Wall Arcade: Initial Concept

[Jabba]

With the new flat screen technology around and 21" flat screens monitors coming down in price, I am thinking of building a "slim" arcade that could be braced to a wall and would be only as deep as would require a flat screen monitor. It would still be 24-26" wide and would still have a control panel, prolly a coin door (or decal), etc.

Totally concept at this stage, but it would certainly appeal to anyone who wants an arcade machine but don't have the space. Eventually I could build three-four of them and have a "wall" of arcade machines taking up very little floor space. Hell, could probably be adapted to a "corner" arcade.

Add an ArcadeVGA card and you would definately get the arcadey feel. Heck one of them could be a dedicated Dreamcast the other XBOX....

Pros

- Low profile
- Less wood (could probably do it with 1 sheet of MDF...)
- Light
- Less floor space

Cons

- No or little side art
- Harder to move around


Anyone have any thoughts on this? Any other Pros or Cons. Anything I'm missing here?

Please excuse the crappy drawing. Consider it the back of a napkin for now...

I didn't really search to see if anyone else here has done this.

Edit: Adding more Pros/Cons

[leapinlew]

Knievel's woodys are pretty slim. You still have to deal with the control panel sticking out of the wall and the computer that runs them will take up some space. You probably can cut them down pretty good and I'm sure they could mount on the wall ok.

I'd be interested to see how it turns out. One of the biggest cons I see is weight. People usually put casters on the bottom of their cabinets to help maneuver them. In this case, it'll be 1 sheet of MDF, a flatscreen, and a computer. My guess - around 100lbs.

[Lutus]

What about fold out control panel!  That would be ridiculously awesome.

[Jabba]

Oooooooohhhhh, Knievel's look is what I'm after. Wonder how much shallower I can make it
Thanks for pointing that out.
Not sure if fold out would work. Especially with the punding my kids give em...

[Crafty]

Thats What I like about this place first it was bartops now we are moving to wall mounted / slimline.

Knieval's is definately the top of the tree at the moment..

[leapinlew]

Knievel who?

 

[Knievel]

You guys just can't stop talking about my Woody.

One of my CP top buyers did something like this. LCD mounted to the wall like a picture and just the CP sticking out, no cabinet at all. The CP box was mounted with brackets, in a very cool industrial way. Maybe he'll pop in here with a picture of it.

If you want to go with an actual cabinet shape I wouldn't suggest going any thinner than the Woody profile. I think it would look odd..but that's just my opinion.

[Lewis Black]

I want to build something like the Woody too, but I don't want to forgo the satisfying 'plink' of dropping a token into a metal box.  I suppose could I still have a coin door and make a smaller metal coinbox.

I also like the idea of a folding CP, but I don't think I'd make one because I want my CP to be rock solid.  If there was any 'wobblyness' from the folding mechanism it would make me nuts.

[markc74]

Hey there,

I had a very similar idea recently and even went so far as to play around with a 3D mockup:



I really like the idea but have only recently finished my last arcade (pictures coming soon) and don't have the time to go off making another one!

MC

PS - the spinny dial shown in the wireframe is a 'concept' of a how I could possible make the lcd rotatable using some bicycle gears and chain...

[_) (V) (-)]

Dag man, this is way cool!

My question is, will the thing even be big enough to fit in all the 'components' you'd need to make if function?

I mean even stripping down a computer case you'll need some room to mount the power supply and MoBo, etc...

Also, how do you intend to mount this to the wall? Once kids get to slammin on the CP it's going to take some big ass screws to keep this thing up there.

Still, great idea, will be interested in watching the development of this.

[leapinlew]

My question is, will the thing even be big enough to fit in all the 'components' you'd need to make if function?

I would imagine a laptop or a mini-form factor could work

[MikeDeuce]

Very cool! I had spent some months earlier this year pondering such an idea. I was going with a very untraditional and modern (pretty ugly, too) design:



The entire thing was to be tied to the studs, with the upper and lower portions hanging on french cleats, and with the control panel itself sliding onto a pair of something like these:

http://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog.jsp?L1=L1_3000&L2=L2_3010&SKU=92300

My roommate has since moved out and now I have plenty of room, so that idea is long gone. But don't forget, there's a few inches to work with between studs if you don't mind cutting out some drywall

Cyko: As for the components, you can get low profile heatsinks, use onboard video and sound, and even low profile power supplies. I did that in one of my previous non-arcade projects using a 1u heatsink and 1u power supply from rackmount systems.  1u case height is under 2", IIRC, to give you an idea.

