Skip the spinner and just use a trackball.

I have a simple MAME setup. Wall mounted TV and simple stand for x arcade controls. Currently using launch box software.

PC also doubles as the DLNA media server for playback on Android TV boxes devices.

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I consider myself somewhat of a purist. However, I didn't start out that way. I was building MAME cabinets in 1998 when it was actually a challenge. I want to post more on the subject but need to take a step back to collect my thoughts more...

At one point I owned more MAME cabinets than I owned actual arcades and pins... 4 vs. 3 ;-p

God, the memories and horrors are all coming back to me now. Hacked 1980's clicky style keyboards, DOS MAME, AdvanceMAME, ArcadeOS, PC2ARCADE using an actual arcade monitor, Windows ME, arghh!@.

That was long before you could buy USB adapter boards and reworked VGA cards with HDMI out. I distinctly remember buying some crazy ass PCI VGA cards that produced a 15Khz signal for directly connecting it to an arcade monitor and running the mess all on a PIII PC.

Back in 97, MAME only ran about 150 games. YEAH, that's it.

After building 10-12 MAME cabinets, and playing 1000's of dedicated arcades and 1000's of roms on all sorts of platforms... I only have this wisdom.

If you must make a MAME cabinet, make one that plays the 5 or 6 games that you loved perfectly and that's just about all that you will ever need.

I gravitated towards B/W and color vector games because they were so unique and still collect and mess with them today.

If you don't have a 4 player control panel with a full Street Fighter 6 button layout for all 4 players is it even a MAME cab?

Trust me, for the amount of time 4 people would actually play a 4 player game and the cabinet size and time involved in building one, it's nowhere near worth it. I've build more of them than I want to publically admit.

I'm already a member of the MAIM club. Guessing it's two different clubs?

Have a mame machine I bought off of eBay many years ago. Pc eventually died. Replaced it with a PI just to get it running again and have it hooked up to the CRT monitor. Not beautiful by any stretch but it works well enough for the occasional game

What I want to build. New slim type cab. Large tv mounted vertically. This would enable the marquee and the area around the monitor to all be dynamic with each game. I have seen some examples of dynamic marquees but not one where area around the screen is dynamic as well. Has anyone done something like this yet ?

Also I am really digging those new Atari pong machines. Would like to turn one of those into a cocktail mame game. Wish I could just by the cabinet.

I wanted to build a mame setup so badly about a year ago, I was looking up cabinet kits etc. trying to figure out what I wanted for games and controls. Then an arcade legends came up on CL for $100 and I jumped on it. It is a newer one with a flat screen, it needed a new hard drive. I found one online and it is up and running. I think they are basically a mame setup correct? Either way it’s a blast to play and I’m in the club.

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Since this thread is already active, I have a related question. I have a MAME cabinet I bought from a company called Dream Authentics many years ago. It's a 2 player setup, I have had to replace the Ipac controller and the PC that is driving it but otherwise its still in decent shape. My only complaint is I have been unable to find a front end simple enough that I don't have to babysit this thing every time we have a party. Right now I have HyperSpin loaded, which is beautiful and fancy but has not turned out to be the simple front end I was hoping for. All I have loaded are the arcade type games (MAME32), I have no need or interest in loading any of the console type games.

So my question, who makes a front end launcher that is simple enough that little kids can select and load whatever game they want from the menu? I don't care if it's free or if I have to pay a few bucks, it would be worth it to have this not be a constant nuisance. Prior to HyperSpin I was running GameEX which was nice but not simple enough (although it would have been a pretty old version as this was several years ago, maybe the current one is a consideration?).

TIA!

