Student team unveils “Capcade”

Capitol’s student center is becoming home to a full size arcade console, thanks to a group of enterprising students. On Friday (April 29) the students presented “Capcade,” which they designed and built from scratch after coming up with the idea last fall.

It is intended to be a permanent addition to the student center, which currently also houses a ping pong table, TV and gym facilities.

“It all started out at the club fair last fall,” said Danielle Wojeski-Crone, who managed the team under the leadership of senior Bryant Rogers II. “Bryant had built a miniature arcade game console, all by himself, which was about a foot tall. We thought it would be a really cool thing if we could get a group of students together and construct a full-scale one.”

Rogers decided to turn the idea into his senior project, with Wojeski-Crone, a freshman, signing on as manager.

 “We got a team together, with members taking on individual roles on the project. Josh Gidding is our programmer, James Culp and Sean Dabbs handled the wiring and soldering, and Travis Scott was our woodworker," Wojeski-Crone said. "We started out at the beginning of last semester just throwing around ideas, and then we went to Student Life and they gave us the go ahead, along with funding to support us. After that we just kind of ran with it and figured it out as we went.”

Though the style of the console is classic, the technology is current. The games are run off a Raspberry Pi, with an I-Pac USB interface translating joystick and button actions into keypad inputs. Super Mario Brothers is currently loaded onto the console under a public license obtained by the team.

While Rogers is graduating on May 14th, the machine he and his team built won’t be the last of its kind. Wojeski-Crone says plans are already in the words for further additions to Capcade.

“I’m going to be building one every year,” she said. “Since I’m a freshman, that means three more years. I already have the licensing applications out for the next one.”

Following the successful unveiling, the Capcade team retrieved the machine and will be doing additional fine-tuning over the summer. The team plans to install it permanently at the student center in time for the fall semester.

 “It’s a way to make the center more fun, and promote interaction,”  Wojeski said. “That’s the whole point.”