Arcade Cockpit!
Sweet! Lust, drool, and other fawning words. Check out this project by our resident "Scratch Building Demi-God..." -- he's building from scratch a StarWars Cockpit arcade cabinet, and it looks smoking!

Hoops has been dreaming of a StarWars Cockpit cabinet for the better part of 24 years, but

The problem with that dream was that there were just under 2500 units produced world wide 24 years ago of which maybe 50 or 60 might of made it down under. Then factor in the conversion "era" and the water damage that these cabs are so renowned for and the reality of finding one was never looking good..

So my only option was to start searching for the parts that made up a Star Wars Cockpit (SWC) and build my own...

He's no stranger to scratch building a cabinet, having a Centipede and a Galaga under his belt already, but this has to be a crowning achievement. Hit the link to read more and follow his progress! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-06-20, posted by saint)

 Win a cameo role in the remake of Space Quest II!
Infamous Adventures is "a game development group focused on bringing adventure games back into the mainstream by updating classic adventure games as well as creating new masterworks of our own."

IA is the team that brought us the King's Quest III remake last year. They are currently working on an all VGA remake of Space Quest II. They're running a contest right now to give one lucky winner a cameo role in the game!

    Adventure Gamers, Fans, Deviants..... here's your chance to win a CAMEO ROLE in IA's upcoming production "SPACE QUEST II"

    If you win the contest, we'll create a character in your likeness to be featured IN GAME!! You'll be internet famous, like the rest of us - which may or may not win you a free drink. If you're in a computer geek bar/restaurant. Maybe a server will recognize you and offer you a free appetizer. We don't know!

    Now, we want you to send us SOMETHING to show us why YOU should be in our game. Send an email to ...

Click the picture below to read the full post and join the contest fun! You've got all summer to enter but I wouldn't wait :) (Posted By: saint)

06/18/2007

 New project - MS. PAC-MAN & FRIENDS
Added MS. PAC-MAN & FRIENDS to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    I have always wanted to build a cocktail table to play all my favorite games and I finally have. This was my first one I ever did and the hard work and everyone here helped me a lot. It has a 27" arcade monitor and all the buttons light up. You can see more pictures at my website and some of them are posted here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=51925.0

This makes 1189 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

06/15/2007

 Amusement Machine manufacturer going-out-of-business auction
Ken Layton posted this about an upcoming auction (Saturday, June 23rd in the area of Jefferson City, Missouri):
    The world's largest kiddie ride manufacturer, Carousel International, has folded after over 40 years in business. Everything is being auctioned. See www.superauctions.com for more details.
While this conceivably means a feeding frenzy on cheap coin-op goodness, Ken points out this says sad things about the state of the coin-op industry in general. Still, if you're in the area and thinking about one of these you'd be silly not to go. (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-06-14, posted by saint)

06/14/2007

 New project - my mario bros mame cab , xbox powered
Added my mario bros mame cab , xbox powered to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Hello at all from france!

    I'm happy to present the build of my first but not the last mame cab project.

    I've finished it at may 2007. Look the screenshot or transfer it on your site if you want. Pass to see this blog in October for my future project of great mame cab, 2 player and big size with metal slug theme and powered by xbox (emulator console), gamecube, dreamcast and dc gun.

This makes 1188 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 Gah! Sad but true, I identify with this one!
I think I've mentioned ExtraLife before -- the "web comic for geeks, gamers, and stuff like that." It's occasionally NSFW or younger children but is good for a daily chuckle.

This isn't today's comic but I caught it as I was reading back through their archives. Sadly, I identify with this father. Click the picture for the full strip and check out the rest of the archives if you haven't yet :) (Posted By: saint)

 The Tron Lampshade!?
Some things just don't need introductions... (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-06-14, posted by saint)

06/12/2007

 The Dragon King Lives!
Saint has been kind enough to host me, so The Dragon King homepage (formerly Lazarus and the Dragon King) is back online! The site that brought you the first fully skinnable front-end, Johnny 5, Mame Hooker, and those oh-so-famous wrappers is back with an all new look and new features! Expect some BIG releases this summer, so check back often. Actually go there right now for a bonus "lost app" that should be useful to almost everyone.

p.s. This year marks my 5th anniversary for making software for this community. Thanks to everyone, especially Kelsey (Oscar Controls) for hosting me all that time and John (Saint) for putting up with my antics and hosting me now. (Posted By: HowardC)

 New project - Galaxy Dart Board
Added Galaxy Dart Board to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    I made a Arachnid Galaxy dart board. I bought everything on eBay and through Betson.

This makes 1187 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

06/10/2007

 New project - The Rage
Added The Rage to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Two player upright arcade machine, utilizing a neon type marquee.

This makes 1186 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 Topcast today (Sunday) - George Gomez, pinball designer at Williams/Bally and Stern
Sunday June 10, 9pm E.S.T. (8pm Chicago, 7pm Denver, 6pm LA):

George Gomez, pinball designer at Williams/Bally and Stern.

George designed such games as Corvette, Monster Bash, Playboy, the Sopranos and Lord of the Rings. He was also the creator of Williams Pinball 2000 - George and Lawlor created the Halo Pin to demonstrate to management the potential of what was to become Pinball 2000. The first Pin2k game was also a George Gomez design (Revenge from Mars). (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-06-10, posted by saint)

06/07/2007

 New Pac-man
NEW YORK — One of the most beloved video games of all time received a surprise makeover this week.

saint's note - OK, now maybe I need to consider a game console!

edit2 - Contributed by Darkhelmet - thanks! (Posted By: Darkhelmet)

 Removal of adult mame games
CW asked me to post how to do this.

I removed the adult mame roms using this program: MCM http://www.mameworld.net/mcm/

and the latest catver file from here: http://www.progettoemma.net/?catlist

It didn't work for me outright I had to let it create a batch file for me, which if you don't want to fiddle with these two links you can download from here: http://www.rollanet.org/~khigh/byoac/remadult.bat

To use the batch file simply put it in your rom folder and run it, It will rename the adult zip files to .mcm and you will be able to sort them out by "sort by file type" and put them in another folder, or deleting them.

I used this same batch file to remove the png files of the snaps by simply typing in the directory in dos ren *.png *.zip then ran the batch file in that directory and typed ren *.zip *.png

Hope this helps, I won't keep this file up to date, but it is a batch file that removes the adult roms from v 115 of mame. And I take absolutely no credit for this file It is from the creators of MCM and whomever keeps up catlist these days.

- Khigh (Posted By: saint)

 Soviet era arcade games
Wired's got a slideshow of some of "The Lost Arcade Games of the Soviet Union" -- interesting to see how the video game craze was represented in the Soviet Union!

Link courtesy mmmPeanutButter :) (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-06-07, posted by saint)

 Retrogaming Times Monthly Issue #37 is out!
Issue # 37 of the Retrogaming Times Monthly, is now online.

Highlights from our June 2007 issue include:

  • Many Faces of "Kangaroo"
  • Nintendo Realm Mid May to Mid June 1986
  • NEScade - "Burgertime"
  • Apple ][ Incider - Aplple IIGS In the Beginning
You can find all these and more inside the Retrogaming Times Monthly!

117 months in a row - the longest-running online free retro-gaming newsletter ever! (Posted By: saint)

06/02/2007

 Topcast Sunday - Eugene Jarvis (Defender, much more)!
Sunday June 3rd, 9pm E.S.T. (8pm Chicago, 7pm Denver, 6pm LA):

Eugene Jarvis, pinball and video game programmer. Eugene worked at Atari pinball and Williams pinball, teaming up with Steve Ritchie for many of his games, including Superman, Firepower, High Speed, F-14 Tomcat, and others. He also programmed the hit video games Defender, Stargate, Robotron, Narc, Smash TV, Target Terror, and the Fast and the Furious driving game.

Eugene is also the only game designer to have his work featured on a U.S. Postage Stamp (Defender).

For more details see http://marvin3m.com/topcast (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-06-01, posted by saint)

 New project - 4ft Tall Arcade Cabinet (Scooby Doo MAME)
Added 4ft Tall Arcade Cabinet (Scooby Doo MAME) to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    This Mini-Mame arcade cabinet took me a good weekend to complete and only uses a single sheet of MDF (About $20.00) The kids love it and the wife recently completed painting the unit. I will outline the full details soon however please enjoy these pictures.

    saint's note - my kids would love this cabinet :)

This makes 1184 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Arcadia 2007
Added Arcadia 2007 to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Vidmouse's 1st Arcade Cabinet Project. Runs MAME, Arcadia 2001 Emulator, Atari 2600, Visual Pinball. Heavily inspired by some family history (Uncle was the original lead for the Arcadia 2001 console) and lots of BYOAC member projects.

This makes 1185 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 Roadtrip for the biggest arcade game in the world !!!
Have a look at the huge roadtrip done to save no less than the biggest arcade game in the world : GALAXIAN3 THEATER from NAMCO !!! A World Record ? ^^ (Posted By: saint)

06/01/2007

 Dawn of the Light Gun
Quick - when was the first light gun game made?

Chances are, whatever you answered was wrong. The first light gun type of arcade games apparently were made back in the 1930's/1940's -- I didn't even realize they had games like this back then!

Pink Godzilla has an article about "The History Of Light Guns. Part 1:Penny Arcade Shooters" where they introduce this startling fact (ok, it's not exactly earth shattering but I was surprised) and go on to show several of these early machines that pre-date Duck Hunt -- cool stuff! (Posted By: saint)

 UltraStik 360 New Feature Release: Shift Function
Meant to post this a couple of days ago, time flies...

Andy of Ultimarc has been tinkering again!

    The UltraStik 360 now has an optional shift function.

    In addition to the usual 8 buttons which can be connected to each stick, there are now a further 7 "virtual buttons".

    Holding down button 8 (which still has its usual functionality) and then pressing any other button activates one of the 7 virtual buttons.

See the message thread to read more about it and catch some of the discussion :) (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-31, posted by saint)
 Space Harrier by ~ryuzo
Just a picture I found that I liked :)


Space Harrier by ~ryuzo on deviantART (Posted By: saint)

05/31/2007

 Funny Pacman Video
DarkHelmet submitted:
    It's a somewhat funny pac-man video. Not sure if it's apropriate for the kiddies.

saint's note - *Not* safe for the kiddies due to some bad language, but pretty funny :) NSFW.

(Posted By: saint)

 StarWars Yoke Rebuild Kits
Got a StarWars style yoke that has seen better days? Fixing them up can be a headache, particularly tracking down the right gears. Struggle no more! Forum member David, of Ram Controls fame, has put together a StarWars yoke rebuild kit!

    Due to popular demand, I created a "rebuild kit" for Atari Star Wars flight yoke controllers. This kit includes all of the following items:

    2 x 60-tooth (large) gears
    1 x 28-tooth (medium) gear
    1 x 14-tooth (small) gear
    2 x thumb buttons
    4 x bumpers
    4 x small compression springs
    2 x large torsion springs
    2 x small torsion springs

    All of these are reproduction parts made in-house at RAM Controls. These are available on my website for a substantial price, but I'm making a special offer to the BYOAC community for $80 per kit (including shipping within the contiguous U.S.). This offer is good from today (05/30/07) until 12:01AM, Monday June 6th, 2007.

Excellent! See the message thread for more details and ordering info. (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-31, posted by saint)
 Apache Controls Spinner Trade-Up Program!
David (not related to the other David!) of Apache Controls throws out another temptation!

    Hi all,

    Our first year in business has been a great success with the launch of the Blackhawk Push/Pull spinner.

    As a result, Apache Controls is offering an innovative program called "Spinner Trade-Up" in which customers can exchange an existing spinner (any make/model) for a discount toward the purchase of a new Blackhawk.

    For details, click here: http://www.apachecontrols.com/tradeup.html

    Stay tuned for new and exciting innovations by Apache Controls later this year.

    David

    Apache Controls, LLC
    Honeoye Falls, NY (USA)

    ONLINE: www.apachecontrols.com
    EMAIL: support@apachecontrols.com

RetroBlast did a review of this spinner last year :) (Posted By: saint)

05/30/2007

 Holy cow, check out Microsoft Surface!
I want one. Holy cow this looks cool!

Microsoft Surface is a new computer in a tabletop that you interact with using your fingers. It has cameras that sense what you put on top of it such as cameras, phones, etc and lets you interact with them appropriately. Think Minority Report meets Ikea meets cocktail cabinet. I'm not doing it justice, you need to see the videos. This looks sweet!

