Miniature Arcade Cabinet for Kids

Arcade games have been around for some 50 years. These “old school” arcade games have been a big hit with my grandchildren. I have some classic games in my basement that they play all the time. Unfortunately, they cannot reach the control panel very easily so I have to move a step ladder or a stool for them to stand on. This allows them to play the game in a halfway normal manner.

Last year I saw some smaller size arcade game replicas for sale in local “big box” retail stores. They looked to be fabricated from some kind of fiberboard or Masonite. So I thought why not build a scaled-down version of the classic arcade game cabinet where smaller kids would have no problem reaching the control panel. I would use cabinet grade plywood which is much lighter and easier to work with.

This Instructable will explain how to construct an arcade cabinet that is about three-quarter scale of the classic arcade games. It’s overall height will be about 48 inches or 4 feet. At this proportion, the control panel will be much lower to the ground. It will be outfitted with a 60 in 1 classic arcade PCB that can be purchased very readily nowadays. This board contains 60 of the “old school” classic arcade games that can be played on this one cabinet. In a second Instructable, I will explain how this PCB game board and all the other various electronic components that go into the cabinet are installed and connected.

· (2) 2 ft. by 4 ft. x ½” plywood sheets

· 1” x 4” x ¾” pine boards

· 2” x 4” framing lumber

· 1/8” thick perforated hardboard

· 1/8” thick regular hardboard

· Misc. brad nails and finishing nails

· Misc. paint and decals (arcade/multicade)

· Arcade buttons and joystick

· 4” speaker

· (2) rocker on/off switches

· Wood putty

As I said above, the mini-arcade cabinet is about 4 feet tall. The internal width for the front and back panels is 17 inches. So the overall width of the game will be 18 inches with the ½ thick plywood sides. The depth of the game (with the control panel) is about 24 inches. The control panel will be 27 inches above the ground after a 1 inch high wooden base is placed. The joystick for the classic Ms. Pacman game is almost 39 inches above the ground so this control panel is much more accessible for medium size children.

The first step is to take some time to sketch out and design your game side. My goal was to make the game’s control panel easily playable for a 7-9 year old child standing normally. A full-size Ms. Pacman game is 68 inches tall. So at 48 inches tall, my miniature arcade cabinet will be about 70% the size of a classic arcade cabinet. Once the design was finalized, I reproduced it on a 1/8” thick piece of hardboard so it would be strong and easy to trace onto my plywood.

I would purchase a better grade of ½” thick plywood from your local lumber yard. It is called birch veneered plywood or “cabinet grade” plywood. Make sure it has a smooth surface free of any imperfections for your side panels. Two sides were traced on the plywood and the patterns cut out with a fine-bladed jigsaw. You need to make sure you decide on a left and right side. The best grade of plywood should be on the outside.

Small pine glue blocks are then placed on the inside of each side panel to allow a stop for front and rear panels to be glued in place. Glue blocks must also be placed to hold the bottom of the cabinet. The glue blocks are cut from 1” x 4” pine board. I would make the glue blocks about 1 inch wide and in various lengths. If you are using ½” thick plywood for the front and back panels, the glue blocks should be placed about 1 inch in from the sides. This will allow a remaining ½ inch spacing once the cabinet is put together. Apply white wood glue to each glue block and hold in place with C-clamps until the glue dries.

Continue placing glue blocks as shown in the photos. The glue blocks for the top of the cabinet and the front panel below the control panel will be placed at an angle corresponding to the outline of your cabinet side. On the edge that will be the back of the cabinet, a long glue block is placed only ½ inch in from the edge. This will allow a 1/8” thick piece of perforated pegboard to be used as a backing so some air flow gets to the electronic components. The pegboard can be attached to the back top and bottom ½ inch thick bracing pieces. No glue blocks are placed where the monitor will be mounted.

All front and back cabinet pieces will be cut to a width of 17 inches. This will be the right proportion for the mounting of the computer monitor. It will also allow the control panel to be laid out and fabricated with adequate spacing for the game buttons, joystick, speaker and the on/off switches that are mounted on the control panel.

Measure the length of all front and back cabinet pieces and cut them to size. I cut a total of 7 pieces:

1. Bottom (1/2” or ¾” plywood)

2. Main Front Piece

3. Angled Front Piece (directly below the control panel)

4. Front Marquee Piece

5. Angled Top Piece (edge cut at an angle)

6. Top Rear Bracing Piece

7. Bottom Rear Bracing Piece.

The numbers above are used to identify the various pieces in the accompanying photos. I cannot list the exact lengths for these pieces because it will vary by how you designed your sides. But, make sure on your table saw, all pieces are cut to the same width. Set your fence to 17 inches and just leave it there. This will help keep the cabinet square when it is put together.

