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  • Mk3.1: News from the Factory

    Mk3.1: News from the Factory

    We just ordered 40 new cartridge PCBs—this time as panels. Here’s how the initial estimate looked:

    On top of that, we even snagged a nice Thanksgiving discount! 🙂 I initially put in for 5 panels and configured each one with a 2×4 layout. That’s 8 PCBs per panel, making it 40 in total. During the panel design phase, the calculator flagged an error and asked for clarification. So, I confirmed again: I want 5 panels with 8 boards each. For the assembly (PCBA), I also specified 40 PCBs.

    But then, the total came to $528 for 40 panels (which would be a insane 320 PCBs!!!). That would work out to $1.65 per PCB. If it really were just 40 PCBs total, we’d be looking at $13.20 per board—at that price, we’d definitely have to skip the gold plating! But looking at the other specs (board dimensions, lead time), it really seemed like they were calculating for 40 full panels.

    So, I shot an email to my contact there (who had already reached out to say the order was under review anyway) to let them know something wasn’t right and to double-check the numbers.

    Literally a few minutes later, I got a reply: I was right. They’ll adjust the price during the final calculation.

    Alright, so now we have a solid price for the 40 cartridge boards. They swapped the “Hard Gold” finish for a “standard” one. I’m down to test it out and see how long it actually lasts. So far, I haven’t seen any real wear and tear on my current cartridges…

    Still, we definitely need to stress-test how durable these are. If we decide we really want that Hard Gold coating, we’d probably need to order around 200 PCBs to keep the price reasonable. If a panel costs $80, we should be squeezing way more than 8 PCBs out of it. But since the minimum order is 5 panels… well, that’s going to be a lot of boards.

    And finally: The cartridge PCBs arrived on Dec 23rd, and just in time for Christmas, the motherboards showed up on the 24th!

    Enno tested one right away—and it works!

    Now, the only thing left to do is rewrite the assembly guide.

  • The way to RooK drawn in the sand

    The way to RooK drawn in the sand

    When Konstantin was in Portugal this summer he channeld his inner Sir David Attenborough and gave us some insights into his thought process and how he came up with the most important concepts behind RooK.

  • Capacitors and their Form Factors

    News from the factory:

    Today I learned that not every capacitor capacity actually fits into every package size. 

    Yeah, yeah, I should’ve known.

    Physics and all that. It just totally slipped my mind.

    Anyway, on the board in question, there are some handy test pads, so I can just solder a capacitor on manually after the fact. Looking at the console’s mainboard, it looks like two capacitors might be affected there too…

    I’d better double-check that 😄 and tweak the design if needed.

  • What we learned so far designing a Retro Gaming Console

    It is astonishing what you can learn if you take on a project like this. Things you never thought of 🙂

    • 3D Design
    • PCB Design
    • Ordering “Batch Size 1” PCBs from China
    • The Customs Call: Making sure they know you aren’t building long-range missiles.
    • Power Routing on PCBs: Managing power traces effectively.
    • Design Rule: Never route Ground (GND) under an SD card reader.
    • Calculating Springs with ChatGPT: (And actually ordering them).
    • Hardware Bugfixing
    • Capacitors and their Form Factors
  • RooK’s design story

    RooK’s design story

    It all started when Enno wanted to learn how to source fully assembled PCBs. He already used the software kicad.org to design them but had never ordered one. He wanted to learn this because it would give him a much larger inventory of chips for his own projects. The only problem: he lacked a concrete project. So, like any good engineer, he went looking for a problem to solve with his newfound knowledge.

    And then it so happened that Konstantin hosted a second retro gaming tournament and came away from it with two concrete feedbacks: the humming of the old devices is exhausting, and the loading times are annoying. Even if his museum pieces exert a special fascination on the kids. (more on that below) Clearly, the magic of blowing into a cartridge and waiting an eternity for the game to load was lost on the younger generation.

    Then it was suggested that we could make our own console. In that conversation, the idea emerged that one could make several console designs and that anyone who wanted to could make their own console design. Because why settle for one iconic design when you can have a dozen?

    RooK’s First Design

    We found the idea charming to retain the retro gaming character – even in the external design. Because if it doesn’t look like it came straight out of 1989, are you really retro gaming?

    We could go crazy and design and print a separate console case for each system! Meaning: For PS2 games, a PS2 case that incorporates and reproduces the console’s design. Then each station directly makes it clear what’s being played here. Imagine a whole wall of custom-designed, 3D-printed consoles, each a tribute to a different era. The ultimate “museum” of gaming, right in your living room.