Of course, what I want to know is when the first BYOAC adaptation of the Surface is going to happen! :)

(Kudos James for the link!) (Posted By: saint)

 Tonight's TOPCast - Michael Sands, of the Sands Mechanical Museum
Wednesday May 30th at 9pm E.S.T. (8pm Chicago, 7pm Denver, 6pm LA):

Michael Sands, of the Sands Mechanical Museum at http://www.sandsmuseum.com/. Michael does museum quality restorations of EM (electro-mechanical) pinballs and EM arcade games. Join us for a conversation with one of the premier EM game restorers in North America. (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-30, posted by saint)

 New project - DIY Ultimate Pre-Game
Added DIY Ultimate Pre-Game to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    UAII cabinet. Custom/scratch built control panel - 4 players, trackball and spinner. 27" TV for the display. I wrote up a complete guide of how I built mine but it will also help you if you'd like to build something different.

This makes 1183 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

05/28/2007

 Remember . . .
I was looking for something inspirational for my Memorial Day's message, when I received this in my email and thought I'd share. I have a lot of respect for the authors - they're my parents. Dad wrote:
    The years come; the years go.

    Was it only yesterday that we were young? Was it yesterday that we were slim and trim, in fighting shape?

    My God, look in the mirror; and what do you see? Do you see that young warrior? That invincible chap with fire in his eyes?

    Do you close your eyes to avoid seeing the grey, or bald head? Do you close your eyes to avoid seeing the grey in your mustache and beard?

    The years come; the years go. Thirty-nine have come and gone since I was there. (Forty, or more, for some of you; 38, or fewer, for others).

    Where are those comrades of yesteryear? And, don't forget those Donut Dollies, those great nurses, and the other women who were there with us. Our comrades in arms are there in our hearts and minds. Some, alas, long gone. Others have left us more recently.

    It is good to remember them, my friends. Others may have forgotten them; others may never have given a damn. But, as long as we are here; they will be remembered.

    It is our duty, it is our honor, it is our glory to go out tomorrow to remember them.

    If we don't, who will?

And my mother adds:

    We're not the same either...no longer the slim and trim blushing bride...wide-eyed with dreams of that perfect Martha Stewart house, where everyone always hangs up their coat or cap when they come home...and where socks and shoes are never scattered on the living room floor...no, we have learned what really matters, and we choose our battles carefully. And when your spouse is deployed or on a hardship tour, as they used to be called, you become mom and dad all rolled into one. You get to be tough and tender to your children, and switch without loosing a beat. And you become tough yourself. Gone is the "little woman" who cried if her batch of biscuits burned, she is gone, never to surface again. And out of the ashes of that "little woman" your military man married comes a can do - get out of my way type person you never knew you had in you. It's the woman who wills her husband to survive the war so he can come home and hold his newborn son for the first time. And it's the woman who looks at the extra inches around her husband's waist and sees the handsome young man in uniform on her wedding day...No, we're not the same either, but if we're lucky, we still get to hold hands, like we did then...
    A Military Wife
Remember those who've given everything for our country -- they've paid for the freedoms you're enjoying today. Freedom isn't free.

(Picture Credit)

(Posted By: saint)

05/26/2007

 Wear your geekiness around your neck - Retro Scarves!
Found this tidbit over on technabob -- What retro-gaming-ensemble would be complete without arcade scarves? Bits to die for is a shop specializing in retro-gaming-style-wear.

    Remember when 8 bits and 16k of memory were enough to create a universe? Remember how you rescued the princess, attacked the invaders and saved the world to the sound of blips and beeps? Now wear your trophy with pride.

    Live in style – bit by bit!

    Q: Do you ship internationally? A: We currently ship to all of Europe, the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. If you live outside these territories, don’t hesitate to contact us, and we will see if we can arrange something. We do not have plans to ship to Vogon in the near future though.

I like their style! (Posted By: saint)

 Retro-Arcade pillow covers!
Another goodie found over at technabob (a site I'm kind of digging) -- retro themed pillow/cushion covers!

    Here are Monkey Craft you'll find handmade goods that tickle a sewing and fabric nerd's fancy. Custom orders are always welcome.

There's more than what's shown here and she takes requests. Check it out! Anyone still wondering what to get me as a present can consider these :) (Posted By: saint)

 Desktop eye candy!
Check out Matt Byron Petch's site. He is an illustrator/animator/artist in the UK. Among other things I found the following two desktop wallpaper eyecandy feasts. These would make a nice backdrop on a cabinet. Images are reduced in size/quality -- visit his site to obtain the full sized originals. Matt's open to being contacted for custom desktop images (says his website). Cool stuff! (Posted By: saint)

05/25/2007

 Slow News Day!
Slow news day today! Know of something interesting in the retro-gaming scene? Share it with everyone! (Posted By: saint)
 Asteroids shirt (slow news day #3)
Asteroids t-shirt, cool stuff! It glows in the dark, how can you resist? :)

Found over at Retro-To-Go. (Posted By: saint)

 You Know You're a Retro-Gamer if . . . (slow news day #2)
OK - I'm labelling today's posts as slow news day but I really got a chuckle out of this one. I identified with a bunch of these, including #1 shown below. How about you? (Posted By: saint)
 Mario Cake (Slow news day #1)
Via I R Serious - The Super Duper Ultra Mega Awesome Video Game Blog! With a name like that how could it be anything but cool? :) (Posted By: saint)
 May wrap-up
May's winding to a close -- last chance to take advantage of some of the deals that are set to expire! Forthrightness notice - BYOAC gets a small cut of sales to some of these vendors.

Design a label for a new Atari 2600 cartridge!


SlikStik - 5% off or free upgrades!


Jamma In A Box $50 off, use coupon "BYOAC"


15% off tokens and mugs at Arcadereplay/Arcadetokens, use code "BYOAC2007"


$50 of the Tankstick or Trackball unit at X-Arcade, other items on sale also (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-25, posted by saint)

 Pac-Man Live Action
I don't have a clue what they're saying, but the ghosts are definetely wailing on the poor PAC Dude.

(Submitted by MPTech) (Posted By: saint)

05/24/2007

 When lasers meet Pong!
Students at Cornell University take a little bit of laser know-how, a little bit of retro-gaming-geekiness, mix well and.... Wall Of Pong!

(Found over at SlashGear) (Posted By: saint)

 NES and SNES controllers on your WII
Got a Wii but long for the days of NES and SNES controllers? RetroZone has added NEW and SNES to Wii cables to their offerings. $19 buys you an adapter for either. RetroZone is the same outfit that sells USB to various console controller adapters. (Posted By: saint)
 Arcades After Dark
    What happens after the lights and machines are turned off and the doors are locked? At the arcade, strange things happen. Characters from video games get together and have fun. They talk and joke and have fun. This website is dedicated to what happens when the games are turned off. This is the Arcade After Dark!

Funny? :) You be the judge! (Posted By: saint)

 Ultimarc BYOAC Discount on Mini-PAC!
To celebrate the fact they have just shipped an order for 400 Mini-PAC boards to one customer, Andy is bringing back the special BYOAC offer for one more month!

From now until the end of June, special pricing on Mini-PAC board for BYOAC participants. Free shipping option on this board (without cable) at only $24. Discount price with USB or PS/2 cable: $26. (plus DHL shipping).

Also on the discount page are PCB mounting feet and the LED harness.

To order use this link.

Excellent, a great time to buy an Ultimarc Mini-Pac! (Posted By: saint)

05/23/2007

 Towel Day - May 25th
You sass that hoopy Douglas Adams? Now there's a frood who knew where his towel was.

(Posted By: saint)

 Design a label for a new Atari 2600 cartridge!
Speaking of Atari Age... They are co-sponsoring a contest with Atari 2600 homebrew author Bob Montgomery, to design a label for his newest creation "Elevator's Amiss!"

    This label artwork will appear on all copies of Elevators Amiss, which will be released at the 2007 Midwest Gaming Classic and then made available through the AtariAge Store.
The contest ends May 30th so if you're interested you better get started now! :) Visit Atari Age to learn more about the new game, others Bob's created, and this contest including the prize!

(Posted By: saint)

 Reminder - The Classic Computing and Gaming Show May 26 in Ohio
Just a timely reminder that the CCGA show (mentioned back in April) in Ohio is this weekend. Caught this timely reminder over at Atari Age :) (Posted By: saint)
 Arcade Legends Sega Genesis 2 on sale at Amazon for $10.
Arcade Legends Sega Genesis 2 on sale at Amazon for $10. Normally $30. I think $10 is about right :) Might be a good candidate for building a mini-cabinet around. Games: Sonic 2, Ecco the Dolphin, Gain Ground, The Ooze, Columns, Alex Kid and the Enchanted Castle.

Found over at RetroThing! (Link includes their affiliate code to give them a small commission)

(Posted By: saint)

 Zelda stained glass
Found this one over at Bits, Bytes, Pixels and Sprites (who just celebrated their 1 year anniversary, happy anniversary guys!).

Hit the link to learn more about this one! (Posted By: saint)

 Build Your Own . . . Atari 2600 Joystick TV Remote Control
Alan Parekh wanted a simple remote that could be used to easily control the volume and mute the TV. He had one of those multi-remotes, but wanted something just a bit cooler, and.... :)

Hit the link to see the step-by-step! Found over at The Last Boss which is somewhat NSFW. (Posted By: saint)

05/22/2007

 Super MArio Brothers: The hard level
Someone emailed me this link, they knew I am into arcade and video games and what not...its long, but thed commentary is absolutely hilarious.

saint's note - Warning, foul language. NSFW (Posted By: Submitted by John on 2007-05-18, posted by saint)

 New project - Defender /Missile Command Mash-up
Added Defender /Missile Command Mash-up to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    My attempt to fuse a Stargate Defender and Missile Commmand control panel overlay. The control panel is swappable and incorporates an old Crayolla Kids PC Trackball, a spinner from Groovy Game Gear, mini pushputtons as well as the usual joystick and pushbutton arrangement.

This makes 1182 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 Beautiful PacMan PhotoShop pictures
CartmanDP1 pointed us towards this contest from August of 2006, where the goal was to Photoshop PacMan into a scene. The results were pretty awesome, some people are really talented! Hit the link for high-resolution versions of my favorites below and more -- 33 total entries! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-21, posted by saint)
 New Dream Arcades Kit
Dream Arcades releases their most popular pre-built arcade, the Cabaret Dreamcade™ , as a kit. It includes everything you need to get your arcade running, just add your own PC. The kit includes a real arcade monitor (SVGA), with safety glass, arcade side-art, and lighted marquee. The two-player control panel comes with lighted access buttons, side-pinball buttons, a boltless trackball and a custom control panel overlay.

Pricing starts at just $1299, plus shipping. (Posted By: saint)

 Cheap Mini-arcade LCD games on Amazon
Shardian pointed these out to us - mini LCD arcade games on Amazon. Pick up the whole lot for about $10! Surely everyone needs a set of these, right... right? Hello? :)

(Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-22, posted by saint)

 Wednesday's TOPcast - Dennis Nordman
Wednesday May 23 at 9pm E.S.T. (8pm Chicago, 7pm Denver, 6pm LA):

Dennis Nordman, who designed games for Bally, Williams and Stern including Party Animal, Elvira and the Party Monsters, Dr. Dude, Whitewater, Demoman, Indy 500, Scared Stiff and Pirates of the Caribbean, will be on TOPCast tomorrow :)

For more details see http://marvin3m.com/topcast (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-22, posted by saint)

05/21/2007

 PacMan Skeleton
Submitted by a couple of folks. Heh. (Posted By: saint)
 VIDEOGAME PIONEER RALPH BAER TO ATTEND NINTH ANNUAL CLASSIC VIDEOGAME TOURNAMENT
Cool beans! Press release received today:
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT:Gary Vincent

    Funspot/American Classic Arcade Museum gvincent@funspotnh.com http://www.funspotnh.com http://www.classicarcademuseum.org

    VIDEOGAME PIONEER RALPH BAER TO ATTEND NINTH ANNUAL CLASSIC VIDEOGAME TOURNAMENT

    Weirs Beach, NH, 5/21/07 – In 1967, a small team of engineers, led by Ralph Baer, designed the world’s first videogame console – The Magnavox Odyssey. In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the first videogame console, legendary gaming pioneer Ralph Baer will attend the annual International Classic Videogame & Pinball Championships on Saturday, June 2nd from 3:30pm until 7:00pm.

    For the ninth annual installment, the tournament will take place from Thursday, May 31st through Sunday, June 3rd, 2007. The annual event is held at the Funspot Family Entertainment Center in Weirs Beach, NH. Funspot is home to the American Classic Arcade Museum – the largest classic gaming arcade in the world.

    The American Classic Arcade Museum is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to restoring and displaying vintage coin-operated amusements. The museum celebrates the origins of the arcade industry. Popular video games from the past, including Asteroids, Pac-Man, Centipede and Defender are just a few of the over 200 games in the classic arcade museum. The museum also contains static displays of game history and the walls feature many posters of vintage arcade games.

