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My Custom Built MAME Arcade Cabinet!
I wanted to build a home arcade machine that could play all the classic video games as well as those console favorites. I’ve played around with arcade emulators on my PC before so I knew a little bit about how it all worked. After months of researching and reading a lot of different websites, I came up with an economical plan that didn’t require too much time and the end result was a highly polished professional arcade system.
In this article I outline every component that was purchased, how much was spent, and my reasoning behind each one. I only wish I had this information when I started to build my own arcade as the majority of it was scattered throughout websites and forums. This is why I’m posting this information so you can save a lot of time and money. There are many factors to consider–You could drop $3,000 and buy a complete arcade system that plays maybe 100 games, or you could assemble your own for about half the price and play thousands of games. The choice was an easy one for me.
1. Arcade Cabinet
The arcade machine all starts with an empty cabinet. You have some options to consider–buy a used arcade machine and gut it, buy cabinet pieces to assemble, or just buy the plans and start from scratch. I decided to go the easiest route that still gave me control over the components so I ordered pre-cut pieces. I’m no stranger to power tools, but I felt the time it would take didn’t out way the costs of just buying the pieces and assembling.
MameRoom DYI Cabinet Kit
$460 + $125 shipping
I ordered the do-it-yourself UAII cabinet kit from MameRoom Designs. The cabinet arrived in multiple boxes and were of good quality. All the parts were labeled with lettered stickers and the build instructions were easy to follow. It wasn’t all puppy dogs and ice cream, as a lot of the pieces were damaged like they had been dropped. There were a couple pieces they forgot to send and a few were duplicates. I question their QA process, however, they were really good about it and immediately shipped new pieces.
Update: MameRoom Designs was purchased by another company since this article was published.
2. Arcade Controls
SlikStik Classic Unit – $500
You can build your own controls by ordering the individual buttons, trackball, spinner, wires, and what’s called an I-PAC controller and plug it into your PC or you can order pre-built controls that fit cleanly into the cabinet and easily connect to your PC. Once again I’m no stranger to wiring things up, but I do have that full time job that cuts into my time and I actually wanted to complete this before winter.
Midnight Blue Overlay – $80
I ordered the Classic Unit panel and added the midnight blue overlay. I highly recommend an overlay as it makes the controls look like a real arcade system. The painful thing is it took almost 5 weeks from when I ordered to the day it was delivered. The construction and overall quality is superb and definitely worth the wait.
The Classic Unit has has a trackball, spinner, and 2 main joysticks. They have other models available with 4 player controls too. Installation is as easy as plugging 3 USB cables into your PC. One cable is keyboard output which maps the joysticks and most buttons to regular keys, and two mouse cables for trackball and spinner knob.
Update: SlikStik has gone out of business since publishing this article
3. 27” Television
Toshiba 27″ TV
I bought a 27” Toshiba TV from a friend for $65 after spending weeks searching craigslist for one that had power-return. This feature isn’t something you hear much about but is important for a game cabinet. It means if power goes out, it will turn itself back on and to the correct channel. The reason you need this is you won’t have easy access to the power button and the bezel will cover the IR port so the remote won’t work either. The model I got also had S-Video and a high comb filter which displays graphics and text cleanly at 800×600 resolution. All the classic games look great on it.
4. PC – Dell 2.4 Ghz
Windows PC
DELL
This was my old PC and I put a fresh install of Windows XP Home Edition on it and used an old graphics card–the ATI all-in-wonder w/ S-Video out. I tried using a newer nVidia GeForce 4 card but the S-Video on it was horrible and after reading that other people had similar issues I would suggest sticking with ATI if your buying a new card.
One thing to note is a high-end graphics card isn’t really needed as emulators use more CPU than anything else. I’d suggest going middle of the road for both your graphics card and CPU. It doesn’t take much to power these retro games from 1980.
Update: If you don’t have an old PC to use then you might consider buying a Raspberry Pi 2 which costs much less than a PC and is powerful enough to run arcade emulators.
5. Lighted Marquee
Mame Marquee – $20
The marquee was bought from Mame Marquee and featuring an awesome blue lightning effect. I think it really looks sharp and matches the midnight blue overlay on the control panel.
The Fluorescent Light Fixture was purchased from Happ Controls. It didn’t come with a plug so I had to take an old extension cord and splice it together.
Fluorescent Light Fixture – $10
Plexiglas – $8
Local Hardware Store
Finally I bought two pieces of clear Plexiglas cut to fit from my local hardware store, sandwiched the Marquee in between the two pieces, and installed the light fixture behind it. The lightning bolts coming out of the Mame logo look awesome when lighted.
Update: Mame Marquee website is no longer available and Happ Controls has become Suzo-Happ .
6. Monitor Bezel
Happ Controls
Ordered the 27” Monitor bezel from Happ Controls and used a utility knife to trim to fit. This hides everything on the TV except the screen. I got lucky in that it fit perfectly against the screen and the T-molding held it in place without Velcro or tape.
7. Sound
Best Buy
I used a sub-woofer I already had and bought Cyber Acoustic Speakers to mount above the pre-cut speaker holes. Keep in mind that your arcade can also double as a jukebox, so make sure you get something that sounds decent.
I removed the screens from these speakers which revealed 6 empty holes. I took a couple screws and put them halfway into the cabinet and then slide the speakers onto the screws. It held pretty good by itself, but I also reinforced it with some good old duct tape.
8. Smart Power Strip
Smart Home USA
This is a really slick power strip that allows you to have one device be the control power for numerous other devices. For example, my PC is the control so if I power it up then the strip powers on the other devices which include the TV, marquee lights, and sound.
If I shutdown the PC then all the other devices will also shutdown. I can access the PC’s power button by opening the coin door.
9. Coin Door