Dragon's Lair Fans - Arcade Lifestyle

General Chat => Arcade Lifestyle => Topic started by: PunkRockCaveman on July 09, 2013, 09:32:07 AM

Title: Caveman goes public
Post by: PunkRockCaveman on July 09, 2013, 09:32:07 AM
As promised in another thread here is the story of my new crazy plans for the next few years ... as we all know space is always a limitating factor in this hobby. I think all of us want big gamerooms with dozends of machines and partys every weekend if we could AND had the space to do this.

That also is my problem. I have about 25 cabs and 4 pinball machines now and half of that stuff ist stored in the garage. No chance to even pull sometinh out to repair it. I'm done with my space. So last year (or was it already two years ago??) I decided to move out of the house with all my stuff. At the moment me and Mrs. Caveman live for rent in a quite small flat. Fortunately my neighbours are arcade friendly people so they let me do "The Cave" in the basement. In the meantime I occupied almost the whole basement for my machines ... there are almost 20 games running there on about 50qm!!!

To achieve my goal in a certain budget I asked the local computer museum (OCM) if they could imagine a coorporative between them and me. The liked it right from the start! So - fast forward two years - the moment has come that we found a location where arcade and classic computing come together on almost 1000qm!

The gameroom will be about 100qm for the start. As seen on pic 2 ... And thats not all: I teamed up with a few pinball freaks. They decided also to join the party and bring a few pins. Still looking for people who are interested in this to join the club. We will have a blast there, open one day a month to the public (like other clubs like the well known RetroGamers or ForAmusementOnly do). The goal is something like the permanent Eurocade. You bring your stuff, we build one big gameroom and have fun together. Take the community out of the web into real life. Arcade lifestyle at it's best. :)

So thats it! Bye bye Cave, welcome ..... (we don't have a name yet ;))
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Tyrem on July 09, 2013, 10:00:06 AM
Great news and great location! Can´t wait to see cabs in there.
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: gyruss on July 09, 2013, 10:20:19 AM
Wow, very nice! Congratulations, must be a dream come true!
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: anunaki on July 09, 2013, 10:25:24 AM
Great space :spaceace:
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: PunkRockCaveman on July 09, 2013, 10:43:35 AM
At the moment I tend to say that it's more a nightmare because we have to do so much paperwork. In Germany bureaucracy rules. We plan to do the opening party in the middle of november. Hope that will happen :)
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: level42 on July 09, 2013, 10:55:10 AM
HOLY CRAP what a SPPPPPAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCEEEEE [insert echo sound].....

Would be the same here. Permits. regulations, fire safety....
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Q*ris on July 09, 2013, 11:24:22 AM
That's the way to go: sharing and spreading the arcade love!
That place is huuuuuge and clean, it's perfect!
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Belike on July 09, 2013, 12:05:55 PM
Fantastic idea and really cool place. :spaceace:
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Muerto on July 09, 2013, 12:18:21 PM
Niiice, looking good!
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: DarthNuno on July 09, 2013, 12:29:31 PM
 :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace:
Go Go GO!
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: scr33n on July 09, 2013, 06:17:37 PM
CoooooLLLLLL!!!!  :spaceace:

Good luck for this awesome project  8)
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Thwocker on July 09, 2013, 09:11:27 PM
Wow!  :shock:

There's another great example (https://retrogames.info/) of this concept in Germany

They hosted EuroCon - the European classic videogame convention - a couple of times here, we had a blast!

Cheers, Marco
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: PunkRockCaveman on July 09, 2013, 11:53:26 PM
Yeah, as I mentioned in my first post, RetroGames e.V. and FAO in Seligenstadt are good examples for our concept. It might take a few years to grow THAT big. Anyway. Here in the northern part of germany nothing else happens so this might be a chance for some people to join the fun!! At the moment we are still looking for people participating and /or willing to give a little money on regular bases to get this project running for more than just a few months. ;)
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Sonic 1992 on July 10, 2013, 07:25:44 AM
So, Are you renting or buying this building? 

Best of luck to you on this project!!!!  ;D
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Thwocker on July 10, 2013, 10:54:04 AM
How far north in Germany are you?

