diff --git a/Docs/Changelog_sm5.txt b/Docs/Changelog_sm5.txt
index e604e7c3e0..8652b57b2f 100644
--- a/Docs/Changelog_sm5.txt
+++ b/Docs/Changelog_sm5.txt
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ ________________________________________________________________________________
 StepMania 5.0 $next | 2011????
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+2011/08/22
+----------
+* [PrefsManager, X11Helper] Added ShowMouseCursor preference. [AJ]
+
 2011/08/21
 ----------
 * [NotesLoaderSSC] Fix loading pre-split timing files that had blank timing
diff --git a/src/PrefsManager.cpp b/src/PrefsManager.cpp
index c7d0eab7f8..e113fa1ab9 100644
--- a/src/PrefsManager.cpp
+++ b/src/PrefsManager.cpp
@@ -174,6 +174,7 @@ PrefsManager::PrefsManager() :
 	m_bAllowMultitexture	( "AllowMultitexture",		true ),
 	m_bShowStats		( "ShowStats",			TRUE_IF_DEBUG),
 	m_bShowBanners		( "ShowBanners",		true ),
+	m_bShowMouseCursor	( "ShowMouseCursor",		true ),
 
 	m_bHiddenSongs		( "HiddenSongs",		false ),
 	m_bVsync		( "Vsync",			true ),
diff --git a/src/PrefsManager.h b/src/PrefsManager.h
index 589da26533..fae7808e8a 100644
--- a/src/PrefsManager.h
+++ b/src/PrefsManager.h
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@ public:
 	Preference<bool>	m_bAllowMultitexture;
 	Preference<bool>	m_bShowStats;
 	Preference<bool>	m_bShowBanners;
+	Preference<bool>	m_bShowMouseCursor;
 
 	Preference<bool>	m_bHiddenSongs;
 	Preference<bool>	m_bVsync;
diff --git a/src/archutils/Unix/X11Helper.cpp b/src/archutils/Unix/X11Helper.cpp
index 735637ee20..8978f730b6 100644
--- a/src/archutils/Unix/X11Helper.cpp
+++ b/src/archutils/Unix/X11Helper.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include "global.h"
 #include "X11Helper.h"
 #include "RageLog.h"
+#include "PrefsManager.h" // XXX: only used for m_bShowMouseCursor -aj
 
 Display *X11Helper::Dpy = NULL;
 Window X11Helper::Win = None;
@@ -62,6 +63,7 @@ bool X11Helper::MakeWindow( Window &win, int screenNum, int depth, Visual *visua
 
 	/* Hide the mouse cursor. */
 	// todo: we only want to do this in certain situations (e.g. an arcade) -aj
+    if( !PREFSMAN->m_bShowMouseCursor )
 	{
 		const char pBlank[] = { 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 };
 		Pixmap BlankBitmap = XCreateBitmapFromData( Dpy, win, pBlank, 8, 8 );