I am married and my life is like a fairy tale: the witch is every day waiting for me on the couch. So a normal arcade cabinet would never pass the balloting committee. And as I had to give up my potential man cave (I never finished) to a room for one of my daughters, the only arcade cabinet that would be "allowed" in the living room will have to be something that fits the interior. So for me no flashy artwork, no fluorescent colors nor a huge 4 player cabinet with flashing buttons.
I do have to say that she allowed the orange boombox I made in the living room (as the color I used comes back in the pillows on the couch).
I am referring to that radio because I really like the sound of it and I want to use the same drivers (incl. subwoofer) in my arcade cabinet, so I have some extra sound in the house (of course when the wife is gone)
I will add a Chromecast Audio (which is also in the boombox) for multi-room audio (toggle switch between Chromecast/Raspberry).
Nah, my wife isn't really a pain in the ass. But fact is that I don't have any room for an arcade cabinet other than the living room. And a "normal" one, wouldn't just fit in there. So I decided to go with used scaffolding board, inspired by another arcade builder from the Netherlands. I asked for his plans and started yesterday with the cabinet.
The interior was already "done" quite some time ago:
- Raspberry Pi 3 running RetroPie (+ Mausberry)
- Some old 19" 4:3 LCD I got from a previous job
- Happ style buttons (black/white) - 6 per side & 4 admin buttons
- Sanwa style joysticks
- Zero Delay Controllers
- USB controllers for console gaming
- TPA3116 2.1 amplifier
- 2 Visaton FRS8-4 full range speakers
- Tang Band W5-1138SMF
If I am going to play it a lot I might consider upgrading to a PC with a bit more power.
The only things I am not quite sure about:
- Should I go with tinted glass, because my screen isn't that bright?
- Will I add (a second control panel with) a trackball?
- Where should I put the subwoofer? I want it visible, with a nice grill, so I guess bottom/middle.
- Should I add some led strip?
- How can I make the saw cuts look "used" again?
- What to do for a front-end theme? And in which front-end customizing is easiest - I guess Attract Mode?
Ah, time will tell. This will probably take a pretty long time, because I am not the fastest when it comes to building
And tips are very welcome, as this is of course my very first build.