Cheers, Marco
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: PunkRockCaveman on July 10, 2013, 01:04:09 PM
Thanks for your support. :)

I live in Oldenburg (30 minutes from Bremen and only 2 hours away from Hamburg). We rent all that space. "We" in that case is the OCM. Since we are the arcade section of the OCM-family, we participate from the big overall space. How much we will use depends on how many machines we aquire or how many people are willing to participate. Atm we have about 30 Cabs and a dozen pinballs (count is growing fast). :)
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: level42 on July 10, 2013, 08:52:52 PM
Only 30 minuten from Bremen ? Mmmm, you can have a full container arrive directly at that place ;);)
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Thwocker on July 10, 2013, 10:40:16 PM
Hmm only 200 km away from my home...   8)
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: vernimark on July 11, 2013, 12:18:48 AM
wow  :spaceace: :spaceace:
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: level42 on July 15, 2013, 04:05:18 PM
The caveman evolves from his cave into a proper building LOL ;)
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Vond on July 15, 2013, 04:38:32 PM
Me and Xen are from Veendam in the Netherlands (quite close!)
Altough it would probably be a major hassle for us to drag our (currently one and only) cab to and from the location
(no car with possibilities of towing, no trailer and a cab located at the top of a 3 story building with very VERY narrow stairs)

BUT! We are more then willing to take along some other vintage gaming equipment/tv's/combo's etc!
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: PunkRockCaveman on July 15, 2013, 05:01:16 PM
Thanks for all the support here!!

@Vond: Thank you for the kind offer! Right now we haven't planned to build up any other gaming gear but who knows what happens in the future ;)

Progress is still slow. We still need the "Brandschutzwand" (therefore we won't get killed if the cabs catch fire - yeah right!). Millions of other knick knacks too of course. Keep you postet with pics if anything changes.
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: level42 on July 15, 2013, 05:13:27 PM
My good friend, things like Brandshutzwände (fire walls) are what sets us apart from countries like Bangladesh.......there's a reason....fires never happen ........right ?


Not sure in Germany but over here if a building gets larger than 1000 m2 you'll need to divide up with 30 minute firewalls OR take other measurements that provide equal safety (like sprinklers).
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: PunkRockCaveman on July 15, 2013, 10:59:46 PM
I know, I know ... and it's OK. But it's a pain in the ass. ;-) Not hat simple to spread the love nowadays. Linke Bon said: It's a long way to the top if you wanna rock n roll. :-)
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: PunkRockCaveman on November 06, 2013, 12:16:06 PM
Soooo ... it's been a looong time that I posted progress on this. But we were so busy. A thousand big, bigger, major and minor problems occured but we managed to come to the pictured state now. :) DON'T ask how ;)
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: gyruss on November 06, 2013, 12:49:30 PM
 :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace:

Awesome!  :o

Would love to do something similar, how many cabinets are there in the room?

And do you have more pictures of the process (maybe on a german forum)?
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: PunkRockCaveman on November 06, 2013, 12:53:48 PM
Right now ... 32. Plus there will be 8 pinball at the end, I guess. Pretty crowded already but some more cabs are already in the planning. If we stack everything up a bit there ist space for max. 40 cabs und maybe 10 pins. :) We are already planning on a small 50qm expansion at the beginning of the next year. :D
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: anunaki on November 06, 2013, 12:58:44 PM
Hi there Mr Caveman :)

When are you opening up?
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: PunkRockCaveman on November 06, 2013, 01:05:29 PM
Regular opening times will start in 2014 ... maybe March? That depends on the computer museum. Since this is a coorperation we will start with the opening when both parts are ready. On 16.11 we will have a little party though where the cabs and pins will be part of the fun for the first time. ;) See here: https://www.facebook.com/OldenburgerComputerMuseum/events
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: gyruss on November 06, 2013, 01:08:18 PM
Right now ... 32. Plus there will be 8 pinball at the end, I guess. Pretty crowded already but some more cabs are already in the planning. If we stack everything up a bit there ist space for max. 40 cabs und maybe 10 pins. :) We are already planning on a small 50qm expansion at the beginning of the next year. :D

Wow 32 already! Really cool, love the atmosphere! 
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Tyrem on November 06, 2013, 01:10:15 PM
this rocks!!! damn... man! we have to come and see this for real!

congratulations, love the way this turned out!
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: anunaki on November 06, 2013, 01:13:37 PM
looking forward to visit it sometime in 2014, looks like a great place.

