With back-lit arcade buttons being more and more commonplace these days, I feel there’s a lot of potential for themed buttons. These wouldn’t be used for the primary play buttons, they are intended for secondary buttons like player select and menu. The ones for Street Fighter above are normal buttons with a teardrop-shaped mount.
Continue reading ➞ Street Fighter Arcade Buttons
In Toy Story 2 there was a display case seen in the Buzz Lightyear aisle that would make for a neat arcade cabinet in my opinion. Unfortunately the illuminated moon and rocket would make this tough to produce for even the most-skilled custom arcade cabinet makers.
If I could spare no expense I would get this made, but only after I have a Last Starfighter cab in my possession.
This basketball arcade cabinet is styled after a shoe, the Air Jordan 5, because of its mesh sides. This could also be purposed into a desktop toy as well.
Forgive the presentation, the net would actually be lower and there would be a scoreboard above the net, but it was tough to keep everything in frame. There would also be a protective net between the basket and the shooter.
This would go nicely with the other rec room designs I’ve posted here.
I’d love to get a MAME arcade cabinet but they would just take up too much space, so I thought of building one into your average door. It would need wheels to support the weight of the flat TV/electronics, and a power source would be tricky to execute. All said, I think this is do-able.
I already designed an Arcade Cabinet Standing Desk, thought I’d make one for sitting people. This was inspired by my L-shaped IKEA desk; lately I’ve been thinking about giving it a Pac-Man vinyl cover, because its laminate surface is in rough shape.
Just need colorful t-molding around the edge of the desk surface, and a marquee for the leg (which could be back-lit if you want to be fancy).
This Fix It Felix Jr. idea began as a full-size arcade cabinet that stored a tool chest and tool organizer (may post that design one day soon), but I felt a mini tool set would have wider appeal, so I went with that here. This is a functional mini arcade game that doubles as a case for a set of tools.
This opens up like a book to reveal the tools. It’s possible for the arcade to emit the phrase “I can fix it!” when opening the case, but that might get annoying after awhile.
The tools are for gadget-minded folks, no hammers or wrenches here. Included are a pair of pliers, wire cutters, wire strippers, precision screwdrivers, and more. I know the character used a hammer, but that would’ve made this too big.
Continue reading ➞ Fix It Felix Jr. Mini Tool Set
Just add a smartphone or Nintendo Switch to this cradle/controller and you can play pinball video games. The bumper buttons and table-like orientation allow players to enjoy pinball just like they were playing on a real machine.
But wait, there’s more! Just slide the marquee and stand the device upright and it is now an arcade cabinet.
The marquee slides on rails, allowing this to transform between pinball and arcade configurations. The marquee sign is a loose flap that swings down automatically in both modes, thanks to gravity.
Continue reading ➞ Pinball Smartphone Cradle
