I've been thinking a lot about this MAME business.
Specifically, I've been thinking about how some games are qualitatively different when you don't have to worry about quarters.
Oh, sure, most of the classics (Pac-Man, Asteroids, Donkey Kong) knock you back to the beginning of the game when you run out of lives. And most fighting games knock you back to the beginning of the match. But beat-'em-ups, shooters, and generally any coop multiplayer game relies on coins for its basic challenge -- even the worst player can brute-force his way through Ninja Turtles with unlimited quarters.
So I've been wondering how to keep that original challenge factor when I finally get my Mac Mini up to snuff and can fire up MAME with the guys.
And today, I stumbled on a solution:
Instead of using quarters, take drinks.
Make it a drinking game. Every time you have to hit the Insert Coin button, take a drink.
Feel free to use that one.
(Happy birthday Mom!)