My MAME Build so far...

Here's our coffee table before I got some Christmas money to finally fulfill one of my 42 things and build a MAME 'cocktail arcade'.  The only way the wife would let me play arcade games in the living room was if the system wasn't hideous, like the classic cocktail arcade system I wanted.  So, as a compromise and to save some time, money and effort I opted to use our coffee table.  It already has a glass top and a lower deck to hide all the guts.  But the edge was too wide to get your hands under.

So here it is after I trimmed it down, and gained a few inches in living room real estate space.

Here's the controls installed and the coin-add button that got screwed up in the front.  After much shopping around, mostly between X-Arcade, Jamma Boards and Ultimarc, I went with Ultimarc because they had everything I wanted at reasonable prices.  I didn't realize they are in London, England until it shipped but it only took a week to arrive.

Here's the first player layout.  You can see the extra hole due to hurried measuring.  Measure once, cut twice!  I opted for the trackball for Golden Tee and mouse control but for some reason it only goes left and right.  Still have to fix that.  It was difficult for me to get the pins to line up so I jimmied some extra screws in.  Not to happy with my cutting job on that one.  Also the ball on player 1 keeps loosening while playing but overall I'm happy with it.

Front view - with speakers.

Wiring - I should've ordered buttons for coin inserts - although you can program the encoder to double up button functions.  I would definitely recommend getting an encoder with the wiring pack - I got the MiniPac cause I wanted the trackball and the option for a spinner later.  It was easy to hook up, like colour by numbers.

Also bought an LCD screen - I got the older one from the computer and the wife got the new bigger one I bought.  I have a tinge of buyers remorse on this one because I want to have the screen under the glass and it doesn't view right on an angle.  Also there are some issues with syncing an LCD and audio of some games.

The kids discovering Golden Axe and the pleasure of smashing enemies.

Ahh, a wish partially fulfilled, passing on the joy of wasting one's time on video games to a new generation. :)

Still to do:

• get a spinner
• hide the screen under the glass
• hide the keyboard and mouse, or make them irrelevant
• upgrade the video card, processor and ram
• download and configure MESS
• settle on a front end - so far I like HyperSpin but it's a memory and process hog, need a better computer - till then MAMEUI is the easiest to use

• way down the road - a 4-player stand-up with steering wheels and light guns, and the mother of all arcade games - The Star Wars Sit-Down.
• beat Ghost's n Goblins