According to the latest update, a dad from England went above and beyond by making a retro video game arcade for his 3-year-old son who, like him, is staying at home because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Dad Builds Video Game Arcade For Son
So far, there hasn’t been an official declaration of it so we’ll go ahead and do it ourselves: it’s official, the majority of us are now gamers (given that said majority isn’t already gamers before this whole situation). This is because as the coronavirus pandemic forced all of us to go into lockdown and stay inside our homes, a lot of people have (unsurprisingly) turned to video games for entertainment and socialization.
However, while most of us are content to play games like “Call of Duty” and “Animal Crossing,” a dad reportedly went above and beyond for his son. This is because Lincoln, England-based John Addison decided to go the extra mile for his 3-year-old son by creating a 500-in-1 classic video game arcade for him. Addison reportedly made the console by using an old Atari computer, a used Raspberry Pi computer he bought from eBay, some arcade buttons and wood. Overall, the entire thing also costed him less than $3,000
despite having little to no knowhow.
Now, his son Felix can play classic video game titles like “Spyro,” “Sonic the Hedgehog,” “Crash Bandicoot,” “Super Mario” and even “Pokemon” alongside him.
“I knew it was inevitable that we were going into lockdown so I made a start just before self-isolation rules fully kicked in. I got an Atari from my mother-in-law for Christmas but I had no slot for it with everything else we have hooked up to the TV,” Addison, 32, said.
“I’ve always kind of wanted an arcade machine and I suggested the idea to my wife who kind of laughed me out the room. My capabilities of when it came to DIY were little to none so she thought something bad would go wrong, cutting off my finger or something. It got to the start of March and I just wanted a little project to keep my mind focused on something and keep me busy as I knew work would be shut,” he said, adding that, initially, his wife Kerry had doubts about his plans.
Besides classic video game titles, Addison also made sure to include educational games on the emulator for his growing son.
