21–30 of 74 posts
Game Saru is wonderful and I can't recommend them highly enough. They have a youtube channel here: https://youtube.com/c/GameSaru
Like the author, I missed my favorite game enough to buy an arcade rhythm game a few months into the pandemic. It's a shame Konami/Sega/Taito are so picky about who they sell to and therefore who gets to be on their network. I would love to pay Konami and put my Pop'n Music cab on the official eAmusement network but they will not take my money. Game Saru is wonderful and I can't recommend them highly enough. They hav…
The thing is that, at least Konami isn't! It mostly depends on the domestic publisher to decide which customer to sell cabinets and network accesses. I'm particularly aware of a handful of people who own an arcade machine that is connected to the network in South Korea.
I'd like to build a raspberry pi based MAME machine for my college, but to get a box to actually put the machine in, its either a lot of time and effort to build one (I do not have woodworking skills, nor the desire to learn) or a lot of money to buy a shell, which I don't have. So it will likely stay a daydream. It would be nice to see people playing together in the lounge, though.
A cabinet can be as simple or complex as you want.
Extreme example: a large cardboard box in fact is how I have often begun many of my past MAME cab builds. I make the cardboard prototype to test ergonomics, fit of the various components — surprisingly you can play on them if you go all the way to install and wire the buttons.
Sheets of plywood or MDF (hate that stuff as a woodworker though) can be purchased at a big box store — maybe they can cut them down to size a bit for you to transport?
A long ruler and an inexpensive circular saw will allow you to cut the sheets of plywood down to the right size. An inexpensive jigsaw as mentioned if you wanted your cabinet to have a few curves (seen plenty of functional if boxy cabs though that are just as fun to play).
A drill to make holes to install the buttons, glue, drywall screws... It can be done with few tools.
Honestly such a project can turn into a gateway drug to more woodworking and tools. As mentioned, you may want to build a 2nd one and add T-molding around the edges to dress it up and look for legit. So a router and slot-cutting bit are added to your growing collection of tools in the garage. Purchase a $400 track saw and after the beautiful and precise cuts you will never touch your circular saw again....
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As an armchair woodworker with a tool buying/daydreaming complex, please share what gizmo(s) you refer to. Thanks. :)
At a guess, it’s probably something like a Festool Domino. You dry-fit the pieces and draw a line across the joint surface wherever you want a tenon. From there, the whole process is pretty automatic.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wouldn't they technically be casinos and thus regulated? My experience with pachinko in Japan felt very much like the old strip in Las Vegas emotion and vibe wise.
Pachinko is a slot machine and is gambling, but they use a loophole to not be considered such - it pays out tickets that you can use to get toys and stuff like an arcade, but they will buy the toys back from you for money.
I've visited plenty of arcades in Japan, and they were all horrible. Sure, the games were interesting, but they are sad and sometimes creepy places. Smoking is allowed in there, and with Japan's well known tobacco abuse problem, words fail to describe the stench in there. My Japanese girlfriend told me that "nobody normal would ever go in there" and was actually disappointed in me wanting to enter in that sort of pla…
The former is actually really nice. FYI, if the place you went to is a SEGA or a Taito Station, then it's very likely a game center. It does have some machines that use "medals", which I assume is some sort of gambling thing, but it's just a small subset. The main focus is on fighting games, arcade games (well duh), rhythm games(like Ongeki, maimai Deluxe which I love), Densha de Go! (a realistic train driving simulator with the inside looking like a cockpit of a commuter railway train), some robot games, Dance Dance Revolution, Kantai Collection, Fate/Grand Order, zombie shooters and many more. I will admit that atleast one Taito Station in the Tokyo suburbs has the smoking smell in it, but otherwise they are pretty nice places.
The other type is well, the pachinko and slot machines shops/arcades. They are the gambling machines, and almost everyone I know has a negative impression of them. If someone tells me they go to pachisuro for fun, I will just be polite on the surface, but internally I would avoid associating with them any further than required. The way to tell these apart is that they will very likely be in front of, or within 2 minutes walk of a station, will have smoking allowed in it, will have something like "new machines!" or "renewed machines!" in their advertisements, won't allow anyone below 18 or 20 to enter, and will have slot machines and many old people spending away their life savings inside. I avoid those like the plague.
All in all, I love the game centers though. If you get a chance, do try one of the games I mentioned above in the 2nd paragraph. Maybe you will find something you will like. :)
How does someone blow that wad of cash on a game and convince some editor to let them write an article about it only to not include a picture of the cabinet in the article? I guess it could be their desire to monopolize they mention, but they don't seem adverse to bragging about it. Also I'm surprised there isn't a somewhat niche pachinko parlor market in the US already. My quick search shows one place in Virginia ad…
Wouldn't they technically be casinos and thus regulated? My experience with pachinko in Japan felt very much like the old strip in Las Vegas emotion and vibe wise.
I've visited plenty of arcades in Japan, and they were all horrible. Sure, the games were interesting, but they are sad and sometimes creepy places. Smoking is allowed in there, and with Japan's well known tobacco abuse problem, words fail to describe the stench in there. My Japanese girlfriend told me that "nobody normal would ever go in there" and was actually disappointed in me wanting to enter in that sort of pla…
I'd like to build a raspberry pi based MAME machine for my college, but to get a box to actually put the machine in, its either a lot of time and effort to build one (I do not have woodworking skills, nor the desire to learn) or a lot of money to buy a shell, which I don't have. So it will likely stay a daydream. It would be nice to see people playing together in the lounge, though.
And you're right. The wood alone for such a project is very expensive right now. I know because I started it a while ago with scrap wood, and I'm rethinking how I'm going to do it with cabinet-grade plywood.
Add in all the knowledge and effort to design and build the cabinet, and it becomes quite a task if you aren't already a woodworker with those tools.
If someone is really into it, I think it's a great project and they should absolutely do it. But I don't recommend it for people who merely want the end product.