I used to work for a video editing company witch used Griffen Powermate jog wheels at each powermac:

They were lots of fun for playing pong. Better than the official atari 2600 pong paddles actually. With an MSRP under fifty bucks, it's not out of range for a MAME gamer on a budget. I wish I still had one of these today, because I've never played tempest.

I'm considering buying one now. In the interest of thrift, I might just try using my trackball as a spinner. Come to think of it, I have one of those atari pong paddles (the type with two paddle controllers connected to one 9-pin interface). Can I connect that to a serial port on an old PC?

That jog wheel is beautiful, maybe Mame mouse ready? Keyboard could act as the fire buttons.

There have been some strange interfaces going the serial/parallel route such as Disney's Sound Source and the N64-PSX Dex drives memory backup. So it is possible, but since most spinner games utilize a mouse not practical. A mod of a ball mouse might be the easiest solution for compatibility.

108604 on my mame cab.

jeez. That's 90,000 more than my score.

Thats on a cab with a spinner. Also, if you get high enough it lets start on expert levels that give you huge bonuses. Level 15.

To be honest, I actually dont like the original Tempest. It never clicked with me. I wrote off Tempest 2000 for over a decade as well. One day a friend came over and wanted to check his cart and make sure it worked, and I ended up playing it for a few hours. Ever since then I have enjoyed the series. The original still doesnt really click with me. I think it is about time I buy a copy of Tempest 2000 for my Jaguar.