    Each year, championship-caliber players from across the United States and around the world gather for four days of classic game competition, and the fun of playing their favorites in the world’s largest collection of classic arcade games still operating in an arcade setting. In prior years, players have come from Australia, Canada, England, Israel and Finland to attend this fun-filled event.

    For 2007, the entire 4-day tournament has been revamped to provide players with more individualized competitions and to allow for easier tracking of the scores. There will be a 6-game pinball tournament and a 12 game video game tournament. Another new addition this year will be the All Atari Competition featuring 10 classic Atari games. There will be $250 cash prizes for each 1st place winner of the individual contests – the Video Challenge, the Pinball Challenge and the All Atari Competition. In addition, cash prizes will be awarded to the winner of each daily Mystery Game Tournament; a popular segment which requires entrants to compete on only one game.

    The video and pinball games used for all of the competitions will not be announced until the start of the tournament at noon on Thursday, May 31st. This is to provide a fair playing field for players who don't have access to those games throughout the year.

    Players may videotape their game play for high score verification. All other videotaping and/or filming at this event must be pre-authorized with the Funspot management.

    ABOUT -- The 9th Annual Classic Videogame & Pinball Championships is co-sponsored by Funspot and the American Classic Arcade Museum. The event will be held May 31st though June 3rd, 2007. Tournament hours are Thursday Noon-10pm, Friday and Saturday 10am-11pm and Sunday 10am-5pm. Admission is $30 and includes 200 game tokens. Registration will be at the door only.

    The Funspot Family Entertainment Center is located on Route 3 in Weirs Beach, NH. The facility has been owned and operated by the Lawton family for over 55 years. The 60,000 square foot center also contains 20 bowling lanes, a miniature golf course, a 400-seat Bingo hall, a restaurant, the D.A. Long Tavern, and a state of the art indoor golf center featuring six Full-Swing Golf Simulators. Funspot and The American Classic Arcade Museum are open year-round. More information can be found at http://www.funspotnh.com and http://www.ClassicArcadeMuseum.org

(Posted By: saint)
 Video Game Sheet Music
Video Game sheet music arranged for piano for the following games Castlevania 2, Crystalis, Dragon Quest V on Piano, Dr. Mario, Faxanadu, Heroes of Might and Magic II, Legend of Zelda, Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, Megaman 2, Megaman 3, Metroid, Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (Posted By: saint)

05/18/2007

 Sunday on TOPcast - Barry Oursler, Williams game designers from 1978 to 1996
Sunday May 20th at 9pm E.S.T. (8pm Chicago, 7pm Denver, 6pm LA):

Barry Oursler, Williams game designers from 1978 to 1996 including 35 games like Gorgar, Joust, Space Shuttle, Space Station, Comet, Pinbot, Fire, Space Station, Cyclone, Bad Cats, Harley Davidson, Dr.Who, BS Dracula, Dirty Harry, Junkyard, and many others. Barry worked at Williams doing pinball from 1970 to 1996. For more details see http://marvin3m.com/topcast (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-17, posted by saint)

 Name this game by sound - fun!
Think you know your 8-bit games? Take the sound quiz, name the game by brief sound clip only! I got 15 out of 18, how about you?

Found by MissionControl (and Nostalgia) :) (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-17, posted by saint)

 LEDs for Beginners on Instructables
Everyone likes a little bit of flash on their projects, right? LEDs are a great way to add some flair to your cabinet. You can buy pre-packaged solutions from some of our BYOAC friendly vendors, and that's a great way to go, but sometimes you want to just Build Your Own :)

Instructables.com has a tutorial on how to wire up an LED including calculating (or having it done for you) the proper resistor,wiring LEDs in series and in parallel, etc. Nice writeup!

(Posted By: saint)

05/17/2007

 Super Mario Brothers Beat Boxing
OK - I don't understand this, but it looks impressive!

(Posted By: saint)

 Monitor envy!
OK - someone build me an arcade cabinet around one of these monitor setups! Found over at Pile Of Photos.

More pictures and links to the originating sites at the link! (Posted By: saint)

 Got a Donkey Kong? New levels coming soon!
Got a Donkey Kong arcade machine? Recognize these levels from your game? No? That's because you haven't had a chance to play them yet - but you will soon!

These screens are from Donkey Kong II - that's right, II -- the brainchild of Jeff Kulczycki of RomHack fame. Jeff's been producing hacks for arcade machines for a while now, adding freeplay, extra scenes, customized attract screens (put your name on your arcade machine!) and such.

His current big project is a new set of levels and play for Donkey Kong he's dubbed Donkey Kong II: Jumpman Returns. As of April 2007 it's being beta tested and is due out sometime this year. Features include:

  • 4 New Levels
  • 4 Old Levels
  • 4 Intermissions
  • New Title Screen
  • New Ending Screen
  • and some other cool stuff
Learn more about it and see some additional shots of the game at the link. I'm stoked, can't wait till this comes out! (Posted By: saint)
 Racing seat, wheels, pedals - $34.99 shipped on woot.com today!
No idea on quality or quantity, and they're for the PS2 and Xbox, but if you're looking for a widget for your console or one to hack, this looks like a good deal!

If you don't know about woot, they have a limited selection of 1 item per day, and when it's gone it's gone. If you're interested, don't hesitate! (BYOAC gets nothing from this FYI)

Originally submitted by Jason - thanks Jason! (Posted By: saint)

05/16/2007

 It's TOKEN TIME!
It's that time of the year again! The 2007 BYOAC token design threads have started! Apparently Santoro hasn't learned his lesson from the last three years :) People are already working on designs, so whether you have an artistic inclination or just want to chime in on the fun, take a look and jump in!

Front of token thread.

Back of token thread.

(Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-15, posted by saint)

 More arcade clocks
Remember the arcade clocks from a few days ago that Frizzle's been playing with? Check out his latest!

Those came out really nice, and were very inexpensive to make. Why don't you have your own game room clock yet? :) (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-15, posted by saint)

 Beautiful retro-eye candy for your desktop
Wow, check out some of the eye candy at this link! Richard Horsman has been working on a parse/render workflow system for the past few years, and the artwork he's produced with it is da bomb! Hit the link to check out his galleries. Some of this is definitely going on my arcade cabinet! :)

(Found over on Retro Game Store's Blog page) (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Adam's Cocktail Cabinet
Added Adam's Cocktail Cabinet to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    A chronological description of the making of a cocktail arcade cabinet - AS SEEN IN PC EXTREME Magazine (issue #7, Aug 03)

This makes 1181 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

05/15/2007

 Check out the NinjaCade!
Check out the NinjaCade, BYOAC member ClubNinja's home game room. Sweet! Hey Ninja - you need to submit your game room to GameRoom magazine if you haven't already :) Click the link for many more pictures and to let ClubNinja know what you think! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-15, posted by saint)
 Retro-stained-glass artwork
Angry_Radish pointed out this sweet bit of retro-stained-glass found over at Bits, Bytes, Pixels and Sprites whom we've pointed out to you before. Cool beans! (I'm a child of the 80's, I can say cool beans if I want to. Stop snickering.) (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-15, posted by saint)
 1up.com retrospective - 40th anniversary of the video game
1up.com has a really nice article on what is arguably the 40th anniversary this month of the invention of the video game. The article dives deeper into the story behind Ralph Baer's creation (we mentioned another interview with him a few weeks ago) and is an interesting look into the creation of what ultimately led to all of this! What would we be doing now if they hadn't invented those darn "tv games?" (Posted By: saint)
 Wednesday's TOPcast - Gottlieb designer John Osborne
Wednesday May 16th at 9pm E.S.T. (8pm Chicago, 7pm Denver, 6pm LA):
JOHN OSBORNE (Gottlieb game designer from 1972 to 1984, including Haunted House.)

For more details see http://marvin3m.com/topcast. (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-15, posted by saint)

 Congratulations to BYOAC member LPZ!
Congratulations to BYOAC member LPZ who has proudly announced a new bouncing BYOAC baby boy! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-15, posted by saint)

05/13/2007

 Midwest Gaming Classic
The Midwest's largest electronic gaming convention, the Midwest Gaming Classic, is coming to the Olympia Resort!

Event Dates:

* Saturday June 9, 2007 - 10:00am to 8:00pm
* Sunday June 10, 2007 - 10:00am to 5:00pm

The show is an "all encompassing electronic gaming event," and features home video games, pinball machines, arcade video games and computers. Geek paradise :)

Our buddies at Gameroom Magaazine are one of the sponsors - if you're in the area stop on by! (Posted By: saint)

 Know how many ROMs have been legally released?
Now you probably know that I usually steer away from emulation news as 1) it's covered elsewhere better, and 2) this isn't an emulation site -- however, this is interesting news!

Caught this news over at Retrogames(!) -- apparently Xidy has given their blessing to have several Exidy ROMs distributed by MAMEDEV for free (copyright presumably still applies, non commercial use only)!

There are 12 ROMs listed on the MAMEDev page, including Circus!

(Posted By: saint)

05/10/2007

 Luigi's story . . .
Eh... not really my cup of tea but it might be entertaining. Ever notice how Mario gets all the spotlight while poor Luigi is the "other brother?" -- Luigi finally gets his story told in this video clip!

Found over at Joystiq.com (Posted By: saint)

 ScrewAttack's 5 Worst and 5 Best Game Peripherals
ScrewAttack.com gives us their take on the 5 worst and 5 best game console peripherals. Warning - due to really bad language and sexual themes, this video is NSFW. It is, nontheless, kind of entertaining. You've been warned!

Found via TechEBlog. (Posted By: saint)

 Interview with Dragon's Lair's David Foster
Caught this over at DreamStation.cc -- "We were fortunate enough to get in touch with David Foster of Digital Leisure, who recently re-released the arcade classic Dragon's Lair on Blu-Ray disc ..."

David Foster is one of the guys responsible for the recent release of Dragon's Lair on Blu-Ray, which apparently will knock your socks off at least as far as the animation. David's "been involved in varying capacities with the release of Dragon’s Lair on Amiga, Atari ST, Mac, Apple II GS, PC floppy disc, PC CD-ROM, 3D0, Sega CD, Atari Jaguar, PC DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, PC HD DVD-ROM and HD-DVD."

Pretty cool interview. (Posted By: saint)

05/09/2007

 Tonight on Topcast - Steve Ritchie, pinball designer
TOPcast - This Old Pinball's online radio show!
    Wednesday May 9th, 9pm E.S.T. (8pm Chicago, 7pm Denver, 6pm LA):

    Steve Ritchie, pinball designer at Williams (1980s/1990s) and Stern (present), will be on TOPcast. Steve designed such great selling pinballs like Flash, Firepower, Black Knight, Hyperball, High Speed, F-14 Tomcat, Terminator2, Getaway HS2, Star Trek Next Gen, No Fear, T3, Elvis, and of course the new Spiderman.

    Join us tonight for a talk with the man that is THE pinball designer of the 1980s, 1990s, and today.

    For more details see http://marvin3m.com/topcast

(Posted By: saint)
 Video Games Live at E for All Expo!
Remember the Video Games Live show we mentioned a while back? It's a musical compilation of some of the classic 8 bit game tunes performed by the Video Games Live orchestra.

They'll be playing at the E for All Expo in Los Angeles on Friday, October 19th! The show will be taking place in the new Nokia Theater across the street from the Convention Center and Staples Center. The theater seats 7000, but as this is the very first show at this venue I wouldn't wait to get tickets if you're planning to go.

Read more about it at the E for All Expo home.

(Found via IGN) (Posted By: saint)

05/08/2007

 Heh.
Heh. (Posted By: saint)
 The Nintendo Room
Wow. My kids would go Donkey Kong - er ... ape - over a room like this!

(Posted By: saint)

05/07/2007

 Reminder - sales in May
Since things are scrolling down kind of quickly these days, thought I'd post a reminder of sales going on in May. Forthrightness notice - BYOAC gets a small cut of sales to some of these vendors.


SlikStik - 5% off or free upgrades!


Jamma In A Box $50 off, use coupon "BYOAC"


15% off tokens and mugs at Arcadereplay/Arcadetokens, use code "BYOAC2007"


$50 of the Tankstick or Trackball unit at X-Arcade, other items on sale also

Some of these sales may be ending soon, some go through the end of May. Mother's Day and Father's Day are coming up -- cheers! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-05, posted by saint)

 Build Your Own . . . Retro Toaster!
RecycledPast found this one over at Instructables. This one may be too out there for me, but cool nontheless :)

Mod your toaster into making toast with retro-arcade (or any for that matter) images burnt into the toast! How long before someone does one of those stop motion videos with Space Invaders done with toast? (Posted By: saint)

 New video driver project for arcade monitors/TVs
Peale found a new video driver project that should get the attention of arcade monitor or TV cabinet builders! Project is in the early stages and is a German project but has English information at the links provided here.

