Les Cookson's Swap Arcade Hides a Full-Size Arcade Cabinet in a Compact Piece of Furniture

Self-described artist-inventor Les Cookson has launched a crowdfunding campaign for a transforming arcade cabinet that can disguise itself as a piece of furniture: the Swap Arcade.

"Swap Arcade is a full-size arcade that transforms into a beautiful furniture cabinet in seconds," Cookson says of the device. "Open, it’s a real full-size arcade with full controls and a classic arcade presence. You would never guess it could fold away. Closed, it becomes a clean furniture cabinet that fits anywhere in your home. It comes in multiple colors, blends naturally into your space, and you would never suspect there is a full arcade hidden inside."

Even using modern flat-screen displays in place of the traditional bulky cathode-ray tube (CRTs), upright arcade cabinets aren't exactly subtle. They make for a great gaming experience, but take up a lot of room while drawing focus — both problems that Cookson's creation sets out to solve.

In "furniture cabinet mode," the Swap Arcade looks like a small wooden double-door storage cabinet, finished in styles or available as bare wood to take your own stain or coating. The doors don't open, though: they're the back of the display half of the Swap Arcade, which hinges upwards before the real doors, hidden at the side, close to complete its transformation to "arcade mode."

The device is built around a 27" flat-screen display with HDMI connectivity, connected to a Raspberry Pi 4 — not the more powerful Raspberry Pi 5, in an odd decision that may have to do with the ongoing RAM shortage and resulting price-hikes — running Batocera with a "starter set" of 100 emulated games. The display can also be connected to any other HDMI- capable device, while the two-player Sanwa-based control deck can connect to USB-compatible devices. Stereo speakers, located beneath the monitor, finish the electronics, while a cooling fan keeps everything well ventilated — and there's even room for storing devices, controllers, and more in the cabinet itself.

Cookson is funding production of the Swap Arcade on Kickstarter, with a relaunched crowdfunding campaign following the cancellation of one that opened in April for "a pretty big revamp." "If the campaign is modest, I can build and ship from my own shop," the maker says. "I've hand-built and shipped thousands of intricate optical devices over the years through my existing business, DrawLUCY. If the campaign is larger, I have manufacturing partners through Practical Industries, Inc. who can help scale production with us."

More information is available on Kickstarter, where physical rewards start at $1,097 for "early bird" backers — a claimed 35% discount over the planned retail price. As with all crowdfunding campaigns, however, fulfillment is not guaranteed, though Cookson has delivered on previous projects including the Lucy camera lucida and a series of Camera Obscura devices.