This is the cabinet exterior page

When you think about the completed cabinet, you're probably mainly thinking about how cool it will be to play games "arcade fashion" and share the experience with friends. This is a cool thing. However, equally important is how your cabinet looks when it is not in use. After all, this thing will be sitting in a room in your house for (hopefully) many years to come. You don't want an eyesore. (For married guys, this is an especially relevant point).

Aside from symmetry and overall fit an finish, the appearance of your cabinet will depend in large part on how you paint and decorate it. I wanted a black cabinet, because most of my early game memories are black cabinet games: Space Invaders, Asteroids, Battle Zone, Defender.

I painted the entire thing black before installing any components. Then I decided to paint a MAME logo on the side. Using Corel Draw, I created a trace of the MAME logo and resized it to a size that felt right. Then I traced it onto the side of the cabinet and airbrushed it to make the blue color variegated like the official MAME logo. It is possible that I will order a full-side vinyl side panel when I move the cabinet to it's permanent location. For the moment, I'm happy with it.

The picture below is the finished cabinet in the room where it will live.

On to the play page.