World’s smallest working MAME cabinet
We are confident that nobody out there has built a working MAME cabinet that’s any smaller than this. Adafruit’s Phillip Burgess posted this project on Twitter last week, and you guys went absolutely nuts for it. So he’s produced a video, and a quick and dirty explainer so you can make your own.
Your eyes aren’t deceiving you: that backplate is a Pi Zero. You’re going to need tiny elf fingers for this one.
Really: it’s teeny. That OLED screen is only 0.96″.
Phillip’s at pains to point out that their walkthrough is not a complete, step-by-step tutorial of the sort that Adafruit usually provide:
It’s lessons learned during an impromptu weekend hacking session which, to be honest, was a lot of trouble to build and only marginally fun to play, aside from the incredible “gee whiz that’s tiny!” factor. But it may provide insights for others looking to build small gadgets…
You may not enjoy playing it, Phillip, but I’m sure any mice haunting the Adafruit factory will be having a field day.
You can find a writeup for what has to be the coolest MAME cabinet build I’ve seen this year at Adafruit. Thanks gang!
17 comments
Richard
OMG! Genius
AndrewS
Very cute! And I like the accidental “cartridge slot in the top” look too :)
Dougie Lawson
Does it come with a free magnifying glass? For us old fogies with rubbish eyesight.
AndrewS
http://nerdist.com/worlds-largest-arcade-cabinet-dwarfs-grown-men/
Dougie Lawson
Thanks Andrew. Even I may be able to see that one. Although I don’t think it would fit my house.
Carl Jacobsen
Seeing isn’t the only problem – this is the first arcade cabinet you could easily misplace.
Elfen
Tiny little hing, isn’t it!
Patrick
I love it! Not at all practical, but a great conversation piece!
TZJ
Needs my LITTLE pony or LITTLEST petshop decals on the sides… or LITTLE britain?
TZJ
Joking aside, to make it any smaller may require some careful trimming to the zero itself, the other parts should be a ‘little’ easier to trim.
Niall Saunders
The ‘biggest’ problem that I can see is that the missing coin-slot is going to be bigger than the whole cabinet!
Graham Toal
perhaps it could have a ‘coin slot’ in the bottom to insert a CR2032 coin battery and avoid the need to be tethered to a USB supply…
Jim Tsap
This little thing is just wonderful. Attractive, super portable perfect gift for retro lovers. As Dougie said in the comments above, maybe a magnifying glass will add on, this tiny cabinet.
Cristina
I’d like to find out more? I’d love to find out more details.
Christopher Lange
I actually built one of these with a 2000mah lipo with charger in it was a little bit wider and had a back on it. The boss seen it and i built him one for a birthday gift. it is actually playable. If you need reading glasses then they are a must to play this. Lol build one you will love it! Thanks to RaspberryPi and Adafruit for making this happen.Love you guys for making a well thought out and awsome bits for us tinkerers
!
Christopher Lange
Btw i put donkey kong cabinet art on it lol looks great.
egoi dominado
I’ll share your blog, I really liked it.