Etrigan

This site would be a good start,if you have the slightest interest in owning a
machine: http://www.pinrepair.com/begin/index.htm

Lots of info here as well:http://www.scott.farrar.com/pinball_links.htm

An excellent book to have around as well:http://www.amazon.com/Pinball-Machin...1122324&sr=8-1


It's a great hobby-lots of fun,like anything else it can get quite expensive.
Good luck!

beesonosu

Growing up my dad had a Wizard of War arcade game and a Captain Fantastic (Elton John character inspired by the movie Tommy, I believe) pinball machine. He still has CF and it still plays, well, fantastic, considering everything is original. It was kinky to play as a child as all the women painted on the board and case were big chested and holding signs like "Feel them bumpers", "Buzz them buzzers" and "Ring them bells" and other not so subtle references.
Capt. Fantastic Pics

argh923

Not much of a handyman, so I can't see myself going the MAME route...besides, all I really want is the NBA Jam TE. Can't seem to find one, though.

dan30oly

I'm knocking on wood here...I've never had to have mine repaired. If I do, there is a guy around here that does repairs. There is no way that I would attempt to do it myself. I think the trick is buying one that is in great condition that has been thoroughly and professionally "shopped." If you have the $$$ a new one would be ideal, but they are about $4k - $5k brand new.

jessecrx

Look for local auctions, Craigslist and Ebay. You'd be surprised just how cheap you can get a really nice arcade cabinet for. I love classic arcade cabs but they are far too bulky to move around. It's like managing a refrigerator warehouse. This is the only wooden cab I have, and I am getting rid of it soon because it's just too much work to move around.




If you live in a small house or apartment you may wanna consider getting a Japanese arcade cabinet(like me). They are much easier to move around and much smaller..yet they usually come with 25-30 inch monitors. Japanese cabs are pretty common on the west coast.

argh923

I guess what I don't understand is...if I get just a "standard cabinet", how in the world do I get the actual games I want?

printerati

A friend of mine has started restoring them as a hobby/side project. He has a fully refurbished Centipede in his office, and has a couple Tempests he has yet to start on. One of them will be mine.

Galaga is the only other one I have interest in, although I wouldn't mind one of those Galaga/Ms. Pac-Man combos. No leads on either one right now, though.

RichC2

Most people these days just use PCs w/ emulators. It isn't the most legal route, but it gets the job done for most folks.

If you do want to go legit, you need to either get a Jamma cabinet or a Super Nova ( http://www.massystems.com/SuperNOVA.html ).

argh923

Are there any arcade-type controllers (just something with a joystick and a couple of buttons) if I wanted to go super-cheap for the time being and just use a PC?

Etrigan

http://www.xgaming.com/two-player.shtml
There are many others as well.
You could build your own if that's your kinda thing,but for the price this is the model I went with.

jessecrx

Almost all arcade cabinets are wired for the JAMMA standard. JAMMA is pretty much the world standard that arcade manufacturers use. So most of the time you can simply swap out game circuit boards with just one wire harness.

Like another poster said, the easiest and most economical way to play the games you want would be to buy or build an arcade cabinet and use a PC/MAME setup. MAME lets you play just about every arcade game on your pc. Of course it's made to play legal home brew roms but it just so happens to be able to play all the others as well.

If you get your hands on a real jamma arcade cabinet look here for the parts you need(besides a PC).

dan30oly

I have the dual tank joystick model and it's built really solid.

argh923

Building my own just isn't going to work in my case. Everywhere I've looked, the cabinets you guys are referring to seem to be more expensive than the actual machines...am I missing something?

At this point I have no problem using the PC/MAME setup...just need to find out the going price on a cabinet and where to get one.

Houstondon

The systems they are suggesting would allow you to play thousands of games using brand new components that would allow for upgrading future games too. The game you want is an older, dedicated unit that hasn't been in production for years and subject to all the frailties of long term use. That's why there is a price difference.

Stick with a reputable dealer or two and let them know exactly what you want. When one comes into their business, they can shop it out for you (clean it up, fix anything in need of repair) and hook you up.

argh923

So I'm installing this MAME thing on my PC to test it out...and I cannot get it to work. At all. There is no MAME.exe file whatsoever. Help?

EDIT: Nevermind...got MAME to work, just having problems playing games...keep getting an error saying not all of the required files are there.