Make a Bartop Video Arcade from an Old PC | Make:

Here’s a pretty simple video arcade gaming system you can make at home. The bartop arcade style is small enough to be portable and fit nicely on a table or kitchen countertop. It is really easy for me to throw the arcade in the back seat of my car and take it to a friend’s house.

The heart of this video arcade is a desktop computer that’s about 10 years old. I had an old Gateway PC sitting around that I wanted to put to use instead of throwing away. This computer supplied the majority of the parts needed to build the arcade — though it’s slow by today’s standards, it still has plenty of computing power to run classic video game emulation programs. The computer has a Pentium 4 processor (3GHz on a single core) and Windows XP already installed, so I just installed the video game emulation programs on top of the Windows OS. When the arcade is switched on, it boots into Windows but then automatically goes right into the full-screen video game emulation program (more details about that below).

There are many options for how to configure the arcade emulation software. I went with a front end arcade software called GameEx that helps sort and configure all the video game systems and games. When the arcade finishes loading, GameEx shows a list of all the video game emulators, and in each one it lists all the games to choose from and play. And the options for video games are great for Windows: there are a lot of free, open source software projects that re-create near-identical versions of the classic video arcade machines and the home video game consoles from my childhood, everything from Atari to Nintendo to Sega systems and more.

Conclusion

Most of the parts were picked up at the local hardware store and only cost about $180 altogether. I already had the computer laying around, the monitor was $25, power strip was $30, and the controls were $50. Total cost was about $285.

Building this bartop arcade took me about a week to build at a few hours per day. Installing the emulators and configuring them to my liking took about the same amount of time. I also went a step further and installed a front end arcade program for easy navigation and organization of all my games/roms and emulators. I highly recommend trying a front end arcade program if you want to get a better arcade feel from your system. I used GameEx but another great one is Hyperspin. Feel free to ask a question or leave a comment down below.

31 Responses to Bartop Video Arcade from an Old PC

Brendan Kenny on May 1st, 2015 at 3:23 pm said:

Yes yes yes, love great work man.

I’m going to do this over the next month or so. My 6 & 9 sons will love this as will me and my mates ( ~37 y/o ).
Street fighter 2 tournaments will be happening.
LJ on May 1st, 2015 at 3:27 pm said:

Or use an old laptop.
- Danny McWilliams on May 10th, 2015 at 7:34 am said:
  
  That would work; maybe better so for power consumption and performance. I think with a laptop your main concern would be separating the display and flipping it over (keeping connector intact), then ensuring you had enough airflow to keep it cool, depending on how the laptop’s air ducts are situated. Remove its battery and have it plugged in directly – if it’s an old laptop you’d be just as well given their diminishing battery life.
  
  Icahbanjarmasin on June 6th, 2015 at 8:11 pm said:
  
  I agree your opinion
  
  http://icah-banjarmasin.blogspot.com
Greg Scott on May 1st, 2015 at 4:03 pm said:

have you thought of putting a coin slot on it? and if so, details…..
- David Beauchamp on May 1st, 2015 at 6:08 pm said:
  
  Yeah I have thought about this. The MAME arcade games still require a coin in order to start the game. Most people configure a button click to register the coin insertion. I configured one of the top red buttons to do this on this arcade. But arcade part store sell these coin insert panels that do this for you. So by hooking up the coin insertion part it works as a button click and tells the emulator that a coin has been inserted when a coin passes though. Pretty cool idea, but I have not gotten to that yet.
Misdirected Hostility on May 1st, 2015 at 4:31 pm said:

I so wanna make this, but Im thinking about incorporating a handheld controller as well, some console game are better played with a controller. Either that or just stick to arcade games to make it more authentic.
- David Beauchamp on May 1st, 2015 at 6:03 pm said:
  
  Its actually really easy to make this work with handheld controllers instead of the built in controls I added. Since this system is Windows based, there are already built in drivers to have a USB controller like a PlayStation, XBOX, or NES controller work in place of the Xin Mo controller adaptor I used for this arcade. You would just need to tell the emulation software that you are using the USB controller and in most cases there is already a preset for it to start working with the right button configuration.
KaiShiJinn on May 1st, 2015 at 10:53 pm said:

Sort of unrelated, what sort of plant is that?
- Mark Christianson on May 4th, 2015 at 10:20 am said:
  
  From the picture, I’d hazard a guess that it’s a variety of Coleus.
nick on May 2nd, 2015 at 9:42 am said:

Hey man what size monitor is that one? 4:3 a 17 or a 19in? I have a old 15 but thing just looks so small

Really looking forward to making this mine is gonna be a new build. cheaper parts but enough to run dolphin gamecube emulator as well with usb plugs in the front for controller access.

