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Project Arcade: Build Your Own Arcade Machine (ExtremeTech) Paperback – May 7, 2004

by John St. Clair (Author)

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You can go back, and here's howRemember the days--and quarters--you spent pursuing aliens, fleeing ghosts, and gobbling dots in that beloved arcade? They're hiding in these pages, along with diagrams, directions, plans, and materials lists that will enable you to build your very own arcade game. Construct joysticks, buttons, and trackballs; build the console and cabinet; install and configure the software; crank up the speakers; and wham! Step across the time-space continuum and enjoy all those classic games, plus dozens of new ones, whenever you like.

Start Here

1. Plan for your space and budget
2. Design and build the cabinet
3. Construct the controllers
4. Build the console
5. Pick an old game's brain
6. Install the emulator
7. Convince a PC it's a game
8. Connect a monitor and speakers
9. Add a marquee
10. GO PLAY!

Includes diagrams, detailed instructions, essential software, and more

CD-ROM Includes
* Complete cabinet plans and diagrams
* MAME32 software
* Paint Shop Pro? evaluation version
* Links to hundreds of arcade cabinet projects

Print length

504 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Wiley
Publication date

May 7, 2004
Dimensions

7.3 x 1 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0764556169
ISBN-13

978-0764556166
See all details

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“…breathtaking detail…the passion is infectious…” (Edge, December 2005)

From the Back Cover

You can go back, and here's howRemember the days—and quarters—you spent pursuing aliens, fleeing ghosts, and gobbling dots in that beloved arcade? They’re hiding in these pages, along with diagrams, directions, plans, and materials lists that will enable you to build your very own arcade game. Construct joysticks, buttons, and trackballs; build the console and cabinet; install and configure the software; crank up the speakers; and wham! Step across the time-space continuum and enjoy all those classic games, plus dozens of new ones, whenever you like.

Start Here

1. Plan for your space and budget
2. Design and build the cabinet
3. Construct the controllers
4. Build the console
5. Pick an old game’s brain
6. Install the emulator
7. Convince a PC it’s a game
8. Connect a monitor and speakers
9. Add a marquee
10. GO PLAY!

Includes diagrams, detailed instructions, essential software, and more

CD-ROM Includes

Complete cabinet plans and diagrams
MAME32 software
Paint Shop Pro® evaluation version
Links to hundreds of arcade cabinet projects

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wiley (May 7, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 504 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0764556169
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0764556166
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.69 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.3 x 1 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,622,857 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #684 in Machinery Engineering (Books)
- #4,884 in Video & Computer Games
- #6,178 in Computer & Video Game Strategy Guides

Customer Reviews:
77

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4.1 out of 5

77 global ratings

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Scott

A bit dated, but just what I needed!

Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2009

Verified Purchase

I always wanted to build my own arcade game, and this book helped me through it. Granted, I didn't follow it page for page, but it guided me through each step to get me to my ultimate goal.

Most helpful: Schematics of a 'typical' arcade cabinet. This made it easier to draw out and eventually cut the pieces I needed. Also, checklists of items you will need and may need to successfully create your own cabinet.

Least helpful: Listed websites. Most of the online help listed is defunct and useless at this point. Also, the CD it came with was cracked and useless (make sure that doesn't happen to you!)

What would have helped: More on the electrical side of the cabinet. Needed my father-in-law to teach me about the wiring mecahnics of my machine.

Overall: If you've got the initative to build an arcade game, but have minimal knowledge of where to start, this book is PERFECT! The best section by far is BUILDING your cabinet. It takes even the beginner carpenter through step-by-step, so it's do-able for anyone!

Helpful

B. Anderson

a good reference guide

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2009

Verified Purchase

I bought the book after seeing it recommended on an series of Systm episodes about building your own MAME cabinet. I read the first few chapters of the book and used the plans off the included CD-ROM to start building.

However, the plans are a bit flawed - something not mentioned in the book. If you build your cabinet based off the recommended plans, your cabinet will be exactly 7'6", which is more than a little too tall. I thought I had simply measured wrong, but after re-measuring a dozen times and comparing my measurements to the plans, I realized the plans were just wrong. This is also the case with the cabinet that was built in the Systm episodes; if you watch the final episodes, you'll realize they have a frankencabinet because they followed the plans to the T, just as I did.

That said, the book is a great reference if you have other plans to follow. Construction tips and suggestions and innumerable references and hacks make the book well worthwhile. I find myself going back to the book for things like t-molding vendors, trackball hacks and the like. Of course, all this information (and more) can be located on the internet, but it's helpful to have it in one place to flip through. If you are actually going to build a MAME cab, you'll have more than enough time to go through the book *and* all the internet sites detailing this process. This isn't your one-weekend project. Count on several weekends as well as several trips to Home Depot or Lowes.

Definitely get the book, but don't follow it word-for-word. Use it as a reference guide. Don't be afraid to go off the reservation with your cabinet build if you have a good idea (I built a keyboard drawer in mine, for example) - sandpaper and wood putty will fix some pretty major mistakes. :)

5 people found this helpful

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Amy

Awesome Resource!!

Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2004

Verified Purchase

If you spent your pre-teen and teen years pumping quarters into Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Galaga, you probably thought "I wish I had one of these at home! When I've got a real job, I'll buy one for sure!", right? With mortgages, car payments, and student loans eating away at your "fun money", that old dream just didn't quite make it to reality. Now, thanks to MAME, this book, and some fanatasic online resources, you can build your own machine that is exactly the way you want it! All your old favorites can live again in your home.
This book really details every single step you need to go through to make it happen. It has clear writing, good diagrams and photos, and a helpful CD. Even if you have limited skills, this book will guide you through the process of building your own arcade machine. The writing style is smooth, and you'll find yourself picking this book up, opening to a random page, and learning another detail towards building your dream arcade machine.