I hope to see you persue this, not everbody has room (or an understanding  significant other) for proper machines.

[horseboy]

Dag man, this is way cool!

Who is Dag man?

[markc74]

There's not much space but the easiest option would be to use a laptop - you'd probably need some fairly decent ventilation going on in there but I'm sure it could be done.

Next time... 

PS - I'm liking MikeDeuce's design the more I look at it - it's got the conventional bits where they're supposed to be but 21st century stylee... nice!!!

[Lutus]

Mike Deuce's cab reminds me of a computer panel from Star Trek TNG series.  mmmmmm Diana Troi.   

[_) (V) (-)]

Mike: Good point, I guess I hadn't figured on building one of these with parts I didn't already have lying around.

Horseboy: He's a black superhero. 

[Lewis Black]

Horseboy: He's a black superhero.

Horseboy's a black superhero?  Whooda thunk it.

[Jabba]

Guys,

Thanks so much for all the excellent replies. I'm definately gonna move into the design phase. I've got a couple of 12V fans I could add to this thing with the thermometer. I also have a trackball and leaf switch joys/buttons for this project.

My goal is as thin as possible.

Keep the ideas flowing if you have em...

[fredster]

How about a wireless keyboard for the interface?

That way you could detach the CP if you wanted too. That would be very slim.

[dstone]

A mini-itx motherboard would be a good option. You could pair that with a 90 degree adapter for the graphics card slot. Might even be worth looking into running MAME off some type of flash card to take the hard drive out of the picture.

[Xiaou2]

 Just an Idea...

  These are basically  'bartop'  machines,  but un-movable.

 You could however, make a bartop that fits and locks into
a wall recepticle.

 This way, it can either be static..  or travel to other locations.

 
 Other Thoughts...

 
 Remember that arcade displays are tilted... unless its a
pedestal cab.   If its not tiltled..  it will have to be eye level.

If two people of differnt heights play,  one may not be able to see
the screen well,  if the display isnt angled.

If the control panel is too shallow..  and your eyes are a mere 5"
away from the display..  I think it will be quite a bad experience  heh.

 
 Hmm, more thoughts...

  The control  panel could be wireless.  Built into a movable cart
(with built in bar seats?!     When not in use, the CP might be able to
be hidden using a flip down top or rotating Cp.

 Then the wall display can act as a
slideshow of pictures untill needed for arcade useage.

 
 Even more thoughts...

  The enite cp  could be lowered like a drawbridge... and thus
able to extend the CP far enough from  the wall.   It would be
made using a frame that pivots..  sorta like those in-wall
ironing boards.  Completely hidden when its up. (with exception
to a small outline seam in the wall)

 In-wall speakers should make for some wicked sounds.
And or could mount the speakers into the CP itself.

[Mark70]

..., Knievel's look is what I'm after. Wonder how much shallower I can make it...

Why not take a page from the Aquarium world.  Like in a basement where the aquarium is in the storage room or next room, whatever it is and the wall opening is framed let you view through.

Build the guts of your cabinet into the wall between the game room and the  next room and just have an opening in the wall for the monitor.  Or wall mount an lcd.

This treads too far into the showcase cabinet world.  All you need is an lcd on the wall and a mobile pedistal.  Ergonomics are starting to drive how, thin, small, tiny etc. you can make things.  For example your control panel is governed entirely by ergonomics.  40" high and enough room to put buttons, joys, space to rest your hand, and room to spin a trackball.  The space for those ergonomics alone leaves scads of room for the 20 year old hardware of arcade buttons and joys (emphasis on the 20 year old hardware because without any effort to make it small with new technology, you still have lots of room which is required by ergonomics).

