My Custom Pac-Man Arcade Cabinet

Playing some of the old classics was tons of fun. Even though some of the controllers weren't exactly 100% operational, there was something special about playing these games on a stand up arcade cabinet.  As much as I am a fan of MAME, this was better.

When I returned home from the arcade, inspiration hit - "Why not build my own MAME cabinet?"

I had seen this on the Internet before. You can buy ready made MAME cabinets for about $3000- $4000 (see this link). One cabinet which plays all the old games. But that was out of my price range.

But another idea came to me - what if I could resurrect an old, out of commission cabinet?

And that's exactly what I did.

On an internet newsgroup, I found a semi-local guy who was giving away (!!!) an old Pac-Man cabinet that had been gutted and painted white. Within a few days, I was there picking it up with a rental truck! He also gave me the original marquee and bezel, as well as new black T-molding.

I had to attack from two fronts at the same time : refitting the wooden cabinet, and building a custom computer for MAME purposes.

I did some bargain hunting, and picked up some good deals. I also had some parts laying around.

I ended up with a Soyo motherboard and case kit from Frys, an Athlon 1.7 XP, 20 GIG hard drive (later upgraded to 200 GB) , Logitech 2.1 speakers, cordless keyboard, Logitech trackball. Initially I installed Windows 98 because the spare video card I had would not work under WIN XP. I later upgraded to a GeForce 4 4200 , and also upgraded to WIN XP. I found out WIN XP runs like a dog unless you have 256 MB. I ended up buying a 17" CRT monitor. I would have love to have something bigger, but the Pac Man bezel restricted me. (See below for a later upgrade from CRT to 19 " LCD)

Since I have worked with computers for years, that part was pretty easy for me. Re-engineering the cabinet was a bit more tough.  There was no way I could remove the ugly white paint without also removing the original artwork beneath it. I decided to sand it down, and paint over it. The original cabinet has yellow sides, but since this was going in my living room, I chose to paint it  black. After several coats of semi-gloss, I realized that it required a matte finish paint.

Once it was painted, I hooked up a new marquee light (and mounted a switch under it). I also mounted the new speakers behind the marquee. I then constructed a new monitor shelf (I made the mistake of using particle board - I don't recommend this). The monitor, speakers, and computer and not permanently mounted. They are easily removable so the cabinet can be moved easier.

The "Beta One" version of the cabinet did not have the final control panel. I made a temporary one which held the keyboard and mouse. It was a little awkward, but it was playable!  Even without the cool controls, MAME was better. It felt right. It sounded right. I was already pleased. But I could hardly rest, as I had to build the control panel!

I was limited by the size of the Pac-Man cabinet, so I knew I could not go as crazy as some others on the web. I decided to go with a common configuration : two joysticks, with six buttons next to each. This would cover recent fighting games, as well as one-button games like Galaga. The key to success with this is a cool device called the I-PAC. It allows you to interface home built arcade controllers with a USB PC! It is cheap and easy to use. Once I had the IPAC, and ordered my controllers from HAPP CONTROLS, it was time  to drill and wire...