don´t think I can make it on the 16th
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Vond on November 06, 2013, 01:35:10 PM
We (Me and Xentraz) will definitely try to come and check it out the 16th!!  8)
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: PunkRockCaveman on November 06, 2013, 01:55:31 PM
Cool :) Yeah this will be good ... we try to build a community of arcade-nerds and pinheads here in the north of germany. In mid and south germany there are already similar projects running. Another important point for us is spreading the arcade lifestyle!! It's boring to play alone or always just with other collectors. Eurocade has shown that the public interest is still strong! :)
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: ckong on November 06, 2013, 02:10:56 PM
That place looks very cool!  :spaceace:

Looking forward to visit it early next year.
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: jinxz on November 06, 2013, 02:39:22 PM
That place looks very cool!  :spaceace:

Looking forward to visit it early next year.

Same here! Would love to visit the arcade.
Anyone interested in setting something up like this in NL, I'm game ;)
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: gyruss on November 06, 2013, 06:01:15 PM
That place looks very cool!  :spaceace:

Looking forward to visit it early next year.

Same here! Would love to visit the arcade.
Anyone interested in setting something up like this in NL, I'm game ;)

Well, maybe we should talk ;)
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Belike on November 06, 2013, 07:11:54 PM
Nice and big place, a must visit. :D
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: gyruss on November 06, 2013, 08:26:07 PM
Are you going to be open every weekend? And do you have a liquor license? Must be pretty frustrating getting all the paperwork done, i believe Germany is even more bureaucratic then the Netherlands.
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Behle on November 06, 2013, 08:29:06 PM
I wish tomorrow would be the 16th...can't wait til then ;-)
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: PunkRockCaveman on November 06, 2013, 08:48:17 PM
Of course we have no liquor license. ;) We handle this on a very special way. There is a frigde. The guests can take out what ever they want and make a donation for that. That's it. Of course we have some very angry and fierce looking person next to that fridge so that everybody will be honest and put his 2,- or something for the drink in the bn. :D

Other things are also very very complicated. We spend months with this crap. Now we declare the whole thing as our club house and when you get inside and pay the entry fee it is a dayly membership. Otherwise it would be hell to get all neccessary permissions. With this mehtod the people who get in are legaly liable in a certain way but ... there is always something wrong with something somewhere ;)
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Bicton on November 07, 2013, 12:53:32 AM
Amazing place! Congratulations for all the huge work developing this great place on to a real dream,  I dream that one day we will have a few places like this all around Europe,  a great Arcade Tour  :D
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Behle on November 08, 2013, 07:12:34 PM
Just up... ;D ;D

i want to see a lot of arcadians.....
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Wurstkopp on November 09, 2013, 08:38:17 PM
I dream that one day we will have a few places like this all around Europe,  a great Arcade Tour  :D

There should be an arcade pilgrimage route through Europe. All you're allowed to carry with you is some coins, all you're allowed to drink is beer. :)
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Vond on November 10, 2013, 10:28:56 AM
I dream that one day we will have a few places like this all around Europe,  a great Arcade Tour  :D

There should be an arcade pilgrimage route through Europe. All you're allowed to carry with you is some coins, all you're allowed to drink is beer. :)

Haha that would be awesome!
I can totaly imagine lone robed pilgrims wandering the dark desolated european fields mumbeling and raving to themselfs about obscure cabinets and
draging along a big leather purse filled with coins.  ;D
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Wurstkopp on November 10, 2013, 12:04:52 PM
 :lol:
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: level42 on November 11, 2013, 09:14:42 PM
Shamefully I haven't responded to this exiting news (partly because I heard it from The Man directly alread) but I can't wait for a trip to North Germany ! ;)
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: bencao74 on November 12, 2013, 09:15:49 AM
Hey PRC,
 
there was some clubs in Bremen Viertel that worked in similar way. Take a entry fee for a daily membership in the "Verein für Lebensfreude" and such. ;) But they sell "modded Apfelsaftschorle" as a beer ;) Now this club is closed.

Anyway. I could support the OCM cave with a Paperboy and Quadro or 3-1 Millipede, Centipede, Missile Command. Additionally I could imagine to put some bartops there. At least I need logistic help.