What you really need to do is hack an RF keyboard and mouse and have a wireless pedistal which you can put wherever you want and play on the lcd.  Wireless video out to a monitor would really make things snappy; but if this were a fiesable technology, we'd probably see it in the PS3 or something similar.

... the funny part of all of this is, now the technology to make it wireless, small, thin, silent, whatever is here, but what's really driving this hobby?  Nostalgia.  New will never be better than original.

[Mark70]

http://www.smarthome.com/7743B.html

Maybe I spoke too soon.  Could you put the PC, and controls in a pedistal and transmit wirelessly to a wall mounted LCD?  It would be like a console, but packed with thousands of games, no wires, and you could move it out for parties, our to vacuum around.   All you would have would be a pedistal with a CP on top, an LCD tv on the wall, and the wireless hardware in the next room with the wires from the tv going through the wall behind it.

[erictrumpet]

Neat idea. When thinking about your project, this popped into my head:

Why not make it look like a "normal" cabinet is actually breaking through your wall? In other words, build your slimline cab but make it look like only the front few inches of the machine (CP, marquee, lower portion with coin door) are standing proud of the wall, and the rest of the cab (which doesn't actually exist) is "inside" the wall. Then mount the thing on the wall, and paint something crazy on the wall, like tearing wallpaper or something. You could make it look like a classic Asteroids (or whatever) is busting right through the wall into the room. Here's a quick image I whipped up to show what I am trying to describe. Just an idea, feel free to use it or tell me it's totally stupid.



Good luck with your project,
Eric.

[MrQuan]

Haha that's an awesome idea

I would love to see someone else do it (I think the novelty would wear off for me )

[arcadefever]

it really look like an asteroids crash into your living room 

[quarterback]

Neat idea. When thinking about your project, this popped into my head:

Why not make it look like a "normal" cabinet is actually breaking through your wall?

That's awesome! 

[MameMaster!]

Neat idea. When thinking about your project, this popped into my head:




Good luck with your project,
Eric.

YOU'VE BEEN RETROBLASTED!

Neat idea!

retroblast.com

[erictrumpet]

Wow, thanks guys! I finally made the front page of Retroblast! WOOT!

Eric.

[markc74]

With dimensions for spystyle

[markc74]

I started getting a few more ideas since the last one (and greedy for controls!) so here's the latest version.

I have all the parts I need with the exception of MDF so as soon as I've finished bedroom cabinets (gotta keep the missus happy!) I'll start on it.  Hopefully within the next month or so.

It's going to use a TurboTwist 2 spinner with steering wheel attachment, 19" LCD screen rotating using some sort of Lazy Susan device, 2 happs sticks, a 2.25" trackball and standard marquee (the outrun one is for illustrative purposes).  There will be 2 CP's.  A standard SF2 layout with spinner at the top and a sliding CP underneath with trackballs and a couple of buttons.

I want to keep the design as simple as possible and it just has to be white...

Dimensions in centimetres are:

95H x 64W x 52D (with below CP hidden); or
98H x 64W x 72D (with below CP pulled out)

Feedback always appreciated! 

[spystyle]

That's very clever! A small arcade machine like that could be attached to a wall's stud. A very small room could still have an arcade in it.

But as Xiaou2 mentioned, the screen has to be at an angle.

Keep up the good work :)
Craig

[Green Giant]

If it is at least 20" wide, you can hang it on two studs.  If you use really big bolts that sucker will never come off.  I have about 110lbs of big ass plasma tv hanging on my wall.  A lighter arcade could easily take some abuse when playing from the wall.

[Xiaou2]

 The slide out trackball is nice.   But you may wish to make it extend
further.  Because,  if you roll the ball really hard, your hands arc may
end up hitting the upper control panel front.

 You may be able to make a nice telescopic system, with spring out
locking system to keep it secured in place when in play.

 You may wish to add a nice pedal unit too, for use with the
driving games.

 I noticed the Spinner was horizontal, with no angle at all...
this may not be very good for use as a driving situation
(clip on wheel).    You may be better to mount your spinners
Horizontally.   You could place them on the front of the cabinet
instead.  (unless you want to make a pivot mounting system  heh)