    A special appeal of the tournaments is being able to see and use the old consoles. There’s just something about holding a piece of history in your hands, even if that history sometimes emitted a high-pitched whine.

    Konstantin’s first sketches were driven by the idea: Only use rectangles and circles! If the BRICK idea began with the cartridges, why not apply the BRICK concept to the entire device as a design framework? Because who hasn’t dreamed of building their own console out of BRICK?

    So, there were first some rough sketches for PS1, PS2, N64, Xbox, and SNES as you see in the article image above.

    Then Konstantin began designing a console with BRICK (!!!)

    And as always with BRICK, the ratio was:

    • 2% planning
    • 6% building
    • 92% searching for bricks

    But the result was impressive, and the form factor was born. It’s also funny that a USB-A plug fits exactly into the gap of 2 BRICK studs. Almost like it was meant to be.

    So Enno had both a 3D model of the case to build a board that could be ordered from China.

    The circle of life for a DIY console:

    • ideas
    • design
    • build
    • source
    • repeat

  • Why are retro games great for kids?

    Why are retro games great for kids?

    We love gaming with our kids.

    Because:
    Time spent together playing is not screen time, it’s quality time! Just like in the old days when multiplayer meant huddling around a single TV, rather than shouting at each other through headsets.

    Retro games are so well suited for this because they are easy to play but hard to master. It’s much easier for kids to spend 60 or 70 tries beating a level boss, and then eventually turn off the console because a) it’s exhausting and challenging, and b) it’s still fun and fulfilling to do hard things. 

    Remember that feeling of finally beating Mike Tyson in Punch-Out!!? Pure, unadulterated triumph.

    In contrast, modern games are designed to constantly draw us in with continuous dopamine kicks, dedicating our attention to the game instead of Netflix, TikTok, or our family. They’re like digital sugar rushes – thrilling in the moment, but leaving you with a crash. Retro games are more like a slow-cooked meal; satisfying and wholesome.

    As nerdy parents, we want to enable our kids to game, but also protect them from hyper-stimulating games. When you observe your children playing Super Mario or Tetris compared to modern Switch games, we’ve consistently found that older games evoke just as much fascination but have much less addictive potential. Kids can regulate themselves much better with older games that have less overstimulation. Plus, no microtransactions or loot boxes trying to raid your piggy bank.

    We also wanted to make it possible to save only a single game per cartridge if needed – similar to a Tonie-Box or a Jookie for audio plays or music – but just for gaming. Sure, a cartridge could contain hundreds of games, but that would helplessly overwhelm and overstimulate our children. Imagine telling a kid they have 500 NES games on one cartridge – they’d probably just default to Mario, because choice paralysis is real, even for tiny humans.

    But:

    It is also a great experience for kids to BUILD RooK!

  • What’s inside the RooK Console? (TBC)

    What’s inside the RooK Console? (TBC)

    Almost all components are self-designed – right down to the carrier board, the cartridge reader, and the case.

    Pop in a Raspberry Pi Compute Module, and you’re good to go. With a Pi 5 CM, RooK can even play up to PlayStation 2 games. But let’s be real, the really old games are what truly matter to us. We’re talking about games where a single pixel could define an entire character, and joypads had fewer buttons than a modern car’s dashboard.

    And there’s more:
    You can design and print your own RooK case, making it truly yours.

    Because what’s cooler than beating your high score? Beating it on a console YOU designed. Take that, Nintendo Labo!

    The image shows what a RooK Mk3 looks like before it is assembled

  • How RooK got its name

    There were a LOT of ideas for names 🙂

    PHART – Palasthotel Advanced Retro Terminal

    RAVEN – Retrogames augmenting virtualized emulation node

    HAWK – Hyper Advanced Working Konsole

    RooK – “Retro infinity Konsole” mit nem infinity symbol statt o’s (ist eine Vogelart)

    The cute yellow box

    Retrotel

    H.Y.B.R.I.S – Hotel’s Yellow Box for Retro Interaction Sessions

    Das gelbe Schloss

    C.Y.P.H.E.R – Cute Yellow PalastHotel Emulator for Retro

    Cake Lifter

    N.T.

    GameCastle

    Nest

    NTN-NEST

    Das Retropalästchen

    The little Gamulator

    das zackige Ding

    Deckard