Arcade Talk 24/7/365

CathalDublin · 04-09-2022 6:05pm

I’ve a 3D printed any coin in mine.

currently using Token tokens

https://www.arcadeplastics.com/any-coin-v3-replacement-arcade-coin-mechs

Steve X2 · 04-09-2022 7:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119570605#Comment_119570605

I printed something like that a few years ago as a test and it just didn't give me that satisfying "clunk clunk click" sound of a coin moving through the mech.

geotrig · 04-09-2022 10:32pm

Saw someone transporting a model3 /Sega rally driver cab in a trailer yesterday in limerick !Was it anyone here ?

Thought that vision was only reserved for pickups we see in pics and vids from Japan

eddhorse · 06-09-2022 7:28pm

Had to be Level Up surely

dav09 · 07-09-2022 9:34am

It wasn't us no (unfortunately)! The mystery continues, but we do usually get plenty of looks transporting stuff on open back vans when we do lol

eddhorse · 07-09-2022 10:15am

If you are looking for 100 Yen tokens, message Rancor on the various forums, i got them off him on Arcade Otaku

geotrig · 07-09-2022 11:43am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119581071#Comment_119581071

opposite side and not heading or coming from that direction so guessed it wasnt them !

TechnoFreek · 08-09-2022 4:31pm

Thanks for the feedback all. Some great suggestions on the coin mech and tokens.

As Steve said,I like the clink clink sounds of the coin working it's way through the mech and the potential fear that it gets stuck!

I think I'll try rancor first Edd and see can he get some 100 yen coins for me.

If not I think I have a spare coin mech and can look to sega/taito tokens route then

chunkis · 05-10-2022 10:31pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119047134#Comment_119047134

There is an annual event called Celtic Throwdown https://celticthrowdown.com it takes place in Dublin every year around September, its a professional esports event and has players fly in from all over the world, the guys who organise it are always interested in expanding into new areas, some of the older titles use arcade hardware, like cps2 and cps3, I suggested having arcade machines at the event for next year and the organisers were all for it, they have more than enough space/rooms to accommodate something like this, if somebody was able to take charge and organise the logistics of rounding up all the machines/Cabinets and transporting them to the event am sure the guys over at Celtic Throwdown would be more than happy to accommodate and incorporate something like that into the event.

In a separate piece, I know this has been talked about before, but has anybody ever considered coming together and getting a container of cabinets?

Finally, I was wondering if there is a discord for chatting about retro/arcade stuff in Ireland. I meet up with the fighting game guys on boards quite regular, but ive never met up with anybody from the arcade retro hardware side of things. The reason am asking this is because my cabinet has no sound, I think its the game board, but I can't be sure. I switched it on for the first time in 7 years, and to my surprise the one board I have which is CPS2 - Street Fighter Zero 3 (1998) its still alive and kicking after 24 years, so I was delighted my board still works but with no sound, Anyway I was wondering if there is any good samaritans out there that might be able to help? my cabinet is wired for Jamma, so if there is anybody out there with an old jamma board they don't want or can borrow me one that I can test, I would be so grateful!

dav09 · 05-10-2022 11:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119706772#Comment_119706772

That all sounds great, I never actually heard of that so that's very interesting. If they wanted to do something i might be willing to work something out. I'm mad into rare and different arcade machines so I have a couple of cool one's like Paperboy, Tron, Outrun Dlx, Afterburner DLX, Initial D, Vs Super Mario Bros, pinball in my personal collection that I've built up so they're sorta a shame to have some sitting around in storage. I've toyed with the idea of doing something, with the current cost of living crisis doing something on my own sorta seems unreasonable/too risky have done a lot of planning on it. I would like to down the line but maybe a pipe dream, would just think it would be super cool to have something like that here.

On the topic of doing containers, I'd be down if someone was to organise them. I had once looked at doing one from Japan here but didn't get enough interest and global shipping prices skyrocketed up over 500%. Now they've fallen almost 70% since the beginning going by indexes of this year so definitely much more feasible again. I get retro games in a shared container from USA to UK but it's gotten way too expensive with Brexit and complicated with getting them over but do-able. If anyone wants to do this that would be great and would save me a bunch of money, would be happy to offer any advice on it if needed (not that I know that much about it but have researched a lot).

chunkis · 05-10-2022 11:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119393772#Comment_119393772

This is in lovely nick where did you get it?