GREAT IDEA though thanks for the inspiration!!!
- David Beauchamp on May 5th, 2015 at 11:08 pm said:
  
  Hey Nick, the monitor I used in this project is a 19″ LCD computer monitor. I forgot to write that down on here, Ill add it in. If you are planning on making a two player arcade then I woulnt go any smaller then a 17″. Just because two player have to squeeze together to play these games on one screen. But for a one player arcade, any size will do depending on the games you plan on playing on it.
  
  nick on May 6th, 2015 at 3:30 am said:
  
  Thanks for the reply, I picked up a really nice 4:3 19 off craigslist for 30 bucks the other day. I actually thought urs was a 17 so I just wrote up my own blue prints off this design. They came up extremely similar besides a deeper bottom so I was hoping u had a 19 in monitor too and I wasn’t just being dumb ha. Thanks again david!
Mark Senff on May 5th, 2015 at 2:10 pm said:

When I skim through it, I believe my biggest challenge will be the software, so I’ll try get MAME running first before anything else. So do I understand this correctly that GameEx is the application that can launch emulators (like MAME) and should be launched right after bootup, or do you use the shortcuts (that I see in the third picture of step 22)?
Do you have any recommended resources for easy (ha!) setup of MAME?
- David Beauchamp on May 5th, 2015 at 11:22 pm said:
  
  The software is not so difficult to get the games running. You first need to install each console emulator and then the front end software. Once each of the emulators are installed and configured to your controller then the front end software just needs a little bit of setting up in the simple set up wizard they have. Some of the newer emulators can be a bit difficult like the Playstation 1 and 2 emulators of the Sega Dreamcast emulator, but man they are worth it. And each of the emulators can be played with or without GameEx. The shortcuts you see in the photo are all the console emulators I installed before adding GameEx.
  The best place for resources on setting up MAME or just about any other emulator would be Youtube. I spent alot of time there figuring out how to do this.
MasterControl90 on May 9th, 2015 at 7:14 am said:

How many inches is the display that did you use for the cabinet?
- Greek Wizard on May 9th, 2015 at 12:51 pm said:
  
  I am interested in this also, as it’s not posted, but my guess is 17″, as the monitor looks to be a Gateway TFT1780PS+ which has a VGA input which you will need.
  
  http://www.amazon.com/TFT1780PS-Gateway-GATEWAY/dp/B002UQQC18
  
  http://www.ebay.ca/itm/D-17-Gateway-FPD1765-TFT1780PS-Black-Flat-Panel-LCD-Monitor-WITH-Cables-D-/251517726505
- alrui on May 12th, 2015 at 9:21 am said:
  
  The author states 19″ monitor.
Danny McWilliams on May 10th, 2015 at 7:36 am said:

I’m thinking: Raspberry Pi.
alrui on May 12th, 2015 at 9:17 am said:

When making a parts list is it to much trouble to include part #’s / sources where available please folks?
- William A. Cheek on May 22nd, 2015 at 10:13 am said:
  
  Yes it is to much trouble for someone who had a DIY project, that he shared with you, to make you a parts list with part #’s. Don’t be lazy, do it yourself and make it your own project. Quit expecting people to do all the work for you. It is a DIY, not a DIFY (do it for you) project.
  
  alrui on May 22nd, 2015 at 9:43 pm said:
  
  You see it your way I see it mine – a half baked article which isnt complete!
  
  William A. Cheek on May 22nd, 2015 at 11:33 pm said:
  
  Well oh my gosh! How inconsiderate of him, here, why don’t you tell me what parts you want part numbers for and I’ll look them up for you. The whole proprietary computer? You want the UPC codes too? Maybe we can compare it to your contributions… oh wait. xD
  
  “Part numbers” lmao.
  
  Good day!
Linda Lovelush on May 23rd, 2015 at 7:43 am said:

That’s pretty sweet.
Hendrawan on June 7th, 2015 at 3:24 am said:

Its very amazing http://www.gagal.id
Stuart on June 26th, 2015 at 9:06 am said:

David- how did you get the monitor to power on without manually turning it on all the time? Or do you have to? Thx
- Davey Toney on August 8th, 2015 at 7:35 pm said:
  
  See step 14. The power strip is made such that giving power to a specific outlet on the strip (aka the “smart” outlet) sends power to all other outlets on the power strip. He wired the PC’s on switch to a power cable which is plugged into the smart outlet. When he presses this on switch for the PC, all other outlets (monitor, speakers, etc) receive power and turn on without the need to manually turn on each individual component.
Jay Reyes on February 27th, 2016 at 9:59 am said:

Why isn’t the green wire connected from the power strip to the c14 socket?
colgate on June 3rd, 2016 at 7:19 am said:

Loved the project but I’m a bit confused by how to convert 1/2” and 2’x4′. I thought it was inches but when converting to centimeters they don’t look right. Can you help me?
- LisaNMartin on June 3rd, 2016 at 9:01 am said:
  
  Hi Colgate,
  ” = inches
  ‘ = feet
  Hope that helps!
  
  colgate on June 3rd, 2016 at 11:21 am said:
  
  Awesome! Thank you Lisa.