Former Layout
Using ideas and help from friends, Justin and Nathan (who have a lifetime anytime-no-questions asked pass for all there help moving this stuff around), it was a very good layout. As you entered the room, Tapper was in front, in the middle, with the arcades flowing off the left side and pins to the right.
Back left housed my Dome environmental system and back right included a small love seat and and large-ish TV for consoles and movies.
Pros:
It presented very well and was logically balanced.
Pins-in-a-row makes me smile
Added the loveseat / couch area for movies and consoles
Good visibility to the TV from most of the room
Open layout = good airflow
Cons:
Pins in a row, make for crowded multiplayer games
Arcades often ignored
Have to pull pins out to work on them
Mortal Kombat in the Middle of the room, is big
Working Concept and Bad Math
The new concept was to intersperse the pinball machines alongside arcades.
By this, hoping to achieve these benefits:
Pinball machines are easier to work on.
Multiplayer games are less crowded
Arcades get more play
Better "themed zone" potential around isolated pinballs
I measured the room and equated lines to linear feet. Still, somehow I managed to misjudge the size of the Mario Kart cabs and where I thought I could squeeze an extra pin (left side of the page above) - near the mini-split AC unit - wasn't happening.
As you enter the room, I put STTNG and Tron together, followed by Mario Kart(s) and AFM. Cocktail in the center. Made for interesting theming opportunities for posters and "stuff" around STTNG and lets me see more of the STTNG side art, which is cool.
On the right side, Indy, the Mario hyperspin, Multi-Kombat and TOTAN on the wall.
On the center / right, Q*Bert, Donkey Balls, Tapper and an enlarged seating area for TV / Console / Gaming in the back. More comfy couch from the clearance back-room of Ashley Furniture FTW.
The back left houses AFM, Atari Star Wars (yes, I fixed the marquee light :) ), the Dome tucked behind it and DESW alongside the dome.
Early IMpressions
My early impressions are: I like it. But we will see when the newness wears off. I will say, the practicality of being able to more easily work on the pins (without pulling them out of the row) seems to be encouraging me to give them the maintenance attention they need more readily / without feeling like a total chore.
The downside is, you sort of loose that wow-factor of the line ups of games and pins. One of the first visitors to the room noted, "you need more pinball." It was tongue-in-cheek but having the games spread out does make it seem like "less pinball." Since I'm continually just-as-interested in arcadeyness as pinball, I think the room fits my bipolar (and scattered) approach to the hobby... Kinda meta..
At any rate, I shared out the room as it was a mess and in transition and thought you might enjoy to see the progress in a little over a month since that video. Thanks for checking in on my craziness!