About
The project “Soft-15KHz” is about reprogramming of video adapters and/or their drivers to make them usable with normal Arcade monitors and/or TVs.

It does this by doing small changes to the windows registry to add typical arcade screen resolutions, as well as tweaking some existing ones, and locking out all others.

Status
The project is to be consideres ALPHA Status but should work as intended.

    * Features
  • Frontend for Windows 98*, 2000 and XP
  • 15KHz Resolutions.
  • 25KHz Resolutions.
  • 31KHz Resolutions.
  • ATI Catalyst supported.
  • NVidia ForceWare supported.
  • Matrox Drivers supported.
  • 3Dfx Drivers supported.
    • * only ATI on Windows 98.

    * Planned Features

  • 35-38KHz Resolutions.
  • Other Drivers supported.

Screenshots and download link

Read more about it on their message forums. Anyone giving this a try be sure to report in! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-06, posted by saint)

05/06/2007

 Arcade game screenshot quiz
Today's the day for quizzes, hope you studied! A kindred spirit web site in Germany put together a "name the arcade game" quiz.

You have ten seconds to select the name you think the screenshot is from. After 3 wrong answers you loose and can start a new game.

Click here to launch!
Arcade Screenshot quiz (Posted By: saint)

 What video game character are you?
Which SNES game character are you?

I'm apparently Megaman - The boy in blue. You're a true hero, strong, determined, and adaptable. But you really were never designed to be a hero. You'd be much happier living a simple life. But programing is programing.

(This one brought to us by missioncontrol) (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-06, posted by saint)

05/05/2007

 Human Pong!
(Posted By: saint)
 Intimate Game Controllers ... er.... I just don't know what to say
NSFW or young children. Tired of losing your spouse to a video game? Try one of these intimate game controllers and... er... play with each other... er... together .... er... oh hell, just read about it here or watch the clip. Adults only!

(Posted By: saint)

 Congratulations Shmokes!
Now go get a job! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-05, posted by saint)

05/04/2007

 Nintendo Playhouse
The shot of the front of the building is by far the coolest. I thought it might be worth a look. Turns out it is from the Spring Carnival at Carnegie Mellon University. (Posted By: saint)
 Build Your Own . . . Arcade Game Clock
Frizzle's at it again! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-04, posted by saint)
 Mario in the real world!
NSFW or young children! Found by someone whose anonymity I'll protect :)


Mario: Game Over - Brought to you by Break.com Video Search (Posted By: saint)

 Retrogaming Times #36 revisited
Have you taken a look at RetroGaming Times Monthly #36 yet? I finally got a chance to do so and the first article is ... well... I won't spoil the surprise but it's a must read! :)

(Thanks Scott, I'm blushing! Kudos properly go to all the people who've helped build BYOAC over the years!) (Posted By: saint)

05/03/2007

 Free game giveaway of the day
Think I'll put this up about once a month. This has been going on for several months, someone following it carefully could have built up quite a collection by now!

Remember you have to download *AND* install it that same day to get the fully registered version. (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-03, posted by saint)

 Guy plays Super Mario Brothers levels 1 and 2 with his eyes closed
File this under "too much time on your hands." -- This guy plays Super Mario Brothers levels 1 and 2 with his eyes closed.

Found over at Joystiq. (Posted By: saint)

05/02/2007

 SlikStik May Super Sale
SlikStik is offering some fantastic saving and some of our most popular upgrades free! Check out our website for more info -- SlikStik Website!

saint's note - SlikStik makes great products, check them out! In the interest of being up front, BYOAC gets a small cut if you purchase through this link :) (Posted By: saint)

 Retrogaming Times Monthly Issue #36 is out!
Issue # 36 of the Retrogaming Times Monthly, is now online!

Highlights from the May 2006 issue include:

  • Many Faces of "Fast Eddie"
  • Nintendo TGFX Realm
  • NEScade - "Joust"
  • Apple ][ Incider - Happy 30th Birthday!
  • Old Wine in New Bottles: Retrogaming on Modern Hardware
You can find all these and more inside the Retrogaming Times Monthly!

116 months in a row - the longest-running online free retro-gaming newsletter ever! (Posted By: saint)

05/01/2007

 Dragon's Lair - the Movie!
This has been talked about for a while, but it looks like it's coming closer to being a reality. Dragon's Lair, the movie! I'd love to see this done well as a movie. Shardian on the forums pointed out this article about it over at IGN. Apparently they've had a script for it ready for 3 years now and are just waiting to find the right folks to put it together. Read a bit more about it over at IGN, and also get a look at some pictures from the new Blu-Ray release of the game! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-05-01, posted by saint)
 Atari 2600 tribute
TheBoz found this tribute over at YouTube to the Atari 2600. Cool stuff :) Content is mildly inappropriate for young children.

(Posted By: saint)

04/30/2007

 New product from Groovy Game Gear!
Look out, here comes another new product from Groovy Game Gear! No, it's not my ambient lighting widget that I'm lusting after (hint hint Randy), it's the KeyWiz-QD™!
    The KeyWiz-QD™ comes with the same great High-Performance core features of the KeyWiz product line. Added to this is the convenience and versatility of DB-25 connectors. Designed to accept both Male and Female DB-25 plugs, the KeyWiz-QD will allow use of a standard M/F "Straight-Through" DB-25 cable that is split in half, providing "keyed" connections for 1 and 2 player controls. Four additional on-board screw-termninals provide convenient access to 5v, Shazaaam! and Ground connections.

    Each players controls are separated to their own connector, with numerous important Admin functions duplicated on each. 5v, Shazaaam! and multiple grounds are also available on each connector.

    Price: $32.95 and it is available now.

(Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-04-30, posted by saint)
 Jamma-In-A-Box $50 off sale for BYOAC members!
If you have been around for any time at all at BYOAC, you're familiar with Arcade-In-A-Box. For those who might have missed it, the basic concept is to put the entirety of an emulation cabinet inside a control panel -- the entire arcade in a single box!

Ed from AIAB also sells a Jamma-In-A-Box. Same concept, but running a Jamma board instead of a computer. It's also known as a SuperGun. These are very cool and have gotten great reviews (including one by yours truly for the AIAB).

Right now through the end of May, Arcade In A Box is selling the Jamma-In-A-Box to BYOAC members for $50 off, dropping the price to $399!

    Jamma-In-A-Box is a JAMMA supergun unit designed to play standard JAMMA Compliant arcade PCBs. There is no emulation involved in these units. They play the actual PCBs used in arcade cabinets.

    Features of the JIAB

    a.. Works with most Jamma Compliant PCBs
    b.. 2 sets of audio out plugs. Split Mono for standard Jamma connection and Pass through RCA jacks for use with CPS-2 boards.
    c.. Happ Arcade Controls and JAMMA Harness
    d.. Your choice for joystick, button and t-molding colors.
    e.. Internal Arcade Power Supply
    f.. High Quality Black Melamine Construction
    g.. jrok RGB to NTSC Encoder allows for Component, S-Video and Composite video out
    h.. ON/OFF Switch
    i.. 80mm Exhaust Fan
    j.. Wired for 6 buttons per player, game specific kick harnesses are available

Check out the video:

Sweet! Now that I have a projector in the basement I think one of these may be in my future :) To get your discount, you have to use the discount code of "BYOAC" without the quotes.

Did you know that AIAB also makes custom arcade controllers? If you've got something in mind ask them for a free quote! (Posted By: saint)

04/29/2007

 15% off arcadetokens.com/arcadereplay.com for BYOAC members!
Santoro's giving BYOAC members a 15% discount through the end of May at arcadetokens.com/arcadereplay.com - excellent!

From santoro

    I finally got off my behind and added Coupon and Gift Certificate functionality to my site. I am offering 15% off any purchase to BYOAC members.

    Please

    1) Include your nickname in the notes field so I can verify you are a Member. I will be verifying.
    2) One coupon code per order.
    3) Coupon is good through the end of May

    The magic code is: BYOAC2007. You will be prompted to enter it in the payment screen.

Pick up BYOAC, MAME, or generic arcade tokens at a discount, or try out the arcade memories mugs! I've been tempted to pickup a 6-pack of the mugs for a while now for my gameroom bar. Anyone thinking of buying me (saint) a present for how swell of a guy I am, now's a great time! (Posted By: santoro)

04/28/2007

 New PacMan ghost screensaver
Trebeck from our forums has created a PacMan ghost screensaver and posted it for everyone to enjoy. Sweet! Thanks Trebeck! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-04-27, posted by saint)
 MegaMan on the Atari 2600?
Custom Atari 2600 game, was going to be part of I Am 8-bit but didn't make it quite in time. Check out the game play!

Found by way of Wired! (Posted By: saint)

04/27/2007

 Online PDF gaming magazines
Stumbled upon a post on a blog listing online PDF gaming mags. Some interesting projects out there to read, thought I'd pass this on! I think Adenture Lantern is the one that intrigues me the most :) (Posted By: saint)
 The Rise and Fall of PacMan
Found this over on Destructoid which is somewhat NSFW. Clip is funny with one instance of mildly strong language :)

(Posted By: saint)

 Canvas art
File this under "stuff I want" -- unfortunately they only ship in the UK so I can't get it :( Still cool for those of you on that side of the water!

Retro Perspective is a site selling retro-themed art printed on "heavyweight matte canvas, using UV based pigment inks which are guaranteed to last as long as 75 years." The canvas is stretched over a frame.

I think some of these would look great on a game room or home theater wall. If anyone buys one of these tell them you heard about it from BYOAC and that the owner wishes they'd ship to the United States! :) Anyone know of a source of similar style artwork in the USA? (Posted By: saint)

04/26/2007

 Build Your Own . . . Video Game Pipe Cleaner Sculptures
More artistic talent that I don't have :) Here's someone building video game characters out of pipe-cleaners! (Posted By: saint)
 Into the Pixel - 2007 video game art exhibition
Here's another video-game inspired art exhibit. Rather than being retro oriented, this one takes a look at modern video games and the artwork they employ.

"The Into the Pixel exhibit will feature 16 exemplary works of video game art, selected by a panel of jurors from a field of submissions gleaned from artists around the world. The exhibition offers an opportunity for published video and computer game artists to be reviewed and recognized by the public and by their peers in both the art and video game milieu."

"The 2007 Into the Pixel Art Exhibition will premiere at Creative Artists Agency in June. The framed art will be unveiled in July at the E3 Media & Business Summit in Santa Monica, California. The Exhibition will open to the public at the new E for All Expo at the LA Convention Center, October 18-21, 2007."

The picture below is from the 2006 exhibition. (Posted By: saint)

 E3 and E For All -- what's the scoop?
If you haven't been living under a rock for the last few years you're probably familiar with E3 - the video gaming trade show that attracted tens of thousands of visitors each year. This year E3 is closed to the public and is by invitation only. The new design for E3 is meant to make it less of a public circus and more for high-profile video game business types to mingle and see what's new.

The successor to the old E3 for the public is the new E For All Expo taking place in Los Angeles in October at the Los Angeles Convention Center. "Entertainment for All Expo (E For All) is a new event created for games & gamers - people who are passionate about video games and everything related. Experience the excitement and energy first-hand when this crowd comes together to test-drive all the latest games and gadgets."

According to MacWorld News, "additional attractions are in the works, such as video game tournaments, a job fair, family-friendly offerings and Video Games Live, a concert of video game music."

Advanced tickets have already gone on sale to those who can get them - no word on general public ticket sales yet. (Posted By: saint)

04/25/2007

 New project - Hardcore Playstation 3 DIY Cabinet
Added Hardcore Playstation 3 DIY Cabinet to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Custom designed, professionally built table-top style dual-monitor cabinet for Playstation 3 head-to-head gaming action. Cabinet also houses a computer for emulation, and has swappable control panels. Designed after Japanese gaming cabinets, the creator even went so far as to find the same seats used in the Japanese cabinets for authenticity and feel. Different than our usual projects, this is a pretty sweet setup! Check out the site for more details!

This makes 1180 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 Somedays tech support feels painfully like this!
This will be painfully funny to anyone in the IT business!

(Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-04-25, posted by saint)

 Arcade auction, Saturday May 5th, York, PA
Just a reminder of our amusement equipment auction on Saturday, May, 5th in York, Pa. at the York Expo Center.

For information concerning this auction please contact Rob Ritterhoff at 609-425-4281.

Thanks,
USAA (Posted By: saint)

 Build your own . . . arcade sprites
Got ambitions of creating your own arcade sprites but no talent? Check out SpritePimp.com -- they rip sprites from various console and arcade games, and let you insert captions on the sprite like the ones below. Not a huge amount of sprites available yet but maybe they'll grow :)

Site works better in IE than Firefox.

