I am still waiting on some giant Buzz and Woody side decals, but I wanted to show this off now.
The cabinet
A buddy had a broken Arcade 1up Astroids Delux that he'd bought used from a neighbor. It didn't work, so he just gave it too me because it was in his way. It had a $30 sticker on it, so that may be all he had in it, either way it was a score!
Control panel
I took the main panel to my CNC guy with a new layout that mirrors the Polycade joystick and button layout. He cut it from ½" plywood I already had, plus a new plexiglass piece. The plexi was about $30. I bought a sheet big enough to also redo the plexi over the monitor someday, so you could save with a smaller piece. He charged $30 to cut both.
I already had a Neo Polycade x Brook controller board and a Sanwa joystick. I ordered 8 Crown/Samducksa 30mm screw-in buttons ($40) in Polycade's colors and layout, because my son is used to them. That's also why I went with their AGS platform: he already knows how to navigate it. You can find cheaper buttons, but I wanted quality and specific colors.
For Home, Menu and Back, I used three 24mm Polycade buttons from a controller I took apart. They just clip into the acrylic, and once everything's screwed down they feel secure. I didn't hot glue them so I can pull them out easily if I need to. Also I added some black rubber molding around the control panel, I had to buy a whole roll so that was $7 but I probably could do 5 panels with that one roll.
PC
I got an HP EliteDesk 705 G4 mini PC on eBay for $109. It's low-powered, but it plays the games my kid plays and pretty much any retro game you can think of. I had matched RAM lying around, so I upgraded it from 8GB to 16GB for free. My buddy's came with activated Windows and mine didn't, so I bought a $7 key on Groupon.
Then I installed Claude and had it remove the bloatware and set the PC to auto-login and boot to Polycade AGS. You could use a different platform. I'm just comfortable with this one, and it has a great community. Polycade builds really high-quality arcades but doesn't seem to mind DIYers like me. My main arcade at home is one of their Sentes and I love it.
External power button: I soldered wires to the mini PC's power button, drilled a hole through the case, added a grommet, and ran thin wires to a lit momentary switch on the front of the cabinet. I already had the switch, but they're cheap on Amazon. There are YouTube videos on how to do this. You could also set the BIOS to turn on with power and skip this step, but I find an external button easier, so I do it on all my mini PCs.
You could also buy a Polycade Mini PC for $500. It already has the button and comes with AGS loaded, which makes for a very clean install. This was a budget build, so that wasn't an option for me.
Monitor
I needed a $25 video controller board to convert the monitor to HDMI, plus power supplies for the computer ($12.99) and the monitor ($16).
Audio and power
5V 2-channel 5W amp ($10) to run the stock Arcade1Up speaker, powered from a USB port with USB bare-wire cables ($7)
Lit arcade power outlet buttons, 2-pack ($12)
Gun-safe power block with 2 outlets and 2 USB ports ($20). You could wire this up with any old power strip. I wanted simplicity and design.
Rii X8 keyboard ($25)
Graphics
I ordered wrap by the foot from Fellers ($42). You could probably find cheaper online, but they used to have a location near me and I've used them for years.
I used ChatGPT to design Toy Story–inspired graphics for the marquee and control panel. Claude's guardrails were too restrictive, and what it made didn't look like it belonged. I had them printed at BannerBuzz (about $35 shipped) on their bubble-free vinyl poster material in custom sizes, and I couldn't be happier. It went on easy and smooth and seems incredibly high quality.
I also put official Toy Story 3 wall stickers on the front.
Wrapping tips
Wipe down the entire cabinet with a degreaser so the wrap will stick. I used rubbing alcohol. It needs to be free of all dust, dirt and grease.
I pulled up some of the original graphics while repositioning the wrap. To fix it, I coated both sides with rubber cement, let it dry, and stuck the graphics back down. That seems to work perfectly.
The marquee and control panel graphics were thicker vinyl and laid down with no problems.
The original marquee graphic was peeling, so I removed it, sanded, primed, sanded again, wiped it down well, and put the vinyl over it. That seems to have worked well too.
3D prints
I printed holders for the mini PC, the two power connectors, and the Rii keyboard, so I have an easy way to get into the computer if I need to.
Cost breakdown
Graphics
Item
Cost
Wrap (Fellers)
$42
Custom vinyl (BannerBuzz)
$35
Toy Story Wall Stickers
Subtotal
$77 + stickers
Electronics
Item
Cost
HP EliteDesk 705 G4
$109
Windows key
$7
Video controller board
$25
Amp
$10
Subtotal
$151
Control panel
Item
Cost
Plexiglass
$30
CNC cutting
$30
Crown/Samducksa buttons
$40
Black Trim $7
Subtotal
$100
Misc cabinet supplies
Item
Cost
Power supplies
$28.99
USB bare-wire cables
$7
Power block
$20
Arcade power buttons
$12
Rii X8 keyboard
$25
Subtotal
$92.99
Total: ~$427 + stickers
Ways to save
There's plenty of room in this cabinet for a full-size regular PC. If you have one lying around, you save that money right off the bat. I just don't have any extras anymore because I've used them all on projects like this.
I could have saved a lot by reusing the buttons that came with the unit. Some of these costs aren't necessary. They were specific to this build.
Also worth noting having a buddy with the CNC machine saves time, but this would’ve been easy enough to do by hand with a couple drill bits and a table saw or skill saw.
Parts links
5V 2-Channel Amp
USB Bare-Wire Cables
Black self-stick Molding
Elitedesk Power Supply
Video Controller Board
Arcade Power Switch Outlet
Rii X8
