Vintage Arcade Cabinets Can Cost Thousands. Build a Replica for $249.

QUARTERS WERE everything to an ’80s kid like me. They could get you five pieces of jaw-shattering candy or 45 seconds in a star fighter’s seat hunting down aliens. Most quarters I earned as a youth were pumped into a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade at the local cineplex in the minutes before the feature rolled (though I always saved one to call for a ride home).

A few years ago, in a late-night fit of nostalgia, I scrolled eBay in search of that same cabinet. The sole result: one beaten to hell and barely operational...

QUARTERS WERE everything to an ’80s kid like me. They could get you five pieces of jaw-shattering candy or 45 seconds in a star fighter’s seat hunting down aliens. Most quarters I earned as a youth were pumped into a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade at the local cineplex in the minutes before the feature rolled (though I always saved one to call for a ride home).

A few years ago, in a late-night fit of nostalgia, I scrolled eBay in search of that same cabinet. The sole result: one beaten to hell and barely operational...

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