Last Updated on December 2, 2015 by Dave Farquhar
Lifehacker posted a nice weekend project this week, a retro coffee table, but the price tag seems steeper than it needs to be. If you’re craving some retro goodness but think $300 is a bit much to spend to play old video games, I have some ideas for you.
Hit the thrift store for a coffee table. You don’t need a $100 Ikea coffee table that’s going to fall apart in 18 months anyway. Pay a visit to your local Salvation Army store. They almost always have coffee tables, you’ll probably pay $20 or less for one, and you’ll be supporting a good cause to boot.
Hit an estate sale for a small LCD TV. Yes, believe it or not, you can score sub-32″ LCD TVs at estate sales fairly easily. Search your local Craigslist for an estate sale in a wealthy suburb, then go. Some ads tell more than others about the contents of the sale. Just be careful; sometimes an ad will say “flat screen TV” and they mean a late-model CRT with a flat front. But if you see a picture with a 20-inch LCD in a bedroom, go. Expect to pay $40-$60 for a small set.
Just be careful to make sure it has an HDMI port. Some early LCD sets didn’t have them.
Got a Playstation? Recycle its controllers. They don’t feel quite as retro as SNES controllers, but if you have Playstation controllers, you can use a cheap adapter to connect them to a Raspberry Pi. And unlike modern SNES-alikes, the quality of the Playstation controllers is pretty consistent.
I think you can easily shave $100-$150 off the cost of the project.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.