The TRON Spinner: An Arcade Classic

Specs

5" x 4.5" x 3" depth

Cost

Not available for sale, but I found one listed on eBay for $25.

Quick Summary

Big, bulky, and none too smooth when spinning, this is the spinner benchmark that all the other spinners have already surpassed. It still looks cool, though!

Description

It seems a bit strange to classify an original arcade spinner as the worst spinner in the roundup, but that’s just what I’m going to do. The original TRON spinner is large, wobbly, and not very smooth at all when spinning. It does have very accurate tracking, however, and is built like a tank (which one would expect, since this spinner was designed to face actual arcade use).

Installation

Since the TRON spinner is designed for mounting in metal control panels, I actually couldn’t mount it on my “Spinner Table,” so I really can’t comment on the ease or difficulty of installation.

Design

The spinner assembly is encased in a wrap-around metal “box” of a bracket, which was probably designed to keep everything protected. This does add to the weight of the spinner, however, and the shaft is not held in place very securely. The loose shaft therefore has a tendency to wobble when spun, sometimes actually stopping the spinner from spinning if spun rapidly enough. Overall I wasn't that impressed with the design, at least not from the perspective of using the spinner in a MAME cab.

Pros

• Solidly built
• An arcade original

Cons

• Very Wobbly
• Low Spin Times
• Large installation footprint