Project Arcade

John St.Clair, like most children of the '80s, spent endless youthful hours feeding his allowance into arcade machines. He grew up to be a network engineer, but remains a game fanatic who created Build Your Own Arcade Controls (BYOAC) at www.arcadecontrols.com, a gamer's paradise where arcade game builders can swap plans, experiences, tips, and ideas. John wrote the first edition of this book in 2004.

Introduction. Part I Playing Your Games the Way They Are Meant to Be Played with Arcade Controls. Chapter 1 Picking Your Path to Game-Playing Nirvana. Chapter 2 Building Your Arcade Cabinet. Part II Designing and Building Your Dream Arcade Control Panel. Chapter 3 Pushing Your Buttons and the Joy of Joysticks. Chapter 4 Taking Your Game Out for a Spin Spinners and Trackballs. Chapter 5 Arcade Controls for Power Gamers. Chapter 6 Building the Control Panel. Part III Hooking Things Up Under the Hood Time to Trick the Computer. Chapter 7 How It Works Turning a Computer into the Brains of an Arcade Machine. Chapter 8 Using the Keyboard Connector for Arcade Controls. Chapter 9 Arcade Controls Using the Mouse Connector. Chapter 10 Miscellaneous Bits of Arcade Trickery. Part IV Putting Together the Final Pieces. Chapter 11 Audio Silence Isn t Golden. Chapter 12 A Picture Is Worth a Thousand ... Tokens? Chapter 13 A Picture Is Worth a Thousand ... Tokens? Chapter 14 Choosing and Loading Software. Chapter 15 Buttoning Up the Odds and Ends. Part V Like the Concept but Not Sure You Have It in You? Chapter 16 Stuck? Frustrated? Out of Quarters? Chapter 17 Buying Your Way to Gaming Nirvana. Chapter 18 Online Places to Go. Appendix A Where to Find Arcade Parts for Your Project. Appendix B The Great Debate Preserving Versus MAMEing the Past. Appendix C What s on the CD? Index.