1 - Why build Arcade Controls site?
I think it was a moment of insanity :) Seriously though, it started with a message thread on Dave's VideoGame Classics. A couple of early pioneers"in the custom arcade controls scene were discussing ways of hooking arcade controls to the computer. This grabbed my interest in a big way. I saved every message I read about their techniques. Eventually, I posted a message asking if anyone was willing to collect all the information in a web site. The response . . . . After a couple of weeks, I got the hint, started one myself, and voila - the Build Your Own Arcade Controls Center FAQ was born. By the way, the original folks who got me into this were shadow (http://www.venus.net/~bbowles/), deCosa (http://www.arcadecontrols.speedhost.com/arcade_joyofjoys.htm), and MAMEHAM (http://userweb.interactive.net/~mameham/). I hope I haven't left anyone out, but probably did. There were several really talented people who gave me the motivation to start my site.

2 - In your opinion, what's the best arcade game?
If I had to be stuck on a desert island with just one game, it'd probably be JumpBug. I poured more quarters into that I think than any other game. Gauntlet would be a close second.

3 - What's the most pretty arcade cabinet?
Of the "Build Your Own" variety, I think I was most impressed by Roswell 88201 (http://www.arcadecontrols.speedhost.com/arcade_roswell.html). Of the true arcade variety, there was a custom run of MsPacMan cabinets (maybe it was PacMan) that were made of clear plexiglass I think. I have a picture here (http://www.arcadecontrols.speedhost.com/images/clearpac.jpg). I'd love to own one of those.

4 - What do you think about Arcade 2000 cabinet [from arcade solutions]?
I think it's a monster and I want one :) My vaporware dream cabinet that I'm going to build "Real Soon Now" includes a detachable steering wheel, dual spinners, trackball, and ... er... well it looks an awful lot like the Arcade2000! I tried to get them to send me a review copy, but no luck ... :)

5 - How you explain the excellent level of [the] Arcade Controls message board [messages]?
I'm truly lucky! All modesty aside, some of the most talented people in this scene haunt the message board. There's also a good signal-to-noise ratio. I'm extremely grateful to all of the contributors to the message board. One of the nicest thing is that people who have absolutely nothing to gain (they've either built their project already or are in fact in the business of selling such things to people yet lend their expertise anyway) visit and contribute to the board. Thanks everyone!

6 - What do you think about the [market] arcade parts prices at this moment?
The stuff can be bloody expensive! Buying new or limited quantities of parts from vendors can rack up the dollars quickly. If you do some careful hunting in the used or small-vendor area, you can get away much cheaper.

7 - What's your dream?
My dream is to have a couple of arcade cabinets built & wired to the house network for head to head play. Both cabinets will have steering wheels, StarWars yokes, trackballs, spinners, etc. They'll be hooked into a stereo system for sound. They'll be Internet ready if I ever want to play someone remotely. The infrastructure for that is already in place, I just need to build the cabinets :) Every time someone sends me one of their projects though, I think "wow - I need *that* in my project!" so it keeps changing. For the FAQ? I want it to keep on growing as it has to provide all the information one would need to build whatever arcade controls one imagines. There are still a lot of things I want to add to the FAQ.

8 - There are rumors [exclusive from Kinox] about a CD compilation [by Arcade Controls] with all files available in the site, it's true?
Gosh would there be any interest in that? :) That's pure rumor, although I'm not adverse to the idea. The FAQ currently takes 70 megs, and I still have a ways to go. I've just contracted with my ISP to bump my disk space from 100 megs to 200 megs, so obviously I expect to do some growing :) I don't know how useful a CD would be, as the site changes often - sometimes weekly, usually at least twice a month minimum.

9 - What do you think about open source code policy [stimulated by Kinox]?
I think open source is a great way to stimulate innovation and improvements in whatever scene it's applied to. I guess my FAQ is kind of "open source" :)

10 - [Again, in your opinion,] What's the best arcade games developer?
Tell me more about them! It's a three-way tossup as far as I'm concerned between Atari, Nintendo (of yesteryear of course) and Williams. I have more Nintendo arcade games in my basement than any other, but more Atari games are on my shopping list :)

11 - You can recommend some stores (if possible, online stores) where we can buy arcade parts?
Yes - there are a few that are happy to sell to the end user, and they supply a good chunk of the real arcade shops as well.

- Happ Controls (http://www.happcontrols.com/) - my favorite, no complaints at all.
- Wico (http://www.wicothesource.com) - they've had problems recently, but were and probably still will be an excellent source. Buyer beware though - use credit cards, verify return policy, etc... Their problems have been with getting you the right order, not with the quality of their product which is top notch.
- Video Connection (http://www.videoconnect.com/) - a good resource for harder to find products, such as the now rare leaf joysticks and buttons.

---- Also see ----
While I hate to mention it, ebay often has hard to find parts - watch out for price inflation though! Finally, don't forget the newsgroup rec.games.video.arcade.marketplace

12 - Did you reach your objectives? If not, what's missing?
Not yet :) There are two missing things:

1. I haven't actually built my own arcade cabinet yet! I spend all my time gathering information and working on the web site :)

2. There's still a lot I want to do with the FAQ before it's my vision of what the final word on building arcade controls should look like. I doubt I will ever consider the FAQ "finished." I want to work on the format a little bit, work on ease of use of the FAQ (there's a ton of information, and it's not always easy to find), and a newbie's "step-by-step"guide among many other things. The FAQ started as a one pager, fitting well within a 5 meg web site, and now encompasses 53 pages and 70 megs, with no end in sight :)