Picade is a DIY desktop arcade cabinet for Raspberry Pi – and all your retrogaming dreams

Sure, you can emulate old games on a PC or a console, but where’s the love? Where’s the authenticity? But then if you do want to go fully old-school, you need a ton of money and probably a new house for a collection of classic cabinets. Picade (£150) is the solution. Designed for the Raspberry Pi 3, this arcade cabinet is desktop-sized, and suitably shows up in kit form. Arm yourself with a couple of screwdrivers and within a few hours you’ll have transformed a pile of components into a gorgeous games machine with six arcade buttons, an 8in 1024×768 IPS panel, and a 5W speaker. Add your Pi, power supply, and micro-SD card with RetroPie and you’ll be hurled back to gaming’s halcyon days – and an abrupt understanding of just how much more difficult videogames were in 1982.

Craig Grannell Contributor

About

I’m a regular contributor to Stuff magazine and Stuff.tv, covering apps, games, Apple kit, Android, Lego, retro gaming and other interesting oddities. I also pen opinion pieces when the editor lets me, getting all serious about accessibility and predicting when sentient AI smart cookware will take over the world, in a terrifying mix of Bake Off and Terminator.

Areas of expertise

Mobile apps and games, Macs, iOS and tvOS devices, Android, retro games, crowdfunding, design, how to fight off an enraged smart saucepan with a massive stick.