8BitKid: Living Bit by Bit

I have had a simple dream for many years. That dream: to have an arcade in my house. I have many fond memories of pumping quarters into “After Burner” and “Mortal Kombat” at the Tysons Corner Mall while waiting for movies to start when I was in middle school. I remember beating the X-Men arcade with the mammoth screen at the mini golf course in Naples, Maine. In college, I used to swing into the local record store to sneak in some games of “Street Fighter II” after class. More recently, I get my arcade fix from “Barcade” in Brooklyn when I happen to be in town.

However, my personal nirvana involves having some classic cabinets at home. As a starter, I am hoping to put together a unit that runs the MAME arcade emulator software courtesy of a small form-factor PC I have around not being put to use. Dream Arcades sells kits for assembly that get well-reviewed, and I think a cocktail cabinet might be a nice place to start. If I ever need to impress a house guest I can always throw a table cloth over it and pretend it is something a lot less geeky.