Port-A-Cade

A Raspberry Pi-based retro gaming cabinet

Comment

Inspiration

Games are fun, social, accessible and a great recruiting tool. Looking for a way to increase interest in our local ACM Chapter, we built a rig that would be an easily transported call-back to a retro arcade cabinet.

What it does

Using a Raspberry Pi to emulate retro gaming experiences, the cabinet evokes arcade-style fun. The display is a repurposed Dell monitor, speakers are mounted to the rig for sound, and various controllers are housed in slots in the front. This is a fun, portable, branded recruiting tool for our campus ACM chapter, and to share the joy of technology with visitors at events.

How we built it

Most of creating the cabinet was measuring and cutting wood to specifications.We finished the edges with a router to make it extra smooth. We chose sloping sides and nice sharp angles to fit with our retro theme and used latex paint in Austin Peay Red for the finish. The speaker grates were cut from some scrap grating in the Bryan Gaither's Fantasy Factory. A repurposed monitor was used for the display and the cabinet is built to elicit nostalgia but also be a practical and fun hub for social gaming experiences at interest and recruiting events. Speakers are mounted to the front under the monitor for sound, and controller inputs are neatly organized using old PVC piping in the front for easy switches between multiple emulated games. Gaming is accomplished via an integrated Raspberry pi unit.

Challenges we ran into

The sloping front made it hard to line the wood up with the front of the box. Additionally, the speakers we chose were a bit rounded on the front, so we had to work with sanding those down.

A few of the controllers don't want to be picked up by Retropie, possibly due to the bending of the usb cords making the connection a bit wobbly.

We put the handles a bit too far in the back of the case, so when carrying it by the handles, the weight is off-balance.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The design of the cabinet was just the balance of function and retro that we were looking for, and we were really able to have it fit our brand, our purpose, and our space. It looks amazing, and the display is clean and crisp.

What we learned

We were able to make use of a wide range of skills to complete the final project. We learned so much about woodworking, how to efficiently cut word, how to keep wood together at angles, and how to make sure everything lines up nicely. The art of salvaging was a big skill learned. Overall, the best thing I learned was the basics of making, and how to work with physical things.

What's next for Arcade-Style Retro Gaming Cabinet

I plan to improve the controller situation, getting four similar controllers for the piping. Labeling the controller holsters and making them all easier to identify as which player is which would be another improvement. A hard switch on the side to reset the game, instead of relying on start+select from retropie, is planned. Cable management is also a big must. Improving heat management on the Pi through heatsinks is needed as well to avoid thermal throttling.

Improving the implementation of retrpie, such as setting it in a more "showcase mode", to disallow changes to the pi, is also needed.

I also plan to have an hdmi cord on the side, so that people can easily plug in laptops, other game consoles, or anything that someone would want to display on the screen other than the Pi.

Built With

Share this project:

Updates