Can anyone identify this "Video Playmate" cabinet?

[sewashburn]

Hi-

Can anybody identify my "Video Playmate" cabinet?  Any thoughts to what game it once held?  Please let me know if you recognize it.  I bought the cabinet for $50 off of Craigslist from an arcade in Maynardville, Tennessee.  I had been looking for an empty cabinet to use for a MAME system.  As you can see, this cabinet is very generic with a feaux wood grain-look laminate.  It was in much better shape than the other cabinets that were for sale.  There were two other cabinets, one a Galaxia and the other Ms Pacman.  While they had nicer artwork, the cabinets had significant flood damage on the bottom of the two sides.  I've tried googling "Video Playmate" but all I find are Playboy related links.  I watched John's video of his trip to Illinois (the one hour version) and I heard him identifying every cabinet regardless of the game it currently had in it, so I thought my best chance was to post the cabinet here.

Here is the marquee (I've since added the light and put PC speakers behind the marquee.  It previously was blocked by a piece of the laminated wood):



Here is the entire cabinet (I've added the X-Arcade dual joystick, Dell LCD monitor and cupholders, and I found a replacement lock at Home Depot):



FYI:  

The computer is an old Dell Dimension with a 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 with 1 gb of RAM, a 40 gb OS drive and a 300 gb drive for emulators, ROMs, artwork, etc.

I am using Mameui32, and I want to integrate with Hyperspin.  Now that the cabinet is almost done I want to concentrate on this next.

The X-Arcade dual joystick is not permanently mounted yet.  It is just held in place by L brackets on all four sides.  Any ideas for mounting it?

I bought the 19" Dell monitor for $20 from Craigslist.  I removed its stand and mounted to a piece of plywood.  I can manually physically rotate the monitor based on landscape/portrait game orientation using this inexpensive lazy susan turntable I found my Home Depot store:



http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-6-in-Lazy-Susan-Turntable-49548/203661089

FYI:  For anyone who is interested, here is the cupholder from Wholesale Marine that I mounted to each side of the cabinet:



http://www.wholesalemarine.com/sea-dog-marine-abs-adjustable-folding-drink-holder.html

Next task:  Add a trackball.  I saw this video on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC7jhdAMwiw

I found a Golden Tee TV video game at my local thrift store for less than $5, and I have a couple of USB and PS2 trackball mice laying around.

Any thoughts or better ideas?

My goal is to make the best cabinet possible with the least $$ investment.  That has made it more fun, doing more with less.

Also, a $1 can of generic matte black project spray paint goes a long way and makes the cabinet look much better in places!

Thanks, and I appreciate your input!


Scott

[John's Arcade]

FROGGER.

[sewashburn]

You nailed it, thanks!  What do you make of the marquee?  Is it just a generic one that an arcade could use to put whatever game they had into the cabinet?

[lesoleil70]

Welcome to the hobby, you'll make lots of mistakes, cry, laugh, but the most important thing dude, you're playing and you have an arcade machine. Now you can spit on your console owning mates.

Just curious, do you have the original control panel? Hope you say yes, for me if you're cool with a simple mame, awesome, hours of fun...

But if you have the control panel, you can buy real cheapo USB encoders that work great with mame, I have them, and no problems, here's a link, please look.  http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-ZERO-DELAY-ARCADE-USB-ENCODER-PC-TO-JOYSTICK-FOR-ARCADE-MAME-FIT-HAPP-PARTS-/261481039277?pt=UK_Video_Games_Coin_Operated_MJ&hash=item3ce17c05ad

It's real simple to make a control panel, and if you're unsure, we will all help you out. It will play and look better.

Marquee - piece of shit.  Gotta go, you can buy again many marquees, custom size etc, have fun...

Monitor, good choice, people will tell you you gotta go with original monitors, but hell man you're playing, park all that talk for now.

Bezel, again can be cheap, quick fix, black card and exacto knife to cut a hole....bit ghetto, but so what, hides the rest. 

But seriously, arcade stick, marquee and bezel.  That would be my focus.

[Otaku]

The controls make me cringe, no offense. I guess the cupholders are a pretty neat idea, nice addition on that. First things first, I'd work on the controls definitely. Definitely a Frogger though. Gonna keep the wood grain?

[VertexGuy]

FROGGER.

john that cab remind you of somebody ?

[lesoleil70]

I spy an xbox controller, one of yours Steve?

[sewashburn]

I'll change the marquee for sure since it is of no historical significance, but why don't you guys like the X-Arcade controller?  The inside of the cabinet were trashed when I got it, that is why it was in his storage building for sale and not in his arcade. 

I might add some artwork on the upper part of the sides similar to how the Frogger artwork was on other cabinets.  I don't see any evidence that there ever was any artwork on the side, unless somebody did a great job with Goo Gone.

Thank you for your input!

[lesoleil70]

Honest answer, it'll make your cabinet look like crap man when it could be so much better with an original control panel, if you don't have it, put out the feelers here and on KLOV, not like this game is uncommon, it'll be out there, and you will surely be happy you got it.. Sorry if that hurts, it's not meant to. You still have a cooler cabinet than millions of people who don't have one.  What you are experiencing is a reaction from people who like to see cabinets as orig as possible.  I still have the scars from the comments I once had when I made a control panel for the front of a pole position to play jamma games....boy was that a wake up call.  ...and I was so proud of it too.

Scroll waaaaaay back down the flickr and its there, but it's back to a PP again waiting on the clone board.