Dazz's Game Not Over

My MAME cabinet is the first full-size cabinet that's been at Quakecon! Who says classic games don't belong at a large LAN party? My cabinet was a huge hit amongst the gamers. The event lasted 4 full days and the action on the cabinet never stopped. 3000+ gamers were in attendance including some of the best gamers in the world. This was a true beta test of my cabinet and I think it performed very well. The only damage that come out of the event was that the 2nd player joystick was bashed down on and smashed through the MDF. As a temporary fix I ran screws through to the top of the control panel and that made the joystick usable quickly.

Since then I've installed black carriage bolts and have secured all of the joysticks through the top of the control panel. Originally I didn't want bolts showing on the top of the control panel, but thankfully the new carriage bolts (not pictured) are not as unsightly as the temporary screws. I'm happy with the outcome without building a completely new control panel. However a new control panel design is in the works...

Of course fighting games were the most played games during the event, but others found joy in being able to play games that they haven't seen in years. Around 4:00am on Friday morning Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendell come out and enjoyed a couple games of Mortal Kombat 2.

Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel (player 2 position) takes on a poor contender at Mortal Kombat 2.

This was completely a spur of the moment event. At one point I counted 75 people gathered around the cabinet as challengers took on Fatal1ty in a QUICK game. Before all was said and done Fatal1ty had taken on 40 contenders in Mortal Kombat 2 without loosing a match.

Fatal1ty wasn't the only well known person that pounded away on the cabinet... Several guys from id Software come out to check it out and to play a couple of their favorite games. John Root was often seen playing games on the cabinet. He and I went head to head on Mrs. Pac-Man... Let's just say that he destroyed my all-time high score in just one life. Mackey of Infinity Ward was also a big fan of the cabinet and was often seen playing fighting games & Daphne Laserdisc games. He and I have stayed in touch and I have inspired him to build his own MAME cabinet.

After the first evening everyone had given me motivation to enter the cabinet into the Computer Case Mod competition sponsored by Creative. Unfortunately their judges determined that my MAME cabinet shouldn't be considered a computer mod. However, third place was given to a mini Donkey Kong cabinet...

Mini Donkey Kong was awarded 3rd place

Overall my cabinet was a HUGE hit at Quakecon. I've been asked to bring it back for next year as it was now considered a new Quakecon staple. I'm currently debating on taking it next year as lugging 300+ lbs. of arcade cabinet is not very easy.