# mamedev/mame

MAME

Repository: https://github.com/mamedev/mame
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/mame
Homepage: https://www.mamedev.org/
Language: C++
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2026-08-26T23:34:01+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 94/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 83, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4678, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 34, "gap_med": 31, "n_releases_24m": 20}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 10424, forks 2491 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:41.966675+00:00)

## What it is
MAME is a multi-purpose emulation framework that documents and recreates the hardware of thousands of vintage arcade machines, computers, consoles, and calculators. It is primarily a software and hardware preservation project whose usable emulation validates the accuracy of its hardware documentation.

## Use cases
- play classic arcade games on my pc
- emulate retro game consoles and old computers
- preserve vintage software and hardware history
- run old arcade roms with accurate hardware emulation
- study how vintage computer hardware works
- set up a retro gaming front-end with mame

## When to choose
- you need the most accurate, well-documented emulation of arcade machines or vintage computers
- you want a single emulator supporting thousands of systems
- you need debugging, Lua scripting, or plugin extensibility for emulation research

## When to avoid
- you only want to play a single modern console with high performance - a dedicated emulator may be simpler
- you expect it to ship with games - you must supply your own legally obtained ROM and media images
- you want a polished plug-and-play gaming experience without configuration

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: simulation, gui, cli, plugin-system, developer-tools
- domain: gaming-tools, entertainment, cross-platform
- platform: windows, cross-platform, cli
- tags: emulator, arcade, retro-gaming, hardware-preservation, rom-emulation, mess, lua-scripting, debugger, preservation, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- mamedev/mame (main) score 94

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:41.966675+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:19:02.607066+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/mamedev/mame (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:41.966675+00:00, sha 55789f6e322a)
  - homepage: https://www.mamedev.org/ (fetched 2026-08-29T08:19:06.771556+00:00, sha da2bacf68545)
  - site_page: https://www.mamedev.org/about.html (fetched 2026-08-29T08:19:06.781358+00:00, sha 9897d59823c0)
  - site_page: https://docs.mamedev.org/ (fetched 2026-08-29T08:19:06.785538+00:00, sha a519f2a3ec0e)
  - site_page: https://docs.mamedev.org/plugins/index.html (fetched 2026-08-29T08:19:06.793486+00:00, sha 70496b99774f)
  - site_page: https://www.mamedev.org/oldrel.html (fetched 2026-08-29T08:19:06.783237+00:00, sha 1e179b961450)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.