Introduction.

I love playing on arcade machines. The joy of playing a game via a big chunky joystick, especially on a vertically oriented screen, has a big appeal for me.

Having built a Dreamcast powered cocktail arcade cab in the past, and owned a Neo Geo upright cab, these have all had to go in favour of a more sensible home environment to make space for our two kids.

A recent hankering for a new cab brought out some interesting discussion with friends regarding the construction of a new cocktail cab. A modular approach emerged, resulting in a unit that could be packed away or remain a little less obvious when not in use. I looked at IKEA for some simple inspiration, and ended up deciding I may as well use one of their units as a starting point rather than build my own cab from scratch.

Skipping ahead, I've done some further research and decided on a 2-drawer unit called MALM to act as the bare bones for my cab. The plan is that the unit doesn't resemble an arcade cab at all, hence the "stealth" in the title. Until the joystick is revealed and the monitor fires up, it's just going to look like a normal piece of furniture.

The cab is going to be designed pretty much exclusively for vertically oriented or "tated" games, partly due to the shape of the unit I've chosen and partly due to the suitable viewing angles of the monitor I'm using. Also, I can always play standard orientation games via my TV.

Pictures to follow when I get the chance, hope this will be of interest to some people.