Welcome and Hello!

This site is going to be dedicated to the building of a MAME Arcade Cabinet. I'm going to do this so I can document all my steps and maybe answer a few of the questions that other people have as I get to them.

I've never done a MAME cabinet before, so I'm likely more clueless than most about what it takes. But I'm excited to take on this project and see where it goes.

Last night I had a few friends over and we had a blast replaying the Simpsons arcade game on my PC and I think the prospect of having everyone play on an actual machine and the enjoyment they'd probably experience makes this whole project worth doing.

I've settled on using Arcade Paradise 3 (http://www.arcadeparadise.org) as the main design. I may make a few changes to the control panel and artwork but the main design will likely stay the same. I must say that a 4-player control panel is certainly appealing, but for the price and space, a small USB port on the bottom (as suggested by Sasquatch) may make things more practical.

I have a friend who works at a sign shop and he said i could bring him my medium-density fiberboards and he could type all the designs into the computer and get this .... the computer will cut everything perfectly on its own! Button holes, plexiglass and everything! So the woodworking seems like it'll mostly be done by machine, and I can't say I'm disappointed. :-) Yeah I know, I lose points on the do-it-yourself scale.

For now... more research on the BYOAC Forums... (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com)