Initial inspiration

A recent trip to a bar called The Spot had me sitting at a Ms. Pac-man cocktail cabinet. Nothing beats (Ms.) Pac-man using a real joystick, at double speed. I remember wishing that there was some way I could play this at home. Then I realized - this cabinet is just made of wood, a computer, a monitor... and other stuff. It's nearly trivial to create one. I immediately declared my intention to build an arcade cabinet of my own. People may have assumed that this was just drunken bullshitting, but I knew I was serious. So the quest began.