Progress Halted

I ordered my four 8-way joysticks, keyboard controller, and video card from Ultimarc. I didn't want to order from a company in London, but I couldn't find the items I wanted from a US retailer. Anyway, they shipped DHL on March 30th and I thought I would have them this last week. Well, it didn't come so I have my control panel as finished as it can get right now.

It's very cool having the 4-way sticks and the trackball in place now :)

New Wii Bowling Record!

Night before last wii had some friends over to play Wii. Wii played all the sports games (Bowling, Boxing, Baseball, Golf, and Tennis) and the "cow jumping game". It was a good night and fun was had by all. The highlight of the evening though was a new record in Wii Bowling for Mii - I bowled a 286. Ten strikes in a row then a 4-10 split I didn't spare in the 10th frame. I was jumping for joy and depressed at the same time...so close to a perfect game. Oh well, maybe next time ;)

Progress on Mock-Up Control Panel

Okay, I spend another evening working on my mock-up control panel. My two 4-way joysticks arrived today, but I still haven't got my four 8-way sticks. They are coming from London, so who knows how long that takes :(

Anyway, here is where I'm at with my controls:

You can see another "oops" under this joystick...I put buttons in the wrong place. It's really hard to think about the top of the control panel when you are measuring on the back...

There's the trackball! I didn't have the right saw to cut out that hole, so I didn't get the trackball mounted...

And there it is - the Happ Super Joystick. I expect many games of Pac-Man to be played with the 4-way stick :)

Yeah, there is a better picture of my "oops"...oh well, this is just a mock-up anyway ;)

This project is so much fun! I am really enjoying every aspect of it. I can't wait for it to be done, but at the same time I am really enjoying working on it. As long as the rest of the parts arrive Friday or Saturday, I should be able to finish this mock-up control panel by the end of the weekend :) Then I can hook it up to my computer and arcade monitor and try it all out :)

\\'007!!!

Arcade Monitor Arrives!

I've never had anything delivered FedEx Freight before - it was very cool. This huge semi-truck parked out front of the house and the FedEx worker brought the monitor out on a pallet with a hydraulic hand pallet truck. I knew this monitor was 84 pounds, but I had no idea how big it would actually be :)

So yeah, now I have a pallet...what am I going to do with that? It doesn't exactly fit in my garbage can ;)


I decided not to pull the monitor out of the box by myself. 84 awkward pounds would not be fun. Not to mention the fact that it is not enclosed and if you touch the wrong thing you could kill yourself from electric shock.

I'm excited! Joysticks and other components should arrive tomorrow or Friday! I hope to finish my mock-up control panel by the end of the weekend...

Going Back to the Golden Age of Arcade Games

Remember Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Dig-Dug, Frogger, Gauntlet, 1942, 720 Degrees, Street Fighter II, Galaga, Bubble Bobble...I could go on and on. I miss those old "retro" video games. Memories of the Pac-Man machine in Pizza Hut, the Ninja Turles machine at Chuck E Cheese... And then there are all the games I never had a chance to play.

So, my project is this - I am building an arcade cabinet. I have wanted to build one for many years, but I finally got around to actually doing it. Over the last few weeks I have been doing my research and I am finally at a "starting point". I didn't want to blog before this because I have a tendancy to get excited about something and talk about it for a few days and then forget about it. This project is different though. I have wanted to do it for years.

Well, the first of many boxes of parts arrived in the mail today. My trackball and pushbuttons from Happ Controls greeted me when I got home.

This cabinet will run MAME, a multi-arcade emulator - so it will play all the old classics - all in one box!

My most recent inspiration came from this guy that went all out on making a really cool cabinet.



The trackball is USB and will act as a mouse also:
Mikayla was most excited about the free hat that came with my order.
I cleaned off the work bench for the first time since we've lived here. I began construction of my "mock-up" control panel. I want to lay out all the controls to make sure they feel right before using the final wood/vinyl.
Measure twice, cut once...

Yeah...well...I think I measured once and cut three times.
Got to have a 4-player cabinet!