Portable Tabletop MAME Cabinet (Intro)

These pages detail my creation of a portable, four (4) player tabletop cocktail MAME machine, which I believe is an original design in arcade MAME cabinets. I primarily created it for entry in the 2007 Austin Makerfaire, but also so my children and I could have fun playing some of the simpler arcade games that I grew up with in the 1980s.

This is a portable unit, approximately 19 inches (48 centimeters) by 14 inches (36 centimeters), with a height of about 6 inches (15 centimeters). The basic design consists of a medium-density-fiberboard (MDF) wood frame that houses electrical components (including a small motherboard and power supply) with a 17-inch widescreen LCD resting on top. There are player control panels on three sides of the unit; the fourth side consists of a slightly- angled wall that contains a power button, power and activity LEDs, power cord, and USB connectors for a keyboard and mouse.

See the next page for a complete inventory of the MAME cabinet.

One Other Thing.... About the Ads

Yeah, I don’t really like ads either, so I tried not to make them too obtrusive.

On the other hand, this site has been getting quite a bit of traffic lately, and when I go over my traffic limit, that means I have to pay gobs of cash to my hosting provider. So, I very humbly request that you just click on an ad or two to get me some money. If you’re curious, it averages about $.40 a click. That way, the next time something I build gets digg’ed or slashdotted or spotlighted at MakerFaire, I can actually relax and enjoy it instead of going into a financial panic.

Saturday, August 25, 2007