When I lived in London these cabinets were absolutely everywhere, all the play2win arcades in London had them and Trocadero had a line of 4 in a row just outside the main arcade across from where they had another row of 7/8 versus city cabinets. They also had another row of 4 on level 3 and opposite that another row of Pony Mark IVs. I actually got my hands on a cabinet from Trocadero before it closed, for sentimental value, at the time they couldn't sell these cabinets because nobody ever wanted them, they were too heavy and not great to look at, but I always liked this cabinet, it was just a tad heavy for my liking, but I really liked the viewing angle of the screen and always thought if you had two of these linked up for head to head it would look the business.

When I lived in London surrounded by arcades and arcade machines, I never though they would suddenly become so hard to get a hold of, but living in Ireland is a pain in the arse, everything here is expensive and hard to get, all the stuff I used to own I bought in Japan, I used to buy cps2 boards for 10 or 15 quid a pop and come back to London and sell them for 150 and upwards, great days.

This is a blog I found online if you scroll down you will see pictures /pony/versus cabs https://twtext.com/article/119834683736054988

Trocadero was a great arcade in its day, I first went there in 1996, it was something else back then, and when i moved to London between 1999 and 2010 it was a great arcade for competitive fighting games, I ran a lot of events in the arcade and it was just a magical place with great people and a great social environment.

Brings back great memories looking at those old photos, heartbreaking at the same time.

o1s1n · 06-10-2022 3:35pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119706950#Comment_119706950

Ah man, that takes me back! Yeah I used to go to the Trocadero on my visits to London, absolutely loved that exact lineup of Jaleco Pony cabinets you're talking about. They had Raiden II running on one which is one of my favourite arcade games so I'd be glued to the thing.

As far as I know Heart of Gaming in the UK got most of them when they shut up shop. Any idea where your one ended up?

Those cabinets are actually Jaleco Pony II 28s. They're a bit bigger than my one which is a Jaleco Pony III 25. So a smaller screen (25 inches rather than 28) but the footprint is a good deal smaller, great for a house. Has an even more extreme angled monitor than those Pony IIs you would have played in the Troc if you can believe it!

Photo showing their size difference:

I bought it from a guy called Ronnie in The Netherlands about ten years ago now. Haven't really been following him in a while but he used to get in containers full of arcade machines. I'd say the majority of Japanese candy cabinets in Europe came through him now at this stage.

Unfortunately prices have gone absolutely through the roof. I'd say for a Pony you'd be talking close to 5k euro. They're great cabinets but that's absolutely ridiculous.

Yeah back then you could get great PCBs too for in and around 100 quid - they've all gone through the roof too unfortunately!

dav09 · 06-10-2022 9:58pm

Everything has gone through the roof, although if you can source from Japan or USA direct it's not so expensive honestly, half the price with some things.

Growing up I wanted to go to the Trocadero for a few years, when I finally went I was around 14/15 and it had closed by then, only realised when I got over that it had went the month before (this was before everywhere was on social media). I could still see it from inside and machines were still there (there were other units lowere down in the Troc still open).From the videos I've seen it looked mental, particularly in the 90s. R360s, AS1, huge DLX cabs and tonnes of candies. I know someone who was well linked in there and he told me the reason it closed and it wasn't due to it not making money. I wonder would something like that do well now if it was in the right location?

chunkis · 07-10-2022 2:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119709300#Comment_119709300

5k for a cabinet! Thats silly money! there was a time when 5k-6k would get you a container full of cabinets including shipping. I did see a NeoGeo cab recently go for 4k on one of the Facebook groups, it was mint condition, but still, cabinets are just not worth that kind of money. I remember one night a few friends and I got drunk in Japan, we ended up falling asleep on the train, and had to walk all night to get back to Tokyo, but on the way back I remember we came across a windy cabinet( First windy I ever saw) and a blast city just lying on the side of the road, that wasn't the last time I saw cabinets on the side of the road in Japan, with a bit of knowledge am sure some of us could come together and organise a container. If we had 10 people put in 1500 euros each, that would be 15k in total, am sure with 15k we could cover a 40 foot container and fill it with all the cabinets we wanted, we could all walk away with 3/4 cabinets each, pick up something rare items to sell on, boards/hardware its definitely something worth thinking about.

But yeah 5k is crazy money for a cabinet!

