game room, woodworking

Retro Arcade Cocktail Table

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Retro gaming arcade machines are all over the place, and they are relatively cheap and easy to build. If you’ve got an old monitor lying around and you never throw away your scrap wood, then you just need to buy a Raspberry Pi and some cheap controller parts and you can build a sub $100 arcade. This one cost a little more, largely because we added trackballs and high-quality joysticks. This project was a lot of fun because a) I’ve always wanted a “cocktail” style arcade table, and b) it gave me a chance to work on a few new skills and design something a little different than the rectangular boxes you usually see.

Cocktail Arcade Table
This arcade goes perfectly with the beanbag chairs in our game room.

Okay, full confession: This is a big nostalgia trip for me. I was a pre-teen in 1980, and we weren’t drinking cocktails on these tables. It was more about the smell of pizza — first going to Pizza Hut and playing Space Invaders while we waited, and then later in high school heading over to a strip-mall joint named Stubby’s after school with my buds. We hardly ever bought a pizza, but they had a Ms. Pac Man tabletop game and the staff didn’t care if we sat there dropping a few quarters.

Here’s where I also need to mention that many of the classic arcade games are obviously copyright protected, but if you want to stay fully above board and play free games, check out this article.

Key Features of the Arcade Table

Now, the distinguishing feature of this kind of arcade table is that two players can sit opposite from each other, and the screen will flip on each player’s turn. It’s more social than a standup cabinet. This is called “cocktail mode” and you can easily configure it in arcade emulator software like RetroPie, however it’s not available for all games. When it came to this design, I wanted to make something that would look a little more cool than a rectangular box. This project includes:

Another crucial consideration in a tabletop system is your video screen. Many computer monitors aren’t designed for this kind of viewing angle (in fact, some monitors are designed so that you can’t see from this angle). I used a spare 24″  RCA television that happens to work great, but make sure to check your viewing angles before you buy something (and before you start designing or cutting).

oval tabletop with cutout for video game screen and acrylic cover
The oval tabletop provides ample space for you and your opponent’s cocktails.

Project Breakdown

I’ll break this project down into several sub-projects and give you a rough idea of how to make something similar. I’m going to focus mostly on the construction and assembly. I’ll mention a couple of aspects of configuring your Raspberry PI, but there are many great articles out there that will walk you through that in detail (starting with RetroPie). For the cabinet and tabletop, you’ll need a router, miter saw, circular saw (with bevel adjustment), and a drill. For the wiring, you’ll need a soldering gun. I had to buy a couple of special tools I didn’t already have:

In addition, I had to make a couple of tools to complete the oval tabletop: a big compass to draw the oval, and a router trammell to cut it. I’ll explain these in the section on the tabletop. I also had to solder a fair amount of wires, mostly because the wiring that came with the game controllers was not long enough. If you don’t want to solder, you may be able to figure out (or find) alternatives.

Finally, before I dig into the design and build details, let me point out a few things I screwed up:

  • I used cheap plywood that I had laying around. With a fair amount of sanding, filling, and painting, the end result is presentable, but I recommend that you get cabinet grade (or better) plywood, that’s exactly ¾ inch thick. MDF is also an option.
  • We really wanted to have trackballs on the controller panels. This will add some complications to your design and setup. The Ultimarc trackballs that I bought are, in theory, plug-and-play, but the housing underneath the control top is huge, and so the joystick and buttons all had to be squeezed over to the side. Whether you install a trackball or not, you’ll want to spend a fair amount of time thinking about your controls layout, and mocking up some alternatives to make sure you have a fun and comfortable design. 
  • The 2″ x 2″ rails that I designed provide a great stable base for the monitor, electronic components and the game controllers; however, the position of the rails also constrained the layout of the controls. If I was doing this over, I think I would devise my control layout first and then design the rails to accommodate.

Want more details on this project?

dick
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4 years ago game room, woodworking, 543
dick

Richard “Dick” DuGong was born in Crystal River, Florida and raised alone by his adoring, if whiskery, mother. He moved up and down the Gulf coast throughout his childhood, where he developed an appreciation of carpentry…primarily docks, piers and trestle bridges, but also the occasional swing set and backyard pergola. Dick loves water lettuce, nuclear power plants, and naps, in that order.
While he lacked access to tools, or even electricity, he’s been a vegetarian since birth, and what is wood but a plant? And if one cannot appreciate that plants can both feed a hungry mammal and securely hold them up out of the water, well then, you can go choke on a plastic bag for all he cares.