I'm no stranger to MAME and have built many of them for myself and friends. My latest one uses a Vewlix clone that is based off Taito's cab used for Street Fighter IV in Japan. I've always been a fan of Japanese style candy cabs and love the clean lines of the Vewlix. It was brand new when I bought it and I gutted it completely except for the screen and speakers. I installed a PC running Hyperspin along with MAME and few other emulators of console systems I grew up playing like NES, SNES and Genesis. Yes it does have gay light up controls and a few extras like a spinner for games like Arkanoid. You can also connect up consoles like Xbox360, XboxOne, PS3 and PS4 so you can play modern fighting games or SHUMPS as well. This is all done using the Brook Universal Fight Boards which are pricey but makes switching between systems very easy.

I tried my best to keep it clean and if you are interested you can read more about my build here:
http://www.pinballrevolution.com/threads/vewlix-clone-mame-console-project.6438/

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I built my mame cab a couple years ago. I went a little differently than most with a 55" 4k TV in portrait mode. My goal was to have a "virtual cab" so that the art work changes per game. I also did lighted buttons, but I filled in the center with black resin so that you aren't blinded by the light. It creates a nice effect that helps plays figure out which controls to use without burning your retinas out..

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I built a Mame machine out of an old water damaged Defender cabinet that was empty. Made it into a Donkey Kong cabinet with artwork printed on a large format printer from work. Built it about 10 years ago

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Anybody know if there is a slim profile cabinet which lets you fold up/remove the control panel? I’d like to add a MAME cab but only have 1 spot to put it, and it can’t be too big. I’ve seen the “Viewlix” (I think that’s the name?) but it seems to only support 60-in-1 games and I’m looking for 90s 2-player games as well

Cool effect and GroovyGameGear sells something like this called the Spectra Eclipse.

https://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=73&products_id=408

Vewlix is the cabinet name and has nothing to do with a 60-in-1 board you are referring to. This is a dedicated board and doesn't require a PC but very limited in terms of game selection and type. There are other similar solutions out there such as the Pandora Box which is what my Vewlix cab came with but I ripped it out and sold it for $100. A lot of people are putting these into 2 player control panels with HDMI output to a LCD. You can run this same Pandora box in a dedicated cabinet as well. I can't comment how well the fighting games are emulated but I saw a whole bunch of them there. My preference has always been MAME because you can add/remove whatever you like where as these XXX-in-1 one boards/boxes you can just disable the ones you don't like.

https://retroactivearcade.ca/collections/game-consoles

If you are looking to build a slim profile cabinet have a look at this Vigolix that is made from a single sheet of plywood.

https://www.instructables.com/id/A-Super-Easy-Arcade-Machine-from-1-Sheet-of-Plywoo/

This right here. I had MAME cab with thousands of games on it. I ended up selling it because it was more of a pain in the ass to search for games I actually liked and wanted to play. I would have another one, but I'd rather have pins in the limited space I have right now.

What are people’s thoughts on MAME vs the JAMMA boards that exist now? I’ve been considering buying a horizontal and vertical cocktail machine that uses a 1162 in 1 board. Most seem to use LCD displays. I’ve only found one company that builds them with CRTs but they are quoting 14-16 weeks for delivery.

I originally built a 4 player behemoth from scratch back in 2005. It drove me into collecting real vids, then I purged all my vids for pinball. I've kept the MAME cab... its gone through several rounds of upgrades including two full computer replacements. On top of the 4 player controls, it has two spinners, an analog stick, a couple of light guns and a track ball. Yeah... its one of those. I'm still running a 27" Kortek Multi-Sync CRT w/Windows7 with Hyperspin as the front end. Its beyond just MAME as it has most of the popular consoles up to and including GC/PS2. For console controllers I use BlissBox 4Play so I can use the native controllers. It is truly outrageous and is chock full of games... many of which I will never play. I don't think I'll ever let it go, its like an old funny car.

Once I upgraded to Hyperspin with all the attract videos, it gets a ton more play time with guests. Having a bazillion games, navigating by lists... isn't friendly. I have setup favorites wheels and its really quite nice.