Do you plan requirements for placing a cab there? Runtime, working condition, time how long a cab at least must reside in cave, coiner procedure?

Further I collected tons of test equipment like logic chip tester, logic analyzer, Ozi, Fluke 9010 plus pods, PCB Test Stations and so on.

Wouldn't it be great to add a little garage for repairing arcade electronics? Concept could be to have an access to rare equipment for trained(!) people. My hope is to spread the knowledge of repairing arcade stuff by having at least the possibility.

Cheers

Jochen

 





 
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: PunkRockCaveman on November 13, 2013, 07:27:47 AM
Yes! We have to talk ;-) I was definately to busy the last couple of weeks. Sorry! Those are all good ideas and some of them are already considered. More in this after the weekend... Still ALOT of work to do.
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: bencao74 on November 14, 2013, 02:34:39 PM
Enjoy the first opening  ;D
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Wurstkopp on November 15, 2013, 09:50:25 AM
I will drink you under the table, Jörg.
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Behle on November 15, 2013, 09:55:37 AM
I will drink you under the table, Jörg.
;-)

I will bring my Lady Bug table and would like to see both of you lying under the Cab
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Vond on November 15, 2013, 12:08:18 PM
I will drink you under the table, Jörg.
;-)

I will bring my Lady Bug table and would like to see both of you lying under the Cab

(http://www.bvb-forum.de/forumbilder/haha_simpsons.jpg)
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Vond on November 17, 2013, 11:28:48 AM
Went to the event yesterday and have to say, it was amazing!
We (me and Xentraz) were at the city of Oldenburg waaay to early, I sheepishly assumed that event was being held during the day when in fact it started at 18:00
On the plus side, that meant we got to explore the city, which is not a bad deal at all!!

The OCM (Oldenburg Computer Museum) is a truly awesome place, so many nice people and terrific hardware!
It was brilliant to meet all of you guys (again!)

Here is the cellphone video I made of the event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QqQfnK_PEg

And all this pretty much next door for me (about a a 75 minutes drive). Paint me siked!!
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: level42 on November 17, 2013, 12:24:08 PM
Hey that Puckman looks very familiar :p

Looks awesome..........why didn't I go ??
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: gyruss on November 17, 2013, 01:07:13 PM
Looks really cool!!
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Q*ris on November 17, 2013, 08:35:21 PM
Yeah, very cool video and place! Thanks!
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: anunaki on November 17, 2013, 08:37:08 PM
great!!!

now I really want to go there
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: cudabee on November 17, 2013, 08:50:39 PM
Looks like it took off in a blast!
Lot's of players and spectators having fun with games.
I'll keep it on my wishlist to go there soon, it's very close to my town Veendam.
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Vond on November 17, 2013, 09:05:08 PM
Looks like it took off in a blast!
Lot's of players and spectators having fun with games.
I'll keep it on my wishlist to go there soon, it's very close to my town Veendam.

Oh wow! Another Veendammer!
Representing the same town here!
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Q*ris on November 17, 2013, 11:37:20 PM
Please guys fix the B&W games, you have a killer lineup there!  :spaceace:
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: level42 on November 18, 2013, 06:51:15 AM
Hey Cudabee......you got a running Firefox ??
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: cudabee on November 18, 2013, 07:55:51 PM
Hey Cudabee......you got a running Firefox ??

I would be very surprised if it did.
Its in storage now for over 15 years. But i played it the last time i powered it up although it acted up and skipped parts of the game.
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: cudabee on November 18, 2013, 08:05:28 PM
Looks like it took off in a blast!
Lot's of players and spectators having fun with games.
I'll keep it on my wishlist to go there soon, it's very close to my town Veendam.

Oh wow! Another Veendammer!
Representing the same town here!

Nice to know!
If you're into pinball, you're welcome to come by and play a few games here.
Title: Re: Caveman goes public
Post by: Vond on November 20, 2013, 08:02:39 AM
Looks like it took off in a blast!
Lot's of players and spectators having fun with games.
I'll keep it on my wishlist to go there soon, it's very close to my town Veendam.

Oh wow! Another Veendammer!
Representing the same town here!


Nice to know!
If you're into pinball, you're welcome to come by and play a few games here.



Don't mind if I do!! :D That would be awesome!
Even though we have a small collection, you are welcome at casa del Vond and Xentraz as well ;)