Introduction: Arcade Machine +

This instructable will help you modify the arcade that is linked in step one to a new, improved, and advanced version. This instructable is more of a guideline to be followed and does not need to be copied to the exact detail. For example, speakers could be switched out for different speakers that you might have lying around, and the marquee can be a picture of your own choosing. In this Instructable, you will learn how to add speakers to your arcade, create a marquee with LEDs to light it up, add a coin acceptor, a working LCD to display credits to go along with the coin acceptor, functioning start and exit buttons, and how to change the wiring for a power outlet.

Step 1: Original Instructable

Begin with this Instructable. All modifications are in the following steps.

https://www.instructables.com/id/2-Player-Bartop-Arcade-Machine-Powered-by-Pi/

Step 2: Designing the Marquee

Adding Lights
First, drill a hole near the top and to the side of the front board as shown in the picture. Make sure it is big enough for the wires of the LEDs to fit through. Feed the ends of the lights through the hole. Stick the LEDs to the front board with the adhesive strips or super glue. You may want two strips of the LEDs for a brighter marquee, so cut another piece if wanted, stick it on, and feed the end through the hole as well.


Cutting The Wood and Plexiglass

The bottom part of the marquee will be wood. The dimensions are 50cm x 8 cm. After cutting the wood and painting it black, glue it to the sides and front with wood glue. You can glue it 12cm down from the top, or whatever length looks best for your arcade. For the front of the marquee, you will need plexiglass. Cut two pieces with the dimensions of 50cm by around 12 cm depending on how far down the base of the marquee is glued. Next, you will need to make and print a graphic design to display between the two pieces of plexiglass. Once printed, put it in between the pieces and glue the plexiglass to the top and sides of the arcade.

Step 3: Coin Acceptor

Installing the Coin Acceptor

You want to start by cutting a hole in the side of your arcade the size of the coin acceptor's back. Make sure not to cut too much, so you can thread bolts into the corners. Once you have your hole, take the front of the coin acceptor, and detach it from its back. Take the back of the coin acceptor, and put it through the hole. Then take the front, and attach it to the other side, making sure to line everything up. Once you have everything lined up, screw the front to the back. Now with a drill, take a bit that is about the same size as your bolts, and drill through the wood on each corner. Put the nuts on the bolts, and make sure it is secure.

Wiring

Next, you want to take the wires that came with the acceptor, and attach them to it. The red wire is a 12v connection, the back wire is a ground connection, and the white wire is your coin counter connection. Take a Barrel jack connector, and wire your red wire to the positive connection and your black wire to the negative connection. Then take an extra black wire, and connect it to the negative connection, as well. Take the other end of that black wire and connect it to one of the Raspberry Pi's ground pins on the GPIO. Then take the white wire and connect it to pin 18 on the GPIO. Take the 12v power supply, and plug it into the power strip. Plug the power jack into the connector. Now, your coin acceptor should turn on.

Programming

Now, you need to program the acceptor to different coins. Watch this video that shows you how to do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-656CaoGmU.

Last Steps

Once that is finished, you are ready to add a tray for the coins to go. Simply find something that can catch the coins as they fall in and something you can easily remove. I used cardboard to make a catcher for the coins. Finally, your done with the coin acceptor!

Step 4: Adding Extra Buttons and Wiring

Start and Exit Buttons

You want to add two extra holes to the front of your arcade for the start and exit button. Thread the buttons through the holes, and make sure they are wired correctly. Take three extra wires, and connect them to the holes on the connector for the button. Connect the wire that is going to the interface wire to the raspberry pi GPIO pin 15. Then, take the wire that you have connected to the ground wire, and connect it to any ground pin on the GPIO. Take the wire connected to the VCC wire, and connect it to your 5v GPIO lead. Repeat the process for your exit button, just connect the other interface wire to GPIO pin 14. Now, connect a wire from GPIO pin 20 to GPIO pin 26.

Step 5: Adding an LCD

To add an LCD, you first want to drill a hole in the front of the arcade. Make sure it is big enough to fit the display through, but nothing else. Attach the display by gluing the surrounding circuit board to the inside. Take four wires, and connect them to all of the leads on the I2C backpack. Connect the VCC pin to the 5v pin on the GPIO. Connect the ground pin to any ground pin on the GPIO. Connect the SDA pin to GPIO pin 2. Finally, connect the SCL pin to GPIO pin 3. For the rest of the details follow these guides exactly. http://www.circuitbasics.com/raspberry-pi-i2c-lcd-set-up-and-programming/. http://osoyoo.com/2016/06/01/drive-i2c-lcd-screen-with-raspberry-pi/

Step 6: Add Your Own Speakers

This step is on the original Instructable in step one, but we added our speakers in a different way. First, you want to drill holes on the side of the arcade for the speakers to go. (We did eight rows of three to match our speakers' height and width.) To mount the speakers inside the arcade, you want to use Velcro in case you want to take them off in the future. Drill a hole for the volume knob to stick through the side. Also, use sound proof foam around the speakers so none of the sound escapes into the inside of the arcade. Make sure you plug it in correctly, and plug the Jack into the raspberry pi.

Step 7: Wiring a Power Outlet

The original instructable for this project didn't go into detail on how to wire an outlet to the back of your arcade. You want to drill the hole for the outlet to fit, and wire it using this diagram to help out. Your load into the outlet are your power strip leads, and the rest are jumper wires.

Step 8: Adding a Python Script to Make Everything Work

Retrogame

Firstly, you need to install retrogame on to the Raspberry Pi. Follow this tutorial on how to do that. https://learn.adafruit.com/retro-gaming-with-raspb... Once you are prompted with which controller you are using, select 8 and press enter.

Everything script

In order to make everything work we need to make this script: https://pastebin.com/YZK9dEr4 bootable during startup. First paste the script into a python file and put it into a new folder called scripts in the pi directory. Make sure to name it coin.py. There is a tutorial here that will explain how to do it better than I am. https://thepihut.com/blogs/raspberry-pi-tutorials/34708676-starting-something-on-boot. Once you are editing the /etc/rc.local you want to add, before exit 0: python /home/pi/scripts/coin.py. One that is finished you are good to go with everything. Just reboot.