Since I was about 10, I wanted to build an arcade machine. I remember hassling my dad about it at least once a week. I would find plans online, show him and be like “can we build this?!” he’d always say yes but ultimately, we’d just keep putting it off.
In the summer of 2015, I ended up at the arcade on Weston-super-Mare’s pier. I was looking at what they had arcade machine-wise and it was all your standard stuff; penny swallowers, race car simulators, dance machines and those lovely mobile games that have been converted into arcade machines.
Tucked away in a corner was an original (or at least it looked original based on its state) Space Invaders machine. I spent a good hour or two playing it, spending more money than I probably should have. It was totally worth it and brought me back to being 10 again, inspiring me to finally commit to building my own arcade machine.
I believe the project took me about 8 months to complete. I 3D modelled the machine in SketchUp and built the case out of MDF and pre-made shelf something board (I can’t remember the name, but I totally regret buying it as it was expensive and a pain to work with. It looked nice though!). The internals / electronics were all bought online, with the main / best piece being the 60-in-1 JAMMA game board, which had all the games I wanted.
The arcade machine currently resides in CEMAR’s office (my current work place) and is played daily by myself and my colleagues.
Below are images from building it. I need to recover the SketchUp file from old laptop that bricked itself. Once I do, I’ll upload and attach images of the SketchUp.
