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Home-made Arcade Machine

Home-made Arcade Machine
This is my old arcade machine that I made from scratch, by my self. I made the design, I nailed it together, I put the TV in, and I put the plug n' play games in it. There is a five-way switch that allows you to switch from game to game without changing the wires. All of the wires are hiding from within the aracde cabinet. I would have made an instructable on this, but It is already finished. Oh well.

Really, all you have to do is
1. Make an arcade cabinet(a quick google search helps A LOT!)
2. Put a shelf in for the TV to rest on
3. Add in any of your favorite plug and play games.

It's not perfect, because it is my first real project, but I'm still pleased with the results. The marquee lights up, and was made for me at a local sign shop. It was designed after my last name(Neptune is my last name). There is also a holster that holds the "Mission Paintball" gun. Not only that, but after counting all the games currently in the thing, there is over 50 games in total! The only real flaw is that the light inside the marquee isn't diffused, and it gets REALLY REALLY hot after about 5 minutes. But other than that, it's pretty good.

The plug and play games (from left to right) are...
-Pacman (with galaxian and rally x)
-Mrs. Pacman (with Galaga and Pole Position)
-Frogger (just frogger)
-Mini Commodore 64 (with like, 25 games on it
-and Mission Paintball

Oh, and my parents refused to put the TV at an angle. They said it was bad for my posture. :(
25 comments
May 28, 2008. 11:30 AMac1D says:
you could also replace the plug and play by a computer, a emulator, and some roms =-)
Jan 18, 2011. 2:17 PM17jrobinson says:
stop right there ther is an instudnal for that
May 28, 2008. 1:21 PMsaites2001 says:
That's what I was thinking. This solution is nice, but if you've got an old PC lying around, giving it new life with a good emulator seems like a great idea.
May 29, 2008. 2:52 PMac1D says:
and you can find cheap arcade-style controller wich work with most emulator(mame, for exemple)
Oct 8, 2010. 4:58 PMiusmike says:
Great really great
Oct 3, 2009. 7:54 AMStarWarsSteampunker says:
How much do wood sheets cost?
Jul 7, 2009. 9:59 AMTechMan8 says:
What switch do you have? I mean, what is the switch called?
May 28, 2008. 1:13 PMCrash2108 says:
It isn't an arcade machine, it just looks like one.
May 28, 2008. 6:23 PMCrash2108 says:
You could at least take the joysticks out of the case and mount them inside of the cabinet and make them all use the same joystick.
Feb 15, 2009. 10:40 AMrobots199 says:
yeah, those cases wont open!
Jul 9, 2009. 12:22 PM101yummYYummy101 says:
Couldnt you at least just like cut open the arcade machine and sink the controllers enough in that only the button show up? That would look great. Nice idea though, how much did the whole thing cost about?
Jul 12, 2009. 8:01 AMrobots199 says:
each one is $20 The cases are really rock solid, cutting them open would damage the circuitry.
Jul 15, 2009. 3:38 PMbounty1012 says:
he meant cut the cabinet and do that.
Jul 15, 2009. 5:32 PM101yummYYummy101 says:
Yeah... Cut holes in the cabinet and put the controllers underneath it with just the buttons and joystick poking up. Depending on what controllers you use, I guess
Feb 15, 2009. 10:41 AMrobots199 says:
to make it look more professional, put mission paintball on the side of the cabinet.
Aug 7, 2008. 2:29 PMwoot master says:
i did this along time ago it is cool.
May 28, 2008. 2:21 PMslimguy379 says:
could you use those buttons and joystick for a mame base machine?
May 28, 2008. 12:59 PMLinuxH4x0r says:
Not bad! Looks good

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Author:Tomcat94
I'm just another guy that likes to make stuff, that's all. I don't make instructables as often as I used to, but I still make one every now and again just for fun.