Standing desks have been rising in popularity these past few years, so I thought I’d design one that is truly geeky: a standing desk that looks like an arcade cabinet. It’s the perfect standing desk for work and play.
While the desk looks cool, I think it may have the added benefit of fooling people into standing in front of it for long periods of time with little or no discomfort — just like being in an actual arcade (minus the continuous feeding of quarters). There’s just something about arcade cabinets that can lock-in the attention of people, even when the game is in an idle state. Hopefully that carries over to working on spreadsheets.
This design was based on the 27″ iMac. If you need a larger screen or more desk surface, then a 2-player (Mortal Kombat) or 4-player (TMNT, The Simpsons) cabinet could be utilized.
If you need to sit the desk height could be adjusted, with a rolling cabinet used to free up some leg space (personally I’d just use a bar stool). Also there’s lots of room near the back of the cabinet, which could be used for shelves or storage.
Obviously you can add an arcade stick or two and turn your PC into a MAME machine too. Speaking of which, you should check out this great archive site where you can play old arcade games for free.
For those who want one, there’s a cottage industry of arcade cabinet builders and resources online, so Google your hearts out (if you’d like to recommend a custom builder please share in the comments).
As for the whippersnappers asking what an “arcade cabinet” or “desktop PC” is, you need to leave. Now. SHOO!
