diff --git a/src/frontend/mame/clifront.cpp b/src/frontend/mame/clifront.cpp
index 28249e7bd3e..7e57034881f 100644
--- a/src/frontend/mame/clifront.cpp
+++ b/src/frontend/mame/clifront.cpp
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@
 #define CLICOMMAND_VERIFYSOFTWARE       "verifysoftware"
 #define CLICOMMAND_GETSOFTLIST          "getsoftlist"
 #define CLICOMMAND_VERIFYSOFTLIST       "verifysoftlist"
+#define CLICOMMAND_VERSION				"version"
 
 // command options
 #define CLIOPTION_DTD                   "dtd"
@@ -111,6 +112,7 @@ const options_entry cli_option_entries[] =
 	{ CLICOMMAND_VERIFYSOFTWARE ";vsoft",   "0",       OPTION_COMMAND,    "verify known software for the system" },
 	{ CLICOMMAND_GETSOFTLIST    ";glist",   "0",       OPTION_COMMAND,    "retrieve software list by name" },
 	{ CLICOMMAND_VERIFYSOFTLIST ";vlist",   "0",       OPTION_COMMAND,    "verify software list by name" },
+	{ CLICOMMAND_VERSION,					"0",       OPTION_COMMAND,    "get MAME version" },
 
 	{ nullptr,                              nullptr,   OPTION_HEADER,     "FRONTEND COMMAND OPTIONS" },
 	{ CLIOPTION_DTD,                        "1",       OPTION_BOOLEAN,    "include DTD in XML output" },
@@ -1415,6 +1417,17 @@ void cli_frontend::verifysoftlist(const std::vector<std::string> &args)
 	}
 }
 
+
+//-------------------------------------------------
+//  version - emit MAME version to stdout
+//-------------------------------------------------
+
+void cli_frontend::version(const std::vector<std::string> &args)
+{
+	osd_printf_info("%s", emulator_info::get_build_version());
+}
+
+
 //-------------------------------------------------
 //  romident - identify ROMs by looking for
 //  matches in our internal database
@@ -1571,7 +1584,8 @@ const cli_frontend::info_command_struct *cli_frontend::find_command(const std::s
 		{ CLICOMMAND_VERIFYSOFTWARE,    0,  1, &cli_frontend::verifysoftware,   "[system name|*]" },
 		{ CLICOMMAND_ROMIDENT,          1,  1, &cli_frontend::romident,         "(file or directory path)" },
 		{ CLICOMMAND_GETSOFTLIST,       0,  1, &cli_frontend::getsoftlist,      "[system name|*]" },
-		{ CLICOMMAND_VERIFYSOFTLIST,    0,  1, &cli_frontend::verifysoftlist,   "[system name|*]" }
+		{ CLICOMMAND_VERIFYSOFTLIST,    0,  1, &cli_frontend::verifysoftlist,   "[system name|*]" },
+		{ CLICOMMAND_VERSION,			0,  0, &cli_frontend::version,			"" }
 	};
 
 	for (const auto &info_command : s_info_commands)
diff --git a/src/frontend/mame/clifront.h b/src/frontend/mame/clifront.h
index e05467bc627..84157f2a6d8 100644
--- a/src/frontend/mame/clifront.h
+++ b/src/frontend/mame/clifront.h
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ private:
 	void romident(const std::vector<std::string> &args);
 	void getsoftlist(const std::vector<std::string> &args);
 	void verifysoftlist(const std::vector<std::string> &args);
+	void version(const std::vector<std::string> &args);
 
 	// internal helpers
 	template <typename T, typename U> void apply_action(const std::vector<std::string> &args, T &&drvact, U &&devact);