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An arcade venue?

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There used to be a gaming centre out by Meadowhall with the intention of PC's and Consoles, regular events etc, but it failed shortly after opening.

 

really? when was this? any idea of the name of it?

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The machines are extremely expensive. but once I get them, I will either get someone to maintain them, or look into it myself.
If you're looking at new/current arcade cabs, yup, eye-wateringly expensive.

 

If you're looking at retro cabs, no, they're cheap as chips these days compared to their original price when new (...when they used eye-wateringly expensive ;)). But then, they're not easy to find, and still less easy to get their owners to part with them.

 

The max you're looking at is £2k to £3k for a StarWars cockpit, and that's top end money for a 'grail' cab, most will be well south of half of that (cab type -dependent, Japanese candies will clock around the £700-£800 mark, similar price for a minty OutRun upright).

 

And then, new cabs are expected to break down less often, and maybe easier to maintain (PC-ish innards and LCD screens), but expect retro cabs to fail much more often (older components, sometimes several decades old) and be a pain to fix (some parts rare/difficult to find). Some retro cabs have a 'rep' (rap? :hihi:)these days, e.g the above-mentioned StarWars cockpits with (rare as hens teeth-) vector CRTs.

 

Topically, there's a guy (or group?) doing exactly that (your project) in Dublin at the moment, and they're currently advertising for a salaried maintenance position.

 

That's all the cab-related talk for now. For location, your consideration should be footfall, footfall and nothing else but footfall. Close to Centertainment, or close to Uni dorms: anywhere else and (personally) I doubt that this would be a long-term viable go-er.

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you could build the cabs, using Ras Pi boards, would be MUCH cheaper, and you could change the games on them without having to move machines around too! :)

 

take a while to build several (build one first, refine and iron out issues, then copy it) but doble! :)

 

i'd be interested in being involved in the whole project though :)

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you could build the cabs, using Ras Pi boards, would be MUCH cheaper, and you could change the games on them without having to move machines around too! :)

 

I'm guessing MAME, but wouldn't there be a copyright issue with using non-original equipment?

 

And to be honest, I can play on MAME at home, if I went to an arcade venue, it would be to see and play the genuine machine, not a cheap knock off.

 

I know a lot of people in the retro scene who travel from all over the North to the one at Bury. Aside from convenience of being nearer for the folks from Yorkshire who travel there, it would have to be pretty good to draw people away from it.

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I'm guessing MAME, but wouldn't there be a copyright issue with using non-original equipment?
Not so much equipment (for retro cabs, design rights -registered or not- must be long expired by now), as the ROMsets (copyright in game code likely still alive and well) and, if we're talking repro cabs, then the cabs paint scheme/decals (copyright in original cab artwork likely still alive and well).

 

I'll gloss over the potential trademark issues for brevity.

 

Most of what collectors get up to with cabs, MAME, <etc.> is liability-free, because it's private non-commercial use. As soon as you're looking at monetising, it can get very complicated fast I'm afraid.

 

I suppose the OP could buy the boards (game PCBs) as a shortcut of convenience re. copyright issues. Or just wing and prayer it instead.

 

Practically, and pragmatically, the licensing of the cabs (original or self-built, makes no difference) re. coin taking from the public, is likely to be a bigger issue/concern. 'tis the reason why e.g. cabs on eBay must be advertised and sold, as set up on freeplay, else eBay may come down on you like the proverbial ton of bricks with requests for evidence of appropriate licensing.

Edited by L00b

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you could build the cabs, using Ras Pi boards, would be MUCH cheaper, and you could change the games on them without having to move machines around too! :)

 

take a while to build several (build one first, refine and iron out issues, then copy it) but doble! :)

 

i'd be interested in being involved in the whole project though :)

 

I saw those, but I am not interested in the Picade, mame or hyperspin, my attempt will try to be as original as possible..eg Jamma, PCBs etc.

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I think town centre would be an ideal location as there is nothing there like that and it's closer for me to get too than meadowhell :roll:

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I saw those, but I am not interested in the Picade, mame or hyperspin, my attempt will try to be as original as possible..eg Jamma, PCBs etc.

 

You can still make them look original, etc, the only difference is it will be Pi based, if it goes faulty - easier to repair too!

 

but I get ya, proper Jamma / Konami and such like can get quite expensive..

 

I looked into it a while ago, but couldn't afford to do anything.... fixed a few machines for a few people though! :)

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I am buzzing to get this started, but Xmas is making life busy and not finding a decent space is slowing me down.

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It might be worth nipping into the vintage shop at top of king street opposite Argos. They have an Outrun as well as the old PacMan sit down table machine in there. They've also got a emulator machine running with about 500 games of which most are just fighting duplications.

 

They are a friendly bunch in there and would probably let you know how often they are used to give you a small idea of the take up on them.

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