Mini-Pacman MAME

Jimmy Ray's MAME Arcade Project - Mini-Pacman

Mini-Pacman II

Click here for "The Twins" my Mini-Pacman Army!

Time Warp was such a success in my house I was never able to play it. Someone was always on it, usually one of the kids. So, I decided to build another arcade and make this one "kid sized". I was really surprised how much my kids loved the old classic games, Pacman, DigDug, Galaga. So I decided to make this arcade in the form a Classic PacMan. I found some great plans on the net at www.minimame.com I ended up not using their plans and just winging it. Really, who wants to follow instructions to building a project like this? Following instructions seems too much like work, this is supposed to be fun!

Here's me with the finished product. I'm thinking about adding a door where the coin door would be giving access to a shelf with a DVD player or VCR.

The following is how I put it all together.

If you're interested in one of your own drop me an email and we can work something out. I've built several for my coworkers and they love them. It makes a great and unusual Holiday gift. It'll cost you $450 without the 13" TV. Shipping and handling for continental USA is $175. If you want to Pick it up yourself that is free as long as I don't have to pack it. I live near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma USA.

Sorry, I don't have any detailed plans to offer. For that check out www.minimame.com or www.wayoftherodent.com. All I have is a wooden template and a lot of measurements in my head. I'm too busy building to write anything down. ;)

All the parts were cut from a single sheet of 5/8" MDF. I used 1x1 strips that I clued and screwed from the inside at all the connection points. This way there are no screw holes to putty and sand on the outside. The glue makes the construction very solid. I used 2x2s on the base and the monitor shelf for additional support.

Here are the two sides with all the wood strips glued and screwed.

Here you can see the all the panels mounted to the sides. Again I screwed everything from the inside leaving the outside clean and smooth. The second picture shows the size difference from a full size cabinet.

I made the area for the display big enough to hold a 17" monitor either vertical or horizontal. I also kept the display upright instead of slanted like the original Pacman. I wanted to ensure that the display was visible even if you weren't standing directly in front of the cabinet. That way it could also be used as a small entertainment center in a kids room. Stick a DVD or VCR in it and you can watch movies too. I ended up using a 13" TV which fit easily.

I found the control panel images on the net and reduced them to fit my CP. My friendly neighborhood Kinko's helped me print it. I taped my CP, my printout, the plexiglass and the hole templates together like a sandwich ( I usually don't tape my sandwiches, but you get the idea.) and used a hole saw to cut the holes. In hind sight I should have left out the printed image, because the holesaw tore it. It's not very bad... You can hardly notice it.

I stuck to the pacman color scheme. The MDF is really smooth and required very little sanding and having no holes to putty was great! It still took 4 coats of paint for the yellow to look just right. I also thought I would save time and round the edges using a router and just paint them red to look like the original t-molding. Wow that was a mistake. The red edge took forever to paint! Next time I'm using T-molding.

I decided to skip the whole MAME legality issue and just use one of those Joystick controllers from the Wal-marts. They come with 5 build in games and they plug right into your TV. I'm going to rewire the controller to use my joystick and buttons and just mount the circuit board on the backside of the CP. In the picture you can see the game controller setting on top of the arcade on the left and a 13" TV for the display.

Here is a picture from the back. As you can see there is plenty of room for a DVD or VCR. Originally I had planned to make this a MAME machine, so there is plenty of room for a PC.

Click here for "The Twins" my Mini-Pacman Army!

Here is the finished product next to my original "TimeWarp". The kids love it. It's the perfect height for my youngest and I enjoy playing it too. If I sit in a chair it's the perfect height for me. It's also nice having an arcade that I can flip a single switch and in 2 seconds I'm playing and not waiting on dos or window to boot. ;)