Buying an arcade

ShockSlayer · Post by **ShockSlayer** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:07 pm

Whats a decent price for a pac man machiene?

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atari2600a · Post by **atari2600a** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 1:15 pm

Another Pac-Man machine maybe?

ShockSlayer · Post by **ShockSlayer** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:06 pm

DOH! I meant Price

atari2600a · Post by **atari2600a** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:10 pm

One of the new upright Pac-Man/Galaca ones'll probably be around $1K. An old/original upright cab'll probably be worth no less than $200, at around the $500-600-ish range maybe (& that's if you look around). A cocktail unit you might be able to find for cheaper.

If you're looking to buy one, try checking places like local privately-owned resturants, or bars maybe if you're looking for a cocktail. You might be able to get one for cheap!

EnterTheHatrix · Post by **EnterTheHatrix** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 4:11 pm

Build one... It's significantly cheaper than buying one.. Trust me!

You could build an entire MAME cabinate with built in screen and joypad for around $300, complete with acrylic header cathode backlight, and vinyl prints for authenticity.

Rellizate · Post by **Rellizate** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 4:19 pm

Stop abusing your power to make polls. It will only make the admins stop it....

Tut tut.

Bibin · Post by **Bibin** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:20 am

EnterTheHatrix wrote:Build one... It's significantly cheaper than buying one.. Trust me!

You could build an entire MAME cabinate with built in screen and joypad for around $300, complete with acrylic header cathode backlight, and vinyl prints for authenticity.

1. Isn't as much fun
2. Doesn't have the right feel
3. Nearly every mame cabinet has about 10 frickedy buttons
4. Doesn't look the same.

I was lucky and got my Dig-Dug arcade machine for 158 bucks off ebay, and better, free shipping, since he lived 5 blocks away from me.

Better yet, the hardware of the Dig-Dug and Pac-Man machines are very similar, so you can wire up a pac-man board in there and play Pac-Man on the same machine. I did.

dudex77 · Post by **dudex77** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 11:58 am

EnterTheHatrix wrote:Build one... It's significantly cheaper than buying one.. Trust me!

You could build an entire MAME cabinate with built in screen and joypad for around $300, complete with acrylic header cathode backlight, and vinyl prints for authenticity.

yeah you forgot about the computer price. if you didnt please link me to where you get stuff so cheap

kidw/32+systems · Post by **kidw/32+systems** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:31 pm

Pacman is the highest priced cab because of its popularity. so in the $400-$1000 range I have seen them go for.

atari2600a · Post by **atari2600a** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 6:26 pm

Highest priced cab my ass! They manufactured so many of them that they're a dime a dozen! Now Dragon's Lair, on the other hand...

arfink · Post by **arfink** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 6:39 pm

Seriously, a Pac Man cab that works and that is in usable shape (IE, not had the crap beaten out of it and looks like ti went through a garbage disposal) is really hard to find now, especially if you are looking for an original. It's hard to find because almost none of the equipment in it is standard. Pac Man used a monitor with a different scan rate and an odd resolution. It would take quite a bit of fiddling to make the image look any good on a modern monitor if it's not a multi-sync monitor.

You should expect to pay $400 or $500 dollars for a working original Pac Man PCB without any modifications or mold/burns on it. Not working units are hard to come by and usually almost impossible to repair because the boards tend to RUST. Expect to pay through the nose for this one, it's rare. Unless you can con an unsuspecting local arcade operator out of one, which is unlikely, those guys tend to be pretty shrewd.

EDIT: if you want to get into the arcade scene on the cheap, build a supergun and buy some Jamma PCB's from the 1990's era, they are cheaper than dirt on ebay and very plentiful.

atari2600a · Post by **atari2600a** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 6:42 pm

Yes, but that still doesn't make it the "highest priced cab". Try finding an original cab of Radar Scope or something, now THAT'S rare!

arfink · Post by **arfink** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 6:51 pm

Hmm, but it is a highly coveted game machine, that's for sure. It's not rare, but it is a frequently hunted down machine. Mostly by middle aged men who have lots of money to spend on things and want a nostalgic escape from their midlife crisis, that is where most of the market is. Seriously, I have a friend who works in the arcade business, and that's the market target right there for retro gaming it would seem.

Bibin · Post by **Bibin** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 8:40 pm

arfink wrote:Seriously, a Pac Man cab that works and that is in usable shape (IE, not had the crap beaten out of it and looks like ti went through a garbage disposal) is really hard to find now, especially if you are looking for an original. It's hard to find because almost none of the equipment in it is standard. Pac Man used a monitor with a different scan rate and an odd resolution. It would take quite a bit of fiddling to make the image look any good on a modern monitor if it's not a multi-sync monitor.

No it doesn't, Pac-Man runs happily on my Dig-Dug machine with pinout rewiring.

ShockSlayer · Post by **ShockSlayer** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 9:23 am

I think I should be able to con my local pizza hut for one.

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