A DAD who found himself furloughed due to the coronavirus outbreak has spent his time creating the ultimate in-house arcade.
Steve Addison, from Lincoln in the UK, created a retro games machine for him and his three-year-old son Felix.
Steve, 32, works as an assistant manager at McDonalds.
When restaurants around the UK closed down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he found himself with more free time.
That’s when he decided to dig out an Atari games console he got as a christmas present and use it to create a games machine.
It took two weeks to build and decorate a cabinet to put the games machine inside.
The dad of one was able to buy the wood and arcade buttons he needed from Ebay.
He also decorated the games machine himself and the end results looks very impressive considering he has little to no DIY experience.
Steve said: “I painted all the characters individually myself. There’s a few of them which my little boy chose.
“He recognised ones like Pikachu, Mario, Crash Bandicoot and I added ones like Ryu and Link from Legend of Zelda.
“He loves seeing all those characters come to life. Cutting out the pieces, sanding it all down and joining them together took me about two days.
“It was specs of it all that took the most time because I’m not a joiner, not in any way, shape or form.
“I work at McDonald’s, I’ve not got any skills in this area, so I took my time with it.
“I made sure I planned everything quite meticulously and stuck to them. Sanding it down was the main issue for me.
“There’s the odd wonky bit but from a distance and the pictures, it looks great.”
Steve’s wife Kerry, a 29 year old NHS mental health nurse, was initially sceptical about the idea.
Luckily the project was a success and Steve and Felix can now play classic games like Crash Bandicoot and Sonic the Hedgehog.
To buy a similar two player arcade machine brand new would cost around £1,000 ($1230).
Steve’s version cost under £150 to make.
The Atari is aided by a simplistic computer called a Raspberry Pi, developed to be used in schools to teach children about programming.
Steve added: “They have released programmes for the Raspberry Pi that let you allow you to run and emulate games.
“We are on Bubble Bobble quite a bit, he likes the little dragon on that and it’s quite simple for him.
“Quite often I find him on it because he’s figured out how to switch it on, pick a game and get cracking with it.
“He’s really switched on and clever. He’s got a cracking little button-bashing technique and somehow he manages to kick my arse every time.
“I’ve got a couple of educational like Sesame Street and there’s a Winnie the Pooh game.
“Funnily enough, he is not as interested in those because they are educational, but he still goes on and from time to time.
“Spyro, Crash Bandicoot and Sonic the Hedgehog he loves, which is one of my childhood heroes, so it’s nice to see that my son now enjoys it as well.”
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Have you been playing more video games recently? Let us know in the comments…
