Absolutely.
Of course, you will try to pick apart every point, trying to say that you once saw a MK2 cab for $50, everyone has a bin full of trackballs, and an extra Pi on their desk, and a full woodshop, but I'm going see what it would cost TODAY.
Let's take a realistic look:
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Cab
Moms everywhere are putting the A1U in the living room, so your build can't be a blown-out cab with water damage along the bottom, and missing decals and T-molding.
It's got to obviously look good.
Looking on CL, the cheapest cab with a working, unburnt vert monitor was a working Scramble. Most of the other listings were missing the monitor, or were "unknown if monitor works", but this one says unburnt.
Pics look good as far as cab condition.
Guy is asking $350, I assume I can chew him down to $300 because the ad is almost a month old.
There were literally no other cabs with working unburnt monitors under $350, and I live in a metro area of millions of subhumans.
Not including your time, truck rental and gas, it looks like $300 here.
scramble (resized).jpg
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Next, you've got to buy a computer to run it.
You mentioned you use Pi2JAMMA
That's $37 shipped.
Add $9 JAMMA cable to convert Scramble into standard JAMMA
Add the Pi, Pi power supply, SD card and mounting ring $47 shipped
Add power strip to supply power inside the cab, and we are at $100
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The cab is going to need paint, primer and Bondo to look new.
I would shoot 2part auto paint, but you seem like a rattle can kind of guy, so primer & paint cans $30
Bondo $18
Sandpaper $12
The cab will need new Tmolding $20
The cab will need new graphics $120
I'd keep the Scramble Marquee, but if you want something different $45
Not including a ton of your time, you've got an easy $225 here
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Next you need a control panel. I assume that most single mom's dont have a router or a bunch of hole-saw bits to make large holes for Joysticks, trackballs & buttons; let alone cutting out the panel itself.
Although not crazy deluxe, the XArcade seems like a solid choice for only $200 shipped
tank-stick_36c53b9e-cf4d-4ea3-9f43-19857abb053a (resized).png
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Now most single moms are not fluent in Linux, so add a few hours on learning how to navigate the OS, formatting the card, finding an old USB keyboard, maybe finding an image already built, googling instructions, choosing just the games she wants (so she does not have to scroll through 50 versions of some Asian game she's never heard of).
Add a few hours in wiring the cab's speaker to the Pi, the controls to the Pi, troubleshooting the mapout, focusing the monitor, centering the image on the monitor, attaching the control panel to the cab, mounting the Pi, putting a non flickering bulb behind the marquee.
You want to move the power switch to the front of the machine, then wire it to the power strip.
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If the 40 year old monitor kicks the bucket after a few weeks, most single mothers would not be able to service it, or even get it out of the cab.
Our 300lb Scramble cab is huge and can't just be picked up and moved to another room to make room for the christmas tree - especially by a single parent.
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So we spent well over $800 in parts alone and probably 30 hours of labor trying to go as cheaply as possible and still have a new looking cab that could be in the livingroom and not the garage.
Even if you only make $20 a hour, you've blown $1400, and many weeks of labor, research, frustration & troubleshooting.
How many single mothers want to do any of the above, compared to just spending $200 and getting a brand new toy they can order with a single click, and pick up and carry???
(think before you post, you don't want to sound foolish)
Sana'a
