Cab owners: how do you feel about PCB collecting?

[Az]

Firstly, let me say I don't own any original, dedicated cabs with super nice aesthetics. Currently I have 6 cabs, 2 are just generic Dynamo (I think?) cabs, 1 is an extremely old unnamed brand generic cab, 1 is a Ms. Pac-Man conversion that was hastily and poorly converted to a multi-slot MVS cab, and one is a dedicated Sammy Deer Hunter cab (not fancy at all) that I'll be adding a normal control panel to to play both lightgun games via a MAME PC and PS2.

Depending on your setup do you even bother to collect bare boards? If so and you have dedicated cabs, do you just get boards specifically compatible with them or those that require extra action buttons to be drilled and other alterations? How to you store these monstrosities?

[Tanooki]

I got off easy just have the MVS so I have an arcade in one with that. But I've considered it before. I know for my sanity I'd buy a cardboard box that would fit the PCB in question well, but I'd also buy online an electrostatic bag that would fit it as well as I know they come in all sizes. I'd end up probably making some nice sticker for the side of the box, then storing it in a closet or something A-Z style to keep them safe from accidental hits or other natural causes of death. I doubt I'd want to collect many, probably just keep a few I loved most and rotate out if I got fed up with it as they're not small until you get into modular stuff like what SNK, Sammy, Capcom, and a few others did with modular cartridge PCBs. Those, I just buy them bare in the factory snap shells the PCBs are in and file them on a media shelf with the label out.

[celerystalker]

I have five dedicated cabinets-Popeye, Time Soldiers, Centipede, Sunset Riders 4-player, and a one slot Neo Geo that was set up as a dedicated Metal Slug when I bought it. I bought these different cabinets not just because I love the games, but also because they each have different control and monitor setups, so I csn use them to swap out and play other pcbs.

The Neo Geo does JAMMA stuff up to four buttons, so I just put an extra platform so I can simply move the harness to a secondary pcb. I use it for stuff like POW, Black Tiger, or when I change the dips in WWF Wrestlefest to two player mode.

Time Soldiers has both rotary joysticks and a vertical monitor, so I also swap in stuff like Devastators and Gondomania.

Sunset Riders is set up for basic Konami 15-pin kick harnesses, so I also use it for stuff like TMNT.

Popeye and Centipede I basically leave as-is, though I could do Donkey Kong or DK Jr on Popeye if I wanted to rotate the monitor.

I also built a JAMMA supergun and controllers for kicks, and for games like US Championship V'ball, which require the -5 volt rail for sound.

I have a small collection of pcbs and MVS carts I use like the ones I already noted in these cabinets... Windjammers, Ninja Baseball Bat Man, and others. I store them in anti-static bags, lined up inside the cavernous base of my Sunset Riders cabinet, which holds, like, a dozen extra pcbs, and the vertical stuff is inside my Time Soldiers. I'll keep collecting extra pcbs, as there is a limit to how many more cabinets I can fit in the basement. I'd like to do another four player to play the 9 pin kick harness stuff without as much hassle, and maybe a nice driver for sure. Swapping boards is the best way to maximize my space and budget without emulating, and sometimes I get lucky and score a whole kit or marquee with them, which is fun.

[XYXZYZ]

I do have a few boards, but one of the things that keeps me from getting more is the fact that on the vast majority of them you can't pause the game. A few have dipswitches for screen freeze and you can wire a switch on the cabinet to activate it, essentially having a pause switch. My Neo Geo is wired this way, and CPS1 games also have one.

Because of that, the cumbersomeness of swapping the boards in a cabinet, lots of boards need repair, they are difficult to store, take up a lot of space, and they're just too damn expensive. For now I have MAME setups in my cabinets. I use the arcadevga card so the games' resolution is always right and for the most part I can't tell the difference between the board and the ROMs.

I've also just moved into a new house, and now that I have the room for more arcade stuff I may get some boards to play games without that cheap emulation feeling.