The package arrived quite sooner than I expected and contained all the itens necessary to build the small arcade. The process it self it quite easy, by simply following the guide and tips provided on the youtube channel.
On my particular case I had a couple of problems, being one that the soldering iron not functioning properly (or at least with the most powerfull mobile trasformer I had around), so I need to use my own.
Other problem was that one of the exterior pieces did not contain the metal strip to solder in place, I needed to use super glue on that particular joint.
Overall quite an entertaining way to pass an evening or a boring Sunday afternoon!
Built these with a group of 20 or so people at Grand Valley MWC3 and had a great time. Had a great time building, but it was definitely helpful to have other people to ask questions to.
We had written and picture instructions, but they could have been a little more clear.
By the end we had a few groups that needed replacement parts from a few kits, but that was mostly from using bad solder on the components and some people not having much soldering experience. Otherwise everyone was able to finish in about 2 hours with a functioning arcade cabinet!
I built mine and it is so fun!! It was very straightforward and fun to build it. All the tools came with it, too! I only broke one of the pieces, but I was able to fix it. The email response from the company was prompt and helpful.
I would recommend it for anyone who would like to have some success building an actual working thing using solder and electronics.
I’d like to learn more about how to program it - I’m amazed and impressed with the unit.
Bought this to try my hand at soldering. Love the practice board and soldering tools. This kit is perfect for the beginner. Love that it comes preprogrammed and allows for side loading for those wanting another challenge.
I met Jack and his fantastic kit at the Maker Faire in Rome. Thanks for your wonderful idea. It's all very ingenious, from how the kit is made to how to put it together. Really very entertaining and also educational.
This kit is fantastic!! I always wanted to learn to solder and this made it so easy thanks to the videos. This will be my go to gifts for kids from now on.
Also Jack is so great. Had a question about a piece and he quickly replied with help. Seriously that makes this product even more rad!
I had hours of fun putting this little arcade game together and learned that sometimes perseverance is key to success. I had the whole project built and turned it on and...nothing. I had tested it before and the screen worked as planned, but not now when I was so excited to try it out.
So I emailed for tech support.
A couple of days later Jack greeted me in an email and wanted me to send a photo of the motherboard. So I took everything apart, took the photo, and then enlarged it. I immediately saw what I did wrong! Not enough solder on the pins by a longshot. I took the time to add some more and now it works!
I'm super happy with this project and highly recommend it.
My son had trouble with the screen working, so he sent an email. He got a response within 24 hours (and on a Sunday!), with a follow-up Zoom call. The gentleman was on the Zoom call for over an hour with my son walking him through each step. He was extremely patient and very kind.
I will be telling all of my mom friends about this kit; it's worth every penny.
This is an amazing arcade at an excellent price! The build process is extremely smooth with excellent tutorials that tell you exactly what to do.
Not only can you take advantage of a ton of games you can find and upload to your MicroCade, you can actually create your own games, taking the learning experience to a whole new level.
Best of all, the support behind the MicroCade is phenomenal, with the Arduboy community always ready to help out and create new ideas and Jack Daly being 100% committed to customer satisfaction.
I saw this kit mentioned by a Twitter follower and it was a no brainer of a buy - it took about a week to arrive in Australia and this weekend my 7 year old set out to build it.
Firstly the instructions are all on a series of videos - these are very clear and high quality explaining clearly what to do at every step
The first thing to do was lay out all the parts and connect the soldering iron (included in the kit) to a usb power bank (the only thing not included that you need) and wait for it to heat up - this led to important lessons on how to properly hold the hot iron, how to put it down safely, and then how to solder - the kit comes with a practice solder board and enough parts to solder 3 rows of connectors (the 4th is used as a temp spacer later on)
My daughter seemed yo pick this up really quickly and we then moved on to soldering the components to the motherboard, connecting the control board and plugging in the battery
The next stage was a bit trickier and needed a bit of my help to solder parts of the case in place while she held them together finally we had a completed arcade machine
She immediately started playing some of the games until the battery went out (it was bed time so good timing)
She had a blast making this and she is thinking of a game she wants to make in the programming side of the product
All in all a great product well put together with excellent instructions and room to explore programming
This little arcade machine was a joy to build and was very user friendly. This microcade has brilliant games and keep you entertained for hours. The soldering has taught me more and also was great practice of this skill also the instructions for this build were very detailed and great for following. This project was over all a great one and a good choice for a first project.
I had a ton of fun building the Microcade kit, I'd never used a soldering iron before this kit, so not only did I get one of the coolest ways to play an arcade game, I learned a new skill! The videos were easy to follow and I actually finished the kit without any trouble. I was surprised to see it came with multiple games as well, and a coding corner where you can create your own sprites! I look forward to any future kits for sure!
Easy and fun to assemble. I have to admit I really enjoy the games on the Microcade much more than expected - I was really just looking for another mini project after going thru the 30 Days LiS kit and found this. Jack Daly is incredibly responsive to questions and request. After watching the Tetris movie, I of course wanted it on the MicroCade - Jack provided the Upload Program and TinyTris file within a day - and it works great.
My boyfriend got two microcade arcade consoles for our monthly date night, and it was a success! It was pretty easy to assemble on its own as it has markings on the panels, but the company also provides a video guide. All in all, it probably took us an hour (provided we took our time), and was an enjoyable and intimate experience.
In terms of use, the consoles loaded up immediately after we finished building them, and there were already games installed. It's very cute and looks adorable on my desk - I often find myself playing games on it during my work breaks.
