Originally Posted by
Ed Oscuro
I don't want a cab (for a variety of reasons). Problem solved.
There still are many repair / DIY aspects to going the non-cabinet route, but they are going to pose different challenges (and expenses!) than cabinets will.
I hope to eventually develop some soldering and diagnostics / repair skill. To that end I may eventually be looking at getting a Fluke and some other stuff. That would help me with a large variety of projects that need getting done, not all arcade-related (some dying handhelds are crying for help but I can't justify sending them to somebody else).
What it comes down to is prospective owners should think twice about the older non-JAMMA dedicated games, especially since a lot of people who are just now getting into arcade collecting generally seem more focused on JAMMA era games anyway (from what little I've seen, anyway). The options aren't so stark as you suggest with JAMMA where a good universal cabinet will serve a lot of games and service (or outright replacement) is going to be easier - I'd call myself an arcade game owner (discounting the one dedicated I have for the sake of this argument) but your list really wouldn't apply as I'm using a supergun (which has a variety of benefits). Getting into the older dedicated games is a huge commitment; in my case, it was a huge mistake. At this point, I prefer to leave the older dedicated games to people who can service them properly and stay content with MAME.