5 people found this helpful

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Curtis Hart

Unfortunately, a somewhat dated book

Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2008

Verified Purchase

Following the Arcade scene for a few years, I've been promising myself this book once I'm ready to sit down and start building my own MAME Arcade cabinet.

After getting the book and skimming through the pages, I was disappointed to find it's either information I've already discovered on my own by surfing the Internet, or the links to additional content or files are severely outdated and a number of external links no longer work. The copy of MAME they provide you is ver 0.7x (Latest incarnation of MAME is over .100)

Don't get me wrong, this book is great for those who haven't already done the research and want an all-in-one book on how to do it. For me however, I gained nothing from the book.

5 people found this helpful

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Eric

So dated... But informative

Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2019

Verified Purchase

The writing is good but the content is very old. I can't have expected that much when I bought such an old book, and granted I only bought it because I'm mentioned in it. Still, an interesting read to give you ideas for your own cabinet and to understand better the emulation scene...

Helpful

Ken Hanson

A very, very thorough product

Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2007

Verified Purchase

It covers everything you need to do, from start to finish. I especially like the in-depth reviews of the different controllers and how to tweak or hack them. Very informative. I think the highest praise I can give this book is that I was very motivated to build a machine until I read this book. This book very clearly and explicitly laid out what I would be doing, and it convinced me that I did not really want to undertake this project. It sounds like backwards compliments, but seriously, what could be more valuable than convincing the reader that they are out of their depth PRIOR to spending the money on the materials, the computers, the controllers etc.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Badly outdated

Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2019

Verified Purchase

The tips on building the cabinet for the game system are good, but actual plans are quite limited. although there are photos and descriptions of lots of different styles of arcade cabinets, it only contains actual plans for one particular cabinet. Links to resources on the web are mostly bad and don't work. Descriptions of the electronics are dated. There are much better alternatives available today.

One person found this helpful

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Peter C So

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on January 11, 2016

Verified Purchase

Great Book

O. Albers

Ein "Must-Have" für alle Cabinet-Bastler

Reviewed in Germany on June 7, 2004

Verified Purchase

Project Arcade beschreibt den kompletten (Hardware-) Aufbau eines Cabinets, also eines Videospielgeräts, welches man aus den 80ern kennt.
Leider ist dieses Buch bisher nicht in einer deutschen Übersetzung erschienen, dennoch jedem deutschen Leser nur wärmstens ans Herz zu legen, da sich die sprachlichen Fallstricke in Grenzen halten.
Von der Auswahl des richtigen Holzes einens Videospiel-Gehäuses bis hin zum Einbau einer "Coin-Door" erschlägt das Buch in seinen 500 Seiten alle Themen sehr präzise und vor allem für den Einsteiger angenehm lesbar. Vor allem einige ungewöhnliche Tricks, wie das Verwenden von alten Festplatten als Ersatzteillager für sog. "Spinner" machen dieses Buch wertvoll.
Eigentlich gibt es fast nichts, was mir an diesem Buch nicht gefällt. Weshalb also keine fünf Sterne?
Erstens sind sämtliche Maßangaben nicht metrisch, sondern Zoll. Dies ist bei einem amerikanischen Buch zwar zu erwarten, aber dennoch ein wenig nervig. Außerdem kann die beigelegte CD dem hohen Standard des Buches nicht gerecht werden. Sie wirkt insgesamt etwas lieblos zusammengewürfelt.
Da die 500 Seiten komplett mit interessanten Informationen zugepackt sind kommt das Kapitel Software sehr kurz. Aber dies ist zu verschmerzen, erspart es dem Leser doch, Seiten an Konfigurationsscripten zu durchkämpfen.
Mein Fazit:
Ein absolut lesenswertes Buch für alle Interessierten, die sich für den (hardwareseitigen) Bau eines eigenen (MAME-)Cabinets entschieden haben. Trotz des technischen Themas ist es sehr angenehm zu lesen, was auch an dem lockeren Schreibstil des Autors liegt. Lediglich die etwas lieblos gestaltete CD verhindert eine fünf-Sterne Wertung.

7 people found this helpful

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Alex

Fantastic read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 1, 2012

Verified Purchase

I wanted to build my own arcade machine as I have always loved arcades, so I decided to pick up this book as it seemed to be the best one available, and I had no idea what I was doing. So I read this book on how to build a MAME machine cover to cover over a weekend, then ordered the parts to build a JAMMA machine.

After reading the book I realised that I still had no idea what to do, so went with a JAMMA set up as I stood just as much chance with no knowledge. It turns out its very easy to build a JAMMA machine, if you want instructions on how, leave a comment and I'll list the few steps, a couple of hours and you will have a fully functioning system, minus the cabinet.

This book is a great read, its full of useful information, but it lacks one very key detail, how you actually do any of it. It tells you what you will need, what is going to happen with it, and the tools you will need, but never how. For example, you will need speakers, and you will need to connect these to the circuit... And how do I do that? Luckily my dad was able to help with that as he knows about wiring, but I don't, hence why I bought this book. Also, you will need to use a keyboard and completely reassign its functions to the arcade controlls... Not a clue how you would do that, and you're not told.

If you know how to do these things, you will disagree with me. If you know how to do these things, you don't need this book.

Also, JAMMA is actually better as it is the same as realy arcade machines, MAME works off of ROMS, so you will notice a difference. JAMMA however is a lot more expensive as you have to buy boards, not free downloads, so its up to you what to build.

As I said, leave comments if you want help with JAMMA, if you want MAME, you're on your own.

One person found this helpful

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