atarigal Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Wow. Holy canoli. Your collection is amazing. Good luck with the arcade! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted April 22, 2011 Author Share Posted April 22, 2011 Wow. Holy canoli. Your collection is amazing. Good luck with the arcade! Thank you for the kind words, even though we still have not found a place to place the arcade yet, we have 3 real estate agents working on this, but everything has been hurry up and wait, So we are keeping our fingers crossed and hope we will have some news next week, preferably good. Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted April 29, 2011 Author Share Posted April 29, 2011 Well the week is over, and unfortunetly no good news on the arcade front, we have not found a single location that looks promising. Im starting to think that opening an arcade may be an impossibility at least in miami, actually to be fair, we did find 2 locations that would be willing to rent to us, and did not demand 2 pints of blood, and a contract with the devil, but as i had said in my prior emails, they were in very low income / high crime areas, not the most appealing prospects, at least not if i wanted to sell crack or back alley abortions, etc. But if nothing else im persistent, so i will try again next week. Also i added a Gamate to the console collection side, i am including a pic. And for all the people that may be reading this post, please keep your fingers crossed for us, im really trying hard to get a descent arcade going, but it sometimes seems like the entire universe has said game over man - game over. Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted May 10, 2011 Author Share Posted May 10, 2011 (edited) Hello to all once again, well it looks like we might finally be signing a lease tomorrow, the space is a bit smaller than i calculated, it is only 2500 sq ft, with 2 bathrooms, but it is a start, i will try and take pictures of it as we proceed forward. On the console side we have 2 new items to add to the collection today , thanks to a great fellow collector called Richard Rezza, if you ever get a chance to deal with him, he is top notch, shipped very quickly and his attention to detail and packing is magnificent. I purchased a palmtex with react attack,the external light, outflank and aladdin's adventures, all boxed,Also a boxed epoch pocket computer with block maze, all in excellent shape. Im including images of everything, hope everyone enjoys. Rick Edited May 11, 2011 by ccatalyst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted May 10, 2011 Author Share Posted May 10, 2011 Well finally after several months of looking , and being shocked by some of the crazy pricing down here, we finally found a place, it is 2500sq ft, located in a strip mall, we just signed the contract today and im hoping to have everything done and moved in , hopefully in 30 days, but im sure the county / licensing and a dozen or more government agencies will see to it that it probably takes a lot longer than that. But im still moving forward, here are pics of the place and i will continue to post pics as i get this arcade built. Also you will note that there is a picture of ugly as hell, stained purple carpet, this will all be ripped up, but im posting it just to show how butt ugly the place is currently. Let's see what can be done to turn this place into a great arcade. Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarigal Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 That looks like a pretty good space even if the carpet is hideous. Can't wait to see what it all looks like once you have it fixed up and the games in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted May 18, 2011 Author Share Posted May 18, 2011 (edited) Ok everyone, new updates, no news on the arcade front, everything is still in a hurry up and wait mode, however we have a new update on the console side, it is a very rare and unreleased handheld courtesy of a great seller sam spade, actually his real name is johnathan, he sold me a Shanda Ez-Mini, this is a rather neat device that has wifi, bluetooth, picture viewer, audio and video player, can surf the internet and who the heck knows what else, most of the writing is in chinese, here are some links to get more info on this unique unit, Link 1 Link 2 Link 3 Link 4 apparently the unit was never mass produced, according to johnathan i have 1 of 22 known units, the pics also include the rom screen which basically shows some #'s, then the boot screen, and then the main screen in red, it came preloaded with some games, which is great, no batteries necessary, it works on a rechargeable battery in the unit like the nintendos. Anyhow,here are some pics for everyone to enjoy. Rick Edited May 19, 2011 by ccatalyst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted May 27, 2011 Author Share Posted May 27, 2011 (edited) Ok the arcade is beginning to get started, still moving at a snails pace though, so far the carpet has been ripped up and under the carpet there was linoleum, that was also ripped up so now the floor is super sticky like a giant sheet of fly paper, it actually took off my shoes when i tried to walk across it, the electrical work we needed is done, but we failed inspection, and for the dumbest possible reason, the flexible metal conduit was cut with tin snips instead of some special tool they want the electrician to use, even though the ends have grommets on them so there are no sharp edges, they want all 8 outlets and both new power poles redone from scratch, also the air conditioning guy decided to do the ac without pulling the permit first so now that is also delayed, i met with the sign guy today and hopefully will have pricing on the signs and t-shirts tomorrow, and spoke and sent info to the insurance guy, waiting for a quote for that .I have receiving the token test prints to get ready for minting , which hoperfully will get started tomorrow. I should be receiving my double door stainless steel glass door fridge tomorrow, which we will be using for the imported drinks and snacks, that is all for my updates on the arcade side, on the console side, i just received another laseractive disc, Pretty Illusion - Yuko Sakaki, this leaves me with only 2 missing, 3d austrailia and blue chicago blues, hopefully i will find those soon, i also received a super famicom box, this is a box that was used in hotels, and used special carts, i believe you had to pay to play this thing, well no matter it has been assimilated into the collective, here is a link to find out more info ont his unique console, super