Introducing the Coolest Thing I've Ever Built:
The Taxi Cab Jukebox/Arcade
For those of you that are not familiar with the MAME concept, this is a computer controlled jukebox. It also plays the classic arcade games (i.e. Pacman, Asteroids, Centipede, etc).
I built it myself.
| Why? One night I went to a little get together with some co-workers at a local bar. The bar happened to have this jukebox >>>>> I was pretty fascinated with it. If it didn't have the song you were looking for it would go out and download it (of course for a higher fee!). That weekend I did some more research on it out of curiosity. I've always been fascinated with jukeboxes. I'd often thought in the past, "maybe some day I could own one". While doing this research on the Internet I ran across some people who had created their own jukeboxes out of their MAME machines. |
|
Some required reading on MAME:
For those of you who don't know what that is, MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator.
What that jargon means is that MAME is a computer program that will reproduce the environment of the old arcade video games (and new ones too for that matter). You run this program on a regular PC and, with some configuration; you can play the old games pretty much exactly like they used to be.
Along the way some smart people thought, "Hey, that's kind of neat, but playing these games on a PC keyboard isn't the same as the old days in an arcade". These clever folks then started making "control panels" with reproduction buttons, trackballs, joysticks, etc. They then figured out how to interface these control panels to the PC.
The result was a big step towards the "old arcade game feel".
Then someone else realized that if you could find an old arcade game cabinet (probably beat up and no longer working), you could retrofit it with a PC and not only run one game, but hundreds of games.
As you might imagine, these old arcade game cabinets are not easy to find. Some even more ingenious people thought, "I bet I can build a cabinet just like the old ones".
Back to my story:
I ran across people who had made an arcade machine and then added jukebox functionality to it. They're basically just playing their library of MP3's on their computer in an arcade cabinet.
I was aware of the MAME/Arcade machine stuff, but the jukebox was a new discovery.
The light bulbs started to go off.....
..."I know I can do the computer work".
......................."I've got old computers around".
..........................................."I know I can build a cabinet".
..............................................................."Why not build a jukebox?"
| So I started looking for ideas for a
jukebox cabinet design. I literally looked at well over one hundred jukebox related
websites to gather ideas. One of the sites I ran across
had this great old Seeberg jukebox. That was it. I was going to build something with tail lights that looked like the back end of a car. A 1957 Chevy immediately came to mind! I know you can get reproduction parts for them so I was sure I could get reproduction tail lights. They would look great on a jukebox! |
|
I was right, you can get them. Unfortunately they cost over $400.
Back to the drawing board.
I found early 1960's Impala reproduction tail lights (which I've also always liked) available for reasonable prices, but they are horizontal. To keep the width of a jukebox cabinet reasonable I'd have to have a vertical setup.
I've always liked the looks of the old Checker cabs (they actually look a lot like a '55 Chevy). Their tail light setup is also vertical.
That was it. I then had my concept.
Here is my first drawing:
Here's how it ended up (so far):
My project was designed originally to just be a jukebox, but towards the end I decided that by only adding a few extra buttons I could also have the jukebox be an arcade machine too.
So the lighted buttons and the joystick are for the Jukebox, the other buttons are for the old arcade games.
The chrome coin slot on the top is a working coin slot. You have no idea how much fun and realism this adds.
The bumper folds down to access the PC keyboard and mouse. Note the lock looks like the lock for the trunk.
I bought a relatively cheap computer speaker/subwoofer setup. The computer speakers are on each side of the monitor, the sub woofer is below the bumper. It's surrounded by two basic 6x9 car stereo speakers (hacked into the top speakers to keep the stereo channels true).
I think that it's due to the fact that these speakers are
mounted in a large wooden cabinet, but it sounds really good. Better than I thought it
would. The classic arcade games sound even better than they used to with this enhanced
sound.
The end result:
Fun. Lot's of it.
below is what the Jukebox program looks like (not my songs - just sample picture)
Building this was A LOT OF WORK. More than I thought it would be, but I am so glad I did it.
My 15 year-old is excited because when she has friends over they will certainly have fun with the jukebox. My 8 year-old has really gotten into the old school video games.
I literally chuckle every time I hear a quarter go into this thing (yes, the coin slot works).
I like to think I've earned this considering how many quarters I've put into Jukeboxes and Arcade games over the years.
The other night my 8 year-old had a friend over and she said, "Did your Dad actually build this?" When she was told that yes, I did indeed build it, her response:
"That's almost impressive".
If you want to learn more about building arcade cabinets, machines and jukeboxes, you can learn all about this the same place I did, at a website called Build You Own Arcade Controls.
One of the "mantras" of this website is that they ask you to share what you've learned with others (nearly 800 people have built and shared), and sharing is the reason for this web page.
Click Here for some Construction Details.
Questions? email me.