My cabinet is a Chinese knock off, the ok baby, I actually really like it, it doesn't have much of a reputation, but I love the monitor and I love how it opens up from the front to give easy access to the monitor. I am going to strip it down and remodel it on something else, make it a bit unique looking, the mister has me interested in things again and I would like to get another ok baby just to have twins and link them together. But the Ok baby is a tricky machine to find these days, its not worth much if you find one, the one I have I picked it up for 200 quid and had it shipped to Ireland for 110, so about 300 all in with a cps2 board installed. I was delighted, because the machine and the board came out of trocadero, that's really why I bough it.

Yeah I know about Ronnie, he does some great deals, or at least he used to, you could pick up a machine including delivery for about 800-900 euros, a little steep, but that included delivery too so it wasnt that bad.

The Jalecos in trocadero at once stage had Aliens vs Predator in one of them, but somebody nicked it out of the cab lol. Final Fight was on the end of the row and Super Street Fighter II Turbo was on the opposite end, which we had moved up into the versus city machines, but yeah trocadero had some good and bad periods, for while it wasn't worth going to at all. it was only after the summer of 2003 when they got the versus city machines imported from Japan, that's when it became popular again, especially around the time when the fighting game community started to organise events there. It was still a bit of a shambles for fixing buttons and sticks though, the tech guys worked 9-5 and sure most people would go to trocadero after work and if a button broke after 5pm it wouldn't be fixed. I ended up buying 16 joysticks and about 100 buttons just to keep the machines in good nick. The security guys would sometimes have the keys and would open the machines and let us fix them, but the arcade and its owners just didn't care, our little section of the building was so tucked away, you could walk around trocadero for an hour and not find it, but even with all its faults it was still a great place to visit and hang out.

There was a combination of reasons why Trocadero closed, rent was the main reason. Trocadero is a W1 post code, that's bang in the city centre of London, and a massive piece of real estate. Funland Arcade had 7 levels at one stage, it was later redesigned into 3 levels. The arcade made about as much money as it could, but it just wasn't enough. The Trocadero building is massive, when it had the 7 levels you could actually get lost in it, it had a cinema, it had that big pepsi max ride that went through the centre of the building from top to bottom, a bit like something you would see at alton towers, it had a sports bar and a bowling allay, bumping cars and a loads of other things like Starbucks and HMV, it was the biggest arcade centre I think ive ever been in and ive been in some monster places outside Tokyo, but yeah I think Trocadero is the biggest arcade ive ever been in, it make places like Dr Quirkeys in Dublin look like a shoe box, and Quirkeys isn't a small place.

Dav09, its hard to know if something like that would do well in ireland, am sure it would in the right location and if it was run properly, there are a few places that are mixing gaming with bars/clubs, Barcode in Dublin, Level Up in Limerick, these retro arcade bars seems to do ok, Dr Quirkeys in Dublin has potential to be an amazing arcade, but it would need to update all its machines and cabinets and build a community around it that would run events and push the business in the right direction.

A good example would be arcade club in the uk https://www.arcadeclub.co.uk/leeds/ This place is absolutely amazing, all the machines are refurbished like new, it has absolutely everything, shooters, pin balls, sims, driving games, dancing games, old retro games, new/old Japanese cabinets, its an amazing place that's really doing well and has started to branch out into a chain across the UK, definitely worth a visit! Check out this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KibEh7EEvYY

Oisin, you seem to be well connected in the retro arcade scene in Ireland, do you know anybody that could borrow me a Jamma board or a pandoras box, anything at all, or I could even meet up in Dublin and ill bring my board and we can test it out, any help at all would be appreciated!

CathalDublin · 07-10-2022 4:05pm

Ronnie isn't badly priced, he'd an Astro there about 2 weeks ago Price : 850 euro, ex shipping Europe, aprox € 195, albiet it needed some cosmetic work.

Can't show pics because he takes them down as they are sold but worth keeping an eye on his stock .

chunkis · 07-10-2022 6:10pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119713793#Comment_119713793

850 is a lot for a cabinet, especially if you wanted to pick up a set, does he combined shipping if you buy two?

dav09 · 07-10-2022 6:47pm

Yeah I help run Level Up in Limerick so we've got a container over before. I have supplier lists here and can tell you the prices on things, we have another container coming soon it's already paid and loaded but shipping went crazy so we were awaiting that to calm. Have been to arcade club too a few times great spot.

