Mame Arcade Cabinets – Indiana
Emulation through Mame allows those of us who grew up with the original, classic arcade games in physical arcades the ability to play all of those games in one cabinet out of the comfort of our home.
Once you’ve made the decision to build your first Mame cabinet, the parts can be fairly easy to come by. An old computer, some hardware, even a monitor. But finding an old arcade cabinet to use to build your Mame arcade project when you are ready to roll can sometimes be a bit of a challenge. This page will be your source for locating an empty arcade cabinet in Indiana to use as your Mame project.
Mame Cabinet Sources
Here are some suggestions for hunting down an empty arcade cabinet for your Mame project. Most of these are pretty common, but I’ve tried to throw in a tip or two that most people may not have thought of to help you in your search.
Wagner Gameworks – Mark out at Docpinball seems to always have a cabinet or two, not necessarily and empty classic like Pac-man or Tempest, but he seems to have woodgrain cabinets kicking around his shop at any given time. I’d hit him up first, beat him to taking them out back and filling them full of shotgun holes.
Craigslist – Craigslist can be a great place to find arcade games in general, but just know that for the good deals, competition will be fierce. Take the time to pay for an app that notifies you of new posts to your phone, and at the very least setup an RSS feed.
eBay – Everyone knows eBay, most people know how to use it. Just make sure to setup alerts and track results using an RSS feed. Also, make sure to search for empty arcade cabinets using variations of the query, including ‘arcade case(s)‘ – many non collectors call them ‘cases’. This could help you unearth a great deal.
Other Collectors – There is really no better place to get empty / used arcade cabinets for a Mame project than from other collectors. Check out Coinopspace.com to meet other collectors in your area. As a tip, to narrow down your search on that site, you can search for arcade collectors by state in groups, you can use the search field in the upper right to search for collectors by state, or you can use an advanced operand query in Google like “intext:” to find mentions of cabinet deals that have happened in your state.
Dream Authentics – A custom, high end, Mame cabinet maker based here out of Indianapolis, Dream Authentics is owned by Rick Barreto. I have taken a tour of their shop off 56th street by Fort Ben, it is impressive. From artwork production down to custom control design, this shop can build a Mame machine with a custom art package just for you.
However, these cabinets have a high end price tag. If you are looking for a project cabinet, this isn’t going to be a place to start necessarily.
DPTwiz – Brett up in Rising Sun Ohio cuts brand new classic arcade cabinets, in his garage on a CNC machine. Pretty amazing stuff. They won’t be cheap, but you could get a brand new Tron, Pac-man or Star Wars cabinet and build the custom artwork however you like.
Expanding Mame Resources
This page is constantly a work in progress, updating and adding resources that can be useful to your search. If you have any suggestions for this page or questions about how to find an arcade cabinet for your Mame machine in Indiana, drop me a line.
Mame in Indiana - Recent Posts
I write about all sorts of arcade related topics on this arcade game blog, and occasionally that includes Mame. Here is a list of the most recent topics covering Mame related arcade information, even cabinets for sale here in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The secret time capsule of Bally Midway
Mame cabinet side art – The options
Pole Position arcade cabinet for sale
Pre-built cabaret arcade cabinets
Alohomora! Indianapolis based Dream Authentics locks up Harry Potter license
Expanding Mame Resources
This page is constantly a work in progress, updating and adding resources that can be useful to your search. If you have any suggestions for this page or questions about how to find an arcade cabinet for your Mame machine in Indiana, drop me a line.