DIY Arcade Machine Coffee Table

Materials: BESTA Bench, INREDA Drawers

Description: I’ve always loved old skool arcade games for the quick ‘jump in/jump out’ gaming and wanted to build a MAME cabinet. But I had no room nor have approval from the wifey to embark on the project, so it just sat there in the back of my mind.

Then I saw the Double7 Arcade Table by Surface Tension, and I thought it was a really nice design and even wifey thought it looked great, so the plan was hatched to build something similar as a DIY project as I didn’t think it was worth the £2,799.00 GBP sticker shock price tag for it. Not being a woodworking expert, I spent a month just researching what I had to do, and then also had an idea to use stuff sourced from IKEA to hack something together, but it never went beyond a few conceptual sketches and links to items on IKEA.


Then about 6 weeks ago, IKEA was having a sale before the end of financial year and saw a BESTA Bench on sale for $25 down from $95 so thought what the heck, if I mess it up, it’s only $25… Then saw these INREDA drawers on sale for $5 each!

So started the process over a couple of weeks to bring my plan into fruition.

Progress pics and more description of the build process are here.

~ Sam Wang, Perth, Western Australia