John Park's 3D-Printed Computer Space Replica Puts a Tiny Arcade Classic on Your Desk

Maker John Park has put together a replica Computer Space arcade cabinet, scaled to fit happily on a desk, and there's good news for vintage gaming fans with 3D printers: he's released a full guide to making one of your very own, too.

"Computer Space was the first very arcade game, designed in 1971 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney as Syzygey Engineering (before they changed the company name to 'Atari')," Park explains by way of background. "It's based on PDP-1 Spacewar! and is a clear precursor to Asteroids, but the thing I find most distinctive about it is that incredible, sexy, swoopy cabinet design! Only 1,500 or so units were made, so my chances of owning (or having space for) a full cabinet are fairly low, but a little desktop Computer Space is the next best thing!"

As Park says, Computer Space was manufactured in 1971 by Nutting Associates based on a design from Atari co-founders Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney that was in turn inspired by the 1962 title Spacewar! for the Digital PDP-1 minicomputer. The complexity of the game meant it was not a commercial success, and was soon forgotten when Atari launched the far more accessible Pong — but that iconic fiberglass cabinet has made it something of a grail item for many arcade collectors and vintage gaming enthusiasts.

Park's creation isn't a true replica of the original. For starters, it's built to a far smaller scale: its display is a mere 2.42" diagonally, a single-color 128×64 OLED panel, being driven by an Adafruit Feather M4 Express Microchip ATSAMD51-based microcontroller board. While that has enough power that it could, potentially, run a true copy of the game, the size of the control panel would be a problem — so Park's replica is more of an art piece, running a looping and non-interactive recreation of the game's attract mode.

Park's isn't the first Computer Space replica we've seen, nor the first to be 3D-printed: back in May last year Heber's Richard Horne put the finishing touches to an incredibly convincing full-scale replica, printed in sections and carefully assembled and finished to mimic the glittery fiberglass of the original cabinet. That cabinet is currently on display at the Arcade Archive museum — but Park's is of the scale and complexity that you could easily find room for one of your own on all but the most cluttered of desks.

The full guide is available on the Adafruit learn portal, including source code and the 3D-print files for the cabinet.