Gaming Console Icons for Mame

One of the most time consuming aspects of building any Mame machine is collecting all of the “necessary” files. A short list of the digital files would include working game roms, bezels, cabinet photos, marquees and of course character art. The coolest Mame machines have all of the classic arcade artwork including icons of the different gaming console systems that will be used in the menus for selecting different emulators.

I came across a topic on the Arcade Controls forums (BYOAC) where a user had a collection of these …

Scans of Ms. Pac-man Sideart

I love little surprises like this.

I had a visitor (Kevin T.) stumble on my post about the Ms. Pac-man stencils that Joymonkey was working on last fall. I haven’t heard anything from Joymonkey, but some BYOAC members have reported that they got their stencils and are just waiting for nicer weather to use them. Kevin was looking for a set because his Ms. Pac-man artwork has the typical fade where there is no longer any pink, only yellow.

I know that many members over the years …

Craigslist Pac-man Cocktail Deal

It was about 11:30 last night, and I checked my feeds for Craigslist. As anyone who hunts Craigslist for classic arcade games knows, and I have experienced this first hand with my Ms. Pac-man win in Michigan, 99% of the time it’s junk and spammers but that 1% of the arcade findings are a great deal, and then it all comes down to timing.

Somehow I totally missed a post for northern Indianapolis at about 1:10 (I can’t remember what I was doing other than working at that time of day);

Moving and must sell many items. Antiques include; Armoire, buffet, secretary, marbletop end table, marbletop corner table, marbletop hall piece, carved walnut pedestal and Louis side chair. Reproduction queen ann desk, chippendale bench, and federal table. Old Pac Mac arcade table, needs repair. Do not want to download all the photos. Please call to set appointment to see if you are interested. Location NW side if Indy between Carmel and Zionsville.

I emailed late last night, figuring some other collector or worse in Indianapolis got to the pac-man cocktail first. Sure enough, it was gone.

Removing Plastic Stickers on Bezels

When I first saw my Ms. Pac-man in MI, I noticed right away two sets of thick overlaid stickers, probably 4-5 stickers on top of one another. They were some sort of license sticker for the Ms. Pac-man to legally be placed in different states. Darn tootin’, that’s authentic. But a little too authentic for me, they’ve got to go, and I had a dickens of a time getting them off.

I tried some Goo Gone on the plastic …

Wanna see the twins?

Common question on the set of any Brad Pitt movie I am sure, but in this case, my two Vision Pro monitors arrived from Happ on Monday.

I got two monitors in the mail on Monday (one’s for a friend). Where’s the original arcade related information you ask? This post is specifically for any other collectors here in Indianapolis, Indiana to gauge how much shipping and tax would be to buy your very own Happ 19″ Vision Pro while they are still …

Jr. Pac-man High Score Saver

After today, my list of techs that have the prowess to make modification kits and high score save boards for classic arcade games read Jrok, Matt Osborn, Mark Spaeth, Mike Doyle, Clay Cowgill, Jeff Kulczycki and Dave Widel. A week ago, I hadn’t done a lot of research into others who were making custom boards and kits but then I came across Matt Osborn’s kit’s mostly for Konami games, and he turned me onto Dave Widel.

Video tutorials on discharging monitors and “doing” a cap kit

A mere year and a half ago doing a “Cap Kit” stirred a sense of fear of the unknown within me, as well as a feeling of inadequacy that made me feel like a wuse arcade collecting poser too afraid to dive head first into working with electronics.

I searched online for a “how-to”, or a tutorial that would get me a solid definition and visually show me how to perform a “cap kit” . Heck, it took me a week or so just to figure out that cap = capacitor, I was really starting from ground zero, or ground “beisbol” as Warren would say.

Since that time, I have changed a fair amount, not a ton, of capacitors on monitor chassis’s in hopes of fixing minor display glitches in my games. But I still wish I would have had some sort of photo collage or video tutorial showing me how a cap kit was done, and done right.

Last night, I came across these tutorials posted on the BYOAC forums. There are three YouTube videos, two on performing a “cap kit”, and one on discharging a monitor. Two of the well done starter videos were put together by a KLOV member “p1899m”. I wish I would have had these when I started.