Buttons

Around the edges of the Arcade Bonnet are plugs for up to 6 buttons, labeled 1A through 1F. These work directly with our arcade button quick-connect wires.

Angled shot of ten 20 cm long quick-connect wire pairs.
Quick connector wire sets will make wiring up our arcade-style or metal buttons quicky-quick. Each wire comes as a 'pair' with two 0.11" quick-connects pre-crimped onto...
$4.95
In Stock
Angled shot of a clear round 30mm arcade button.
A button is a button, and a switch is a switch, but these translucent arcade buttons are in a class of their own. They're the same size as common arcade controls (often referred to...
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These cables plug right in, and then you can quick connect to many switches or arcade buttons. For the 1F connection, plug this cable in before plugging the Bonnet into your Pi 3 or Pi 2 since the USB ports will make it tougher once its installed.

Joystick / D-Pad

Any four or eight-way “clicky” joystick can be connected to the 4WAY STICK header. “G” is the joystick’s common ground pin, while L, R, U and D are the four cardinal directions. (Yes, diagonal works as well, in games that require it.) We recommend soldering some of the male header that comes with the bonnet and then using Female-Female wires to plug directly into the joystick

Or you can solder the wires directly from the joystick

Small Arcade Joystick with red ball
This snappy 8-way joystick beckons you to play with it! It is rugged, and not too large, reminiscent of a Pac Man arcade cabinet. Unlike the potentiometer-based 2-axis and mini...
$14.95
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Top shot Premium Female/Female Jumper Wires - 20 x 12" (300mm)
These Female/Female Jumper Wires are handy for making wire harnesses or jumpering between headers on PCB's. These premium jumper wires are 12" (300mm) long and come in a...
$3.95
In Stock

Analog-style Joystick

Some lower-profile joysticks are available only in analog versions. These can be connected to the ANALOG header. 3V and G are 3.3 Volts and ground from the Pi, respectively, while X and Y are the stick’s analog outputs for the two axes.

The analog joystick input is processed and handled as a 4-way stick. Most vintage games operate with a 4-way stick; there is no option here for a “true” analog input.

Note that we convert the analog voltage into digital switches without an analog-to-digital converter so we can detect when the joystick is moved around but we do not measure how 'hard' it is being pushed in a direction!

2-Axis Joystick Thumbstick with breakout board
This mini-kit makes it easy to mount a PSP/Xbox-like thumb joystick to your project. The thumbstick is an analog joystick - more accurate and sensitive than just 'directional'...
$5.95
In Stock
Mini 2-Axis Analog Thumbstick with through-hole contacts
Sometimes a simple analog control device can be the perfect tactile solution for your project, but they can be surprisingly hard to come by. Luckily we've got a low-cost, quality...
$2.50
In Stock
Angled shot showing dual potentiometers
Sometimes a simple analog control device can be the perfect tactile solution for your project, but they can be surprisingly hard to come by. Luckily we've found a low-cost,...
Out of Stock

Speaker

The Arcade Bonnet’s mono class D amplifier can handle a single 4 or 8 Ohm speaker, up to 3 Watts. The amplifier’s “I2S” interface provides extremely clear sound…better than you’ll get from the Raspberry Pi’s headphone jack.

Most early arcade games had monaural sound. For anything with stereo, the two channels will be mixed to a single channel for the amplifier.

Speaker - 3" Diameter - 4 Ohm 3 Watt
Listen up! This 3" diameter speaker cone is the perfect addition to any audio project where you need an 4 ohm impedance and 3W or less of power. We particularly like this cone as...
$1.95
In Stock
Enclosed Speaker with JST cable
Listen up! This 2.8" x 1.2" speaker is a great addition to any audio project where you need 4 ohm impedance and 3W or less of power. We particularly like...
$3.95
In Stock

Other Connections

If you have a need to interface other hardware, most of the Pi’s GPIO pins are broken out to this header. There are also some spare ground points near the corners.

Be mindful of the pins marked with a circle — SDA, SCL, 17, 18, 19 and 21. These are used by the chips on the Arcade Bonnet. Some — like SDA and SCL, used for I2C communication — can usually be shared by multiple devices. The others should be avoided unless you very specifically know what you’re after.

This guide was first published on Feb 22, 2017. It was last updated on Jan 03, 2023.

This page (Connections) was last updated on Feb 20, 2017.

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