(Posted By: saint)

 Andy of Arcade Ambiance fame needs help
Specifically, he needs help getting Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat sounds for his newest project. If you've got skills in these games and would like to help, check the comment thread for details . . . (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-04-25, posted by saint)

04/24/2007

 Internet Radio Meets Retro Gaming!
Emulators, emulator cabinets, websites, newsgroups, and art exhibits not enough retro-gaming for you?

Retro-gaming has another outlet that might not be familiar to all of you - radio! Not AM/FM radio, but Internet radio. Check out the following ways to while away some time . . .


Retro Arcade Radio

"Retro Arcade Radio is a free Internet streaming radio station that celebrates the late '70s - early '80s arcade gaming scene. If you fondly remember the days of Pacman, Donkey Kong, Defender, Centipede, Asteroids, Berzerk, Intellivision, Colecovision, Vic20, C-64, and the Atari 2600, then this station is for you! I have also mixed in a helping of period gaming commercials for added fun!"

I've been listening to Retro Arcade Radio off and on for some time now, and it's pretty amusing to have playing in the background. I'm listening to it now in fact :)

For the pinheads among us, there are not one but two shows to catch! The first is TOPcast Pinball Talk.

"What is TOPcast (Pinball Internet Radio)? Well it's a one hour Internet radio show that allows people to call in (or email) and ask tech questions about their (broken) games. They also have Special Guests on the show that work in the pinball industry. And there's special features like Stump the Chump, Game of the Week, Tech Tip of the Week, Play of the Week, and more! The show is hosted by Norm & Shaggy of 'This Old Pinball' video DVD pinball repair and restoration fame."

Norm and Shaggy have been in the pinball game for a long time, and are well known and regarded in the pinball scene. The next (their 30th!) show is Wednesday April 25th, and their guest will be Wayne Neyens, pinball designer for Gottlieb from 1949 to 1965. There's even a webcam during the show. Tune in and soak up some pinball expertise!

The next fix for your pinball habit is Talk Pinball.

"Talk Pinball is a webcast (online radio show) where enthusiasts can call in and talk to game designers, manufacturers, collectors, and more. We also share repair and restoration tips as well as answer tech questions."

The show is hosted by enthusiasts and veterans Jesse Kujawa (Pinball Magic) and Lloyd Olson (LTG). You can call in and ask questions live, and this past Sunday their guest was none other than Game Room Magazine/RetroBlast's own Kevin Steele! That episode isn't downloadable yet but hopefully will be soon :)

The last one is kind of the grandaddy of them all - RetroGaming Radio!

RetroGaming Radio is the brainchild of Shane Monroe. Those of you who have been around for a while may remember when Shane ran Insert Coin, one of the original emulation scene websites, before he branched out in a variety of related projects. One of those was RetroGaming Radio, and they're now in their 7th year!

"Currently in its SEVENTH year broadcasting, RetroGaming Radio is a FREE monthly MP3 radio show spotlighting the greatest era of video gaming. From hard hitting gritty interviews with famous classic game programmers to edgy relevant editorial commentaries ... classic game reviews to a social commentary look at video games on the internet ... RetroGaming Radio delivers hours of great content every month. Yours for free ..."

And when they say hours, they mean hours! The current episode is almost 4 hours long. "This month, we interview Bob Polaro (Atari 2600 Defender), review the High Definition version of Dragon's Lair, rant about the means justifying the end in video games, get an update on the GP2x handheld, Scott "Subarubrat" gives us another great hardware flashback on multicarts and C64 transfer cables and does two 8-Bit flashbacks for us - all this plus our huge Bits & Bytes segment - plus more!"

RetroGaming Radio as well as the other three mentioned here really do a great job covering the retro gaming hobby and everything related - be sure to check them out! (Posted By: saint)

 Gamebox 1.0 - Virtual Reality Video Game Thriller - Anyone seen it?
--- SPOILER WARNING ---
This news item is about the new movie called Gamebox 1.0, and includes a brief synopsis of the movie. If you don't want to read potential spoilers (I haven't seen the movie so it will just be what's in the trailers) skip ahead to the next news item after the picture.

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.
.
.
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Gamebox 1.0 looks to be a cross between Tron and pick-a-modern-day-thriller-here. "A reclusive video game tester discovers a revolutionary new console system with the power to feed on the player's most intimate hopes and fears. In addition to featuring a wireless headset, the mysterious game system also sports a camera with which Charlie is encouraged to photograph his friends so they may become characters in the game. Compelled by the prospect of escaping reality and truly immersing himself in a realistic, three-dimensional environment ..." (fye.com).

I'm intrigued, and will probably pick it up just because of the premise, but it looks like it's just as likely to be horrible as is it good. Have you seen this flick yet? Post your thoughts in the comment thread and let me know if I should spend the $20! (Posted By: saint)

04/23/2007

 DDR while juggling ... fire!
Playing Dance Dance Revolution. Juggling fire. Not normally two phrases associated with one another. I'm not personally talented enough for either of these two activities, but here's a kid doing both at the same time!

Link brought to us by forum member Donkey_Kong! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-04-22, posted by saint)

 Haloid - Metroid vs Halo movie
Neither game is one I've played (OK, my most recent console is a Gamecube and it's for the kids), but this fan-video looks cool! I won't give any of it away by commenting further, but it's not over when the credits start rolling. Possibly not safe for work or children.

(Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-04-22, posted by saint)

 More I Am 8-bit Pictures!
I-Mockery.com went to the 8-bit art show and has more pictures posted, including several I hadn't seen before.

*WARNING* - A small number of the pictures are pornographic. NSFW or children! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-04-23, posted by saint)

 Oscar Controls mirror online
Due to real life constraints, Oscar Controls is for all intents and purposes closed. Perhaps one day they'll come back, but for now it's all mothballed. However, the owner is still an arcade enthusiast and supporter of the community.

The Oscar Controls website is down, but the owner has given me permission to host a mirror of his site here at BYOAC. There's a wealth of information, tutorials, and eye-candy to be had there as well as information on the products they used to sell.

Please bear in mind it's a mirror - don't try to buy a spinner, it won't work! :) (Posted By: saint)

04/22/2007

 Discountddrpads.com
Got an email from Discountddrpads.com asking to do a link exchange with BYOAC. I don't do link exchanges, but I'm always happy to give a plug to a new vendor on the block, so here tis :) They specialize in metal DDR pads, so if you're in the market give them a look! (Posted By: saint)
 Speaking of vendors - checkout Pinewood Princess' latest!
One of our favorite vendors and a board participant, check out one of Pinewood Princess' latest projects :) Her work continues to impress, and I can speak personally being a repeat customer! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-04-22, posted by saint)
 Speaking of Tanks and X-Arcade
Speaking of tanks and X-Arcade -- they're having a pretty good sale right now. Don't know how long it's been going on or when it's going to end, but you can pick up the X-Arcade Tankstick for $200 ($50 off), the trackball unit for $50 ($50 off), the Solo for $99, and the Dual for $129!

Open acknowledgement -- BYOAC gets a small commission if you buy one of the X-Arcades through a BYOAC link. (Posted By: saint)

 Build Your Own . . . Sherman Tank!
If you can dream it, someone will build it! Take a look at this project built by a man for his son to tool around in. When I was a kid, I thought I was cool in my big-wheel!

How's this arcade related? The control is an X-Arcade joystick :) (Posted By: saint)

 New project - KillerArcades - Galaga
Added KillerArcades - Galaga to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    After having helped out some friends on theirs, I finally got a chance to do my own from scratch. Based on a Galaga theme, this system runs multiple emulators with illuminated pushbuttons and balltop joysticks. Have done almost a dozen of these now for friends and co-workers now and am loving every minute of it.

This makes 1179 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

04/19/2007

 1UP Retro Music Video
Sitting here, falling asleep at the keyboard, I'd about decided to skip news updates tonight. Then I popped this up and thought I've got to share this one :)
    Want a doseage of pure extreme retro gaming action? Look no further! This music video is a metaphorical punch in the face of a tribute (and parody) to the retro video games from the 80s to early 90s.
This is another one that's going on my cabinet. Check it out :)

(Posted By: saint)

04/18/2007

 Columbus Ohio arcade auction, Saturday April 28th
From their email:
    For information concerning this auction please contact Jeff Schwartz at 502-551-1866.

    Thanks,

    USAA

(Posted By: saint)
 Are arcades on the rise in America?
There's the success of Ground Kontrol, Brooklyn's Barcade (recent writeup at RetroBlast) that was featured on Fox News and also write-ups at a variety of industry web sites such as GamePro.com.

According to the articles, the number of arcades in the US has dropped from a peak in the '80s of more than 10,000 to a low of about 2500 about 4 years ago. Now that figure's grown to 3500, retro-gaming is everywhere, and arcades are making the news. Even orangutans are playing video games now! Are arcades making a come-back, or is it more hype than reality?

What's your 2 cents worth? (Posted By: saint)

 Honda Tron commercial
If you haven't seen this yet . . . Pretty cool :)

Link found over at RetroBlast :) (Posted By: saint)

 Speaking of Tron - Tron Guy on Jimmy Kimmel
The Tron guy goes on Jimmy Kimmel's show. Personally I wasn't terribly thrilled with Kimmel's interview but ... meh ... interesting to see the Tron guy "live" instead of just his web site :)

(Posted By: saint)

 I am 8 bit is underway - BYOAC member has the inside scoop!
OK, maybe it's not a scoop, but Koolmoecraig from the forums was lucky enough to hit the I am 8 bit exhibit in Hollywood yesterday. You may remember this when we covered it in the news previously.

koolmoecraig took pictures and has posted them online, take a look! I'm jealous, I want to go :) (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-04-18, posted by saint)

04/17/2007

 PC-Mag's Top 10 Weird Game Controllers
PC-Magazine gets in the game and takes a look at unique game controllers. From the chain-saw controller to the $35,000 full motion-gaming system, there are some pretty interesting gadgets here. Be sure to take a look at the Paradox hand-held controller with built in trackball, might be a worthy consideration for people building panels without trackball but still wanting that occasional fix -- $27, but only 30,000 units being made so don't dally. I was going to try to come up with a favorite but I want to try them all :) (Posted By: saint)
 Build Your Own ... Rubik's Cube Mario and Koopa Paratroopa
80's geeks unite! Here's another person more talented than I (the number of these indivudals increases distressingly every day), this time a master of Rubik's Cube. What he does is take a set of Cubes, arranges them the hard way (no dissasembling or other cheating) so that the individual colors end up where he wants them, and creates pixelized artwork by combining cubes. Once again, pixels are pixels whatever you create them out of.

His Flickr pages include instructions and the final results for creating Mario and a Koopa Paratroopa. I have to say I'm tempted to try my hand at the Mario. How much can 24 Cubes cost anyway...? (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Age of Steam Machine
Added Age of Steam Machine to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    An arcade conversion with a twist: retrofitted an old cabinet to look like an age of steam style machine by completely covering the exterior with copper sheeting and brass screws.

    saint's note - impressive! Inducted into the Hall of Fame.

This makes 1177 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Cronin's Arcade - 1 Piece Design
Added Cronin's Arcade - 1 Piece Design to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    This is my third cabinet, second one from scratch. I built this machine for my daughters' school raffle. We raised $2500 with this machine!

    The plans for this design can be downloaded from my website.. http://www.croninsarcade.com

This makes 1178 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

04/16/2007

 Space Invaders . . . Shoes
OK - we have had:

Presenting the latest addition to the mix, the Space Invaders shoes (Kotaku.com)! Can underoos be far behind? :) (Posted By: saint)

 Super Mario - First Person
I'm really *not* that big of a Mario fan but there seem to be a lot of them out there. I enjoy the games but it would never occur to me to create some of the things people have made.

Here's a clip of Mario done in first-person perspective. Looking at it from this perspective, if I was Mario, I'd have just stayed huddle in a ball hoping it would all go away ... :)

(Posted By: saint)

 Sweet eye candy cabinet!
Sweet! File this one under "Things I seriously want to do to my cabinet!"

Here's a home-built arcade cabinet of fairly nice appearance with a unique twist - ambient glow lighting! The builder installed an LED Ambient Light System from http://www.a-r-e.nl. The system monitors the color tones on your screen, and using LEDs, emits an appropriately colored glow. Check out the picture, very cool! At roughly $250 for the basic package shipped to the US ($165 EUR before shipping), it's a bit pricey, but there are other packages including a cheaper do-it-yourself option with some soldering required.

