Playable Pac-Man Cabinet Costume
This Pac-Man-themed wearable RetroPie setup is ready for Öskudagur or even Halloween.
As an American, I think of Halloween as the day to dress up in creative and/or scary costumes for candy procurement. In Iceland, however, they also celebrate Ash Wednesday, or Öskudagur via similar practice. Or as creator Ari Knorr, AKA ariknorr puts it in his write-up:
ˆHere in Iceland there are two days for getting into costumes and getting candy from strangers; Halloween and Ashday. For this Ashday we decided to create PacMan Arcade costume and just to make it even more interesting, we made the whole project playable!
Ari and his son Axel Fanndal built this Pac-Man arcade cabinet, complete with a small screen, joystick, and buttons. Axel then wore it for Öskudagur. While the cabinet is decorated in a Pac-Man motif, its Raspberry Pi-based internals – and a rather generous array of buttons – allows it to play an assortment of other games as well.
The project is a fairly standard RetroPie setup, with the Raspberry Pi (ideally 3 or newer) taking care of compute duties, a small 12V monitor with included speakers for feedback, and an arcade button/joystick kit as the user interface. Power is provided by a rather impressive 8000mAh battery pack, which not only can produce 12V and USB power outputs, but can also be used to jump-start your car if needed.
The overall build is made out of cardboard and decorated with Pac-Man graphics and a nice yellow background. The buttons themselves are arranged on MDF to keep them secure while being played, and the design is provided as a Fusion 360 file. The costume also features straps on the inside for wearability, plus armholes, presumably for candy collection.
According to Ari:
Both of us worked on it and it was a great learning and quality time. One of my missions is teaching my kids that if you have idea you should try it out, even if you find out that it is not possible, the worst thing that happens is you learn something new.
Of course, when Öskudagur is over, the system can be used as a stationary mini arcade cabinet. Or perhaps it will be taken out again in late October for Halloween!