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| Buttons No Wires |
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| Buttons Wired |
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| Buttons |
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| Marquis |
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| Left Side |
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| Right Side |
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| Arcade Powered Off |
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| Arcade Powered On |
Monday, July 23, 2018
Final Setup and Completion
After a few more hours of work across Saturday, Sunday, and today, the arcade is complete. Including some pictures below to highlight the final stages of the build. Haven't had much time on it, but Mara and I beat "The Simpsons" earlier this evening. It was a lot of work, but seems well worth the time thus far. There are thousands of games across all consoles and many arcade favorites. Looking forward to checking them out!
Saturday, July 21, 2018
Wiring, Amp, Marquis and Buttons
The bulk of the day today was spent organizing the wires. I installed the amp (and tested sound) and installed the marquis. Once that was done, I finished with installing the buttons. Tomorrow I'll wire the buttons, install the Raspberry Pi and hopefully have a functioning arcade by day's end.
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| Amp |
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| Power Strip |
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| Arcade w/Marquis |
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| Buttons |
Friday, July 20, 2018
Arcade Assembly
Arcade arrived on Wednesday. Just got around to laying out the pieces in the morning, prior to assembling the main box in the evening. Below are pics of all the pieces that will ultimately comprise the final product:
Below is a series of pictures as the arcade was assembled. Need to install the t-molding, marquis, wire the buttons, etc. The main task for today was getting the box built:
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| All the pieces |
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| Sides / Bottom-Front |
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| Buttons and Marquis |
Below is a series of pictures as the arcade was assembled. Need to install the t-molding, marquis, wire the buttons, etc. The main task for today was getting the box built:
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| Start of Framing |
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| Post TV Install |
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| Completed Box |
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| We have power! |
Thursday, July 5, 2018
Building An Arcade!
Decided to undertake the project of building an arcade. At a high-level the project involves ordering and assembling an arcade cabinet kit, a TV, and a computer to run it all. I will detail these items below in addition to a number of other pieces needed to complete the build. I will do my best to document the steps followed along the way in future posts. The finished product should play similar to this video (this is the bar-top version, my build will be in a full-size cabinet).
List of Materials:
(1) Arcade Cabinet Kit: the kit includes many of the core components needed for the arcade including the cabinet, joysticks/buttons, plexi glass, in addition a graphical wrap and a marquis. The finished product will look similar to the picture below:
Rather than the street fighter graphics, I opted for the Nintendo themed wrap below:
The kit was purchased from Game Room Solutions.
(2) Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+: Released in early 2018, this model will be more than powerful enough to power the arcade. The 'computer' fits in the palm of your hand. It's hard to believe it will run thousands of games across all different types of consoles including MAME, NES, SNES, Atari, etc. I purchased a basic starter kit from amazon. Do yourself a favor and buy a different power supply than what is included in this kit. The power is inadequate to run the pi reliably. I found this one to work well.
![V-Kits Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ (Plus) Basic Starter Kit [LATEST MODEL 2018]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91fyzK3ddcL._SX679_.jpg)
(3) 6" Car Speakers: the top of the arcade cabinet has down-facing grates for 6" speakers. I ordered a pair of Rockford Fosgate's from amazon.
(4) Mini Audio Amplifier: Car speakers need a small amp to be powered. I went with the Lepai LP-2020A+ Tripath Class-T Mini Audio Amplifier, again from amazon.
(5) USB 3.0 Flush Mount Cable: just in case I need to connect a keyboard/mouse after installation, I plan to put a flush mount USB cable in an easily accessible spot. These cables can be found anywhere, I bought this from amazon for convenience.
(6) LED Light Strip: needed some lights to go behind the marquis located at the top of the cabinet. Bought a cheap LED strip that should do the trick.
(7) Power Strip: a power strip will be needed inside the box to turn all of the components on/off. I'll want the raspberry pi to always be on, but the rest of the components, I'll want to turn off when not in use. This Belkin power strip met that criteria and I'll be able to wire the small on/off switch so that it's placed out of site on the back of the cabinet.
(8) TV: the cabinet supports up to a 32" television/monitor. Given how close users will be to the screen, I ordered a 32", 1080p Vizio TV (D32F-F1) from Sam's Club. It was the cheapest 32" option I could find that supported a 1080p resolution.
At this point I am waiting on the cabinet to arrive. I expect it in 1-2 weeks. I'll try to document the build process and post another blog entry once it is complete. Below is a pic of all of the aforementioned materials (TV is arriving tomorrow):
List of Materials:
(1) Arcade Cabinet Kit: the kit includes many of the core components needed for the arcade including the cabinet, joysticks/buttons, plexi glass, in addition a graphical wrap and a marquis. The finished product will look similar to the picture below:
Rather than the street fighter graphics, I opted for the Nintendo themed wrap below:
The kit was purchased from Game Room Solutions.
(2) Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+: Released in early 2018, this model will be more than powerful enough to power the arcade. The 'computer' fits in the palm of your hand. It's hard to believe it will run thousands of games across all different types of consoles including MAME, NES, SNES, Atari, etc. I purchased a basic starter kit from amazon. Do yourself a favor and buy a different power supply than what is included in this kit. The power is inadequate to run the pi reliably. I found this one to work well.
(3) 6" Car Speakers: the top of the arcade cabinet has down-facing grates for 6" speakers. I ordered a pair of Rockford Fosgate's from amazon.
(4) Mini Audio Amplifier: Car speakers need a small amp to be powered. I went with the Lepai LP-2020A+ Tripath Class-T Mini Audio Amplifier, again from amazon.
(5) USB 3.0 Flush Mount Cable: just in case I need to connect a keyboard/mouse after installation, I plan to put a flush mount USB cable in an easily accessible spot. These cables can be found anywhere, I bought this from amazon for convenience.
(6) LED Light Strip: needed some lights to go behind the marquis located at the top of the cabinet. Bought a cheap LED strip that should do the trick.
(7) Power Strip: a power strip will be needed inside the box to turn all of the components on/off. I'll want the raspberry pi to always be on, but the rest of the components, I'll want to turn off when not in use. This Belkin power strip met that criteria and I'll be able to wire the small on/off switch so that it's placed out of site on the back of the cabinet.
(8) TV: the cabinet supports up to a 32" television/monitor. Given how close users will be to the screen, I ordered a 32", 1080p Vizio TV (D32F-F1) from Sam's Club. It was the cheapest 32" option I could find that supported a 1080p resolution.
At this point I am waiting on the cabinet to arrive. I expect it in 1-2 weeks. I'll try to document the build process and post another blog entry once it is complete. Below is a pic of all of the aforementioned materials (TV is arriving tomorrow):
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