Building arcade cabinets to sell
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Hi all,
After a vacation to a nice cabin in Gatlinburg, TN this past spring that had a 60-in-1 cocktail arcade machine, it resurrected my love and addiction to early 1980s arcade gaming.
I resolved myself to figure out how I could build my own. I've been running my own small woodworking business since last November, so building the cabinet was no big deal. However, I had a lot to learn on the electronics side.
My first cabinet was a stand-up 60-in-1 Jamma board setup, with my favorites, Dig Dug, Ms. Pac Man, Donkey Kong, and Centipede. I then built a 4-person stand-up machine running a horizonal Jamma board and a Pi4, on different monitor inputs.
This Pi experience has been a trip fown the rabbit hole, for usre. I have since built 5 more cabinets, selling 4 of them by word of mouth and on Facebook marketplace. 2 have been Jamma based, and 2 have been Pi based. I sell the Pi units w/ Retropie only, no games loaded. I have pending orders for another 4 cabinets, all Pi units.
My question is, has anyone else on here done this on a small scale, building units to sell either as-is or customer-built? I've been selling my units for between $1100 and $1800, depending on options. It's been a good little add on to my woodworking business, especially useful as I went on disability late last year and lost a significant portion of my corporate salary.
I'd love to trade experiences and ideas with anyone that has done this, or is looking to do it in the future. I've got a lot to learn, but feel that I have a lot to share, as well. My cabinet designs are all custom, you can check them out at CENSORED if you're interested. I haven't been keeping the website updated over the last couple of months, but you'll get the idea.
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@ledsled71 said in Building arcade cabinets to sell:
sell the Pi units w/ Retropie only
this is against the licenses and also incredibly rude to be touting your wares the very people who voluntarily create and support some of the software you are profiting off of.
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