IKEA MAME Dinner Table

Playing Ms. Pacman at the bar is great fun, but hard on the liver. I have recreated the experience by building my own sit-down MAME cabinet, and well-stocking my drinks cabinet (not pictured.)

This IKEA dinner table is expandable; it slides apart and more leaves can be inserted. When closed, it functions as a "dinner table" (that is, a place to pile my crap (temporarily relocated to the floor nearby)). It can be opened to reveal a sit-down MAME cabinet.

The display is a 15" LCD I got on sale. The controls are all from Happ Controls, and they're wired to an Ultimarc I-PAC . The surfaces are lasercut acrylic. Carpentry of varying quality holds everything to the existing table frame.

You can play any game on the MAME cabinet; some cooperate better than others on a sit-down style cabinet. I play Ms. Pacman exclusively, which hasn't yet translated into a better score.

This table is excellent when I throw large parties. There's always someone who doesn't feel comfortable around large groups of people, and so sits at the table playing video games. But because I serve food and drink on the table, and there's always someone sitting down across the table, this person is forced into social situations which are lubricated slightly by the involvement of video games.

11 photos | 24,917 views

items are from 18 Nov 2007.