You will need a flat work surface to assembly the cabinet. I have a 3 ft. x 6 ft. flat butcherblock top wood bench that works well for me. If you work alone and don’t have a pair of extra hands, use two large hand screw clamps to hold the right and left sides vertically (at a right angle to the bench). The bottom was glued and nailed into place first. I use a nail gun with 1 ½ inch brads to secure each piece. Next, the main front panel, angled front panel, marquee board and top panel were glued and clamped in place and nailed. A T-square was used to check the alignment and assure it was true. Long pipe clamps are used to hold everything true while the wood glue sets.

Once the glue has dried, the clamps are removed and the partially assembled cabinet is flipped over with the front now face down on your bench. The two back bracing pieces are then positioned in place after glue has been placed on the edges. The bracing pieces are squared and then nailed in place and then clamped until the glue dries again.

Now the basic structure of your cabinet is complete. The last wood to add is the bottom toe plate or offset to raise the bottom of the plywood cabinet off the floor. I used standard 2” x 4” framing lumber to accomplish this. The framing lumber was cut in half, length wise, to reduce the width. Since standard framing lumber is 1 ½ inches thick, this will raise the plywood sides 1 inch off the ground once it is glued and nailed in place (remember the cabinet bottom is ½ inch up from the bottom of the plywood sides). This provides a little room for the toes of the young children playing the game and also keeps the plywood edge off any potentially damp floors.

To finish off the plywood edges of the sides and make the game look professional you will want to add T-molding. This will be placed once the cabinet is painted. To prepare for this we need to cut a retention groove, centered on the edge, at a width slightly less then the barbs of your T-molding. You use a slot cutter on your portable router to cut this groove. I used a 3/32” thick slot cutter for the ½” wide T-molding. Pick a color for the T-molding that matches your design scheme.

The control panel is made from ½” plywood. The dimension are such that they overhang the cabinet sides and front by about an inch. The attached photos show how I positioned the buttons and the joystick. The top left button is the main fire/reaction button. Two other buttons are added on the left side (some games require multiple buttons). The right side buttons allow you to choose a one or two player game. The speaker, on/off power button and the speaker on/off button are positioned at the top of the control panel.

Once everything is laid out, 1 1/8” diameter holes are cut at each center point in the plywood. A forstner drill bit is used to accomplish this. I find this drill bit produces a cleaner cut. This drill size is also used for the joystick handle. The hole size for the on/off switches are 7/8” diameter. As you can see by the photos, a ¼” diameter bit was used to cut a series of patterned holes over the speaker so the sounds of the arcade games can be heard clearly. The last cut of the control panel is the T-molding slot centered on the outside edges. You do not cut a slot on the side that will be facing the monitor. This slot is placed by the same t-slot router bit that was used for the edge of the cabinet sides.

Next, the control panel is sanded smooth with 150 grit sandpaper. A coat of latex enamel paint was applied to match the blue color of the original Ms. Pacman cabinet. There was no rhyme or reason for the painting scheme. I decided to paint a pink stripe in the Ms. Pacman color and then use white labels to identify the one/off and firing buttons. A few Ms. Pacman decals were glued on to complete the design. You can be creative and come up with your own finishing scheme. To protect the finish, a coat of polyacrylic was applied. Finally, all the arcade buttons, joystick and T-molding were attached.

First, all nail holes were filled in with wood putty. Once dried, I sanded all the wood surfaces with 220 grit sandpaper in a vibrating hand sander. Next, you can paint your cabinet in any color scheme you would like. There are 60 classic arcade games on the PCB we will be installing in the cabinet, so any one of those games could be your color theme. I am using the Ms. Pacman color scheme (powder blue and pink). I painted each side in the Ms. Pacman pink. I used Ms. Pacman decals across the bottom. These can be found on the internet and printed onto label paper (adhesive on one side). I used a multi-arcade (multicade) poster on each side. Again, you can buy these on the internet or find one to print on label paper. The front vinyl overlays were purchased on E-Bay. Last, the black plastic T-molding was pounded into the slots you cut on the edge of each side. Finally, all the decals and sides were covered with a coat of polyacrylic to protect everything from handprints and moisture.

On a subsequent mini arcade game I made, I used the Pacman yellow and black color scheme. The last photo shows a completed mini arcade game alongside a full size Pacman game

Now the game cabinet is complete. The next step is to mount the computer monitor and complete all the electronic installation and setup. I will post a follow-up Instructable shortly, showing how this was accomplished.