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