Making a Flat, Wall-mounted Arcade Machine
Building your own working arcade machine has been a thing for a while, and when I got into it, I was inspired to do more than the traditional and typical designs that most people do. Since my apartment is small, I wanted something that would save space, and be out of the way, but still be available when you wanted to get your fix. So I came up with a design that filled these needs.
I decided that the bulk of a traditional Arcade Machine is wasted space. The Refrigerator-sized cabinets are mostly full of empty space, with all the necessary bits being the console and monitor. Since we live in the age of flat-screens, I decided that a real arcade CRT monitor was not required. I could make a machine so flat that it would take up no more space than a picture frame on the wall. My original concept was to simply hang an LCD monitor in a picture frame, and simply plug in a cabled console to it. But I decided that having an all-in-one machine had certain benefits. So I designed something that would have the appearance of a traditional Arcade Cabinet, but which would be flat, and hang on the wall, looking like a machine that was pushed into the wall.
For about $35, you can get a kit like this on Ebay. This kit has more buttons that you'll need, 2 real arcade joysticks, and a JAMMA Wiring harness. Thee are two major choices when constructing an arcade machine: JAMMA and USB. With a JAMMA system, you retain the hardware of most post 1980 arcade machines. JAMMA stands for Japanese Amusement Machine Marketing Association, and was an attempt to standardize arcade machine hardware so that upgrades and maintenance would be easier and more flexible. Prior to the introduction of JAMMA in 1981, every arcade machine manufacturer had their own proprietary controls, boards, power supplies, etc. If you ran an arcade, getting things fixed was a pain, because you couldn't mix and match any parts. After Jamma, a single arcade machine could literally be transformed into any other machine with the simple change of a circuit board, and console top. I decided on JAMMA for one simple reason. I wanted it to be cheap -- I didn't want to have to build a whole PC Clone, Raspberry Pi computers were too slow at the time, and I'd like it to be simple enough to upgrade if I wanted.
The same company that makes this uses PC/USB interfaces (Pictured above) for about $45 or $50. The USB interface costs more, and I don't really know why. The best board is the I-Pac (Not in this Picture), which has connectors for everything, including Trackball and Spinner-knobs. It's $45 - $65, depending on options. The board in this picture is a Chinese knock-off of the I-Pac, and likely only handles the sticks and buttons.
Here is a JAMMA wiring harness. This one set of wires and the connector socket is what all JAMMA systems have in common. You can swap out everything without having to re-wire your console.
This is the JAMMA power supply. Most of the ones on the market are this very brand. This is about $15, and beats the $35 or $40 AT PC Power Supply that you can also use -- it's smaller and you won't be wasting wires and connectors. One thing you need to know is that it provides +12 Volts DC and +5 Volts DC -- in Standard Yellow and red, which is standard in most computers (both the voltages and the wire colors). With this one power supply, you can power pretty much everything in the machine -- the computer, the monitor, the speakers, lights, and other things.
This is the 620-in-One Game Elf board from Holland Computers. This Chinese-made board is ubiquitous, and contains the actual ROMS of over 620 actual arcade machines. The Bulk of the games are junk -- multiple knock-offs of the same game, but at it's core are a group of about 20 or 30 games that everyone knows -- Galaxian, Galaga, Pacman, DigDug, Frogger, etc. The Picture below it is a picture of the board itself, without it's plastic cover.
Most importantly, this Game Elf is one of about a dozen different JAMMA "multi-game boards", which play hundreds of games. At any point, I can simply buy one of the other boards, and either add up to 2000 games to my machine, or simply change the available games. The board that plays 2000 games is obviously more expensive,but the menu software is similar, if not the same, on all the boards -- you use the joystick to select a game, and a button-combination returns you to the menu.
What Follows is a progression of building the wooden cabinet to house the Machine.
The Dell 1909FP monitor was hung on a cheap VESA Wall Mount. The Wood is pine and thin paneling, so it's really light, It really needs to be, because it will be hung on walls, sometimes without a stud to screw into. It was tricky to get the monitor in place. I didn't account for the bottom of the marquee box, because I bought the monitor mounting kit long after I assembled the box. I didn't have enough space to slide the monitor onto the bracket, so I had to loosen the top screws of the mount, and allow for slipping it in at a slight angle. The good thing is that it can be mounted. The better thing is that the monitor can't slip out, once the screws are re-tightened after mounting.
Top Photo is my controller template. The buttons and stick configuration is being done according to the Game Elf's manual, with very little modification. In spite of the fact that not you don't really need 8 buttons per player, I am putting all the buttons in, because you never know if the person who ends up getting this will actually like the 3 or 4 games that use buttons 7 and 8. In the bottom photo, After drilling 20 button holes, 2 Joystick holes, sanding, and spraying a coat of primer, the control panel is almost done. Just a couple of coats of black gloss paint, and it will be ready for mounting the buttons and sticks. Unfortunately, I did not start by planning the control panel, first, and making the machine around the dimensions of the control panel. As a result, I couldn't use the trackball. However, I discovered that the Game Elf only supports 6 buttons, so I eliminated buttons 7 & 8 from both players, gained a couple of inches on either side, and now have plenty of room for the trackball. I quickly made a new control panel, painted and filled it with the controls.
The new control panel top and underside.
The square buttons light up. I aimed all the terminals in the optimal directions, to make wiring easier. This is most likely going to be the only 3" trackball I put into a system. These particular trackballs, though authentic, take up too much space. Oh -- it can be lit from below -- I can have a glowing trackball! I may put a multi-changing RGB LED light below it to make it glow all colors while you play.
To make the task of wiring less of a hassle, I decided to label the wires. The cheap-ass Chinese JAMMA wiring harness was all in Chinese, and the individual wires had no labels, and no consistent color scheme, so if I was going to be testing, disassembling, and re-assembling, the labels would make that process take much less time.
So after Painting, assembling, and wiring, this is the front view of the unit with the control panel attached. I need to get some plexiglass for the bezel, and some plastic channels for the marquee to slip into.
Here is a side view to show off the profile. This is a very thin unit, and it will take up very little space in a room. The measurements are 26.5 inches wide, 38.5 inches tall. It should be mounted at least 28" from the floor, to bring the console to playing height.
Here's the guts of the system. The jamma power supply ($15), Jamma game elf box ($89), wiring harness ($10), el cheapo PC speakers ($10).
So I finally put it together and took it to our family's house for Thanksgiving weekend. I dubbed it "The Retard Machine" because all the 50-something people were being kids again, getting drunk and acting like retarded adults. I believe the machine contributed to it.
I also got requests to make more! So I guess I'll be finishing this ASAP to make the next one.
I'm not the only person with this idea. Other people decided on the slim wall-mounted arcade machines, including this guy, whose work is outstanding!
Useful Links for Building your own Arcade Machines
X-Gaming, Makers of arcade consoles and kits
Ebay's Arcade/JAMMA sales
Arcade Spare Parts Dot Com
Ultimarc -- makers of the best Arcade parts and PC/USB adapters for Arcade gear
Holland Computers -- Great resource for JAMMA equipment and arcade equipment upgrades
Red Floor Arcade -- Sellers of arcade parts
HAPP MartEven more obscure and userful parts that many of the others don't have
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