Hey guys, if you want to send out a review sample I'm your man! (Posted By: saint)

 The Ultimate Video Game Quiz Challenge: Atari
So, think you're a retro-geek, eh? Here's a 10 minute time killer that'll give you a chance to prove it!

Take the Atari quiz and see how much of a retro-geek you are. I rated as an "Atari Noob" and I thought I had done pretty well!

Warning - it's not forgiving of spelling errors. I missed one question because of an apostrophe.

(Edit - removed embedded version since it autoplays music. Click the picture below to take the quiz!)

(Found via Destructoid, but direct linked to Zipperfish instead as Destructoid can be a bit NSFW. Fun site to check out nontheless!) (Posted By: saint)

 The Ultimate Video Game Quiz Challenge: Nintendo
So, think you're a retro-geek (is there an echo here?), eh? Here's another 10 minute time killer that'll give you a chance to prove it!

Take the Nintendo (NES) quiz and see how much of a retro-geek you are. I rated as a "Nintendo Moron" with a score of 600 and it was probably deserved.

(Edit - removed embedded version since it autoplays music. Click the picture below to take the quiz!)

(Found via Destructoid, but direct linked to Zipperfish instead as Destructoid can be a bit NSFW. Fun site to check out nontheless!) (Posted By: saint)

04/15/2007

 Konami characters and their 80's counterparts
Separated at birth? Konami characters and their 80's counterparts at Shamoozal Nerdlog.

(Posted By: saint)

 Build your own . . . movie theater arcade?
MSNBC.com is launching a gimmick where you can play a game of Breakout, and as bricks fall they turn into RSS news items. Geeky, probably fun for a few minutes. What makes this newsworthy(?) is the next step for this. They're going to put it in a movie theater, and the audience's bodies become the paddle controller! A camera watches the audience, and as everyone leans left the paddle leans left, and so on.

I have a mental image of an entire theater of people leaning back and forth in unison like some mirrored snake charmer. I wonder what happens if some people lean the wrong way...? :) (Posted By: saint)

 Another Mario quiz
Hot (?) on the heels of the last Mario quiz comes another one, this time from GameDaily. How well do you know Mario?

I scored 9 out of 10, woot! (Posted By: saint)

04/14/2007

 Pac Man and other classic arcades animated with tea lights
This is pretty cool :) When you get down to it, video games are pretty much made up of individual pixels. Gather enough tea-light candles, put them in a grid, and you get the ability to . . .

Found over at Techabob!

(Posted By: saint)

 Animated Space Invaders door mat!
OK. I want one. (Posted By: saint)
 Geeks playing video games - beyond arcade controls . . .
Virtual game parts displayed on any surface that you can interact with - VR shoes - play your favorite PC games in fully immersive virtual reality -- read more about it at TechEBlog :)

(Posted By: saint)

 Free game giveaway of the day
It's been a while since I plugged this. This has been going on for several months, someone following it carefully could have built up quite a collection by now!

Remember you have to download *AND* install it that same day to get the fully registered version. (Posted By: saint)

04/13/2007

 An interview with Ralph Baer - the father of video games(?)
Gamasutra.com has posted an interview with Ralph Baer, the father of video games. What's that you say, wasn't it Nolan Bushnell? You'll have to read the article to sort that out. It's an interesting read! (Posted By: saint)
 Video Game icon interviews
Speaking of video game legends, here's an interview with Nolan Bushnell (taken from the Atari Anniversary Edition compilation so it may not stay up for long -- if you don't have a copy you ought to consider picking one up, they're cheap and pretty cool). He talks about Atari's early years, the development of Pong, and other tidbits of early gaming history.

You'll also find interviews with the creators of Joust and Robotron and Defender. Cool stuff :) (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Custom Media Room AV Rack (e.g. Arcade Cabinet)
Added Custom Media Room AV Rack (e.g. Arcade Cabinet) to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Custom Media Room AV Rack

    Here is my custom built AV rack for all my equipment in my media room (I know it looks like an Arcade Cabinet but how else was I going to sell this project to the wife)...

    I started with a X-Arcade Dual and, of course, wanted more so I now have a custom control panel with two 8-Ways, one 4-way (Tornado Terry), Trackball, and Harddrive Spinner.

    I have shelves behind the coin door for all my AV equipment for the media room and my laptop pc for MAME. I can also either use the TV stereo speakers for classic sound or switch the the 5.1 system for extra loud game playing...

This makes 1176 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 Free Kraft Dance Pads are back
Utena wrote in to let us know that Kraft is giving away free dance pads again ($6.00 shipping) through June 31, 2007. I picked one of these up last time, and while they're certainly not arcade quality you can't beat the price. These might be candidates for hacking into something more arcade-quality-like.

Anyone tinkering with one of these be sure to post about it in the comments thread! (Posted By: saint)

04/12/2007

 Dragon's Lair music video - MEGA-COOL!
Ok, I've admitted my geekness here before, and I'm doing so again. However, I'm ok with that because, well, you're here too, right?

One of my all time favorite arcade games ever is Dragon's Lair. The first time I laid eyes on one in the arcade was one of those magic moments of my youth I'll always remember. Sadly, I stank at Dragon's Lair, but the eye candy always kept me hooked when someone was playing.

Fast forward to recent history. I own an original Dragon's Lair poster (the full sized movie style), and at least five different versions of Dragon's Lair or a sequel for my computer. Dragon's Lair 3D is one that I've had for a while but never cracked until I found this -- it has a music video to accompany it, sung by the voice of Daphne (Julie Eisenhower), and it's awesome!

Check it out - this is going on my cabinet!

(Posted By: saint)

04/10/2007

 Donkey Kong 3 stories tall with post-notes!
A bunch of folks at UCSC with a lot of time and imagination on their hands have created a three story mural of Donkey Kong (the game, not the character) with Post-It® Notes. Very cool! Some details:

3x3" Post-It® Notes on glass
4 floors x 2 windows
E2 Building UCSC
10 people
6400 notes

Currently this work is visible at the E2 building at UCSC, it is scheduled to be removed on or before May 1.

Back in 2005, they did the same thing with Super Mario :) Brought to our attention by forum reader dbaleckaitis! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-04-10, posted by saint)

 Amiga Magazine Rack launched!
    "After more than 2 years of development, the Amiga Magazine Rack is launched! What started out as 3 independent projects which comprised indexes of coverdisk content and game reviews has grown into . . .The database has almost 30,000 reviews indexed and of these reviews about 20,000 are linked to scans that you can read online."
Too cool! Get your Amiga itch scratched at the Amiga Magazine Rack! (Posted By: saint)

04/09/2007

 Take the Mario test!
Think you know your Mario? Take the Mario Test and see how much of a retro-Mario-geek you really are! I scored as:

NerdTests.com User Test: The Mario Test. (Posted By: saint)

 Ultimarc parts + Guncon2 PC driver == False alarm :(
I believe this is the first retraction I've had to make in quite a while. It turns out that the Ultimarc + Guncon2 PC drive combination has hit or miss results, and is not a reliable viable solution :( See the discussion thread for more... (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-04-09, posted by saint)

04/08/2007

 New project - Custom Bubble Bobble Upright
Added Custom Bubble Bobble Upright to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    My 1st arcade project, love Bubble Bobble so i made this as a homage to Taito/Bubble Bobble. 14 Week to make and prepare.95% complete.

This makes 1175 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 Online video game comic strip
Here's another online video game comic strip. Some pretty funny, some I don't get (I don't play WOW... yes, I admit it, I've never played WOW.), but I think you'll dig it!

Navigation was a bit wonky, be sure to hit the ARCHIVES drop down to see them all. Mario hungover after an all night mushroom party ... heh. (Posted By: saint)

 Ultimarc parts + Guncon2 PC driver == make a PSX lightgun work in 31 khz (VGA PC)!
Finally someone discovered the right way to use the GunCon2 to a VGA PC Monitor. The sync conversion needed to make it work is made by a microcontroller contained in the JPAC hardware. Fortunately this chip is sold (already programmed and ready to be used) as a replacement part from Ultimarc. Here is the circuit that you need . . .

Sweet! [Read more] (Posted By: saint)

 Mala (BYOAC)Wiki
loadman has started a Mala page on the BYOAC wiki for this popular front end:
    This is to reduce general MaLa FE questions in the Software section as the MaLa forum is German based. Even though you can post in English some find it a bit daunting for some reason. I made a Wiki page to help with that too HERE

    Thanks to all who gave me Wiki Tips!

(Posted By: saint)
 Issue # 35 of the Retrogaming Times Monthly, is now online!
Highlights from the April 2007 issue include:
  • Many Faces of "Millipede"
  • Nintendo Realm - Mid April to Mid MAY 1986
  • NEScade - "Marble Madness"
  • Apple ][ Incider - Aztec, Archon & Beyond Castle Wolfenstein
  • Video Game Rock
  • Old Wine in New Bottles: Retrogaming on Modern Hardware
You can find all these and more inside the Retrogaming Times Monthly!

115 months in a row - the longest-running online free retro-gaming newsletter ever!

Alan Hewston
Staff writer and web editor for the Retrogaming Times Monthly
The longest running FREE online classic video game magazine ever. (Posted By: saint)

 CCAG - The Classic Computing and Gaming Show coming May 26 in Ohio
Speaking of RTM, saw this posted on their home page:

The CCAG 2007 is coming May 26, 2007 at the American Legion Hall--Clifton Post
22001 Brookpark Rd
Fairview Park, OH
2:00PM - 6:00 PM

Among other attendees you'll find Treyonics, home of the Devastator, and AtariAge (Have you played Atari today?)!

"Buy, sell, trade, play, and see classic video games, computers, peripherals, memorabilia, and more at the Classic Computing and Gaming Show (CCAG) on May 26, 2007. Vendors, clubs, and collectors will be displaying and selling their retrogaming and retrocomputing goods, from Pong and Atari to Nintendo, Apple and IBM to Commodore and everything in between with many set up for you to play with and explore."

(Posted By: saint)

 By the way (RTM)
By the way, the chief editor for RetroGaming Times Monthly is one of us! Scott Jacobi is also known as Procyon on the BYOAC forum, and is not only an arcade builder, he's also the one behind command.dat for MAME, and a regular contributer to StrategyWiki where he's contributed guides to many arcade games and is currently working on laying the groundwork for a guide on how to find, install, and use MAME.

Where does he get the time? I figure anyone that involved deserved a pop on the front page :) (Posted By: saint)

04/07/2007

 Sega Dreamcast end of line . . . (?)
Yeah, I thought the same thing. Didn't Sega dump the Dreamcast years ago? It appears that wasn't the case -- though you couldn't buy a new one from them, apparently Sega was still repairing them for you. However, I saw this over at DCEmu:
    Sega's Dreamcast repair service, which has continued to operate despite production of the console having been halted in 2001, will cease from September 28, hammering the final nail into Dreamcast's coffin.
[Read more on their site] (Posted By: saint)

04/05/2007

 Pinball at the zoo and a gameroom show too in Kalamazoo!
No, I'm not making that up. Caught this on RGVAC the other day. April 20th and 21st, the second annual Kalamazoo Arcade and Gameroom show takes place in conjunction with the Pinball at the 'Zoo show.
    Rediscover Pinball @ The 8th. Annual "Pinball at the 'Zoo". It will be held at the Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds located at 2900 Lake Street, Kalamazoo, Michigan on Friday April 20 & Saturday April 21, 2007.

    It will feature a Coin-op Auction, Multiple Pinball Tournaments and Vending Booths with Parts and Machines for Sale. All games will be set on free play. Auction will be held on Saturday the 21 st. at 10:00 AM. NEW This year will be our Arcade and Gameroom show.

(Posted By: saint)
 TAFA (The Arcade Flyer Archive) to Launch Two New Coin-Op Flyer Archives
After seven years of cataloging coin-op video game flyers, The Arcade Flyer Archive (TAFA) is pleased to announce the launch of two new flyer archives.

The pinball flyer archive will include electromechanical, solid state, bingo, video pinball and pinball redemption. The arcade and amusement game flyer archive will include an even wider assortment of game types, including pitch n' bat, rifle, bowler, novelty, driver, wall, 16mm film and other electromechanical and novelty coin-op equipment. The three flyer archives will be independently cataloged. (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-04-05, posted by saint)

04/04/2007

 8-bit-pixel-brick art!
A few retro-crazed folks found a pile of bricks, had some time on their hands, an over-active imagination, and . . . voila! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-04-04, posted by saint)
 Build Your Own ... Trash-80 arcade machine?
In the spirit of retro-retro . . . No one would ever think of coding an emulator for a Tandy CoCo, right? Slow 8-bit processor, less than 2 Mhz processor... You'd have to be out of your mind. Or? Maybe?