I think the jamma boards where you load mame roms on the board are better like the Phoenix arcade board if you are going that route. I built many mames years ago but I rather have the really game. That's probably why I have 62 games in my house. Try playing track n field on a mame machine you can't there is a split second delay on when you press the jump button. Mame is good for playing all those clones and games you would never want to own.

Lamprey That is really cool! Are the speakers built into the artwork image? Or do you have a separate marquee monitor? Did you post your build or a full photo set anywhere else?

I really do think the best part of MAME cabs is building them. There are so many options ... and it’s a real joy when it all comes together. For the builder ... it sort of ends there I think... at least it did for me.

Yeah. I'm actually using 4 of them for my spinner/"tron control" area. I tried molding my own buttons to match the tron handle, but I couldn't get them quite right, so I went with the Spectra Elcipse.

However There are three things that turned me off on them:
1. No full leaf switch.
2. Convex. (I wanted concave)
3. If you have buttons next to each other the light bleeds onto the other buttons. I wrapped them in electrical tape to prevent this.

They aren't bad buttons per se. And the other buttons I am using are from GroovyGameGear too. Just not what I wanted for my main buttons.

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It's just on big monitor, so yeah the speaker panel is part of the arkwork that is displayed.

I have a build on the Arcade Controls forum, but I used photobucket so, unfortunately, the image links are dead.

I created a favorites section to avoid that.

Favorite section does help for sure. If your place is set up more for visitors it's less than ideal because they want to search around and then you're right back to the main wheel etc etc.
But hey, nothing is perfect.

Great idea!!! Here's mine:

I built it so it plays old school but also new games like KI, MK, etc. Old school ones have an updated filter to look like a CRT....light gun and race wheel too.

I also use an x arcade 2 plr tank stick and a flat screen powered by a laptop. It's fun and good for most games but really wish it had dial knob for games like arknoid as well.

You can add a spinner to your X-Arcade Tank stick by drilling a new hole in the middle of your control panel or else you can remove one of the existing two lower buttons on either P1 or P2. Groovy Game Gear's Turbo Twist 2 Arcade Spinner easily installs just like a standard button.

https://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=86&products_id=268

Mine:

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CP closeup:

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During play, the upper monitor shows the game marquee and instruction card, and which controls to use (only those in use are lit).

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UltraStik 360s and ClassicRGB LED buttons, all from Ultimarc. FE software my own, emulating MAMEwah. Currently 259 games.

Sweet. I'll look into that!

Here's a Tankstick with Turbotwist installed.

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Does anyone know of a good cheap rotary joystick for MAME? I’d really like to play SAR search and rescue.

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What does that happ gun connect to and where did you get it?

I don't think any exist. Ultrimarc has a rotary option for their UltraStick, but it doesn't work well for SAR type games (IMHO) as it isn't physically limited to set positions like the originals.

I forget, but I think Wico and Suzo Happ both made a version of a rotary that you can use with MAME, using an adapter. You might be able to find a couple of those for a reasonable price.

My monster... the light guns actually holster to the side.

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This is my third build. With each build I've make them smaller; fewer games, less controls, smaller cabinet, etc.

Nice!

Light guns are where I need to go next. Which are those, and how do you like them?

They are modded Namco guns. I made a driver board to drive the recoil using AimTrak internals.

Same. I've built three, and the latest is a small wall-mounted unit. Limited set of games, no marquee or any extras, just a screen with basic controls. I modeled it off of this guy's build: https://www.behance.net/gallery/30235233/Game-Cabinet-Personal-Project

My splurge with this one is a nice video card so I can use the best video shaders. IMO they're finally good enough that you can go with non-CRT monitors and still have an authentic experience.

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HA! That's right on par with the classic

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For those interested in having dynamic marquee for their MAME cab here is a nice sized LCD off ebay. I just ordered one last week and it will be perfect fit for the top of my Vewlix cab.

ebay.com link: HDMI DVI VGA LCD Controller Board With 14 9 LTA149B780F 1280X390 LCD Display