Would be happy to help organise a container if there was demand for sure and if shipping stabilised. I know over COVID the home market in Japan exploded for candy cabinets (according to one supplier) but I think that's calmed too. I know back in 2019 I was quoted at like 250-400 dollars for candy cabs bulk in Japan but deals like that don't come up as often. Shipping prices port to port are currently 6k apparently from Japan (down from 15k peak last year).

I seen that price from Ronnie seemed a lot cheaper than usual, although didn't look in best condition.

CathalDublin · 07-10-2022 7:09pm

Maybe we’ve different expectations of what 850 would buy but in my experience it’s been a long long time since candies were cheaper than this, I know the odd bargain does pop up but I’d be happy getting a fully working candy delivered to my door for just over a grand.

o1s1n · 07-10-2022 9:13pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119713411#Comment_119713411

What do you need to test out? Cabinet need a board to test out or have you got a dodgy board you want to test out in a cabinet?

I wouldn't really be a tech lad beyond some very ham fisted stuff but if you want to lash a board in a cabinet to see if it works or need a lend of a board to test out a cabinet I should be able to sort you out.

o1s1n · 07-10-2022 9:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119714552#Comment_119714552

Yeah even when I bought mine 10 years ago you were talking a grand minimum to get one into Ireland from Ronnie. Always thought it was a good deal given they're huge, tended to be in good nick and coming all the way from Japan.

chunkis · 07-10-2022 9:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119715091#Comment_119715091

If you fancy meeting up in Dublin some day soon, even as early as tomorrow or any day that suits? I'll give you my A and B board to take home and try out and you can let me know how you get on.

chunkis · 07-10-2022 10:02pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119714472#Comment_119714472

The next time your doing a container, I would definitely be interested in being involved, and am sure others would too.

Colonel Panic · 07-10-2022 11:15pm

I'm looking for a second cabinet myself. Keeping an eye on cabs popping up, but I don't want a project. I have a pile of those already!

I got my Aero City from Ronnie at the start of the pandemic and between shipping and all the rest it was well over a grand by the time it got to me.

dav09 · 08-10-2022 12:08am

Yeah it's a lot of work getting containers in and always stuff arrives with issues/region locked/etc, some European importers charge crazy money others not so bad, but all of them make a decent markup. I know at the start of the pandemic candies could be got for 3/400 dollars which with exchange rate would have been close to 5/600 euros imported, they spiked later on but I presume they've come down again. Also shipping prices really didn't help importers either.

If we do one again I could def give some people a shout I'm sure we'd have room, unlikely we'll do one anytime soon but if a lot of people wanted stuff I could maybe help organise it as there's some candies and rhythm games I'd like to get for the place.

MrVestek · 08-10-2022 3:45am

Managed to get to the Trocadero myself back in 2010 or so when Funland was still there.

Was a great place! I hadn't even heard of it before I stumbled across it as I was wandering around Piccadilly Circus.

MrVestek · 08-10-2022 3:47am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119715792#Comment_119715792

Same as me and I only bought it from some lad in Limerick! :-P

Well worth it though. As you all say they're hard enough to get in this country in the first place.

chunkis · 09-10-2022 7:29pm

I was looking at the cheapest way to hook up a pc to my cabinet, is this good enough? I was just a bit confused, as there doesn't seem to a be a video out?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185513680010?hash=item2b317a1c8a:g:XgAAAOSwllBjKhSr&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4BVz5OunY%2Bs7o0G3c3y15n1IPVvz0IEK1UZnO2N%2BvfesKlvOwpYoBJ33lYEVvfySO1D%2BCJMhHOEErT49V9GVSZImvZ2D3%2F%2BMtUpAZ3eBoVKpoHoiDjbHz0yb7m5fKSpbhHLi3zf9fh03I2515Emwak4AqJgoMyDEENCLFh%2B0%2FWMrLm59HWjRN0XLEgkS7ZXynuh9WdhbUFzTu3sxAi8t1%2BwbX09hPW6%2B21AZdyyAXivG30L6jbgNfQnT35NKNhzfytue2LzF3y6ylahKZWQneYtAlyCe%2FgzXNqMS18Jvwd2q%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9jf-933YA

Colonel Panic · 09-10-2022 11:09pm

Jpac is the way. But does your monitor support 15KHz or 31KHz? Either way, you need to ensure the PC doesn't output anything higher than the display can support.