This guy wasn't one to flinch from a challenge! No, it wasn't possible to get an emulator running an arcade ROM on his CoCo, but it *was* possible to port the actual arcade ROM code to native CoCo code. The results? Donkey Kong running natively on a Tandy CoCO. Check it out! (Posted By: saint)

 Video Games Live!
A musical compilation of some of the classic 8 bit game tunes. Performed by the Video Games Live orchestra. Cool beans!

Thanks to MameMaster for the tip! There's also another one with Metal Gear Solid music.

(Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-04-04, posted by saint)

 USAA Amusement Auction - Saturday, April 14th
From USAA:
    Just a reminder of our Amusement Equipment Auction on Saturday, April 14, 2007, in Indianapolis, IN at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. The Auction will begin at 10am and the doors will open for inspection at 8am.

    Our Land Pavillion Indiana State Fairgrounds,
    1202 East 38th St.

    Auction Phone 502-551-0405

    For information concerning this auction please contact Jeff Schwartz at 502-551-1866.

(Posted By: saint)

04/03/2007

 Check out Retrogaming Times Monthly
Here's an online retro gaming magazine celebrating 114 months in a row of continuously publishing retro-gaming goodness! Current issue is March with April around the corner.

This issue's highlights include:

  • Many Faces of David’s Midnight Magic (pinball game many of us probably remember)
    • A prototype Atari 2600 game called "Save Mary"
  • NES vs Arcade Ghosts 'n Goblins
  • Apple II Incider: The Atari 5200 vs. The Apple II
  • Nintendo Realm - Early April 1986 - an ongoing look at NES goodness
  • Old Wine in New Bottles: Retrogaming on Modern Hardware -- a topic near and dear to this website's heart
There's always something interesting to read at RTM - check them out! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-04-03, posted by saint)

04/02/2007

 saint sells out part 2
OK, most of you have realized this was an April Fool's joke. There's not a ton of money in this hobby after all so I didn't sell out for a ton of cash. . .

(It was a small amount of cash and a box of Twinkies.)

For those of you not up on the April Fool's tradition, here's some more tomfoolery.

[Comments] (Posted By: saint)

 New Game Console Development Course
saint's note - this one has been sitting in my news bin for a while. I confess I was dubious at first but they're still around and it looks interesting so . . . :)

Silicon Valley, USA, November 2006 - World's First Online Video Game Console Development Course

Nurve Networks LLC and Game Institute have teamed up to take online game developement training to the next level with world's first course on the technology and development of gaming hardware and consoles. Game programming is great fun and extremely rewarding, but unfortunately there is a whole world of game development that most people never get to experience anymore -- hardware design. In the 70’s and 80’s a "game developer" not only designed the game itself, wrote the code, and made the art, but he or she often designed the hardware as well! This lost art is what this course is all about: learning how to design, build, and modify your own game consoles from scratch.

"To develop a game for a console that you not only designed, but also hand-built with your own soldering iron, is one of the most enriching learning experiences you will ever have as a game developer or software engineer. There is just nothing that can get you closer to the root layer or give you that sense of total ownership and mastery of a subject", says course creator Andre' LaMothe.

This Game Institute exclusive online course is the first and only one of its kind offered anywhere in the world. The course was developed by best selling game developement author Andre' LaMothe and NASA Ames Research Center's Josh Hintze. Nowhere else will you learn the concepts and skills required to create your own video game console (and then build your own games for it!) in such an easily accessible setting.

In addition to the course's online content, students receive a complete hardware kit containing over 100+ components, including items such as: pre-manufactured printed circuit board, microcontrollers, "The Black Art of Video Game Console Design" by Andre LaMothe, soldering iron, digital multimeter, Nintendo gamepad controller, resistors, capacitors, LEDs, and much more!

For more information and to enroll in the course visit Game Institute at: http://www.gameinstitute.com/courses.php?coursedisplay=121

Hey guys - if you're looking to have someone review the course I'd love to lay hands on it :)

[Comments] (Posted By: saint)

 A New Dance Pad
saint's note - more of an ad than a news item, but... what the heck :) This place has many different dance pads and an adapter to use them with XBox, PC, PS, and PS2.

TX19000 Metal Dance Pad-Dance Dance Revolution (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Todd's Mame Arcade Cabinet
Added Todd's Mame Arcade Cabinet to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Hey everyone, just wanted to share my most recent project of building a full blown arcade system with every arcade mame ala mame and numerous consoles to boot.

    I have written an article that takes my 3 months of research, the entire buy list of components, and my reasoning behind each decision. I think it will help you save a ton of time if you have been thinking of building your own dedicated cabinet on the cheap. You can read it here:

    Read my article and let me know what you think! What a fun project this was! Cheers, Todd

    [Comments]

This makes 1173 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 Kevin's back from Chicago!
Kevin Steele (RetroBlast, Gameroom Magazine) is back from the Spring 2007 Chicagoland show and looks to have had a good time!

Check out some of the pictures and the gaming goodness that was there, wish I could have gone! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - mamemia CONTROLLER
Added Black.Board MAMEMIA Controller to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    saint's note - mamemia's been a member here for quite some time and has built many projects. This is kind of an update to earlier projects he's submitted. This is a German site, several racing controllers, desktop arcade controls, cool stuff!

    Some homemade Controllers

This makes 1173 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - MAME-O-MAT
Added MAME-O-MAT to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Converting an existing cabinet into a MAME machine. I'm blogging my progress from start to finish from day one, including all the headache decisions over controls and interfaces.

    Unique features planned: inputs for 3d shutter glasses and wireless network for PC administration.

    I picked up the cabinet for $50 from a local arcade. It had all been painted over black, and missing the marquis. (Be sure to read the very first blog entry for Mar. 1, 2007)

This makes 1174 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

04/01/2007

 saint sells out!
Well, I've resisted this for a long time, but frankly money talks and this is screaming! I've been approached by a company looking to bust into the lucrative home-arcade-retro-gaming market. After laborious negotiations (they waved a big fat check in front of my face and I caved in like a ... a .... thing that cavesin quickly), we came to an agreement and I agreed to turn over the keys. I'm not exactly going to retire, but it was a *serious* amount of money. I'll probably quit my job for a year and explore other interests before I have to go back to work. Schweet!

We have to wait until Monday to officially sign papers (lawyers... feh), but come Monday April 2nd BYOAC as you know it will be no more.

They've promised me some content will remain readily available to the public, and the remainder will be available on a for-purchase basis at a reasonable cost. However, expect to see some pretty big changes coming -- think a "gaming portal" type of thing. You'll be able to play games online in your web browser, interact with each other on the message boards in a new virtual-reality avatar type of thingie, purchase sweet retro gaming gear, and other such kewl changes.

The biggest news is that they'll be selling low cost, made overseas, arcade gaming gear. By outsourcing the construction of most of the gaming components, slightly reducing the material quality, and using pre-fabbed plastic housing instead of building out of wood, they'll be able to offer you lightweight arcade control devices at pennies compared to what is being sold now. Better yet, they've negotiated (or are negotiating) with the arcade copyright holders to sell ROMz in an I-tunes like model. You'll be able to download them from their servers each time you want to play (they won't reside on your cabinet), and DRM mixed with RFID technology will enable them to ensure they only get played on the cabinet/device you pre-signed up for. They've got several hundred lined up now with more on the way. Sweet!

The existing content of BYOAC will be available for purchase for those of you who still want to go it your own, but frankly the commercial stuff was destined to wipe out the build-your-own hobby for some time now anyway so I expect that piece of the site to get little attention.

Some details are still up in the air, more details coming Monday. I'll still be around for a few days during the transition, but after that I'll just be another visiting guest -- it's been fun guys, thanks for everything!

--- saint BYOAC Owner (for another day) April 1, 2007

[Comments] (Posted By: saint)

03/31/2007

 Paper Arcade Goodness!
I always thought the paper arcades were cool. Apparently there are people out there making all kinds of arcade/retro gaming goodness out of paper. Check out a few of these!


Final Fantasy IX Vivi


Legend of Zelda


Mario, Bowser, Yoshi, and many more


NES Zapper

Know of any other arcade or retro related paper models?

[Comments] (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-03-30, posted by saint)

03/30/2007

 Ms. Pacman t-shirt - what's this doing here?
OK, so I really hemmed and hawed on whether or not I should post this one. It's late at night, I'm loopy from sleep deprivation, and so... meh - here it is. Found this over at Bits, Bytes, Pixels and Sprites -- a new Ms. PacMan shirt! Click the shirt for the un-distorted picture. Caption is NSFW!

[Comments] (Posted By: saint)

 Super Auctions in April
Got a card from SuperAuctions about 4 special auctions running in April:
  • April 7 - Milwaukee, WI
  • April 21 - Kalamazoo, MI
  • April 21 - Charlotte, NC
  • April 28 - Palm Springs, CA -- Note, online/phone bidding available for this auction?

Check out their web site for more information. The California auction looks big!

[Comments] (Posted By: saint)

 Game Giveaway of the Day
This has been news before but is worth posting again. They're still giving away free commercial games at the Game Giveaway of the day site! I've pulled down several myself so far and haven't seen any gimmicks or hooks -- it appears to simply be a marketing mechanism. The only catch is you have to download and install the game the day it's available, or it reverts back to shareware/nagware/crippleware/etc. Check it out!

[Comments] (Posted By: saint)

03/29/2007

 The Politics and Religion forum . . .
here at BYOAC hit a new intellectual high!

(Posted By: saint)

 Retro Gamer # 36 on sale now

  • The Making of Pitfall!, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Turbo Esprit and Banjo Kazooie
  • Company Profile Sega Technical Institute
  • The Re-Making of Streets of Rage
  • Retroinspection: WonderSwan
and more! Check them out at http://www.retrogamer.net/flashindex.html today!

[Comments] (Posted By: saint)

 Akihabara retro-gaming store
I always find it interesting to see how retro-gaming is received in different cultures. Case in point, this bit found on TokyoTimes. Going to Tokyo anytime soon? This might need to be on your stop-and-shop list!

This is a three story store in Akihabara sporting a gambit of retro-gaming consoles, games, miscellaneous other schwag, game consoles spread throughout you can play, and a little arcade on the top store. Be fun to see something like this in the states!

I believe this is their web site: http://www.superpotato.com/.

[Comments] (Posted By: saint)

 April Game Room Magazine is out!
Shamelessly lifted from RetroBlast -- I don't think Kevin will mind ;)

The April GameRoom is out. Main highlight is a huge article covering the custom pins created for this year's charity auction held at the Byron Nelson Golf Tournament.

Other highlights:

  • Tales of the Silverball —Chris Hutchins and the EDS Pins
  • Guns and Roses: An interview with designer John Borg
  • Pat Lawlor and the State of Pinball : An Interview, Part 2
  • ApartmentCade: Mitch Gerson fit an arcade in his guest room
  • Lost Arcade Classics: Cosmic Guerilla
  • The Wayback Machine — Clay Cowgill and Big Electronic Games
  • GameRoom of the Month — Keith Richardson
  • Classic Arcade Flyer of the Month — Burgertime
  • Reviews:Cliffy's Hyperthin Pinball Protectors
  • Auction Watch, High Scores, News, and More!

[Comments] (Posted By: saint)

 Dueling Analogs - online comic strip!
Lately I find myself wasting an enormous amount of time perusing online comic strips, and I think the funny-factor has gone up tremendously from a few years ago! A new favorite I've stumbled across is Dueling Analogs. Here's a sample:

I've only gotten a short way through their archives but I's been added to my daily visit-list. WARNING: The link takes you directly to the SFW strip shown above. Other strips at the site are definitely NSFW. You have been warned...

Got any other favorite online comic strips to share with everyone?

[Comments] (Posted By: saint)

03/23/2007

 Mario Bros - Lego animation. Pretty cool!

Cool Mario Lego Stop Motion

WARNING! The site this came from contains material that is NSFW! (This video is SFW) ((No, I don't peruse sites that are NSFW. Why are you asking me those questions and looking at me that way? I want a lawyer!)) (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-03-21, posted by saint)

 8-bit dating
Heh, some people have spare time on their hands. Apparently so do I because I found this funny :) It's a dating service for the 8-bit crowd . . .


(From Crotch Mail)

"About My Perfect Match: I’m looking for a older gal. I used to be married but Mrs. Pacman was taken from us in a horrible ghost chasing accident…" [Read more] (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-03-23, posted by saint)

 Giant NES controller
Sadly, not working, but imagine putting this as a decoration on your gameroom wall!

(Posted By: saint)

 Build your own Guitar Hero controller
Kindred spirits! Not my game, but if I played I'd have to try something like this. The folks over at ToolMonger built a custom Guitar Hero controller out of a real guitar!

