This game machine is going to have a prominent spot in my family room for the forseeable future.  Because of this, one of my goals is that it be ‘furniture-like’ day-to-day and that it not be enormous and tacky.  The downside of this is that arcade machines of the 80’s were enormous and tacky, so I will be losing some of the realism and nostalgia.

So, how to regain some of that lost tacky retro-arcade nostalgia when the machine is being used?  I have a few ideas….

• I will be installing red cold cathode lighting under the cabinet for a neon effect.  It will be similar to the picture at right. (Thanks to LeapinLew for the pic.)
• The control panel will have a layer of sidelit lexan on top.
• Most, maybe all, of the buttons will be backlit and feature computer controlled blinking patterns in attract mode.  During Gameplay, only the used buttons will be lit.  This will all be done in conjunction with the LED-Wiz controller and LEDBlinky application.
• When you power up the cabinet, Arcade sounds from the 80’s will play from dedicated speakers on the back of the cabinet.  These sounds will be completely isolated from the game and front-end menu sounds emitted from the front stereo speakers.  This feat will be accomplished using 1) Andy Hofle’s “Arcade Ambiance’ tracks, and TheShanMan’s Ambiance App.
• Of course, added realism will be achieved using lots of my own shiny arcade tokens.  Buy some today!

• I have a few other ideas (original or stolen) that aren’t fully-baked yet so I will save those for later.