famicom box and here are some pics of the arcade in its current condition, and the super famicom box. Rick Edited May 27, 2011 by ccatalyst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 NICE! On the arcade side of things - I will likely not make it to Miami any time soon, but make sure you sell your T-shirts online so us out of towners can order one I do like watching the progress though, very exciting news that you are actually doing this! On the console side - I don't know where the heck you find all this crazy stuff but I like it, makes me want to learn more about these obscure handhelds you collect, very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted June 2, 2011 Author Share Posted June 2, 2011 Thanks crazy climber, i appreciate the kind words, you can be certain we will be selling those t-shirts as soon as we open, also here is an update for everyone. On the arcade side, we passed electrical finals today - hurray, and we also submitted all the paperwork to get the certificate of use for the premises. So now we wait, tokens are ordered,the token changer has arrived, a few parts for the token changer has been ordered,3 - 4 tons AC's have been fixed and serviced, blacklight carpet has been ordered, electrical is done, chairs for the consoles have been ordered, we are going with these - xrocker pro pedestals, pics below, we ordered 15 of these babies, we also got a 48" double glass door fridge for the japanese imported drinks and snacks which are going to be ordered once the carpet is here, pics of the fridge are below, this fridge already arrived and cools very cold very quickly, next on the assembly line comes the 3d monitors for the consoles, and the consoles , parts for the arcade games have been stacking up in my office for over a month now, and the blacklight paint is going to be ordered this week. I am currently also waiting for double doors to be added in the rear of the building + shutters, signage, tshirts, brochures, cards, cups, website, high speed internet for the systems and patrons we are going with a 100mbps circuit and of course insurance, which has all been requested. So onward we go into the void. Oh before anyone goes on about, how the heck is he getting a 100Mbps circuit, my other business is this one, Nettogo , which is a 5500sq ft colocation facility and it is located just 200ft behind the new arcade's location, we have gig pipes coming into our facilty so we are just running a 100mbps connection for the arcade, it is very nice to have it so close. On the console side, just received today a 2nd FZ-35S M2 for a spare, + 2 spare dvd drives for them, and just got a steel battalion boxed set to add to my controllers, i will post pics of those tomorrow. Anyhow that is all for now, more updates coming soon, keep hitting me with your comments /ideas / suggestions/ hate mail, heck i even got a wedding proposal from someoone, it keeps me smiling and it is good to know im not the only one writing here. Many Thanks, Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwiliteZoner Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 Congrats on finding the space. I sure wish you were in the Atlanta area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightSprinter Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 Or more in the central part of Florida. Seriously, though, congrats. You'd make a friend of mine who works on restoring vintage arcade cabinets as a hobby down there jealous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 (edited) Or more in the central part of Florida. Seriously, though, congrats. You'd make a friend of mine who works on restoring vintage arcade cabinets as a hobby down there jealous. Who is he, there may be a good chance i know him. But don't anyone congratulate me yet, we are still a ways off till we get started, however i did get a picture of what the place may look like with the signs from my signage company today, so i am posting a pic below for everyone to see, remember this is a mock up from the sign company and not the real thing, but it does show the look that im trying to go for. Just to get the 2 vinyl signs in the windows + the signage above , the circle is almost 3 ft in diameter and the arcade odyssey portion is like 20ft long, all with led lighting, electrical , timers , permits, installation, blood, etc and the signage in the pylon that faces the street , is going to be close to $10k, man does money go fast when you are trying to get one of these darn things started. Thank you all once again Rick. Edited June 3, 2011 by ccatalyst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 Oops almost forgot, i had said i was going to post some pics of the new steel batalion controller and the 2nd fz-35s, i also forgot to mention we also received a nintendo snoopy tabletop, the box on this unit and the steel batalion controller are a bit messed up, but hey a messed up box is better than no box at all, i also included a pic of my handhelds showing the palmtex and the snoopy next to the other nintendo tabletops, i just also won a nintendo donkey kong jr the white version, that will complete my nintendo tabletop collection, so i will post pics once i get it, i am also including a pic of my laserdisc video game collection, this is my collection of laseractive, msx and arcade laserdiscs, im only missing 2 to complete all the laseractive discs, and 1 to complete the msx collection, just real hard to get those last 3. Anyhow here are the pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightSprinter Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 ccatalyst, I believe his name is Carlos Lugo. He's fixed up and restored quite a few machines from the first time I visited him with a few other friends from that area (one being a deluxe MVS 4-slot cabinet with memory card slot and dual headphone jacks). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted June 5, 2011 Author Share Posted June 5, 2011 ccatalyst, I believe his name is Carlos Lugo. He's fixed up and restored quite a few machines from the first time I visited him with a few other friends from that area (one being a deluxe MVS 4-slot cabinet with memory card slot and dual headphone jacks). Nope, and i thought i knew everyone in the game trade down here, I will keep my ears open for his name at the gatherings / auctions. In the arcade news, We purchased 6 xbox 360's today, 2 ps3,s and a bunch of games , we are testing both passive and active 3d tv's for the displays, and we are looking into the controllers we will be using. and more arcade parts showed up. Baby steps every minute. Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightSprinter Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Best of luck to ya, Rick. If I ever make it down to Miami I'll have to check the place out once it's done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 (edited) The Latest handheld to be added to collection arrvied today, it is a Dingoo Technologies A330. It came with a USB Cable, headphones, charger, and A/V cable for a tv set, realy neat, the emulation is a bit slow on the newer titles, but still a neat little handheld,Here are the pics. Rick Edited June 7, 2011 by ccatalyst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted June 11, 2011 Author Share Posted June 11, 2011 New update today, the arcade odyssey is definately getting alot harder, I went to the county to apply for a certificate of use so we can get started, and we passed electrical however we failed, fire, derm, mechanical, building, zoning, & plumbing, when i woke up from the shock, i called the mall management and they are trying to see what can be done to get these items passed,on a positive note, the carpet arrives on tuesday, we have purchased a bunch of 3d tvs and tested them extensively for any lag or anything determental to any game player, we were very, very pleased with these units, and over 20 different gamers tested them with different games, from fighters to shooters, to music games, excellent performance, you can see the testing station in our kitchen , with the xrocker chair and the 3d monitors along with all the xboxes and ps3, several of the software titles and by the front door you have the token changer with 3 plasma monitors to replace the 50" screens in some of the arcade games, plus you get a glimse of what used to be my office,but it is now cluttered with arcade items. Well as they say in Meet the Robinsons, "keep moving forward". Here are some pics for everyone. Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted June 23, 2011 Author Share Posted June 23, 2011 (edited) New updates today, arcade still being worked on for zoning purposes, and money is hemoraging like a leaky old faucet, but we did get some neat new items today, on the arcade side, we received a bunch of cave shumps, among them are, musihimesama futari platinum collection, Espgaluda 2 black label, platinum collection, mushi mushi pork & pink sweets Limited edition, death smiles 2, IIX limited edition, on the back ordered side we have akai katana shin limited edition and do don pachi daifukkatsu black label, this should round out the shumps portion of the arcade, these will be running on xbox 360's japanese and US versions depending on the game and 42" vertically mounted monitors, we are still missing 2 of the cave shooters they will hopefully arrive here soon. We also recieved melty blood actress again for the Naomi and Dolphin Blue for the atomis wave, Hopefully the arcade players will like those 2, as they are not very common out there and are a heck of a lot of fun to play. On the console side we received a Nintendo donkey kong Jr - white, which completes my collection of the nintendo tabletops, here you can see all 5 in all their glory, and after waiting over a year, i finally got my channel f multicart and pac man cart for the channel f system. Here are the pics, keep those posts and emails coming. Rick Edited June 23, 2011 by ccatalyst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted July 2, 2011 Author Share Posted July 2, 2011 (edited) New items today, on the Arcade front, we got our token machine up and running with 2 MEI acceptors, with the latest firmware, and 2 hoppers with the extenders, we also got 2 main boards, just in case 1 blows, so as far as token changing is concerned, we are pretty much covered, everything is redundant and fails over to only 1 if needed. We also got our tokens minted,10000 to start off with, we had to tweak the design a bit, but i think it came out ok. As for the arcade itself, we have gotten an architech to do a drawing of the facility and i was asked to put the layout where everything was going to go,this will hopefully get zoning off our backs so we can finally get our COU - certificate of use, you can see pictures of the Arcade layout and his final design which includes 2 bathrooms for the famales, and 1 bathroom + 1 urinal for the males, 2 water fountains, and of course our main layout, these are in pdfs, so you may have to open them to see them, the blast cities will have everything from metal slug 6, to dolphin blue, to kof XIII, to spawn, to melty blood actress again, i want to really give gamers alot of options for new games they may never have seen before, this is just the layout, i may be able to squeeze maybe 2-4 more games in there, maybe i'll add a tron, a gauntlet dark legacy, a midway multigame, and a williams multigame, which will bring my total # of games to 55, in the facility. As for the console front , i just won my second imagination station, this one came with a few tapes, but also came with almost every issue of the club newsletters for the apf, among them are NATIONAL IMAGINATION COMPUTER CLUB, and IM-1 in a Million, in fact this package is so complete, that it also came with it's original box, original invoice , including the original credit card receipt and cc# that bought it and the basic cart and manual all in very good condition. Well that is all for now,on to the images. Rick arcade layout.pdf Final design plans.pdf Edited July 2, 2011 by ccatalyst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Man, I seriously may have to take the family to Florida when this things up and running. I do have a good friend in Miami I have always wanted to visit again someday, and I'm sure the Wife and kid would love to see Disneyworld....might have to start the planning, we will definetliy hit your arcade first! By the way ccatalyst, your collection is looking pretty sweet, keep on living the dream man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightSprinter Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 (edited) Crazy Climber,I can see what I can do about discounted tickets for when you hit Orlando. Edited July 4, 2011 by NightSprinter 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntavio Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Where in Miami is your arcade located? I would love to check it out with my family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Crazy Climber,I can see what I can do about discounted tickets for when you hit Orlando. YOU DA MAN!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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