DIY Arcade Game

Let's get it started!

The arcade is going to be run on a Raspberry Pi. Day 1 was all about the unboxing and getting a feel for what we're dealing with.

Finding a working home

We found an old monitor that we could use for now, so we set up a workspace to call home.

Let's get coding!

It was time to start setting up the Pi to handle the arcade games. We had to find games that we wanted to put on the arcade, get the emulator working, and start loading them on. It's going to be a long process but we had to start somewhere.

We have a monitor!

After getting a bunch of our games loaded into the system and setting up temporary controls to test the games, we thought it was time to get the monitor that will eventually go into the arcade game. No more squinting at a tiny monitor!

Track ball has arrived

The track ball in in the building, but it's been a little glitchy. We've been doing some troubleshooting to find out why it won't move certain directions within certain games.

Let's start building

We've got about 15 games working correctly, but up until now we've only tested them with a keyboard and mouse. To move forward, it's time to create the board where all the buttons, joysticks, and trackball will go. We enlisted the help of an expert (thanks Scott!) to help with the actual cutting phase. After careful mapping out, drawing, planning, and cutting, the framework is complete!

Designing The Arcade

After a month off, we were back to work with designing the box for it. We taped it off and spray painted our design.

Design snag

The day had arrived to remove the tape and see what our design looked like. Unfortunately our awesome design came right up with the tape. We had to figure out another solution.

Design idea 2

We tried to come up with a new, better idea for the design. We decided on vinyl wrap. Griffin wanted a metallic looking color for the controls so we tested it out. It looked pretty awesome, but the paint layers gave it a pretty uneven look.

Road trip to Scott's workshop

We got some help from DMI in Havertown in cutting the panels to the correct sizes but we still needed to make some extra cuts. We enlisted the help of the handiest person we knew to help us make the final cuts so we could put it all together.

Putting it all together... or so we thought

We returned to Scott's workshop for a day of (what we thought would be) connecting all the pieces, putting the vinyl and trim around the edges, and making the final touches. We had been using Claude to help guide us through this project when we realized we hit a snag. Claude had messed up all the dimensions! It had placed the buttons above the monitor and the speakers floating in the air. We were doomed! Scott helped us come up with a new plan using most of the same cuts we had already made, and helped us save a horrible situation. We also decided that if we were re-imagining things, we would sand down the control panel and install the vinyl the right way.

Let's start wrapping it up

Scott came down with the modified construction and it was time to begin vinyl wrapping and connecting pieces. It has a lot of pieces so we couldn't do it all in one day but it was finally starting to look like an arcade game!

Final Vinyl

We enlisted the help of Scott and Griffin's mom and sister to cover the arcade in vinyl. It turned out awesome! After that, we started reinstalling the trackball and buttons.

Final day with some last minute snags!

With the buttons back in and the vinyl wrapped around it, it was time for the final touches. We needed to make sure everything was plugged in correctly and get the speakers up and running. As has been the case for a lot of the project, we used Claude to help point us in the right direction but it wasn't always perfect (like when it thought we should hand the speakers in mid air somehow). We went to connect the Raspberry Pi to the speakers when it turned out that it didn't have an audio output after all (whoops!). We made a quick run to MicroCenter, grabbed an adapter, connected some cables and we had sound! We put it all together and completed the project! In just under 3 months (with some vacations in between), and with the help of some pretty cool family members, we were able to make an epic arcade game!