Below are some of the more popular questions I get in emails each week.

Why did you move from using the X-arcade™ to a custom controller?
The X-arcade™ is an excellent controller. When I first built the cabinet, I had no idea what games I would end up playing. I also knew that if I took the time to design a controller I would be happy using, it would end up taking me several more months to get my cabinet into operation. After using the X-arcade™, I discovered that I missed a trackball, and other players missed a spinner. I initially considered swapping the X-arcade™ and a controller with just a trackball and spinner but decided that was silly and went with a standalone, all-in-one solution.

Can your design hold a 27” TV?
This is another popular question. My plans were designed for a 19- (or 21-) inch PC monitor. The interior width is just 20”. However, if you adjust the interior board widths, it could fit a 27” TV. Just increase all boards’ widths other than the two sides accordingly.

Can you interface a Dreamcast (or PS2 or Xbox) into your design?
You can design in anything you can think of. Personally, I don’t have a gaming console so I have never given any design considerations to this. However, there are a number of persons who have. Check out Build your Own Arcade Controls and look for console examples. This is a fantastic site for getting excellent ideas.

How much PC do you need to play MAME? Dragon’s Lair?
This question is tough to be exact on. If you want to play every MAME game that it offers at top speed, you need a top of the line PC with at least 512MB RAM and a nice size HD. Some of the newer games are real resource hogs. However, if you plan to mainly play the classics (Pac-man, Dig Dug, Robotron) a simple 500Mhz machine with 256MB RAM will be sufficient. I run with a 1.8Ghz, 512Ram and 40 Gig HD and have no complaints.
Dragon’s Lair plays perfectly on my machine. The only lower-powered machine I have tested it on was a 350Mhz and it was not playable. So that is the only answer I can give to that question.

Can you send me your plans?
All the plans I used as detailed in the Cabinet Plans section. There are no other publicly available plans. I have intentionally kept the plans ‘loose’ but included a lot of pictures. I have seen too many individuals formalize their project plans into a simple document and end up having someone else steal them and sell them on ebay as their own. I want to keep these plans free and available to anyone to use. 

Where did you get your MAME Roms?
I have used several individuals. You may want to try looking up ‘tombstone project’ on google and using a burner near you. You will likely pay less than $20 for the complete set, shipping included.  They are well respected in the community.

Where did you get your Dragon’s Lair game?
I purchased mine from mameburner@jbowers.com. That individual may or may not still be active. Do a little looking on google and you will find them for sale.

How much did you cabinet cost?
Look at the material page and add it up. I believe I spent about $2300 for my current cabinet, not counting any tools that were purchased.  However, a good percentage of that cost was the new PC that was added in.

Can you build me one?
At this time, the answer is no.  But there should be plenty of resources on this site to help you build your own.

I don't understand how to set up Mamewah.  Can you walk me through it?
The best I will do for vague questions like that is to refer you to my Mamewah page.  I'm sorry but that is why I put the page out there.  If you start a question with "I'm PC stupid but can you tell me step-by-step how to install 17 different emulators, find all the Roms, screenshots, etc AND explain how to rename a PC file", you can guess my reply.  If any.  I will do my best to answer specific questions or, at least, point you to the right resources.