The site has instructions of making your own that should seem familiar to anyone who has hacked a game controller before. They auctioned one off on ebay for $1000 that was donated to the Child's Play charity. Too cool! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-03-23, posted by saint)

03/21/2007

 Introducing Arcades R Fun!

After many years of hard work we are very proud to announce that the ArcadesRFun.com site is now live!

Hello, my name is Jack Thompson. With my wife Jan we formed Arcades R Fun LLC 2 years ago. We specialize in building custom home arcade games & control panels.

But, this arcade business has its roots dating back to 1998 when a guy at work showed me something called “MAME”. It was amazing! I could play Missile Command while at work! But, playing with a keyboard was not very realistic. I soon forgot about MAME and through a friend started collecting arcade games. My first 2 purchases in the spring of 2001 were a Pole Position and a Missile Command! I was hooked!

Soon after I stumbled upon Ultimarc.com and I was amazed that you could interface the keyboard to arcade controls!

I started dreaming of building my own PC based arcade game. The dream came to reality in 2002 when I built my own game from a used arcade cabinet. I soon realized that this could be a great way to make some money to supplement our family income. I started converting old arcade games into PC based arcade games (don’t worry; no classic games were ever harmed during this conversion period).

Then in 2003 I started making brand new games from scratch. This was done without the benefit of a CNC router and it was very labor intensive.

After 2 years of making games/panels this way I managed to buy a brand new CNC router in order to make the games/panels properly.

Shortly thereafter we decided to take this business to a whole new level. The CNC was the first step. We looked at the leading competitors out there. We then designed and built products that incorporated their best features, while adding in many new ones that we felt were missing.

The result…… What we believe are some of the finest arcade games/panels available at any price!

Arcades R Fun home arcade games/panels are built from the ground up with 100% brand new parts from Ultimarc, Happ Controls, MAMEMarquees, Groovy Game Gear to name a few! We do not buy our cabinets and panels from other vendors and slap our name on them. We do all game construction in-house from raw wood to game time!

Some of the highlights that we think distinguish us from the competition:

  • No extra charges for custom control panel top layout designs!
  • Flush mounted trackballs that keep that ugly black mounting plate hidden! This is standard on all games and control panels!
  • Matching Plexi control panel tops that are also flush mounted with the T-molding edge. This eliminates all unsightly bolts & screws on top of the panel! Protect your artwork investment!
  • All control panels come standard with our custom “Space” artwork overlay or your choice of any art MAMEMarquees produces! MAMEMarquees will even print your own custom work!
  • Fairly Priced upgrade options that reflect the products available market price plus a very small install fee.
  • Full body artwork that includes full side art, control panel overlay, ultimate marquee and front kick panel art as standard on all games.
To summarize: Arcades R Fun builds professional quality home arcade products that have more features and included options than any competitor, at a lower price!

We owe a personal debt of gratitude to the BYOAC community for providing us with “The Source” for arcade designing/building help over the past several years.

In recognition of the many individuals who have helped us over the years we will give all BYOAC members a permanent 10% discount on all our current and future DIY control panel blanks.

Just enter the discount code BYOAC upon checkout and 10% will be deducted from your blank panel order.

Other BYOAC member discounts will be forthcoming. Any questions feel free to e-mail us directly at info@arcadesrfun.com.

Thanks,
Jack & Jan
Arcades R Fun LLC

(Posted By: saint)

 A look at some of the Arcades R Fun products
In case the press release below is a bit long for you (there's a 10% discount in there if you find it though!), here's a look at some of Arcades R Fun's products:


Custom 32" arcade cabinet


Ready To Play 2 Player Arcade Control Panel


Mini-Quad Flush Mount Blank

(Posted By: saint)

03/20/2007

 RetroThing builds and reviews the Quasicade EX Arcade cabinet
Retro Thing builds and reviews the Quasicade EX Arcade cabinet by Quasimoto.

If you read Project Arcade you might recall that we had some issues with the X-Arcade cabinet (they're no longer using that cabinet), which at the time was built by Quasimoto. How does Quasimoto fare today?

(Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-03-18, posted by saint)
 Save an arcade cabinet today. Please, won't someone think of the cabinets?
OK so I've been trolling YouTube again . . .

(Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-03-18, posted by saint)
 A day in the life of Mario
I think this is extremely funny! Found at Gametrailers.com. Check out a day in the life of Mario with live actors -- mildly not safe for young children.

(Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-03-18, posted by saint)

03/18/2007

 Video game mosaic artwork
Posted on the forums and elsewhere, check out this pixelated mosaic artwork by Dutch artist Arno Coenen!

    "A public work commissioned for a primary school in Amsterdam. It portrays computergame characters like contemporary fairytales on the 2 walls of a tunnel that leads to the school. Like the kids who go through different stages of development it shows different generations of game-characters:from the oldschool space invaders to pokemon creatures."

He's currently at work on another project for a different school.

[See and read more] on the blog I first saw this on, or [direct from the artist's website] -- warning, the artist's website contains material NSFW. (Posted By: saint)

 Asteroids cabinet meets sad fate
*sniff* *wah!*

An Asteroids cabinet meets a sad ending . . .

(Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-03-18, posted by saint)
 Plasma Pong - a veritable orgy of eye candy and fun to boot!
Stumbled onto a game called Plasma Pong today! Check out the screen shots:

It's a psychedelic game of Pong with flowing fluid plasma graphics. In addition to batting the ball back and forth, you can spew jets of plasma to influence the ball (but so can your opponent!), or suck in jets of plasma to reverse the flow. The fluid dynamics on the screen have to be seen and experienced to be appreciated. Much fun!

Single player mode uses the mouse (spinner or trackballs apply!), two player involves keystrokes that you'll have to map to joysticks or buttons as you see fit. Online multi-player is in the plans for the future! I've emailed the programmer to tell him about our hobby and ask if he'd consider allowing for customized controls for future versions. If I hear back I'll update.

Requirements are a bit hefty with all the graphics -- Due to the intense fluid calculations, a 2.0 GHZ P4 or AMD equivalent is recommended. A 128MB GPU is also recommended.

Very cool, going on my cabinet! (Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-03-18, posted by saint)

 Weirdest. Breakout. Game. Ever.
You'll just have to watch the video . . .

(Posted By: Submitted by saint on 2007-03-18, posted by saint)

03/17/2007

 New project - Quarter Heaven
Added Quarter Heaven to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    2-Player Upright MAME cabinet built around a 31" Gateway Destination monitor. Running WinXP shelled directly into MaLa. Built in spare time between late November 2006 and early March 2007. Check out the website for more details!

This makes 1170 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Leo's Arcade Machine
Added Leo's Arcade Machine to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    Built from an old QIX cabinet, and a homemade computer running MAME32 to play older arcade games. The control panel combines a handful of common layouts including Asteroids, Defender, Tempest, Tron, Black Widow and Missile Command.

This makes 1171 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Aussie Mame Cabinet
Added Aussie Mame Cabinet to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    My first arcade project: A 'classic style' upright MAME cabinet / jukebox with pinball controls, and a hybrid PC-subwoofer and car audio speaker setup.

    I'm extremely happy with the result, I hope I've passed the initiation to become a real member of the arcade community, and that the documentation of my project can help a fellow learner get a head start!

This makes 1172 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 Pong dress! Ok, I think this is cool. Yes, I admit I'm a geek....
Saw this on Technovelgy.com - a wearable playable Pong dress. "The Pong Dress is the creation of artists Max Moswitzer and Magarete Jahrmann of the Ludic Society. The classic video game Pong is implemented on a 5x7 LED screen worked into the dress. Two pixels on the right and left borders form the paddles; a single pixel is the 'ball' moving back and forth." [Read more]

(Posted By: saint)
 Pac . .. bugs?
You find the most interesting things reading blogs . . . At first blush this sounded like someone has just written another PacMan clone, and I was expecting bugs instead of ghost. However it's a lot more interesting than that.

What Dutch student Wim van Eck did is to control the ghosts with real live crickets! [Read more] (Posted By: saint)

 Space Invaders wrapping paper
Sometimes they just don't need any editorial comments...

(Posted By: saint)

 Introducing the Novotable
"Once in a blue moon a product is born that soars above the competition..." sayeth their web site. Well, I don't know if this is in fact that, but it is interesting! Check out the Novotable:

Brought to you by Liberty Games in the UK. "In its simplest form the Novotable is a home casino, a multi play ‘arcade quality’ gaming device, a touch screen Jukebox and a wireless multimedia centre." [Read more] (Posted By: saint)

 Blogs and such
(By the way - some of these news items came from a blog I've stumbled across and added to my bookmarks -- "Thoughts from the Sidelines, technology, gadgets, and curiousities." (Posted By: saint)
 Rochester Game Room Show
Live in or near NY? March 23 - March 25, there will be a game room show in Rochester, NY.
    "This family event will have over 100 pinball and video/arcade games set on FREE play for you to try. We will also have slot machines, as well as bars, billiards, hockey, fooseball, home theatre and pretty much everything you need to set up your ultimate game room."

(Posted By: saint)

 Texas Pinball Show
Next weekend is looking like a good one for retro-gaming goodness!
    "The 2007 Texas Pinball Festival will be held the weekend of March 23rd-25th, 2007 with over 10,000 square feet of pure game room fun!. There will be over 100 pinball machines, classic video games and other game room goodies set up on free play for everyone to enjoy the entire weekend, leave your quarters at home!"

    Hilton DFW Lakes Executive Conference Center 1800 Highway 26 East Grapevine, Texas, 76051-9641

(Posted By: saint)

 Another first! Ice-Cream driving cabinet!
Remember the sit-down cabinet posted as a repeat on the 7th of March? Check out the latest update! Crazy cool - my kids would love it!

This was painted by his wife, and he tells me there's another creation coming up soon. Until they're ready to reveal it though, it'll just have to stay a mystery... :) (Posted By: saint)

03/10/2007

 Retro Arcade Week exhibit in Wisconsin

Highlights Archives
Historical Museum to Host Vintage Game Arcade

From the Wisconsin Historical Society
    In the 1980s Surgeon General C. Everett Koop declared video games to be among the top health risks facing Americans. While that may have been hyperbole, many video game aficionados still reel from Pac-Man Fever. If you are among the afflicted, the Wisconsin Historical Museum has the cure for what ails you. From March 9 through March 18 you can test your retro gaming skills and re-experience the joy of joysticks for only 25 cents per game at a vintage video game arcade. During Retro Arcade Week the museum will feature 25 classic arcade games and will be open daily — Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
 (Posted By: saint)

03/08/2007

 New project - TARDIS MAME Console
Added TARDIS MAME Console to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    I first built a 3/4 scale TARDIS then made a special folding MAME console to fit inside it. The TARDIS doors open inwards revealing the folded up console. The console control panel is folded down into place, the monitor is shifted forwards and the PC is started up from a single switch on the panel to allow you to play games on it. It makes use of an Ultimarc iPac controller, their 4/8 way J-Stick and an Ultrastik 360 as well as 6 arcade buttons per player. It features illuminated control buttons, a volume control on the panel and a special mass driver to provide extra base.

    saint's note - Holy cow! Wow! That's incredibly cool :) Hall of Fame material!

This makes 1168 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New project - Nucklez' Arcade Classics
Added Nucklez' Arcade Classics to the examples page.

The author had this to say about their project:

    I made this bartop cabinet about a year ago and my son and I love it. It runs on Windows XP with the MameWah frontend and a VGA monitor. It took me about six months to complete because of my lack of woodworking skills, but I would definitely do it again! Many thanks to John Cruise, Minwah and Arcadecontrols.com for their inspiration and great websites.

This makes 1169 projects in the new database so far! (Posted By: saint)

 New Product: from GGG - NovaGem CDR - Coin Drop Replacement Pushbutton

From Randy:

    If you don't have a coin door on your cabinet, then you need one or two of these babies!. They are designed to look like the coin slots of the old days, but don't need coins to add credits. Just press on the red translucent face. The light source in these can be used with an LED-Wiz™ for animation purposes, or can be wired directly to the 5v line of your PC's power supply for constant on.

    NOTE: It is virtually impossible to photograph the actual color of these. I tried three cameras and none of them could handle the red properly. The image above shows a yellow-orange light, but these things throw a deep, bright RED light.

    Features:

  • Specially designed to take advantage of the powerful output capabilities of the LED-Wiz™
  • Ready-to-Use Illuminated "Coin-Drop" replacement. No Soldering Required!
  • Amazing light source. Packs the intensity of 5 normal Superbright LED's inside each button!
  • Wide angle of illumination evenly lights the entire face.
  • Incredible Efficiency. Virtually no heat compared to conventional lights. Will last for many years with no bulbs to replace!
  • Legend is printed on outdoor-grade, self adhesive vinyl with pigmented inks and is die-cut. It won't fade