I agree 100%... John has a great taste in classic arcade games and his basement is pure classic arcade utopia! Zoo Keeper is the cherry on the sundae! 

Maybe I should have visited the site that John posted before I asked my question. I don't know what is worse, making fucking Tetris out of an original Robotron cabinet or a bonfire with Tempest and Pole Position cabs.

Yeah... I know there are opponents out there who are against modifying cabinets for something other than their original use. But we classic arcade fans who lack mechanical skills and a great of time would love to relive the arcade experience of their homes without spending two grand on some commercial conversion thing.

I also can see the other side of the coin when I go to GGA in Brookfield and Crazy Climber is on some conversion cabinet with subpar controls... yet I think they probably tried to get an original Crazy Climber cabinet but it simply was not possible so they opted for the next best thing. The owner of Underground Retrocade is looking for an original Crazy Climber... but not sure how much luck he will have.

I grew up in a town about 60 miles north of Milwaukee and there were cabinets EVERYWHERE in this town of 35,000 in 1982. There was an Aladdin's Castle in the Mall, two arcades downtown, about five bowling alleys with about 20 games each, and every convenience store had a game or two. If I wanted to play Jungle Hunt, I went to a convenience store. If I wanted to play Zoo Keeper, I went to the Mall. If I wanted to play Mappy, I went to the Bowling Alley. Where did all of these cabinets go?? Or, where are they now??

HA! I thought this show was atrocious. Players sucked at the games they were playing and only were able to play it for a couple of minutes... hardly enough time to advance any further than the novice levels.

Have you a highest score table that always gets people going
My highest score on
Donkey kong jr is 150,000
Donkey kong 3 is 200,000

I have a Twin Galaxies documented high score on Frogger of about 180,000 from 1982.... with only three lives. I play Frogger regularly now and have no idea how I did that, much less the guy who holds the World Record of nearly 1 million.

That is mind blowing... but not as mind blowing as the guy who recently played Track and Field for over 48 hours. I can't imagine that one and the toll it would take on your wrists!

Today (like most days), I played Zoo Keeper on MAME... still can't get above 1.4 million!

I actually had a 1.4 million point game where my highest point jump was 30,000. I feel 5 million coming on!!! Yes, it doesn't take a lot to make that next jump!  

My daughter come with me to the local retro arcades and have a blast and would love a real size cabinet with the fam's favorite classic arcade games on MAME.

So far, I think I need the following:

1) An X-Arcade control panel with the dual joysticks (for Robotron) and track ball (for Centipede, etc.)
2) An older PC... we have one that can go inside the cabinet.
3) A marquee reproduction of my all time favorite game, Zoo Keeper.
4) A monitor... preferably a CRT but I am OK with the LCD monitor to keep costs down.
5) Plenty of side art that I can create on my own due to my artistic nature.
6) A cabinet

#6 seems like the challenge because I would like a cab that can fit the X-Arcade control panel, fit a large enough monitor to handle games of both video orientations (profile and landscape), and a cool Zoo Keeper repro marquee. Any suggestion of sites where I can find clean cabinets (other than X-Arcade that charges a ridiculously high price for cabinets)?

Also, is there anything I am missing?? Or am I approaching this project wrong??

Thanks!

1) Zoo Keeper
2) Robotron
3) Frogger
4) Frenzy
5) Q*Bert

Thanks John! Galloping Ghost is knocking on the door of the National Arcade Museum at Funspot as the largest arcade in the country. They actually need to expand soon because that place is packed with games and extremely busy all of the time! Underground Retrocade is actually better in terms of original cabinets and creating a complete 80s arcade environment... including the music being piped into the speakers. The owners of both places are incredible... very service oriented and friendly. Let me know if you ever make it out to these places.

I just found this place... need to give this forum a kick in the pants! 

About 30 years ago, I was about 1/3 of the weight I am now and held two World Records on the Twin Galaxies' record board (Frogger/3 lives and Venture). Now, I am happy to live in the Chicago area where the arcade classics of the early 80s live on. I frequent the Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield, IL and Underground Retrocade in East Dundee, IL. There is also Star Worlds in DeKalb, IL... an extremely rare arcade that has been in business since the early 80's and a couple of bars/retro arcades in the city.

I hate fighting games with a passion... I love the early 80's games like the Pac Mans and Donkey Kongs where technology limitations required games to be creative and strategic. My personal favorites include Robotron, Frogger, Frenzy, Q*Bert, and Defender.

My all time favorite game by a landslide is Zoo Keeper. I have it on MAME and my three daughters cheer me on as I try like hell to break 2 million points or higher. As much as I beg for Zoo Keeper in the Chicago retro arcades, nobody has delivered yet. Knowing that John was able to score Zoo Keeper makes me all giddy!

Thank you, John, for restoring the games I loved during my childhood and having a basement arcade that I could only dream about!! There is nothing like the sounds and sights of a retro arcade!