Turn an Inexpensive IKEA Table into an Arcade Cabinet with a Raspberry Pi

It’s no secret that IKEA has taken the world be storm. It’s the world’s largest furniture retailer, and has 411 locations spread across 49 countries. With such a popular line, it’s not surprising that an active IKEA-hacking community has developed over the years.

Often, these are just cosmetic or functional modifications; but some, like this table built by Matt of RaspberryPi-Spy, take it a step further by adding some electronics for interactivity. In this case, the electronics are a Raspberry Pi 3 and the interactivity is good ol’ classic arcade-style gaming.

The screen is a 17" Dell LCD that’s had the bezel removed, and is connected to the Raspberry Pi with a VGA-to-HDMI adapter. The LCD is an older model with a 4:3 aspect ratio, which actually fits nicely in the table and is better suited to the classic games running on RetroPie.

What makes the table really stand out are the graphics, and the arcade-style joysticks and buttons. Matt created the graphics himself in LibreOffice, and covered the surface with plastic sheet from an inexpensive picture frame. Finally, LEDs were added to the underside of the table to create some mood lighting.